>Subject: Picky Ferret
>We are looking for advice on how to get our latest rescue to eat!...
 
Sara & Kurt,
 
Your story sounds very familiar.  I too brought in a rescue, my personal
first.  He was fed very low quality grocery store cat food, when they fed
him at all.  He was sadly underweight and very out of shape, it seems they
didn't have time for him so they never let him out of the cage either.  When
I got him out of there he ate the yucky food like he hadn't seen any in
weeks (I did have to buy a small container of it as they didn't sell any in
my area and I knew it would be difficult to get him to eat, but I was not
expecting the heartache this little guy put me through)  Cotton ate in the
carrier when we first put him in there, I could hear him crunching through
the night in the hotel room.  and in the car during most of the five hour
trip home.  When I got him home he refused to eat.  I let him go overnight,
no crunching.  I really panicked when in the morning he had black tarry
stool.  I called the woman who runs our club shelter, who I had never met
before and she agreed to take him in and see what she could do with him.  I
was between vets at the time because I had just lost a ferret after adrenal
surgery because of a twelve hour fast.  I had begged the technician not to
fast her that long, but she said it was Dr.'s orders.  I should have run
right down there and rescued her myself, but I didn't know any better at the
time.  Needless to say I was not ready to loose this little guy and didn't
know where else to turn.  Our Shelter director Sandy, took him in with open
loving arms.  She had no luck getting him to eat any kind of crunchies
either, even his own food.  Eventually he acquired a taste for duck soup and
he was being treated with Albon & Carafate because of the Helicobactor green
poops.  After one week with no improvement it was time to see a vet.  I
consented to drive 45 minutes out to meet the shelter vet, who is a
wonderful man with a great big heart.  He stayed overnight at my house and
at 2 am I heard crunching coming from the carrier where he slept.  They
kept Cotton in the hospital overnight and ran every test imaginable with no
conclusions.  They did inform me that he was indeed crunching at the office
too.  He was perfectly healthy he just wouldn't eat.  I was excited by this
progress, but as it turns out it was short lived.  From there on I brought
him home and he would eat nothing more than duck soup six times a day, for
over a month...of course I did leave a small amount of a variety of
crunchies in his food dish just in case.  Finially one day I "caught" him
crunching!  My heart soared.  Right now he is doing amazingly well.  he
weighs just over two pounds and he isn't terrified of other ferrets anymore,
he even has a cage mate.  A four and a half year old gentleman I am
fostering for the shelter....but I will save thier story for next time.
 
Until then, Good Luck getting your little guy to eat!!!  Don't get
discouraged, just be persistant, he may turn out just like my Cotton and just
LOVE duck soup :o) and then suprise you one day by expanding his palette.
 
Kelly and the Savvy Seven + 2
 
Lucy & Chunk, Cotton, the Cordy twins Cody & Corky, Pike & Shadow.and my two
current fosters Jake & Barbie, and last but not least my dear sweet angel
Heidi who waits for me at Rainbow Bridge
[Posted in FML issue 2376]