Hi all, Debi Christy brought up a very good point concerning vet clinics that not many people realize. When you take your ferret to the vet, and the animal is kept overnight, is there anyone there with him/her? Not all clinics have 24 hr. staff. I've noticed several posts where the owners stated the vet was taking their little one home with THEM for the night. That is a really great thing, but in all my years of working with vets, I have never seen it happen where I have worked. Perhaps in smaller, rural clinics? Anyhow, it has taken me some bit of time and effort to get the ferrets at my clinic to recieve overnight attention, but it is a very important point. Meds and feedings are much better metabolized with our little guys on a round-the-clock schedule than from 8-5. Excellent point brought up. What are other clinic schedules like with your ferret? A good thing for every owner to look into. There is a difference between assisted feeding and FORCE feeding. Offering a food on a spoon or dribbling some on a ferrets tongue is not the same as cramming a syringe down a throat while scruffing. Ferrets are one animal that seems to respond to frequent "attention" from it's owner to get it to eat when it feels ill. I've had ferrets that would not eat ANYTHING, and would eat within 24 hrs. after some simple attention and coaxing first with a finger, then a spoon, then to a bowl, etc. But you'd be suprised how many ferret owners are out there that don't realize this and will bring their ferrets in with a 30% or greater weight loss because they've been off their kibble for week! I'm very excited about the work our vets are doing with total parenteral nutrition...been used in dogs and cats for liver and panc. disease for years now, but is showing promise with some of our ECE and chronic bowel cases lately. With TPN, the idea is the intestines and digestive organs get a rest, and don't have to work metabolizing food and can just concentrate on "repair". All of the ferrets nutrients are delivered in a STEADY stream right to the bloodstream, so there is no bouncing of glucose levels, etc. Pretty neat stuff! Got a question....Colin, my 3 yr old, has recently started sucking on anything bearing a jean texture...almost looks like a horse cribbing or windsucking. He'll grab a hold and arch his neck, and do this for 10 mins or more. (which is a really long time for him). Anyone else have experience with this? He's also one of my ones who's gained a LOT of weight lately. I've recently started (2 mos) feeding TF exclusively, and he really LIKES it, I guess! Michele & the gang [Posted in FML issue 3029]