Phil a question for you others please repond as well

[newmom]

ok i read in one of your posts that you had a small ferret and you put him i believe marshal soft ferret food...and your baby picked up weight....i have a ferret on the light side in comparrison to his brother....is it possible his brother is hogging all the food? Should i give taz some extra food (he's the small one)during his alone time with me have a bowl of food out so he can eat some more?

[Phil]

ok i read in one of your posts that you had a small ferret and you put him i believe marshal soft ferret food...and your baby picked up weight....i have a ferret on the light side in comparrison to his brother....is it possible his brother is hogging all the food? Should i give taz some extra food (he's the small one)during his alone time with me have a bowl of food out so he can eat some more?

i definitely would. how old is taz? bandit was quite thin when we initially got him (at 3 months old), but as i mentioned, giving him the soft marshall food put alot of weight on him very quickly.

i honestly believe that the petshops make a terrible mistake by just dumping dry ferret food in the cage and assuming the animals are eating! mostly bandit dug with the dry kibble until his permanent teeth came in. but he really couldn't handle dry food until that time. he probably didn't quite know what it was. but yes...i think u would be wise to feed taz by himself on moistened food at first and see how he does. i can't speak for all ferrets, but i know doing that really helped bandit gain weight.

[newmom]

all i know is they are under a yr old but exactly i have no clue! i am going to try and get better pics of them together to give an idea of what i mean, the toenails are really long when you give them attention it's almost like the don't know what to do they are happy but get really excited...course that is a lot of ferts lol

[Phil]

all i know is they are under a yr old but exactly i have no clue! i am going to try and get better pics of them together to give an idea of what i mean, the toenails are really long when you give them attention it's almost like the don't know what to do they are happy but get really excited...course that is a lot of ferts lol

i would imagine when u take them in for their vaccinations, the vet will be able to make a good guess at their ages by looking at their teeth. in the meantime try giving taz alone the moistened food.

[BadgersMama]

ok i read in one of your posts that you had a small ferret and you put him i believe marshal soft ferret food...and your baby picked up weight....i have a ferret on the light side in comparrison to his brother....is it possible his brother is hogging all the food? Should i give taz some extra food (he's the small one)during his alone time with me have a bowl of food out so he can eat some more?

If I remember correctly, Bandit started gaining the weight when Phil started giving him the Totally Ferret food. TF has put a lot of weight on our little girl Lilo. You want to try and stay away from wet food, as it causes teeth to decay fast. Also, make sure you have plenty of food in the cage... they should always have access to plenty of food and water. Try putting more than one bowl of food in with them, then maybe Taz’s brother will leave enough in one of the bowls for him to eat.

[KokosDaddy]

You do keep food available to your ferrets at all times, don't you?

If an owner allows a food bowl to become empty, then that owner is not being dilligent enough keeping their ferrets fed. Unlike dogs who eat once a day, ferrets' digestive systems are too short to limit their feeding whatsoever.

I'm not saying that you're doing this, but its important that people keep fresh food available to their ferrets at all times.

Same goes for water. Just because the bowl isn't empty, doesn't mean you can't wash it out and replace it with crystal clear, clean & fresh H20 (or Pedialyte if needed). Water is the essence of life - and you can't over do it on making sure its always clean, fresh and plentiful.

[Phil]

maybe the totally ferret did put weight on bandit...he sure loves it! and he was eating that dry mixed with marshall, with 1/2 a teaspoon of furotone added 3x a week. but this was after he had grown in his permanent adult teeth.

[Sasy]

I have two sets of food & water bowls in the cage, and most of the time another set available outside the cage. Then again I have 5, I switched to the multiples when we got Mojo. It's hard to believe that cute "Baby Mojo" down in the pictures forum had a food agression issue when he was little. I think he was malnourished when I first got him, and he was so happy to have a never ending supply of quality food that he didn't want to share with anyone. It took him awhile to put on weight, he weighed .8 lbs FOREVER!

I would keep taking him to the vet to be weighed, hoping he gained weight each time. At one point the one of the vet techs asked me if I was feeding him enough. I explained that he had constant food available to him and that I see him eating multiple times a day. You'd think if I was that worried that I was bringing him in to be weighed that often that it would be understood I was doing all I could to plump him up. Then one day it happened, he became a chunky butt and Mommy was happy.

[LISAR]

My Cindy has started to gain a few ounces- But Ive been giving them Duck soup every couple of days-
Not only so they will be used to it in case of an emergency- But I also figured it would help her gain some weight. It seems to be working- And Both Calamity and Cindylou love it.:taz: