To Dick Bossart concerning the non-eating ferret:
 
        Dick - I know that you've gotten a bunch of good replies on this, so
I'll make it brief.  Stress is probably the major cause of non-eating ferrets.
Stress can result in gastriculcers and gastric bleeding, which makes the
ferrets not want to eat.  Blood in the stomach causes low-grade nausea.
 
       Best bet - keep going with the Duck soup, but try to get the animal on
something that he can eat himself.  The Dr. Williams tried-and-true chicken
baby food is good in this regard.
 
       Most helpful treatment - probably a lot of attention and love.  Ferrets
love to be hand-fed - when we have one that won't eat, we take hours with them
daily offering food and water and plenty of attention.
[Posted in FML issue 1161]