My ferret wont eat!!!!!

Question
Hello,
My ferret, Gizmo, is in strapping health but he now refuses to eat the food he's been eating since he was a baby. The food is Marshall. He never had a problem before, but now he doesn't eat and its getting to the point where he is losing weight. He still drinks water and acts normally. I am VERY confused and I don't know if I should try different foods like cat food, or different brands of ferret food. I'm just afraid nothing will work. All he wants to eat now are his little treats, and I've been giving them to him since I got him. But I don't want to over feed him with those treats, since they're not very healthy. I think he's just become really really picky. Do you have any advice? I don't want him to get sick. I also have another quick question. How can I get my apartment to not smell so much like the ferrets? I do pump formula into their water, but sometimes its not enough. The stink is still there. Any advice?
Thank you so much.   Carly.

Answer
Hello, thanks for your question.

OK, a ferret suddenly going off his food to me sounds like he may NOT be in good health. Ferrets are really good at "acting" normal and won't start behaving sick sometimes until they are on their death bed. First I would recommend you take him to a good exotics vet for a check up to make sure nothing is medically wrong. You need him to start getting nutrition ASAP, a ferret has a VERY fast metabolism and can become very ill and die without food within just a few days.

If the vet thinks nothing is wrong and he is just a picky ferret, you need to start getting to work quick in finding him a good food and getting him to eat. I'm not trying to scare you with taking him to the vet, but a ferret not eating his food is a big deal. There is a possibility that the company changed their formula, this can happen sometimes, and it's a good idea to mix two different kinds of food in case this happens.

Get some A/D from the vet, or some Duck Soup from the pet store (should be in the ferret section). Follow the directions on how to prepare it, most ferrets love it and it's very nutritional. Once he's actually eating again you can begin the process of trying to wean him on a different ferret food.

When choosing a ferret food, make sure it has high protein (22-30%), and lists meat as it's first 5 ingredients (chicken is a good one to look for). I personally use Totally Ferret, it's expensive ($16 a bag!) but the protein is really high (32%) and it's a good quality. Marshall is ok, but there are better brands for your ferret. Once you've selected what you want to feed him, mix some of that in with the A/D or Soup he's eating. You want to start out with 90% AD/Soup and 10% food, and gradually over a span of a couple weeks up the food until it's 100% dry food. Try not to use kitten food, these are ok in so far as you can get by on them, but really, if you want your ferret to be his happiest and healthiest he needs a high quality food, so try not to skimp on this one little area.

As for your apartment smelling, what I've found works best of course is to bathe my ferrets LESS, and keep up on changing their litter OFTEN, as least every couple of days (this is a biggie!). In addition to that, I have my windows cracked open an inch just to let fresh air in, I keep my ceiling fan on low to circulate air, and I have those little air fresheners that you can plug into the wall. The best one I've found is the Glade Fan, it actually has a little fan that disperses the fragrance. Also I like Bath and Body Works' "Wallflowers", those smell really nice without being too powerful. (By the way, none of these plug in things seem to bother the ferrets at all.) If you can do most of these things (the air fresheners really help out a lot!) your apartment should smell really nice. I walk into my home now, smell and think "Ahhh..." :)

Ok, hope I've helped, good luck! :)

~sheila