Back to post surgery. Poor little Dweezil seems to be in pain. He isn't
really whining, but he squeaks when he breathes. He still [12 hours post]
isn't totally awake. They used TAG, I remember the first two are called
Torbugesic & the classic, Ace, but I can't remember what the G stands for.
Even with the 30 or so ferrets I've owned, I've never seen one that didn't
wake up within a few hours. He really made me nervous, but I found out
that the Torbugesic has that effect. My regular vet forgot to tell me that
they used a narcotic on him when she sent him home with me at 11 AM, so
I was in a panic over nothing. As I write, he is sound asleep in my shirt,
but at least he's moving around now.
        In addition to Amoxi for 10 days, they are having me put him on
Pred : 1 mg/day for 5 days; then 1/2 mg for 7 days; then 1/4 mg for 7
more days; then 1/4 mg every other day for 2 weeks.
 
        While I was waiting with dread this morning, I started work on
nutrient comparisons in commonly used ferret diets. Iams very nicely sent
me the macro & micro analyses of their different cat foods, and I had
them throw in the dog food for comparison. However - can anyone send me
a copy of ferret _requirements_ to compare to what we're supplying from
the various diets we use; or can someone direct me to an article which
will give me more recent data than _Biology & Diseases_. I may also
use the mink NRC data as another comparison. I have a nutrient analysis
program from when I was in Ag school which I have used in the past. It
is designed to approach animal diets from multiple directions : straight
analysis; diet formulation based on differing components; specific
nutrient analysis; least cost formulations etc. If I can get the ferret
requirements it's a fast way of doing diet comparisons, rather than the
longhand calculations for all the different things we feed.
 
        I'm going to let my snoozing bud go back to his own bed now.
 
                Janice and the zoo
 
 
[Posted in FML issue 0726]