All meat baby food as a suppliment?

[Lynxie]

One of my ferrets (Lestat) has really bad teeth. I mean /really/ bad. Like I need to bring him to the vet asap to have them looked at.

In the mean time, I'm trying to figure out things he can eat. He can chew through chunks of raw meat - it just takes him forever, and it looks like he is having difficulty. I found some all meat baby food (Beech Nut Stage 1 - the only ingredients in their meat ones are the meat and the same meat broth). Would it be alright to supplement what he eats with this until I can get him to a vet and get his teeth looked at? Any other ideas?

[horse656]

you could also do soups. that would work also.

[Heather]

Try using a ground raw, either your own mix or a commercial. That would be my suggestion over using baby food. Baby food is missing too many nutrients that ferrets need. It's ok to use for end of life situations or the very sick but not for regular use. Napoleon who has terrible teeth (the vet and I have come to the conclusion that sometimes you can do everything right but you can't beat genetics ) he eats ground raw, quite comfortably. He also eats whole gibbies which is good for him as it still gives his jaws and what teeth he has left a good work out.
ciao

[3kaw]

I have one who only has baby food chicken and broth. She's pretty sick and she seems to be able to digest this much better then any raw.
I read somewhere that a ferret can go 6months on baby food alone (dont rememeber where) so for a little while he should be good.
But I second the duck soup works good too, and could have some suppliments like egg shell added to it.

[Heather]

There does come a point when a sick ferret will no longer digest raw and baby food is the food to feed. I believe it was the Miami ferret site or one of the other medical ones that stated you could feed a ferret baby food for about 6 months without too much problems. I also agree with that statement as I've had a couple of ferrets with lymphosarcomas that have survived that long while eating baby food. Usually I have cooked up baby food that is more geared to ferrets than skin kids before the 6 months is up though. I do most definitely agree with your statement though, that with sick ferrets they do often digest the cooked foods better. It takes energy to digest food and raw food takes even more, even though they're designed to eat raw. A sick ferret needs that energy just to keep going, so by cooking you're actually aiding the digestive process that is probably not working at it's peak anyway. My concern is this is a healthy ferret with bad teeth, so I would feed a raw grind before resorting to baby food. At this point they're still digesting their food they're just not chewing it very well. I only use baby food when I have to syringe feed and need to push fluids in. That of course is just the way I do it
ciao

[goingpostal]

Why not use a quality canned cat food instead? Something grain free, I use Evo as main base for soups for my crew since I feed my cat it and there's always some handy. Or the ground raw like Heather suggested, both would be a better diet than human baby food.

[sherrylynne]

I'd definitely go for either the ground, or pureed, raw soup.

[rarnold18]

I'd go with the ground raw and if necessary add some water to make it more soupy, easier to lap up...I would also add some ground egg shell so the poo's aren't too soft or liquidy

[pastelsummer]

i use baby food in my soups with pumpkin. BUT if i can get ground meat then i would use that instead for a healthy ferret for a sick boy like mine was babyfood and pumkin works but try to get ground and mix with water to make it easier to eat

[kainslie]

Hmm, maybe i'm missing something...

but if you have bad teeth is it because of Periodontal Disease? If so, shouldn't you just get a dental and then start on whole foods? since that's whats cleaning the teeth? Ground will just make the problem worse since you are not getting the cleaning action that comes with raw...

[sherrylynne]

She is taking him to the vet. But she needs something he can eat in the interim that's not going to be causing him a lot of pain.

[kainslie]

Oh okay. I was a little confused.

[katt]

In addition to the eggshell, pumpkin and flax seed help to firm up the poops too.

[sherrylynne]

Pumpkin is definitely a good idea. I'd be careful with flax, though. Only a little is plenty, and some ferrets have a bit of a reaction to it, in that it can make them really itchy.