skinny old ferret barely eating

Question
I've owned ferrets since 1988. I have one now that was given to me, so it's history is questionable, except that she's 10 + yrs. I was told she only eats banana baby food. Well, I have managed to experiment with so many different things. I bring out 2 plates at all times of the day with so many choices for her. We are 2.5 hours to any vet besides dog/cat/horses.  Walmart is our only food source. I am very well aware of the do's and dont's of what to feed them but this was is by far the pickiest. I feel no turmors, I am very aware of their anatomy and diseases and their symtoms, and social disorders. She does have seperation anxiety, but was kept in a shed in AZ. REDICULOUS! I allow her to roam in my room and the hall and one bathroom, along with my other two ferrets who are extremely sensitive to her age and definately mother hen her. I used to let mine sleep outside, weather permitted, in a very large cage, but she will bite the cage, pace, and it's all I can do to peel her off me. So I just can't do that to her. Back to her main problem, if it is age, and she's still having BM's and potties, I figure she's getting "some" food in her. Anything I can get her to eat is always something of nutritional value, but I have to hold her and let her "lick" the food off my finger. I have "NO" problems having time to do this. I live for my daughter and all of my animals. The list of things I've tried to feed her is too long. But if you can think of ANYTHING that might work PLEASE HELP US.  Erica and "Tessy".  P.S. She is still as active as she was when I received her, which was approx. 5 mos. ago, same goes for being skinny and picky, I just assumed once I got her into a "ferret friendly environment" that she'd take a few steps forward, rather than back.  Thank you SO much for any help. Erica and "Tessy".

Answer
HI Erica & Tessy:

Thanks so much for writing - what an interesting case you have here! What a strong willed little survivor she must have been to survive her previous life and THANK GOD she found her way to you and you are now taking care of her. Bless you for that!!

I am concerned about her food, as I understand that you are also. Just remember that anything that is not MEAT is not food to a ferret, which explains why she is skinny if she is eating only baby food bananas. I wonder if you could try some baby food chicken or turkey with a LITTLE bananas mixed in (to try to fool her nose) at first and try to work towards getting her over onto a diet of baby food meats. Another friend of mine has a ferret who will eat ONLY baby food chicken and noodle dinner - you might want to try that one also. Again, the chicken is the only thing that her body will get any nourishmentment from.

Ferrets do not have a caecum, which is required to digest any kind of vegetable or fruit - period.  This explains why she is skinny. If she is eating only fruit, she is basically starving. I'm amazed that (IF) she is really 10 years old or if she just looks that old because of her diet. A good meaty diet may fill her out and make her look and play like a 4 year old (you might be surprised!). Again, stick to the baby food meats, warm them slightly and finger feed them to her (mixed with a little banana IF she must have it...just remember the banana is as nutritious as, say, newspaper is to her).  

I am concerned especially because of the most recent discovery that insulinoma is caused specifically by sugars - ANY kind of sugars; which means anything that ends in "ose" such as fructose (fruit sugars), etc.  Ferrets who never receive any form of sugar never develop insulinoma. I worry - what IF she is younger, horribly malnourished (verrrrry possible that you were lied to since she was in such horrible physical condition) and basically starving OR that she is developing insulinoma (which WILL require a vet to treat it - even I wouldn't try to treat it without a vet's help).

Considering your distance from a vet, I think the best plan of action here is to try to get her over onto a baby food meat diet, starting with bananas in with it, then SLOWLY cutting down the bananas and increasing the meat until she will eat the meat by itself. This will probably take a LOT of fingerfeeding and patience, which it sounds like you have, thank God.  Try to catch her BEFORE she gets into anything that is "free fed" so you know exactly what she has eaten and that she has an appetite to help get the meat/banana mixture down.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks you can have her over onto a pure meat diet. Chicken and turkey of course are best.  You may find it in other forms and puree it and feed it to her also, which may save a lot of $$ once she gets where she is eating the meat. She *should* be eating the equivalent to a whole jar of baby food at least four times a day. That could get expensive, but you will see a huge difference in her body mass, energy level and attitude also.

If you are giving fruits to your other ferrets you may want to reconsider that also at this time and make sure they get over onto a meat and meat byproducts diet only, which will be really good for them and is like a life insurance policy for their later years in life. Bad diet now almost ensures great illness later and later usually comes earlier in ferrets who are not fed a meaty diet. You may even want to consider taking a high protein kitten chow and put it in a blender until it is powdered, then daily scoop just a small amount and add water to it to make a healthy snack. Here is the list of recommended foods for ferrets - if you can't get them at Walmart, you CAN get them at many many places online (that's what I do because I'm rather rural also) and have them shipped to you.

  http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html

You can see there are a few foods (kitten foods) that are probably available at Walmart that are within the suggested (recommended you use only the "10"'s and "9's" on the chart and ignore anything lower on the scale). Hopefully that will help also.

I would also recommend (for a treat) Ferretone, which is a liquid they will LOVE once they get a good taste of it they ALL love it. It's especially good for them and supplies important vitamins they need. Mix 1/2 with olive oil and you can give them up to 1/2 tsp per day safely (don't want to overdose on vits A and D).

I think changing this little girl's diet will make a HUGE difference overall and you will be shocked in how different she will look AND act (because she feels better!) once she is established on a good diet.

Thanks so much for writing. If there is anything else I didn't cover, please don't hesitate to write again.  And I hope you will update me and let me know how she gets along on her new meaty diet. Tell her "Aunty Jacquie said to EAT THIS and you will feel all better!!"  LOL  Maybe that will help :-)   Please do update me?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers