As I've never posted here before, I would like to say first of all how
much I am enjoying the FML.  It is so helpful to hear others' questions
and problems and I love hearing all the stories.
 
I need advice about what to do with our ferret, Mabel.  Mabel is a little
over 6 years old and has always been very healthy.  But she is very
finicky about what she eats.  She doesn't like treats (except Ferretone).
When we got her from a pet store on Long Island she was only a few months
old and she was eating 8-in-1 ferret food which we continued to
feed her. In May I noticed that 8-in-1 was producing a new ferret food.
When I offered it to her she refused to even taste it.  She flatly
refused to try it (even when I put a drop of Ferretone on it).  I called
8-in-1 and they said they would stop manufacturing the old diet very soon
so I knew we had to switch her over.
 
I talked to others whose ferrets had been single ferret foods only and
whose food had been altered  (like IAMS kitten food a year or so ago) and
realized that at some point she was just going to have to eat something
else.  So I put out four new foods for her to sample:  Totally Ferret,
Science Diet, the new 8-in-1, and IAMS.  I had been warned that she might
not eat for a day or two but that she would not starve herself to death.
 
Mabel did not eat (and barely drank) for two days.  At the end of two days
she was dehydrated and having greenish stools.  I took her to our vet who
said she did not have ECE but was excreting bile and the lining of her
intestines from not eating and that she was severely dehydrated.  Her
weight plummeted from 860 gms to 820 gms. He rehydrated her and started
her on Alban.  Mabel began to eat a little, but not very much and Alban
did not help her diahrrea.  To cut this long story a bit shorter, let me
just say that over the next 6 weeks it was a battle to control her
diahrrea with various antibiotics and to get enough food into her and keep
her hydrated.
 
About 5 weeks ago I was beginning to despair of ever being able to help
her.  She was refusing to eat, resisted being hand fed, and I was
unsuccessfully trying to force feed her. Her weight was down to 720 gms.
I thought I was facing her imminent death.  A friend showed me how to
bottle feed her and I found a mixture (old 8-in-1 softened and mixed with
Hills A/D food) and she accepted bottle feeding.  Hooray!  She began to
put on weight immediately and is now normal.  Her stools are normal.  And
her activity level and playfulness have returned.
 
Here is my problem:  Although Mabel is now normal she is refusing to eat
hard food.  She has made the switch to bottle feeding and will not eat
when I offer the same mixture by hand or in a bowl on the floor.  I don't
know what to do.  I have gotten her down from 5 feedings to 3 feedings a
day, but this is not going to be easy to continue indefinitely.
 
Jeb, my husband, says that in order to get her back on hard food we need
to feed her less by bottle and offer her only the hard food or the softer
mixture in a bowl. He feels she will eat.  (I should explain that after
contacting 8-in-1 they offered to sell the last batch of the old diet
directly to customers.  I now have a 3+ years supply in the refrigerator
for Mabel.  So I don't have to switch her to a new food.) I am afraid that
she will refuse to eat and we'll start the whole nightmare process of
dehydration and diarrhea over again.
 
Does anyone have any ideas about how to transition Mabel from bottle
feeding to hard food?  Is this a matter of patience, that is, will she
return to hard food when her body is ready, or can we/should we be
more active in encouraging her to eat on her own again?  If so, how?
 
By the way, Mabel is the best example I know of the dangers of letting
your kids eat only one kind of food.  I had no idea what needless pain and
discomfort Mabel was facing in the future when I just purchased one brand.
I will never, never, never, provide only one kind or brand of food to
future fuzzies.
 
Thanks to all in advance for your patience in reading this message.  It is
such a long message to read, but we really need advice.  Thank you from
Mabel, too!
 
Fran Harris
[Posted in FML issue 1290]