My ferret is picky.

Question
QUESTION: I cannot seem to get my ferret to eat his own kibble anymore. He turns his nose up at it and goes straight to my dogs dish. The dog is small, and so he is able to reach the bowl wherever she can because he is an excellent climber.
Ive tried switching his food brand, and he still goes to the dog bowl.

I know this can lead to starvation, and he isnt as plump as he used to be. Do you have any ideas at all?

ANSWER: First off, your dog food needs to be OFF LIMITS to your ferret, dog food has certain ingredients in it that will harm your ferret. As far as your ferret's own food is concerned, it may be that the brand changed it's formula; this is not uncommon, the best way to guard against this is to mix two different kinds of food together to feed your ferret, this way if anything changes, you have one to fall back on. Try getting him some different brands of high quality ferret food and see if he'll eat any of those. If not, you may have to resort to feeding him some ferret food mixed with Duck Soup or A/D (found in the ferret aisle at your pet store, the A/D can be picked up from your vet). Follow the instructions and mix half Duck Soup or A/D with half ferret food; slowly ween off the Soup or A/D until it's only ferret food. Ferrets usually love the Duck soup/A/D, so this will get him eating again and he'll get used to the ferret food in the process.

Don't let him eat the dog food, watch him very closely to make sure he's eating. A ferret will starve themself rather than eat food they don't like, so it's very important he is eating his own food.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First of all, Id like to thank you. He has a taste for kibble again and the duck soup has got him almost to a normal size.

I was also wondering, he really likes to play in water but I dont want to dry out his skin so I dont let him have baths very often.
So. Is it still technically a 'bath' if I dont soap him up?

Answer
You are very welcome, it's my pleasure to help other fuzzie lovers out. Wow, you are very lucky to have a ferret that actually LIKES water! Most ferrets abhor the very thought of being wet. You are right, baths dry out a ferret's skin and cause a ferret to smell more. However, if soap or shampoo is NOT involved, it should be fine for your ferret to enjoy water-only baths once a week or so. If his fur or skin feels dry to you, just limit his baths, but it should be ok if it's water only. Enjoy!