From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2007-07-01 18:03:31 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Boo Boo's weight, health, and changing food
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Ella, you have fed softened foods for so long that certainly gum
disease is a possibility.
What you need to do is stop vascillating between extremes. You need
to stick to a plan and keep sticking to the working plan.
You had one at one point that worked well before it was stopped and
it could be that most or all of it was discussed in the list rather
than in pers. coms. so you might find it in the archives.
Give SMALL amounts of the softened food and do not allow free access
except to other foods (and if Boo-Boo begins eating too much of those
then restrict those, too. Limit that softened food and give it in
small amounts spread through the day. WRITE DOWN how much you are
giving, divide it carefully, ignore begging, and stick to the
routine. If his stomach hurts talk with your vet about having some
Carafate around for times between and how the vet wants you to time
the meals and amounts to give, and have some dry food (but not huge
amount) available.
Ask the vet once again if Boo-Boo is up to exercise and begin an
exercise routine if so. Do they still only have that tiny play
area? If so, then you need to either ferret-proof a much larger area
that they can be in for *at least* 12 hours a day (complete with dark
places to go to sleep), or you need to include very ACTIVE times when
you play with them. They need HOURS of play each day, with breaks
between. Aim for at least 2 hours each day of active exercise split
up for Boo-Boo to start *if your vet says that is acceptable* and
then move up from there as the vet thinks is safe enough.
Finally, you seem to have trouble knowing what weight range is okay.
Get a postal or food scale that works well. Ask your vet what weight
RANGE to target (Remembering that muscle weighs much more for the
same size as fat so a highly muscular individual like our Morney will
weigh more than a less active ferret with more fat and much less
muscle, and that very obese and inactive ferrets usually don't have
much more muscle than it takes to move themselves around a little.
Go by WEIGHT -- NOT BY HOW HE LOOKS TO YOU -- to judge where his
weight is compared to where it should be. People are notorious for
not being able judge weight well by appearance. That is why people
who can do well in carnivals and amaze the on-lookers (plus some of
them judge a little on the low for most people if they have to take a
chance because many people like hearing that and won't say they weigh
more).
Boo Boo needs to add muscle and to lose fat, and he needs to do it
gradually and as consistently as possible. Then he needs to be kept
there with controlled portions and continuing exercise.
When he has his obesity under control enough to safely have the
dental work done you should take assessment with your vet on if you
can stop giving so many softened foods with the goal of stopping them
altogether when possible. In the veterinary textbook _Biology and
Diseases of the Ferret, second edition_ (pages 273 -274) you will
find that the one carefully demonstrated food type for causing
periodontal disease is softened foods. (BTW, you will also find that
the medicine, diphenylhydantonin, has also caused gingival
hyperplasia as have some immunosuppression meds specifically in
ferets, which interests me because of Ruffle in our long past, and
the general FML membership may notice also in that veterinary text
that some diseases like lymphoma have been shown specifically in
ferrets to do so. In your case, though, you have at many times
described a situation with large amounts of softened foods and also
little exercise engaged in by Boo-Boo.)
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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