Hi there!
 
I am behind in my reading of the FML so I hope that I am not repeating any
pleas for help in this area.  Please reply either directly or via this
newsgroup.  Thanks so much in advance.  Here is my plea.
 
As I have mentioned a long time ago, we run an unofficial shelter for
unwanted ferrets.  We have 10 at the moment and I can say that we have
learned a lot about these great little creatures and are fairly ferret smart
by this time.  However, there is one are that we are very green in and that
is in dealing with babies, i.e.  newborns.  We received two females and one
was supposedly in heat but it turned out that she was not.  Last summer
arrived and to make a long story short, we had one spayed in September
because after several visits with our male, never did get pregnant (we
understand that we were very fortunate that she did not die, or for that
matter even get sick) and the other one had a false pregnancy and when she
did conceive, she had two, one was still born and the other one died after 2
days of starvation, at least we think that is what happened.  She was a
great mother but we figure she either didn't know how to feed or she didn't
have any milk.  Through that we learned a lot and we still feel guilty that
we couldn't have done anything.  We had her spayed too because of all the
difficulty that we had.  It was a terrible experience.
 
This year we again have two females and as far as we know, they are both
pregnant and almost due.  We don't want to repeat last summers experience so
we need your help.  Please tell us your experiences.  What does the female
look like or how does she act close to the birthing time and after.  What
kind of difficulties have you encountered and what did you do?  Did anyone
have to hand feed from birth?  If so what did you use and what did you feed
them, etc.  If we would have known this last year we probably could have
saved our little bundle.  We want to hear as much as you can tell us because
we want to be prepared this time.
 
We have really appreciated this group and know that we can come for help and
receive it too.  Thanks again for your help.
 
Tryntje Miller                   Net:[log in to unmask]
Conrad Grebel College Library    Tel: (519) 885-0220 ext. 239
Waterloo, Ontario                Fax: (519) 885-0014
N2L 3G6
[Posted in FML issue 1544]