I can attest to the last couple of points in Bob's posts, about ferrets
who eat a meat diet *not* needing constant access to food.
 
For those of you who don't remember, or those who are new here, one of my
boys, Max, was diagnosed with a bone tumor in his jaw back in July.  It's
size & location make it inoperable.
 
I've been making & feeding "Bob's Chicken Gravy" since shortly after we
acquired Max in January 2000.  He was about 8 weeks old, so he's been
eating it, along with kibble as "snack food", pretty much his whole life.
For some time before the July diagnosis, I had noticed I never saw him at
the kibble bowl any more.  When the vet showed me the tumor, I knew why -
the tumor intrudes into his throat, pushes the back of his tongue over,
and probably makes eating hard crunchy kibble uncomfortable.  So for an
estimated six months now, Max has been subsisting entirely on Chicken
gravy, along with the occasional jar of baby food and his nightly raisin.
 
As of last week's visit to UT Vet clinic for his monthly depolupron shot,
Max weighed in at 3.7 pounds (he's always been a fairly hefty boy).  He
eats chicken gravy twice a day, around 7:00 a.m. & again around 8:00 p.m.
A frozen gravy cube is thawed in the microwave, thinned with a splash of
heavy cream & a bit of water to a "soup", & served on a saucer.  Max
usually wipes out a saucer at each feeding (I fix two at each feeding -
one for him & one the other four share, although he will let Merlin share
his saucer sometimes).
 
Max is back at UT today for a chemo treatment - it's a long shot but Dr.
Klaphake thinks a direct injection of Cisplatin into the tumor may result
in some shrinkage - he's had good results with that treatment on another
ferret with a similar tumor.  So please direct positive thoughts for a
good result from the chemo!
 
Melissa Bell
Knoxville, TN
Mischief, Max, Merlin, Buddy & Fae
[Posted in FML issue 3943]