What would a ferret want most for his Birthday? Raisins? Ferretone? Nutrical? Nope. REAL food in his mouth that he can actually taste! And he did even if it was soupy. :) I wish you could have all been with me yesterday to share in the joy and excitement of seeing Ben having food in his mouth for the first time in 7 weeks! Words can't express how excited and happy I am!!!! :) Ben saw Dr. Bennett and Dr. Pye (both made a point of being there as neither were on clinics this week), he has a very tiny hole about the size of a pencil point and a small bubble that he's getting some air through into his nasal cavity but the graft is mostly healed, he's doing wonderfully. He won't have to go back to the hospital unless there's a problem but we don't expect any. He can only have softened food for the next two to three weeks then we'll see how he can do with something harder but may always have to have his food soft since he doesn't have any top molars any longer. At least he can eat again!! It was past time for Ben to eat by the time he woke up so fed him at the vet school. He was so cute and didn't quite know what to do. Water only made him shake his head but once he started eating ground and softened Shepard & Green (his previous diet) from my finger, he didn't want to stop. He's still not sure about water and wasn't at all interested in Ferretone. Yet.. He'll only eat from my finger right now or a spoon. I think he doesn't want to get his whiskers wet. If I have to wake him to feed him, he still curls into a tight ball, expecting me to do the feeding. He's having to learn how to eat all over again. Ben had been so bad the last few days during his feedings. He knew it was time for him to eat again and when I'd feed him, he'd keep looking around at the syringe then start backing out of my lap so he could see it better. Of course, we've been counting the days till his tube would come out and I really felt it would be this week. He still "chews" a lot but it could be the skin inside his mouth is pretty tight from all the missing tissue. If he lost his "plug" to the feeding tube once in the last few days, he lost it half a dozen times. I had 3 spares in my pocket when we left home yesterday and by the time we got to Gainesville, about 1.5 hour trip (had to stop and rent a car since my a/c is out), the spares were lost and he was "unplugged". :) He had also opened the hole for the tube last night so it was a matter of time before he pulled it out anyhow. :) I can't say enough about the skills of Dr. Bennett and Dr. Pye. Another vet had stopped in to see Ben and was asking Dr. Bennett if this was a standard procedure he'd performed on Ben. Dr. Bennett said each case is different and Ben is unique because of the small size of his mouth. He "improvised" as he went along. :) I wish Ben hadn't lost more teeth but by making a double flap, it gave Ben a much better chance for the graft to hold. Ben made headlines in the school's newsletter and a comment was made about Ben having a "dime size" hole. Dr. Bennett said it was much larger than dime size and it was. Dr. Bennett is world famous for his skills with exotic animals and has published many papers on all kinds of animals. My heartfelt thanks go out to Dr. Bennett, Dr. Pye and everyone I've encountered at University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine! http://vetmed.ufl.edu/sacs/index.htm We've had a few donations come in that have really helped plus an adorable afghan and day before yesterday I found a box UPS had left at my door that made me laugh. It was a food bowl, a box of FerretBites and a bottle of Ferretone. What timing!! I think I've acknowledged everyone personally but if I haven't, please let me know. Have to admit, I've been rather tired and have had tendinitis flare up in my elbow so haven't been on the computer much. Thank you all so much for caring about this sweet little guy! Jackie [Posted in FML issue 2993]