I've nursed two ferrets that had or were undergoing treatment for cancer.
First of all as most ferret owners know, it is counter productive to try to
force a ferret to do anything and I would think that forcing food into the
back of a ferrets throat in the hopes that it would swallow would quickly
turn into a nightmare for you and the ferret and would just use up some of
the sick ferret's already limited energy.
 
Here's what worked for me. First off, the baby food meat is pretty
tasteless and by itself probably not complete nutrition. I made a mix of
the babyfood meat, an egg yolk, some milk-like addition (such as kitty
replacement formula or one of the baby milk formulas without real milk that
you can get in a can at the grocers. I've also used whole cream
successfully as it is the milk sugars that the ferret is unable to digest,
not the milk fat), and maybe some olive oil. I'd make a stock of this and
freeze it in small amounts, thawing just what I would need for the day. I
would add a vitamin supplement to at least one of the feedings. I would
bring this mix to just a bit warmer than room temp before feeding.
 
See if you can get some plastic pastuer pipetts (they are soft plastic and
 
["Pasteur pipette"]
 
have a built in squeeze bulb at the top and are disposable). These work
much better than an eye dropper as they hold more and are less disruptive
to the feeding once the ferret starts to eat. I work in a lab so I get mine
there. I'm not sure about public sources. I would think your vet might have
a source if you can't find them and in my experience they work great for
feeding. You can cut the tip to any convenient diameter since they are
tapered.
 
[Or a plastic syringe, no needle.  These are available at pharmacies
for giving medicine to children.  Reasonable size, cheap (but not
disposable), and easy.]
 
Ferrets have a natural tendency to lick. Use this to your advantage. I
would swaddle my ferret in an old towel, holding him like you would a
nursing baby, rub his ears and neck ect before feeding to relax him.
Don't try to force the pipette/food into his mouth, just put a drop of food
on his lips. His tendency will be to lick it off, and as his tongue comes
out keep putting drops of food on it. Pretty soon you'll have a tough time
keeping up with that tongue.
 
I think the secret of this technique is to get the food mix right for the
taste preference of your ferret. If all else fails, you might try wetting
the dry food that she normally eats and mixing that into the rest of the
ingredients. I used the cream in the receipe originally because my ferret
really loved the taste of milk. My current ferret will do almost anything
for a raisin - go figure.
 
Max
 
[Posted in FML issue 0432]