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Post by jadewolf on Jul 7, 2011 14:16:28 GMT -5
Apologies, this will be a quick post as I run out the door to work, but I'd love some help on what to do for my new girl, Minnie. We got her Monday, and Tuesday she got very sick. I've got the medical side of it under control, but she's clearly very, very unhappy. She's in a new place, with new people and ferrets she's only known for a couple days, and almost every time I come near her it's to put disgusting meds in her or give subq fluids. I'm trying to come over to just be near her or pet her, but the meds are 4x/day, so I can't be there 12 times a day so it's more positive than negative experiences.
It took weeks for our other ferrets to come to trust and like me, and I'm worried that Minnie is really depressed. She's not eating on her own and fights syringe feeding. Any suggestions on anything I can do to make her less miserable? I've let her out of the sick cage to have roam of the room, thinking at least more interesting scenery might help. It means a lot of playing "find the diarrhea" for me, yay. Any help apprecciated.
Jen
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Post by Sherry on Jul 7, 2011 14:49:04 GMT -5
Rescue remedy and treats, if you can find something she likes. That way it's not just nasties coming from hands. Try massages after the meds, basically just gentle handling when you are able to.
Poor baby girl! Hopefully, once this course of meds is over, you can start making it up to her.
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Post by Heather on Jul 7, 2011 16:11:42 GMT -5
Sherry's right. It's about all you can do, and yes it does take them longer to warm up to you because you're always doing horrible things to them  She will start to warm up to you better once you stop poking her all the time, especially when all you're doing is feeding and snuggling her in a bit. It's going take time. These little ones are often the ones that you find yourself closest to, because they require personal care to bring them around Good luck, how's your other little sicky doing, he wasn't doing well either? ciao |
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Post by jadewolf on Jul 7, 2011 22:03:53 GMT -5
Thanks Sherry and Heather. I would love to find a treat she likes. Monday she loved Evo kibble (I'm just starting to add raw to their diets), since she got sick it's a sniff and she turns her head away. No to Wysong pheasant freezedried, and soup, and Nupro soup, and ferretone(!). I'm going to try Bandits in desperation. I've also just made a batch of chicken and egg soup, so at least it's super-nutritious what little I do get into her. And I'm going to see tomorrow if my grocery co-op carries the animal Rescue Remedy, if not I'll order it online.
And Will, my other sick boy, is starting to show a bit of improvement (knocks wood furiously). He was much more alert today, but his stool is still horrible and he's still a chore to get food in.
Jen
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Post by Sherry on Jul 7, 2011 22:37:39 GMT -5
Even before using those treats, try some oils. Fish oil, Extra virgin olive oil, even ferretone. It needs to be something that she would REALLY like, and normally would either not get it much(only special occasions), or only get a couple times a week. Right now, you could pretty much give it once a day or so.
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Post by Heather on Jul 7, 2011 22:43:43 GMT -5
My vet and I discussed this sudden turn off of foods that they liked when they get sick. She wonders, because they're so intellegent and that they fixate food (become stuck on certain foods) that they associate the food with being sick. This means that we're fighting a double battle. They only eat certain foods and once becoming sick and associating their illness, and the nasty meds that they're given with their foods means that trying to get them back on their regular diet is often very difficult if not impossible. Yuri decided he would far sooner starve to death than go back to eating his regular diet. We've started, very slowly to work him back towards eating his raw diet. At the moment, though he will now eat raw food off a spoon, he will not chew anything. She thinks that this may actually be a defence mechanism that would have done very well for them in the wild....if they eat a food and it makes them sick, then they don't eat it again.
This isn't any study, or facts just part of a conversation that seemed to make some logical sense as even cats will go back to eating their regular diet and dogs don't really seem to care. Ferrets on the other hand will often refuse at considerable lengths to eat the foods that they were fed when they got sick
ciao
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Post by Sherry on Jul 7, 2011 22:45:05 GMT -5
Or like Boris and the ferretone that I used for the metro. He won't go near it now.
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Post by Heather on Jul 7, 2011 23:03:46 GMT -5
Exactly
ciao
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Post by jadewolf on Jul 8, 2011 8:31:49 GMT -5
Heather, I was thinking exactly the same thing about going off food that they think made them sick. It was lightning fast, one day Will loved soup and the next he was trying to run away from it. The new girl, Minnie, didn't like our soup to begin with, little brat, and we had no time to ease her into it.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 8, 2011 9:27:52 GMT -5
For now, just keep giving them whatever they WILL eat, and worry about soup or anything else later on.
I know Minnie's not eating willingly right now. Have you tried meat baby food with her? Or even whatever kibble she'd been on previously?
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Post by melcab on Jul 8, 2011 11:34:59 GMT -5
Also, Whole Foods carries Rescue Remedy and so does Canine Mastery in Seakonk. Make sure it's the pet version, there's a pet and a human version  Not sure if it's cheaper online than Whole Foods though, sorry. |
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Post by jadewolf on Jul 8, 2011 13:49:20 GMT -5
Rescue Remedy acquired, pet version without alcohol. Now I just need to get it in her! I'm kind of worried about how long she can keep going like this. Do I try to get soup into her every 4 hours, possibly stressing her out even more?
Things I have tried:
soup from ground Evo, like she got at the shelter
soup from ground chicken and an egg
the exact kibble mix that they use at the shelter
the Evo kibble that she loved on Monday
Nupro commercial soup mix
ferretone
fish oil
Wysong freeze-dried pheasant
Spoke with my vet this AM, and she didn't really have anything beyond keep trying to get the soup into Minnie. I'm thinking I'll stop trying new things all the time and stick with the chicken and egg soup, as the most nutritious. I also think her stomach hurts, so the vet is sending me some carafate since my supply is almost gone. But I gave her carafate two hours ago, just tried soup again, and she wouldn't even swallow, just clenched her jaw.
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Post by melcab on Jul 8, 2011 14:26:24 GMT -5
Chicken baby food? Mine go nuts for that. I have absolutely no experience with sick ferrets and only 1.5 months experience with well ferrets, but it's just something that's not on your list so thought I'd mention it. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2011 14:33:03 GMT -5
Temperature also, some like their soup warm. I put the dish in a pan of hot water until the food is warm.
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Post by Heather on Jul 8, 2011 14:36:41 GMT -5
I would sit down and decide which one you want to fight for and force her to eat it. It's not a good proposition but the only one you've got. Whatever you choose make sure you can use a syringe (the baby food that I make for my guys doesn't fit well in the syringe so for me the regular heinz baby food would be the one I would be using) You've got the kibbles that she had at the shelter? was she actually eating it? Put that in the cage with her to free eat (I know she's not but who knows...Yuri started eating the kibbles so that's what he's getting) Do you have a couple of different kibbles, it doesn't matter really at this point any garbage will do, mix it if you've got some. If she wants one or the other she will pick it out.
What is she on as far as antibiotics? Could she now have set herself up for an ulcer at this point. There may have been just enough stress to set her up for one, or she could have been already brewing for one. That's the problem with shelter ferts. Little Mischief, was healthy or appeared to be healthy until I got him home. It was like one more different place, they took his friend away (I didn't know this at the time) and unfortunately, they never clued in either. It wasn't until Pandora passed (Mischief snuggled to her and was coming around) and I found myself fighting for his life that I realized just how sick he was. Later, after he passed a little silver fuzz, who looked just like Pandy came to live with me, I found out that little Zena had been Mischief's cagemate (talk about complete circle), but because someone had wanted her, basically as they brought that rescue through the door, they split them up. Unfortunately, shelters, like petstores (and no I'm not lumping them together) often don't take into consideration partnerships that are formed both when they come in and friendships that are made while they're at the shelter. This causes immeasureable stress too. I'm not saying that some shelters don't take this into consideration, they do, but sometimes they're not in a position to consider what might appear to be a casual friendship while actually there is a much deeper bond.
Good luck, please keep us posted. I hope that she starts eating some kind of food willingly as it is very stressful to both you and her
ciao
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She will start to warm up to you better once you stop poking her all the time, especially when all you're doing is feeding and snuggling her in a bit. It's going take time. These little ones are often the ones that you find yourself closest to, because they require personal care to bring them around