RE:  Ferret not eating good food -- I forgot to ask around the
shelters at the Expo about this.  Sorry.  I only talked with one
person, who's on the mailing list (but doesn't read food messages),
he said three days isn't a long enough try before giving up.  I
tend to agree, although I don't know what a good amount of time
would be.  I firmly believe in the will to live, and very seriously
doubt that the ferret will starve him/herself to death.
 
News:
I (very) briefly talked with Dr. Kawasaki at the Expo.  He said that
just in the past year or so a lot of ferrets have been showing up with
tumors in *BOTH* adrenal glands!  In the past it was almost exclusively
just the left that got the tumors.  (the right is extremely difficult
to remove due to it's location)  This is very disturbing.
 
There's a product called EFA-Z (Essential Fatty Acids w/ Zinc) that you
can get from your vet.  I know of several people who give this to
their ferrets when they have poor coats.  It does a very good job in
non-adrenal hair loss problems (age, stress, diet...).  I think it
costs about $8 for a 8oz bottle.  Give 1 or 2 ml a day (some people
give as much as 5 a day for serious problems).  Just remember,
this will help bring coats back, but have your ferret checked out,
you don't just want to mask the problem, get it solved!!!  (I think
that it's the zinc in this stuff that is deficient in the ferrets'
diet)  I haven't looked a the label closely, but I don't think it
has the fat-soluble vitamins that are dangerous in Linatone/ferretone,
when I get some I'll try to remember to check.
 
- Nancy
 
Nancy Hartman                     CIS graduate student
[log in to unmask]                  U. of Delaware
      President, Delaware Valley Ferret Club (AFA chapter)
          Owner of Percy, Bree, & Popcorn, the ferrets
 
[Posted in FML issue 0416]