From:
"Jeff"
Date: 2007-12-27 06:11:37 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] New ferret won't eat
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I agree with Sukie that the first thing you should do is get them checked out thoroughly by a ferret-knowledgeable vet. There could be any number of medical reasons for their not eating (blockages, parasites, bad teeth or gums, ulcers, and on and on).
We've taken four shelter ferrets into our home in the last year, and each time they took 2-3 days to get any kind of normal appetite back. They wanted to investigate everything about their new surroundings, but were too nervous to eat. Once they started feeling comfortable in their new surroundings, their appetites returned completely, and have never left since. I hope that is the case with your two new ones, and not a medical issue.
There are a few things you might try to stimulate their appetites. Try mixing kibble in some water, with a little Ferretone sprinkled over the top. Heat it a little bit in the microwave.
Another is to make soup with the baby food, heat it a little to increase the aroma, and try to feed them a little on your finger to get them interested. You can also gently rub some on their teeth and gums to get the taste in their mouths. You may have to do this several times, but it almost always works as they get accustomed to the taste. We actually did this with a soup made from equal parts of Uncle Jim's Duk Soup Mix and ground up kibble, adding some Ferretvite and Ferretone. We heated it about 10-15 seconds in the microwave, and even when they were ignoring kibble in their first few days in our home, they would eat the soup. Now they eat kibble as their main diet, but we still give them this soup 2-3 times a week as a special meal, and they always lick the bowl clean. The soup also contains a lot of water, so you know that they are getting hydrated at the same time. And it's a good thing to have them used to eating soup, because then when they are sick you don't have to first try to introduce it to them. One of our ferrets recently had several teeth extracted, and she was in heaven eating nothing but soup for the next week.
Syringe feeding is something I'd consider after all of this. Have your vet show you how to do it SAFELY. It's a very important skill to have with ferrets, since there will probably come a time that they will also need to get meds via a syringe. We give our ferrets Ferretone via a syringe several times a week, and they love it. When we had to give some pain meds to our ferret who had the teeth extracted, we put it in the same syringe with her ferretone, and she lapped it right up.
Jeff
In Memory of Neo
Caring for Trinny, Morphy, Baby Girl, and Luna
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/