Food Problems

Question
Hello. My family currently has four ferrets and have had one previously (who unfortunately died of old age). We have had ferrets for approximately 6 years now and have become a part of the family. We have fed them the same food all throughout our ferret owning years. However, two of our ferrets are now sick and show signs of loss of appetite, weight loss (drastic), and staggering or even not walking at all at times. Because both ferrets have the same symptoms, we are thinking it could be the food. When we looked up the website for the food manufacturer online, we found that they make a wide variety of pet food ranging from birds to hamsters to ferrets and that several of their foods had been recalled. My question is what can we do to determine if the food is the cause of sickness and also, if it is, is there any way to help get the food out of their systems more quickly? Thank you for your response and I am sorry that my explanations are more drawn out than most. I felt like I should let you know as much as possible about what was going on. Thank you again.

Answer
Hi Heather:

It sounds like possibly you have been feeding your ferrets something less than a 'premium' ferret food.  After six years, these start taking their toll, unfortunately. It is always a possibility that they have gotten ahold of some *bad* food, but I believe the chances are less of that.

My first recommendation is that you get your ferrets to a ferret wise veterinarian AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Here is a list of vets - hopefully you can find one in your state and city and get in quickly.  


VETS CANADA:   
* http://www.ferretrescue.ca/start.php
* http://tinylink.com/?TlVyYKa6e0
* http://www.ferrets.org/Veterinarian_Listings.htm   (British Columbia)
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html

VETS USA:
* http://www.quincyweb.net/quincy/vet.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/
* http://www.ferret-universe.com/vets/vetlist.asp
* http://www.ferretsanctuary.com/vets.shtml
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/

VETS  UK & IRELAND:  
* http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ferreter/vetlist.htm

VET INFO/ LIST OF FERRET GROUPS/ CONTACTS IN UK, ITALY, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, NETHERLANDS, GERMANY & DENMARK:       
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-overseas.html (scroll down page to find the one you are looking for)

In the meantime, when you see one stumbling, try putting a little honey or even syrup on their gums (not a mouthful; you never try to give a partially conscious ferret something to eat)..just rub some inside his/her gums. If this seems to bring them around, then I would suspect Insulinoma.  Here is additional information on Insulinoma:

INSULINOMA:
* Recognizing Insulinoma & emergency treatment
* Insulinoma Info:   http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=11&cat=1286&articleid=550
* Insulinoma EMERGENCY TREATMENT:  http://miamiferret.org/fhc/insulinoma.htm
* Drug Treatments for Insulinoma: http://miamiferret.org/fhc/prednisone.htm
* Insulinoma FAQ @ Ferret Central:  http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/insulin.html
* IMPORTANT FOR INSULINOMA: CHECK BLOOD SUGAR: MONITOR GLUCOSE LEVELS:   
  http://www.unc.edu/~pjdutche/bloodsugar/

Hopefully these sites will give you a better idea of what you are dealing with.  It is VERY important that you get into a good ferret vet ASAP.  Ferrets with insulinoma often die when their blood sugar gets too low. You can help by NOT giving your ferret ANY sweets of any kind - stay with only ferret food until you can get your ferret into the vet and keep a close eye on him/her for staring off into space and/or getting weak and wobbly....and you can put a little honey or syrup on the gums at that time and it should help - if it does not, you have an EMERGENCY and the ferret needs to be seen immediately.  Unfortunately these are some of the costs of feeding less than premium foods :-(   This breaks my heart because I know no one would do that intentionally.  My thoughts and prayers are with your kids - please let me know how this turns out, okay?

P.S.: I got your question from the Question Pool, along with about 10 others. Could you please write back and let me know who you originally asked the question of?  I need to know who is not answering their questions. Thanks so much for your help.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers