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>From [log in to unmask] Sun Mar 28 20:41:17 1993
Date: 28 Mar 93 20:18:30 EST
From: Howard Davis <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask] (Tyler Greenberg)>
Subject: Not Hungry
Content-Length: 5307
 
 
 
 
 
                                DUCK SOUP
 
For years, we have been trying to find a super formula to fatten up sick
ferrets, oldsters and ferrets with ulcers.  We have been looking for
something high in calories and protein, with added vitamins.  After
trying just about everything on the market for pets, we had just about
given up, and were making do with some things that were not quite
perfect for the little guys, because everything made for cats that we
could find had a condensed milk base.
 
Some of these products did see the ferrets through serious illnesses
because of their caloric value, but there was always a trade-off with
the severe watery diarrhea they caused.  Our beloved and aged Lucki Duck
ferret (he vacationed in Duck NC) contracted the flu.  He had been
losing weight over a three month period and had not been able to use his
back legs very well for about two months.  He had been to the doctor
many times, had all the blood work done, but to no avail, no positive
diagnosis seemed to fit, other than old age, and perhaps a slipped disk.
With the onset of the flu, he was put on strong antibiotics and fluids,
but he continued to slip away.  He wouldn't eat, and became practically
comatose.  Rushed to the doctor, he wasn't expected to last the night.
In desperation we scoured the grocery store aisles in hopes of finding
something that he might eat, ice cream, baby food, anything that might
stimulate his appetite.
 
On the drug aisle we came across a product we had never noticed before.
It was called Sustacal made by Mead Johnson.  Billed as a nutritionally
complete liquid food, it contained no milk products, but was full of
vitamins, calories, protein, and minerals.  It looked perfect, but we
didn't know how he would react to a corn syrup base, or how it would
taste.  Figuring we had nothing to lose, we took it home to him.  It was
incredibly sweet with a vanilla flavor.  We warmed it up and began
feeding him with a dropper because he couldn't hold his head up.  He
loved it right away.  The taste resembles vanilla ice cream, which he
loves.  After about a tablespoon he was exhausted and dozed off.
Delighted with our success, my daughter and I stayed up all night
feeding him as much as he could eat every hour to hour and a half.  When
we peered into his cage about 7:00 am his little head lifted up
expectantly looking forward to the yellow liquid.  Although he was still
so weak he could hardly move, his stools had changed overnight from
watery nothing, to a medium brown liquid with a much thicker
consistency.  We knew then that he was getting some nourishment into his
system.
 
Over the next two days, we experimented mixing the Sustacal with KMR's
Kitten Weaning Formula, to see if we could get something solid down him.
About 1 part formula to2 parts Sustacal seemed best.  (Kitten Weaning
Formula by PetAg, Hampshire IL is available from Jeffers Vet Supply 1
800 JEFFERS).  In three days he was beginning to pull himself off his
blankies to use the bathroom, on paper, and then snuggling himself back
in.  He was now eating several tablespoons at a sitting, every couple of
hours, but we still had to hold him up in a towel and offer him his food
in a little doll dish.  He was visibly putting on a tummy and eating
more each day.  His stools were still liquid but it had become thick and
a good shade of brown.
 
After a week he began pulling himself around by his front legs and we
decided to try to find a formula that would work for long term
maintenance.  Obviously since his stool was still liquid, this formula
was too rich for him.  We also wanted to get him back on his regular
food.  Several days later, after much mixing, and rejecting by Lucki, we
hit a compromise that he loved, we had "Lucki Duck Soup" (recipe
follows) We only recount all the stages of Lucki Duck's illness in order
to let you know of the hopelessness of his illness - his miraculous
recovery, and to guide you through all the steps, from full Sustacal to
Duck Soup in caring for a sick ferret.
 
A year later at 8 years old, Lucki Duck is having his soup twice a day
and scooting all over the house.  We have also heard of many miraculous
recoveries attributed to Duck Soup.  It has helped old ferrets, ferrets
with insulinoma, ferrets with hair loss, and ferrets who are just plain
too sick to eat.
 
                                 DUCK SOUP
 
ONE CAN SUSTACAL 8oz (it comes in a larger size )
ONE CAN WATER    8oz
OPTIONAL --  TWO SCOOPS KMR KITTEN WEANING FORMULA\ or KMR kitten milk
        replacement
4 OZ dry food  - soaked in enough water to cover and soften completely
 
mix throughly / we always nuke it for them to the temperature of baby
formula /we serve about 4 fluid ounces at a time twice a day for
maintenance, if your little guys eat too much and you feel they are
getting fat, you can increase the amount of water/ we have tried
increasing the amount of dry food, but if it gets too thick some of them
won't eat it.  This formula also freezes well- The Sustacal must be used
within 48 hours if left only in the fridge.
 
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Howard,
 
Thank you very much for your letter, "Duck Soup".  It's good to know
that what my ferret Ayla is going through is not so unique.  Ayla is
pretty much as you and others have described: she is fur-less, painfully
thin, and is now having diaherrea.  She was so skinny at one point that
you could see every rib through her paper thin skin.  In fact, the skin
actually was pulled around her last rib and inward towards the center of
her body.
 
Nancy Hartman recommended Sustical to me also.  I used the vanilla
flavor and, as was the case with your ferret, she has been eating it
regularly.  She wouldn't eat anything besides her vanilla Sustical.
However, the Sustical did help her regain some of her lost weight.  When
my vet came to take a look at her, he was glad to see the addition of
some weight but told me that I had to get her off the Sustical.  He said
that it was very high in sugar which was not good for her and, in
addition, the sweet liquid would only make it that much more difficult
to get her back on her normal, dry ferret food (Iams).  He gave me this
new liquid food for cats called (Well, I can't actually remember the
name of the stuff but it's something like...) Adrenal Care.  This stuff
has more calories and more protein but has no sugar in it.  Natually,
she didn't like it and it took a long time to get her on it by mixing it
with the vanilla sustical.  She is having a bad diaherrea problem now.
 
In your letter, it sounded as if your ferret never got back to eating
her normal dry ferret food.  What happened?  Will she be on that, "Duck
Soup" forever?  One of my big concerns is her teeth.  She has now been
on liquid food for a solid month and she was on the sugar filled
Sustical for two straight weeks.  I don't know how I'm going to get her
back on her normal dry ferret food.  I tried mixing her dry with the
susitcal but she has no interest in it.  I especially want to get her
back to her normal food because the Sustical (and the other liquid food
that my vet is giving her) is very expensive.  Not only that, but (as
you pointed out) it only lasts 48hrs.  in the fridge.  So much of it is
wasted.  What do I need to do to get her on her solid food?  You
mentioned that your ferret has been on your formula for about a year.
That is a LONG time.  Did she ever get her fur back?  Please let me
know.
 
Eager for your response,
Tyler Greenberg
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[Posted in FML issue 0443]