Diane wrote:
>He is in great shape, rather big really, and I know he is overwhelmed with
>my 7 other ferrets but they are all getting along fine and he plays with
>them in return to their pestering him.  The problem is he is hungry and
>will not eat his own brand of food now and when I gave him some ferret
>treats he ate a few and then promptly threw them up.  This has me concerned
>as I have never had this problem with my other ferrets when I got them
>which was at different ages in their lives
 
Its entirely possible that the stress of entering a new environment, and
then the 7 other ferrets, have stressed him to the point that he isn't
hungry.  I have seen it happen a couple of times with ferrets entering my
shelter - and in both cases were about the same age as your little guy, and
were single ferrets up to that point.  These ferrets (perhaps not so
coincidentally) are also timid, and it just takes them longer to cope with
the noises and changes to the environment.  I would definitely try offering
different kinds of foods in the hopes that he will have some interest and
start eating, but you might want to also consider force feeding.  Ulcers
can quickly form if a ferret is on a hunger strike.
 
I would also get him to the vet - blockages, in particular hairballs, can
be present in the stomach without bothering the ferret, until they get
under stress.  Sometimes a smaller hairball can be in the stomach without
causing problems - Emily, a shelter ferret had adrenal surgery in March
1999 and the vet removed 3 hairballs from her stomach, each almost an inch
long.  Emily had been at the shelter since November 1998 and did not go
through a coat change and had just started to lose her hair a couple weeks
prior to the surgery.  Our vet estimates that they had been present for at
least 6 months, possibly longer.  What is interesting is that Em had
stopped eating suddenly in late November and we were forced to tube feed
her.  Looking back, we wonder if that was caused by the hairballs, even
though she never exhibited any symptoms of a blockage.  Her original
diagnosis was a virus, possibly the flu.  While at the vet, have them take
a good look at his teeth - a broken or diseased tooth can cause ferrets to
suddenly stop eating, even though they are hungry.
 
We isolate any newbies coming in - you might want to consider keeping him
in your bedroom, or somewhere away from the other ferrets.  I wouldn't have
him sharing a cage with the others just yet - let him be in his own cage
for a while.  Isolating him in a cage also lets you monitor food/water
intake, and litterbox output.  This will allow you to see if he is truly
eating, and how much.  An old shelter trick is to count the pieces of food
in the bowl, and then go back a couple hours later and count them again.  I
also run a piece of tape down a water bottle and mark the line with the
date/time of the water bottle level.  You also might want to give him a
water bowl - when they are sick, most ferrets (in my experience) seem to
prefer a dish to a bottle.  Let him adjust to you and your family first,
and then slowly introduce him to the crew.
 
I hope that this helps - and please email me back if you need help.
 
Lisa, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
URL: http://www.kozykingdom.com/ferrethaven
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[Posted in FML issue 2655]