>She is not having a hard time eating and appears to still have a decent
>appetite but she has lost a significant amount of weight.  Is there
>something I can buy to feed her to increase her weight?  Somone once
>mentioned some type of people dietary supplimental drink like ensure or
>something similar.  Would that work?  What about baby food?  Is that
>high enough in fat for ferrets?  If so what is a good kind to buy?
 
Dear Anonymous:
 
As most FML'ers know by now, I am a big fan of Gerber's chicken baby food -
details, tips and tricks of using this very easily absorbed supplement are
available at my web site at http://www.afip.org/ferrets - under "Feeding
the sick ferret."
 
I ahve also used Ensure on the rare ferret that doesn't eventually go for
the baby food, and it works pretty well too.  However, Ensure often has
to be administered by syringe, and I try to stay away from this method of
administration as much as possible, becuase sometimes the ferrets inhale
when they should be swallowing - resulting in a life-threatening aspiration
pneumonia.  Shoveling in baby food with a finger is a much safer way to go.
 
Regarding the amount of fat - this is really not a key issue.  Fat content
is more related to palatability in food than to nutritional content.  When
we are supplementing, we are more worried about supplying caloric
requirements and bringing the animal closer to a normal level of nutrition
than counting levels of carbs, proteins and fats.  In most cases when we
supplement, ill ferrets are either not receiving much nutrition, or
receiving it in a form that they cannot utilize (such as giving kibble to
a ferret whose intestines are altered by ECE.) The key is get as much of
the supplement in as possible, and count calories later.  You'll know if
its working - an increase in weight is what you want to see.
 
With kindest regards,
 
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3193]