Someone mentioned "gravy gut."  Yup, yup, I'm quite familiar with this
affliction.  I'm also familiar with the seasonal weight loss and gain that
these guys go through, but Willard, my big placid lug of a ferret, did
indeed get just plain too fat on the gravy.  My always-kind vet who loves
Willard and has saved him from numerous critical mystery illnesses finally
told me very firmly during the summer, "He.  Has.  Got.  To.  Lose.  Some.
Weght."  And she was right, he was just plain fat - even minus a spleen
(weighed nearly one pound when removed) and a tail (chordoma near the
base), he weighed 200 grams more than his previous all-time from when all
body parts were intact.  His primary diet is gravy; he doesn't tolerate
kibble very well (won't even eat it now, unless he's snitching it behind
my back) and his health has done a complete 360 ever since gravy came into
his life.  I have three others who also get the gravy, but they also eat
TF Senior, and none of them have a weight problem.  They all get lots of
exercise.
 
OK, so anyway, I did succeed in getting Willard to lose some weight while
still keeping the gravy meat/fat/bone proportions the same.  I did cut
down the portion size, but not the frequency - he usually gets gravy three
times a day.  The interesting part is how I cut down the portions.  Before
the weight loss program, I'd sit next to him while he ate, admiring him
and watching him eat, really enjoying being with him and thanking every
diety I could think of that he was still with me.  Sometimes I'd even
spoon feed him or hold the plate for him.  I still try not to take him
for granted, but now I put his plate of warm gravy down, and then I get up
and do something else.  No more fawning over him while he eats... I still
fawn over him lots at other times, though.  He eats far less this way of
his own accord.  I guess when I was sitting there with him, he felt
compelled to eat and eat and eat!  'Course, you may not be doing this, in
which case you might have to bite the bullet and hand out smaller
portions... or serve it a little on the cool side, or something else to
make it slightly less appealing, maybe.
 
Good luck combating Gravy Gut!
 
-Pam S. along with gravy addicts Sonic, Sunny, Willard, and Mojo.
[Posted in FML issue 2801]