Yes, I think I have a viable option for you. It's what I call "Super
Soup". I once had a ferret that for reasons we never could figure out,
would drop weight like you would not believe every November. It was
like his seasons were reversed and on top of that he "seasoned hard".
Then one year, he came down with a helicobactor infection along with
ulcers. In just a matter of days, he was skin and bones. It was
frightening! I had to put weight on him and I mean quick. So, I
concocted a high calorie duck-like soup. And buddy it packed the weight
on him. The next year, the weight loss occurred again (no sickness
though), but it was much worse. So from that point forward, come
October of every year, I'd watch him and as soon as I saw the change,
he'd be put on the soup once a day. Never had the problem again.

I'm not a vet. I'm not an animal dietician or expert. But I can speak
from generations of experience. I can tell you that this has worked
for other ferrets, not just mine, in a pinch.

I use a turkey baby food for a base because its the easiest to digest.
I feel like that is very important. That will be almost 2/3rd's of the
soup.

The other third is mostly their kibble ... I put it in a cup, fill it
with warm water and let it sit for a couple of hours. Pour the excess
water out, and mush with a spoon.

For the rest, I then add/ration the 3 ingrediants below so that the
ferret gets the following portions per serving:
one large toothpaste strip of FerretVite
Few drops of ferretone (optional)
1-2 tbls of heavy whipping cream. (KEY ingredient).

I keep it simple so that it can be digested easier. The real cals
come from the cream and the ferretvite. Now the following is the
most crucial of all things: Warm it up really nice so its yummy and
irresistible and hold the ferret while it eats. Hon, I don't care who
you are or what ferret you own, if you hold a ferret in your lap along
with the bowl of food they will eat far, far more than if you leave
them alone. Its a psychological thing. And with encouragement, heck you
can stuff your baby till its belly pops! I'm serious! When I start out,
I only use 1tbls of cream in a serving because I feed them 3 servings a
day for a week. By then you should see a big improvement. It does not
take a ferret long to start putting on weight, just like it doesn't
take long for them to drop it. When you see improvement, you can back
it off to two times a day or less. When you back it off to once a day,
then make the cream 2 tbls, not one. That way he'll get 2tbls of cream
a day.

Your soup with ensure should have had good cals. But try this, and most
importantly sit there with the little stinker ever time. As soon as he
starts to get off your lap and say he's done, pull him back and go,
"I... don't think so". LOL. Tempt him with some on your finger or
something and ask him to eat a bit more.

Wolfy

[Posted in FML 6856]