My new baby ferret, Lucky Charm, seems to want to throw up every time she
tries a new food. My vet thinks this is just because she's not used to
different things, and he sees this in kittens and puppies as well. On the
weekend, I gave her a piece of pasta, and within 15 minutes, she threw it
back up. When I first got her, I gave her some Nutrical and shortly
afterward, she threw up. Raisins and Ferretbites (the latter were given to
her by the pet shop) don't seem to bother her. A couple of days ago, I ran
out of her Marshall food and went and bought some high-quality cat food
(because I've never seen the Marshall food for sale locally) that my other
ferrets have all really liked. Not long after eating it, she tried to
vomit again and then didn't eat much all night. When I left for work
this morning, she was chowing down on the stuff, and she seems to be OK
with it now.
 
Is this normal? I've never had a ferret be so sensitive to food. My
experience has always been that if they don't like it, they don't eat it;
if they eat it, they're fine, even when they're kits (well, except for
the stuff they're not supposed to eat, like a tube full of Neosporin --
that was an experience; I was on the phone with Poison Control all night).
 
Also, I have never seen Totally Ferret food before. Does someone have the
name and location of the company that manufactures this so that maybe I
can order some and see if it agrees with her? Meanwhile, I've ordered
more Marshall food.
 
On on unrelated matter, I finally talked to Ferret Outfitters about my
order that didn't make it before Christmas like they said it would. They
were very kind about it once they realized what had happened and refunded
the shipping fee. It took me so long to talk to them because I was upset
about losing C-pi right after the holidays, and sure enough, I felt sad
all over again remembering her. She was very special to me (they all are).
 
Thanks to everyone for those beautiful name suggestions. I will keep them
for future reference. Ferrets everywhere are lucky to have such creative
name-thinker-uppers.
 
                Linda and fuzz urchins Espie, Frankie, and Lucky Charm
[Posted in FML issue 1085]