I've noticed that a quite a few FMLers have been in a quandary about what to
feed sick ferrets with no appetite....well here's what I did when Bungee was
sick:
 
I tried every food that came in a bag, tube, box, can, jar etc. but she
would have none of it.  I tried force feeding her with syringes of baby
food...not particularly successful, she would only take water from the
syringe.
 
I did notice however that she would smell her regular food and make moves
towards it like she was going to eat some, but alas she wouldn't.  So I
deduced that she "liked" her regular food and might keep it down if I could
get past her mouth.  BTW the food was purina kitten chow, I know I know that
is not recommended ferret chow but I didn't know back then, she's currently
been switched to science diet kitten food!..
 
anyway I took the purina, put some in a small pot, covered the food with
water and boiled it down to a paste.  I then took this paste and forced it
through a fine strainer, added a little water to liquify, some liquid ferret
vitamins and VOILA...food you can pull up into a syringe and squirt down the
monster's throat (purina mousse, if you will), she liked the taste/smell and
would keep most of it down.  You should have seen all the hair and hard
particles of unknown origin that were left in the strainer.  I want to do
this with the science diet to see if it has as much "garbage" in it as the
purina but haven't gotten around to it.
 
I think the food retained most of its nutritional value especially with the
added vitamins, anyway Bungee survived and even gained some weight through
the whole ordeal.  Just my $.02  worth.
 
bernard&bungee
--
 
( human nature has a much greater genius for sameness than for originality.
James Russell Lowell)
[Posted in FML issue 1502]