To Stormy:
 
>...she still seems to be lossing weight....  She is sixteen and a half
>inches nose to butt, and a bag of bones.  I have been able to get her to
>eat about two ounces of food a day, then she just turns her nose up.  I am
>wondering if this may be caused by her injury (she broke her neck at the
>4th vertabre, and permanently damaged the disk), and also wanted to know
>about how many callories a healthy ferret her size should have in a day.
 
    Let's not worry about how many calories she needs, as this is extremely
variable between ferrets due to age, gender, exercise level, conformation,
activity, etc.  While the neck injury may be causing a problem if she is in
chronic pain, I wouldn't think it would be the root of the problem, since
this is a new problem (or at least we haven't seen it for a while).
 
    The best way to increase her food intake is to feed her frequently, by
hand, just as much as she will take.  The baby-food-on-the-finger trick is
the best way to get food into a ferret, but it takes a lot of time and
patience.  I don't thinkt hat the energy she expends traveling up the extra
level in her cage (as you mentioned) would make an appreciable difference.
 
    Try to offer food every two hours, even if you have to wake her up to
do it.  Also, remember that many ferrets will go up and down as part of
their normal cycle - some weight loss may not be her norm....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
Dept. of Vet Path, AFIP
[log in to unmask]  OR
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1297]