>I never "forced" food or liquid into his mouth as I would fear it going down
>his windpipe even more than make him hate me. Instead I'd add some clover
>honey to his food or whatever & he'd easily take it that way.
 
Just wanted to clarify my earlier message on force feeding when I said it
involves "force".  Poor choice of words on my part.  When coercing a skinny
or sick ferret to eat I don't and wouldn't recommend actually shoving food
down his/her throat.  I guess I should have called it "syringe feeding" or
something.  When ferrets won't "free feed" as in -go and eat from a
community food bowl whenever they are hungry- they usually DO need help
getting their nutrients.  My experience is that if you fill a syringe up
with baby food, A/D, a mixture of both, or a special recipe of duck soup and
put it in a syringe and get the syringe in the ferrets mouth they will lick
and swallow what you dispense from it and enjoy it (aka not hate you for
it).  Our ferrets eat things out of a syringe and love them that they would
never touch if it was offered on a plate covered in linatone.  I don't know
why.  If I put a syringe of baby food up to my Henry's lips for example he
will nearly chew the end off to get some more.  However, if I put baby food
on my finger or on a plate, or on a plate covered in linatone, he will turn
up his nose at it.  Put it in a syringe and hold him close and he eats like
there is no tomorrow.  There is a bit of a technique (or ritual, i don't
know) with our Henry when syringe feeding him.  For him you have got to keep
the food coming out non-stop.  If there is a break in the action he gets
upset and fussy, much like feeding a human baby.
 
Before Granny came to stay with us she was "tube fed" (I think a tube actually
went down her throat to her stomach). Apparently she was incapable of
swallowing. Does anyone have any experience with this type of force feeding?
charlene
[Posted in FML issue 1280]