Our little ferret

Question
Hi Cynthia,
About a month ago my younger sister took in a friends ferret for a week while he was out on vacation. The guy never came back for it, and is currently in Iraq, so we've pretty much taken it in. This isn't a big deal due to the fact that we've already owned one previously and know how to take care of them. However, I'm worried about the health of little Dakota.
When we first got her, my impression was that she was under a year old due to her small size. It turns out that she is well past 2 years old. When we first got her, she rarely got up and about, and hardly ate anything. She wouldn't take any meat, and was so skinny we could count her ribs. We had to cover her ferret food with mayo in our attempts to try to fatten her up a little. Is mayo safe to feed a ferret, btw?
 We finally got her to gain weight and become more active, but she still seems to have problems. She seems a bit unstable on her feet, and we're pretty sure that she's close to blind. Is there any disease that we should keep a heads up for? Or supplements that can help her?
Thanks,
Lisa

Answer
Hello Lisa!

I would not feed a ferret mayo due to the very specific nutritional needs.  Diet can be EVERYTHING with these guys, and a poor diet can lead to many MANY medical problems.  

Always the first thing to check with any weight loss or difficulty eating is her teeth. A chipped/cracked/rotten tooth can cause pain and decrease appetite since it is painful.  There are numerous medical conditions that cause decreases in appetite.  My recommendation is no matter the cause, you should bring her to your veterinarian for a checkup, especially since she is "unstable" on her feet. It could be weakness from not eating enough, or a symptom to an underlying cause.  If it is a medical problem, you should be able to catch it early.  

If you are having difficulty feeding her in the future, one product I recommend is called "Duck Soup".  It does not contain duck... that is only the name!  It is specially formulated for sick ferrets and is very palletable!  They LOVE it.  

You can obtain it in most large pet stores such as Petco.  here is the link:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?familyid=10504&Ntt=duck%20soup&OneResultR...

Also, here is the link to another answer I wrote for somebody about various foods that are ok to feed.  Remember, diet is EVERYTHING and if you are feeding a poor quality food, you are risking the health of your pet!

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Ferrets-2277/2008/6/food-ferrets.htm

I hope this helps!  If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

-Cindy P.