I have a ferret who has had low glucose levels for quite some time now.
About a year and a half ago she had a couple of tumors removed from her
pancreas and has been doing pretty well. For the last year or so I've been
giving her brewer's yeast and vitamin C in about a heaping teaspoon of chicken
baby food twice a day. For the last 2-3 weeks I haven't seen her eating her
regular food. She eats the chicken-yeast-vit.C stuff with no problem. Does she
just like her chicken so much that now she doesn't like her usual food? She has
lost weight, and I know the amount of chicken stuff I give her can't fill her
up. The other day I mixed some canned food and crushed dry food with the
chicken stuff. She ate it, but left all chunky stuff on the bottom of the bowl.
Then I gave her some isomil. I thought if I could stretch her stomach out maybe
she would get hungry and eat her dry stuff. I saw her eat her dry stuff once
after that. Now she eats what I give her twice a day fine, but won't eat her
dry food. Should I try feeding her a lot in the morning and at night to stretch
her stomach out and make her hungry for her dry food? Or am I just teaching her
not to eat her dry food? I'm afraid if she doesn't eat much and her stomach
shrinks that she'll just quit eating. I had two ferrets who quit eating their
food, and I'm sure it's because they had cancer. They both died about 2 months
after they quit eating. Force feeding didn't make any difference in the end.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.                           -Anon
[Posted in FML issue 0986]