Hello, all!
A few issues have attracted my attention of late.
In regards to force feeding, by all means, if it is necessary for your
ferret's health, do so! Although Paleface despised it, force feeding saved
his life (I believe). Recently he was afflicted with an ulcer and, as a
result, ceased eating or drinking - a very bad scenario indeed; he lost a
tremendous amount of weight (for someone who weighs 2.5 pounds with a full
stomach). Thanks to the wonderful responses I received via the FML and
private e-mail, (and a trip to the vet for Amoxicillin) Paleface has made a
splendid recovery. Trying to approximate his natural eating schedule, I
watered him via a needle-less syringe (also procured from the vet) 4-6 times
per day (5cc water/per time), and I fed him a syringe full of food ca. 4-5
times per day. SAFERick recommended the following nutritious mixure (sorry,
Rick he wasn't wild about the taste, but then again he's finicky!):
1 teaspoon #2 turkey baby food
1 teaspoon AD cat food
1/2" ribbon of ribbon of ferretvite (I substituted a drop
or two of Ferretone)
1/12th of a Pepto Caplet
Sustical (vanila) or Deliver 2.0 (quantity sufficent to
make usable with a feeding syringe.
Mix the ingredients above well and heat in microwave for 6 seconds.
(check to be sure it's not hot).
Try to get him to eat it out of the bowl (using finger method to
get started; it may be necessary to wrap him and SLOWLY force
feed with the syringe. This should be offered at leaste every
4-6 hours.
Put excess sustical in closed glass container, store in
fridge. Will last up to four days.
Happily, Paleface regained his weight very quickly with this formula and
began eating on his own. Follow your vet's recommendation for the Amoxicillin
if applicable to your situation.
About sofas - So many people mention that their buddies climb in sofas, hide
under sofa cushions, destroy the underside of the sofa, etc...
Scary/dangerous/frustrating :( My solution? I have a futon sofa! It's
great. The futon sofa consists of a futon (resembles a flexible mattress or
big, flat pillow) and a frame upon which the futon is placed. A wide variety
of futon covers are available in many colors and patterns, and the frames
come in an equally large array of styles. Additional benefits? Futons are
inexpensive compared to traditional sofas, they can easily be recovered (it's
like changing a huge pillowcase with a zipper), and they can usually be used
as a spare bed. Better still, they present less of a risk for the little
fuzzy guys. My only caution would be to say that some ferrets might try to
tunnel between the futon and the frame and therefore could be squished if sat
upon. However, given the size and weight of the futon, I would venture to
say that many ferrets would be less likely to tunnel under the futon than
would burrow in a sofa.
Questions or comments, drop me a line!
[Posted in FML issue 1283]
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