Hi all
 
I was just doing a search and found your list. I need some urgent advice as
I have a problem here.
 
We have a female (Bandit) with a litter of 7 kits about 2 weeks old.  Today
she suddenly became very sick to the point of almost total paralysis and (as
the vet put it) almost kicked it.  This happened in the timeframe of about 2
hours - from running around full of beans, to losing control of front legs,
to being unable to move, and to being brought back to life with an injection
from the vet.
 
He daignosed and treated her for milk fever, and said that she should not
feed her kits for at least a week as her milk will be infected.  He also
stated that feeding the kits could hurt Bandit's recovery.  We are hand
feeding the kits on some powdered milk stuff the vet gave us.
 
Now to my questions:
Is it right that Bandit should not feed the kits?  The vet wasn't overly
sure on this point.
 
How often should we feed the kits and how much should they be fed?  They
haven't stopped squarking all night - what a racket.
 
Will Bandit loose her milk if she doesn't feed the kits?  Could we perhaps
risk giving her one to feed so as to keep her milk and to keep her happy
(she's going frantic looking her her kits).
 
Ferrets are not a very common pet in Australia and there is a general lack
of knowledge and support for ferret fanciers. So any advice at all on these
issues (and anything else) would be very much appreciated.
 
I haven't subscribed to your list so any advise would have to be sent to me
direct.
 
e-mail [log in to unmask]
 
Thanks in anticipation.
Ken
[Posted in FML issue 2131]