Rescued Ferrets

[Aurora]

So today I went to the pet store to unload the remainder of my rat breeding colonies. When I went in the manager asked me if I would take two Ferrets for free! I told her I didn't have room to take on any more animals right now and then I saw the condition they were in.

A guy had dropped them of a couple weeks ago and they were severely underweight and the situation was not improving. She said they were continuing to become weaker and weren't eating right and they needed a home with more one on one attention, that they had been waiting for us to come in. You know my wife couldn't resist taking them out and the situation has become much worse. The smaller of the two is smaller around than a toddlers wrist, and the larger seemed to be dead when we took him out, than had what appeared to be a small seizure. I believe although cannot say with certainty that these little ones are over a year, at least!

So now I am offering them wet food like you would a baby and plenty of water. We gave them baths and cleaned out there ears, I'll have to clip nails later I don't want to stress them to bad! If anyone has any advice, I sure would appreciate it, any food I can give them to help put on weight, or anything I need to give them to keep them from having any other additional problems! I am not sure at this point if they will make it, only time will tell. I'll see about getting some pics up in the next couple of days.

[katiadarling]

Oh, how sad. Thank you (and you're wife) for taking them in! When one of my ferrets had lymphoma (she's passed on now) we made a mixture of chicken baby food, ensure (human supplement drink) and some ground up ferret food (Totally Ferret is "supposed" to be the best brand). Basically we mixed that all together and warmed it up some. I've heard that you can feed just chicken baby food for a while to get the weight back up...

I've also heard of raw meat diets being fed to ferrets, but haven't actually tried it. If you did want to try, I would think that some of the higher end raw dog and cat foods would work...

I did a quick search and found Ferret Fanciers of Greater Milwaukee (www.ffgm.net), they might be a good resource. Anyway, best of luck! I really hope they pull through. Thanks again for being such caring people!

[Aurora]

Thanks for the help! Sad isn't the word for it, I have rescued and rehomed many animals over the last 10yrs or so and these little fellas are the worst I've ever seen! Thanks for the advice and I will contact FFGM!

[The Snake Guru]

Best of luck with that man....I'm no good with furry critters.

~B~

[katiadarling]

Yeah, unfortunately way too many people get ferrets without knowing anything about them. They get sick easily with excellent care... with not so great care.. well they don't really have a chance. Poor guys.

[Lorelei]

That's awful! Try giving them Nutrical - its a very nutritious, concentrated high calorie paste (beef flavored usually).

[Aurora]

That's awful! Try giving them Nutrical - its a very nutritious, concentrated high calorie paste (beef flavored usually).

Where can I get it?

We have a lot of work ahead of us. The bigger of the two bit Nicole this evening and put a tooth through her thumbnail. They don't seem very socially developed, on the plus side there were no problems with our other ferret, they all seemed to get along ok.

[katiadarling]

You might be able to find Nutrical at a normal pet store (Petco, Petsmart... whatever). Otherwise many vets carry it. It is possible to give too much, so be careful to follow the directions on the tube.

[burmlover16]

nutrical works wonders with kittens and puppies! it helps to up their appetite alot which would add in gaining weight. i'm not too good with ferrets but from what we have done with kittens nutrical helps a lot!

good luck with these two i hope they turn out well!

[Lorelei]

Our local Petco carries it - good luck with them! You can usually find it by the kitten/puppy formulas and such.

[Swordsman]

Sorry to hear about the poor condition of the ferrets. I had one that had gotten sick and lost weight. After the illness, I used peanut butter to put weight back on her. I would feed her a small spoon full once a day. It worked for me but you may want to ask a vet for some advice.

They can get sick from just about anything. They can contract viruses from people and vice versa. The common cold and flue is one of them.

Good luck with them and I hope they pull through for you!


:fencing:

[Aurora]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I contacted Ferret Fanciers of Greater Milwaukee and I'm waiting to here back from them about anything else I may need to do for them. Hopefully all turns out well, I'll keep ya all updated!

[NorthernRegius.com]

I had missed this post. Here's some links that may help...
Food comp. chart (just because it has a ferret on the bag doesn't make it good food). -
http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html
And this site has it all incl. what to feed sick ferrets to get them strong again. -
http://www.all-about-ferrets.com/

[Aurora]

Thank you much! One is making a very good recovery, the other well we are hoping for the best.