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Post by mjohn143 on Nov 17, 2009 19:36:09 GMT -5
Hey! I have 2 ferrets: Beatrice (6) and Badger (1 or 2?). I grew up with many many pets and with people who love animals. However, Beatrice was my first ferret ever. I got her about a year ago bc her previous owner could not keep her. I have unfortunately been mislead about diets and other info from the former owner and my vet! Beatrice was diagnosed with insulinoma and I am devastated and just at a loss. Surgery is really not something I can afford as I am a college student. Plus Beatrice is pretty small for a ferret and her age worried me with surgery. Never would I have thought I could love something so much! I'm really upset because since her diagnosis I was instructed to give her Nutri-Cal 3x/day, which I learned is TERRIBLE! I am afraid Beatrice won't convert to raw food bc she is so old and has always been fed Marshalls (though I JUST changed to ZuPreem because I "heard" it was much better). I also want to prevent my younger fluffy from getting this horrible disease if possible! So if anyone has any concise info PLS let me know bc I am so exhausted from searching the Internet only to find everything contradicting everything else.
Thank you so much!
Maddy
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Post by Heather on Nov 17, 2009 23:55:01 GMT -5
Hi and welcome I'm so sorry for your little girl, Beatrice. Though you have to deal with a horrible disease you can still give her some excellent quality of life. With proper medical assistance from your vet and maybe a partial switch to a more species appropriate diet you could have more snuggling time with your little one without surgery (which for this particular disease can actually be detrimental). Don't knock yourself, we make the best choices we can with the information we have  Prowl this site, ask questions there is tons of information here and some really friendly informative people who are more than willing to help you make the best of the time you will have with your little one. If you're really serious about trying to switch your little girl and want some one on one support check out our mentoring section. They can help you switch both your little furbabies. I hope that I will be seeing you around and reading about your little ones. ciao |
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 18, 2009 0:21:05 GMT -5
Hi and welcome! I'm sorry to hear about your little Beatrice, Maddie. But Heather is right. Medication(prednisolone) is a good one for insulinoma, to help regulate her blood sugars. That, and a good diet, and constant access to food will also go a long way to helping her. Please feel free to browse, ask questions, and join in. I'm looking forward to hearing more about both Beatrice and Badger, and seeing some pics  |
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Post by mjohn143 on Nov 19, 2009 13:19:19 GMT -5
Thank you both for the support and advice. I actually just filled out the HF Mentor post. Switching is something I would really like to get started with ASAP because it just does not seem like Beatrice has been in good spirits lately and I really feel like this will help.
I did get some organic baby food and the ingredients were only ground turkey w/ turkey broth. I did offer it to them and tried the syringe but the just looked highly offended. At the grocery store I also bought a tray of chicken gizzards and hearts (because Idk about bones being okay or what not?). I have not tried it yet because I'm really not sure what to do. I tried placing one in front of them both, but again they seemed insulted.
I would post some pictures but for some reason I can't figure it out! lol
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 19, 2009 23:34:01 GMT -5
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Post by mjohn143 on Nov 20, 2009 20:37:31 GMT -5
Thank you Sherrylynn! So I should just keep on offering it to them? The reason I'm using baby food is because I was told to give Beatrice Nutri-cal 3x/day and that was how I gave her prednasone (by putting the crushed pill in a syringe with Nutri-cal). Without the Nutri-cal to camouflage the pill it is nearly impossible to give to her! I was hoping the baby food could be a substitute.
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Post by ferretdroogies on Nov 20, 2009 20:56:07 GMT -5
Is your vet able to compound the pred for you with a flavor? If not, here's the post I did about getting your ferrets meds compounded online! holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=medicine&action=display&thread=4076 I have heard the banana, molasses, and chicken flavors are well accepted! As far as the baby food, have you tried putting a little in their mouth or on their nose to lick off? Ferrets unfortunately judge things by smell, so if they don't recognize the smell as food, they will usually reject it.  Sometimes if they actually taste it, they end up loving it! If they still don't like it, you can try other meat baby food "flavors" such as chicken, beef, pork, etc. If they don't like them still (my guys don't like meat baby food in ANY flavor), don't worry about it. It would make introducing raw much easier, but there are many ways to do that using what they do like. Hope this helps |
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Post by mjohn143 on Nov 21, 2009 13:42:32 GMT -5
THank you, ferretdroogies! I will definitely look into that bc my vet doesn't do anything like that. He told me to give it to her with grape jelly, but I don't think she needs more sugars. I LOVE your profile pic btw, they are all so precious!
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 22, 2009 1:09:14 GMT -5
Yup! Just keep dabbing some on her nose, so she has to lick it off. She'll get the taste for it if you do it often enough, and then she'll take it from your finger, then a spoon, then dive into a dish all on her own Is there any way you can find a ferret savvy vet? If yours told you to give grape jelly.... |
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Post by ferretdroogies on Nov 22, 2009 1:33:01 GMT -5
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Post by mjohn143 on Nov 22, 2009 8:16:36 GMT -5
I KNOW!! Unfortunately I live in Cartersville, GA (small town north of Atlanta) and he is the only vet that even sees ferrets in the area. I guess I will need to search for someone in the metro-Atlanta area. It really blew my mind once I learned everything he has been telling me is a contradiction to what I should be doing. It is unfortunate because he has been such a good vet to all of are other animals, but I will def start to look.
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 22, 2009 20:44:17 GMT -5
Do you think he'd be willing to work with another vet via email? If he does- it may solve some problems for you. Find a vet farther away, and see your original one for the basics. If you have an emergency, if he'd work with them via phone or email, he could still competently treat your ferret.
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Post by Heather on Nov 23, 2009 0:04:39 GMT -5
The last 2 vets that I have had have worked that way. Up here in Canada ferrets aren't the big pet that they are in the US, so vets don't get to work with them very often and the really good ferret vets are in the big city centers. My vets usually make use Guelph teaching college where the vets are trained. Here they can get online assistance in dealing with the various problems that plague ferrets and they can get their answers in real time. I've been in office chatting with both my vet and the teachers at the college when dealing with issues.
ciao
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Post by mjohn143 on Nov 23, 2009 10:04:19 GMT -5
Thanks guys, I'll do that! I really appreciate all this help and I am so glad I found this site and am able to learn all this stuff about my fuzzies. I actually have another question, if you guys have any advice for this... I signed up for the HFM, but there is a wait. However, I don't really want to wait on transitioning Beatrice so I have been working on it at home. I did get her to willingly eat baby food  so thats promising. But I am not getting progress with the meat... actually they wont even touch their food unless I pick out pieces of kibble and feed it to them. I started by cutting up a few small pieces of meat and mixing it in a baggie with the kibble and then pouring it in their food dishes. I mean their is really hardly any meat, but they won't even eat from the bowl and I know they are hungry! My question is if I am using the wrong kind of meat. I picked up chicken hearts and gizzards because they were cheap (and I heard there would be a lot wasted in the beginning) and they looked easier to cut up and mix in. Idk if maybe the smell is turning them off of it or what. Does anyone know a good meat to start with, or what has been successful?? |
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Post by ccretarolo on Nov 23, 2009 14:57:18 GMT -5
Hearts are a great starter meat. I would honestly hold off on the gizzards until she's more comfortable with chewing.
The way I went about switching Mogli was by using a raw meat soup. If you puree chicken hearts, eggshells, and a very small amount of liver (one liver per week), you can mix that with baby food to make it more appealing to her. As she starts eating the soup on her own, you can just gradually make it thicker until there are small chunks in the soup. After that, you should be able to just start giving her chunks without the soup.
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. 
The vet I work for ask me once if ferrets were omnivores 
