Hi Everyone,
 
Last August when is was really hot here, all our ferrets lost some weight,
but one ferret, Zoe, really lost a lost of weight.  Down from 950 grams to
500 grams in about a months time.  This was now around the first or second
week of September.
 
Zoe is 5 years olds, MF's, and has a heart murmur, (she is on Endacard),
but is otherwise in good health, if just a little slower than her 5 younger
buddies.
 
Zoe is not a chewier and as far as we can tell, she never eats or chews at
anything but her food and treats.  Also, there has been no apparent signs
of any blockages.  Stools are normal sized, but a bit wetter than normal.
 
We weigh all our ferrets every month, and when we saw that Zoe was down so
much, we started her on a simple duck soup of 1/3 cup of Science Diet
Kitten chow and 1 8 oz can of Sustical.  This she will readily take only
when given to her via a 12 cc syringe (with the outlet hole much enlarged).
We also give her 2x day dose of 1 cc of Ferretvite (which we must force on
her - she hates it), and she gets her Endacard ground up and mixed with
Ferretone every other day, she takes this freely.  We had also given her
daily doses of Kittymalt for the first three weeks, just in case there was
a blockage.
 
She readily takes her 36 cc of duck soup twice a day, and is gaining her
weight back.  She is up to 660 grams today.  But refuses all other formulas
of duck soup, e.g. with Iams vice the SD, or if anything is mixed in, such
as canned kitten food.
 
Are we doing the best we can?  She will not eat any canned cat food, and I
am getting some baby food today, to try that, but have little hope that she
will take to it.
 
We are also experiencing a problem with our syringes.  After a few uses
they seem to become very tight at the seal and will often stick - and then
give way, splattering Zoe and us with duck soup.  We thoroughly wash and
dry the syringes after each use, but they get harder to use each day.
Short of replacing the syringes regularly, is there a way to prolong the
usefulness of them.  I have thought of using a thin coating of water
soluble, sterile, lubricating jelly on the seals.  But am not sure if this
will be bad for Zoe, if even if she were to only get a very small amount
mixed in with the duck soup.
 
Any thought or ideas on Zoe or the syringes will be appreciated, thank
you very much.
 
John and Leoda, with: Mudfoot, Ollie, Zoe, Alya, Augustus and Durk.
[Posted in FML issue 2457]