From:
"Loretta Doncaster"
Date: 2005-07-16 19:26:10 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Dealing with an older ferret
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <z38w7vkzszgw7ku.160720051326@mail.xepol.com>
Hi My name is Loretta. I need some tips on how to deal with a ageing
ferret. I have owned ferrets for almost 7 years now. I have just started
to have to deal with older ferrets because the ones I got 7 years ago are
just starting to get to the point where they can be call old.
The main ferret is a sable female I bought at a pet store 6.5 years ago.
(yes I have sence learnd that pets stores are a bad thing) Miss Digger
started to show sighs of adrinal desease at about 8 months of age. At 14
months of age she had the left gland removed, coming thought with flying
colours. At 2 she reacted to her destemper shot. At 3 she reacted to her
rabies shot. This reation caused heart damgae. Just after the rabies ration
she started to show sighs of AD again. The Vet checked her over and desided
that with the heart problems she was a very poor canditate to go under. It
was desided that we would take her home and give her lots of love and the
best care we could untill she died. We were told about 6 months was all she
had.
Miss Digger will be 7 this fall, I never thought I would have to help her
deal with old age problems. I know that 7 is not real old for a ferret but
after fighting AD for so long she is getting frail and have all the small
little problems that come with just getting old.
If she starts needing help with things I need to know how much water she
should be drinking and how much food I should give her and how often. With
all her fur being gone is a small heat lamp or heatpad a good idea to help
her stay warm and what is a good temp to keep her area at so that she does
not have to wase energy on keeping warm. I also need a very high calarie
food for her. I know that the nutui-cal is high in calarie but that if I
give her enough to put weight on her she would be getting to many vitamins
and stuff from it.
Thanks for all the help I know I will get (-:
Rabbit and her 4 fur babies