Need advice for a friend, please

[bindiferret89]

A friend of mine from work recently had to help one of her ferrets to the rainbow bridge. He had been suffering a long time with insulinoma and adrenal disease and could not even get out of his hammock anymore to use the litterbox. His cagemate, like most ferrets who have spent the majority of their lives together, was strongly attached to the ferret she had to euthanize. Since it happened over a week ago, the cagemate has stopped eating and drinking on his own, won't play, and is severely depressed.

I went into work to check the schedule today and she explained the situation to me. She's been syringe feeding him chicken baby food every 4 hours for a few days now, including waking herself up in the middle of the night to feed the poor baby and taking him to work to make sure he eats on time. She's such a dedicated mom and she looked so worn out when I saw her today that I offered to take the little fellow off her hands for a few hours until she got off work. I offered to try to get him to eat some raw soup, as that might be more filling, nutritious, and help him put weight on faster than the baby food.

So...a few questions for all you experts:

1) Was I correct in believing raw would be more nutritious, filling, and help him gain weight and muscle back more quickly? (He is bony and emaciated at this point.)

2) I mixed some soup up for my coworker to take home for him based on this recipe: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=raw&action=display&thread=3270

I didn't have ALL the ingredients on hand, but I had most of them and included what I did have. Will this be good for him? I gave her enough for at least a week + the recipe if she wants to make more and a link to that thread.

When I brought the little guy home around 3:30, he ate 5cc of a chicken/chicken liver soup I had around for my kiddos from the syringe, then licked quite a bit out of the bowl I'd poured for him. He seemed to perk up and explored my laundry room, including trying to climb over the barriers I'd put up to keep him from getting behind the washer and dryer. He also pooped after that. Around 4:40 he ate almost 12cc of the recipe I linked above, and then 2cc at 8:30. I assumed he didn't eat more at 8:30 because he was still full and hadn't gone to the bathroom after eating so much earlier in the evening. He really seemed to have more energy after eating a bit though; he looked half dead in his travel cage when she had him at work.

She's taking him to the vet on Monday to have him checked for any other problems, but I'm hoping I gave sound advice to get him through till then because he really hasn't eaten anything since the 2nd or 3rd of August. He's a little off-balance and stumbles a lot when he's walking now, so she's afraid he might have the beginnings of insulinoma, and she is having blood tests done on Monday as well too. I told her to leave some kibble or some soup with him at all times incase it is insulinoma and so he can eat freely if he wants.

[sherrylynne]

It could be insulinoma. It could also be the fact he's weak and depressed. He probably took your soup because it's something different, and that would be a very good sign. If she can get him over this hump, he should be ok.
What he eats right now isn't as important as the fact of getting him eating. And you're right- the raw is far more nutritious for him. He'll be able to pull more nutrients out of less food than if he were to be eating kibble, or even chicken baby food. The one you have here is good too holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gen&action=display&thread=3284 I'd just add some heart to it.
I do hope her little one will be ok. They will quite literally starve themselves to death if allowed. Their grief is that deep. Please tell her we are pulling for her, and for him!

[spiritualtramp]

I've been following her thread on FV, hoping he'd pick up. Thanks for taking him in to help him, and I'm happy he took to your soup. Hopefully it'l help get him back on track. My guess is it's mostly grief and not insulinoma, but that's not to say that depression can't bring out an underlying illness. It does in people too. I hope he continues to eat soups and that the vet trip goes okay, give Jes and the wee one a hug.

[Heather]

Poor wee thing, and poor momma...she doesn't need to loose the little one to grief so soon after loosing her other furbaby.
It's so hard when they decide to do this. My little Mischief decided that he just couldn't live without his new friend, my little Pandora. That is why I have Napoleon. You could tell her to try rescue remedy, it's very good for grief. I would take him to the vet to rule out any physical problems but ferrets can and do grieve so hard that they will leave to follow their mates to the bridge. It's one of the reasons why I started leaving the deceased ferret with his friends for a couple of hours so they can come to terms with their grief. I've had less issues since adopting this method. It doesn't take it away. Lady "B" is still grieving the loss of her Attila and cannot seem to find a sleep mate but at least it's not life threatening. The rest of the business is trying to help her through it
The change in diet would probably do him good but because there is no calcium that he may get some loose poopies. I would strongly suggest adding ground egg shell to that mix and maybe some pumpkin. He's not had much food for several days and sometimes too much of a good thing can upset their tummies.
Good luck
ciao