7 year old blind ferret not eating much

[horseyliz]

I adopted a 7 year old blind ferret who does not seem to be eating very much. I am trying to give her mushed up cat food on my finger-which she liked off. i named her cookie. I do not know what her previous owner fed her. I am just hoping she is just adjusting to her new environment and have a hard time finding the food. I plan on keeping her seperated and syringe/hand feeding her till she is eating on her own.

I'm not sure but she may have eaten liver last night. She was up in the area of the cage with the liver, while moo and mocha were in the bottom. But i was a sleep when it was eaten.

[Heather]

Why don't you make her a raw soupy and just start feeding her that? Babushka is blind, and she gets around very well (busted leg and all) They've got very keen sense of smell that can get them around most times. It sounds to me that she's heavily imprinted on whatever kibble her previous owner may have had, you're going to have to get her to switch (you don't know what she was eating before) so just switch her to raw. I forget the methods that we worked on but they will work for her. You'd be amazed at what she may be able to do once you get her switched over. I know I was stunned at the different ferret that I got. One thing to consider too, unless she has cataracts, if her food was very low in taurine, she will go blind. Babushka has had some of her eyesite returned (ferrets don't see real well anyway) and the only thing I can think of is the amount of taurine that she would be getting from her raw diet.
It's just a thought
ciao

[horseyliz]

alright i will do that. She is drinking on her own and she has found the litter box. I gave her chicken baby food in a syringe this morning and she did not like it at all at first. As soon as she is eating it on her own i will add meat.

[Heather]

I've had a couple of ferrets who have come in that are heavily imprinted on their previous food. Unfortunately, it always seems to be the ones on the worst foods that are that way Mad Max, Mayhem, Mischief and little Zena were all fed dog food by their previous owner. I had a terrible time with them. At that time I usually started them on kibbles and then switched them over to raw a little later after they became familiar with their new surroundings. They were the first group that I decided that if I was going to fight with them about the kibbles they were eating then they might as well do the whole switch and eat raw when they came through the door. Which is what happened to Loki, Odin and Thor who were eating Count Chocula for their kibbles
Good luck, I'm sure you will do well
ciao

[horseyliz]

cookie and my newest addition, Sundae, are eating sundae's marshall ferret food at least for right now. And All four girls are getting along.

[Heather]

Wooo hoo ferret math is attacking your household big time Congratulations .
Well you've got 50% of the battle won, everyone gets along. That goes a long way to winning the battle. Now you just have to convince them that marshals food is
ciao

[horseyliz]

And i am supost to meet a lady who is getting rid of two some time too. I am going to go slow, but i already know sundae eats hot dogs.

[sherrylynne]

Um- I really woudn't be giving them hot dogs. They have so much salt, and chemicals, they're not good for us, let alone the poor fuzzies
I also don't think I'd want to give some poor, unsuspecting animal a product that has been found not to change much at all, even after being in the dump for over 20 years .
Yeah, they(scientists) did a study, where they checked to see what was happening with the things in a dump, and found hot dogs basically looked the same after 20 years. Scary stuff!

[spiritualtramp]

Oh, Sherry, that bit of info makes my stomach churn. Bleh!

Good luck horseyliz with the new additions and the switch. With patience they'll get off the Marshall's, but for now at least Cookie is eating something, which is important.

[sherrylynne]

Aren't I just the font of wonderful, useless, and disgusting information

[spiritualtramp]

Yes. It's why I love you, though. Well, mostly.

[horseyliz]

i did not know they were so bad. I just gave her one tiny peice.

[horseyliz]

I have been mixing in ground cooked beef with their kibble. They are all eating. Cokie refued to eat when i mixed water into the kibble but she does eat the meat when mixed. The meat was cooked because i made it for the dog and he hates raw meat.

[sherrylynne]

I wouldn't worry about one small piece. A number of people aren't aware of what's actually in them, so thought I should mention it.