Dear Liz and all FML posters:
 
I don't want to step on any toes, here, and I know that criticizing
someone's cooking is a pretty sure way to do it, but I'd like to offer a
suggestion anyway.
 
Put all your duck soup recipes in a recipe box and use them only for
reference material and write your own instead.  The best duck soup is the
one that contains what a particular ferret needs for a particular
situation... You don't take Tylenol for diarrhea, do you?
 
Make a mush of your ferret's regular dry food, (soak in fridge in water
enough water to cover kibbles and blend it with a little more water to a
cake batter consistency).  Then add JUST what your baby needs with enough
water (or Pedialyte if he needs that) to make it soupy.  Adding an egg yolk
is good for situations that require more protein, pet vitamins for those
that need it, ferretone if he needs more fat, Kaopectate if he has runny
poop, BeneBac (yogurt, kinda, for pets) if his tummy's upset from traveling
or just stress, or the vet's prescription, and most any and all the other
ingredients in your other recipes.  Ferrets don't need much sugar (or
lactose, milk product in Ensure, etc.) Nutrical is great for packing sheer
calories into a small amount for animals that are having serious intake
problems, but by no means is it necessary as a "standard" duck soup
ingredient.  Your ferret is better served if his calorie intake is from
animal fat & animal protein... you ARE feeding a high ANIMAL protein,
ANIMAL fat kibble, aren't you?  If not your ferret's normal diet can be
changed if you persistently and gradually add a little more of the good
stuff to the not so good stuff.  (An abrupt change is usually stressful
and rejected.... I refused to drink the "new" Coke a few years ago, too.)
 
This way, the taste is familiar and you have less of a problem with getting
him to return to his regular food when he's well without any additional
"where's my soup?" stress.
 
If Bob's recipe...which I don't have, incidentally... contains what your
ferret needs for it's CURRENT illness, by all means... use it!  But if it
has stuff your ferret doesn't need this time, leave that stuff out.  And
again, I'd be sure to use your ferret's regular food as a base whenever
possible.
 
Let's discard this "the best duck soup" assumption and give our babies
what they really need.  When someone asks for a soup recipe, don't send
them somebody else's "standard".  Help them determine their ferret's
needs and structure the soup recipe around it.  There are a lot of ferret
knowledgeable people who post here regularly.  Those to whom we send
suggestions can then weed the not-so-good recipes from good ones if by
realizing that a response is customized for their ferret's current malady.
We can do this.
 
Debi Christy
[Posted in FML issue 2963]