hand feeding kit

[lurcher lass 9]

hi everyone

 

the litter have all been grand, keeping me and the jill busy been eating plenty of raw meat now and a basically off the jill now, i went in this morning to clean out and feed water etc like normal to find me lil hob kit was a bit slow today - he is the smallest of the litter and developed slowest out of them all, the whole litter survived the jill didn't lose any and done a fantastic job but i always said that he would have been the one lost,

anyways,,, went in to see him a bit slow so booked an appointment at the vets to have him checked but wasn't too worried, cleaned out the boys hutches and run then popped back to the kits to give second feed of minced chicken, the others were chatting away to see me and scrabbling out of the nest to get some grub, the hob seemed to be struggling, so i picked him up and brought him to the meat - have always done this with the slower ones, but where normally he'd start mouthing the air and squeeking as he gets close, he didn't do that, so i popped some meat on a spoon and offered it to him that way, he wasn't interested at all, showed him egg milk mix which the kits love , , nothing and lastly showed him water and again not bothered, now i was worried, rand the cab to go to the vets and rang the vets while on the way, the vet said he is dehydrated and needs extra help, this is probably to the mums milk and immune system was helping him now he's relying on his own which is a tad weaker, he has had a steriod injection, antibiotics and fluid and i'm now hand feeding him

 

i know most would say why bother, but if this happened in the first week or so i wouldn't worried but he was doing the grandest so i'm going to try my best

 

he is now in a box with hot water bottle, tea towel wrapped, with some wool/papper pet bedding, he is being fed through suringe a sulution called rehydration support which is mixed with water and fed min 0.5ml every 2 or so hours, i fed him when i got home and he quickly got the idea and had 0.9 and is now sound asleep though he was looking more alert so far so good, fingers crossed

 

any advice would be great i've hand fed pups before but not ferrets, if there is anything else i should be doing please let me know, parents are both good workers the father is fantastic, tis worth a try

[lurcher lass 9]

must be doing something right, the little fecker just had 1.7 ml of me!! so much for 0.5

will keep you posted

[hunters glory 31]

Good luck you are doing a good job i hope he survives

[lurcher lass 9]

thanks mate x x

[lurcher lass 9]

good news he has just taken 8 suringes full we may be in luck

[kayteetess 9]

awww good luck with him

[johnnyboy28 1]

good news he has just taken 8 suringes full we may be in luck

 

 

Any news ???

how is he??

[lurcher lass 9]

after not sleeping at all, and feeding him almost every hour and keeping him warm on a hot water bottle with me all the time, he finally took a nibble at some raw chicken this morning!! i had to go food shopping, so took kit with me and stopped to feed him several times, which brought some attention, he's a different kit, he's warm, eyes open and started squeeking at me now!! compared to the small cold quiet limp and eyes closed he was before

 

i normally bring the litter indoors to have their raw meat, give the jill peace to eat hers and allows for bonding and handling, so i popped the boy with the litter, he was still a tad weak but was pleased to see them, he had another small bit of meat, so at last last minute i decided to pop the kits in the ferret box for five minutes so that they rubbed their smell onto the little hob kit, and popped them all back in with mum -fingers crossed!!

 

at first she completly ignored him, though he was so happy to see her and couldn't keep up with her, it was difficult to watch, but i thought i'll play with the other kits keep an eye but not make an issue, the jill kits were happily playing with the latest tunnel i've put in, bobbing in and out chirping away

looked back at the other kits, the jill was in the nest nursing the smaller of the litter and the lil hob was in the toilet area, i decided the jill's choice was clear so went to pick him up - to keep him warm indoors, the jill flew out like a shot, bit me knuckle down to the bone picked up the kit and stomped off to the nest with a tail like a bog brush, she then cleaned him all over as if to say "what has that woman done to you!" then she lay down and he got to suckle, leaving me bleeding and so happy i nearly cried - who'd have thought i'd get so attached to the little feckers

 

so kayleigh you'll be pleased to know he should be fine

[socks 32,253]

fairly common this and people automaticaly think its weak its runty its sickly and tap the kit ... but the simple matter is in most litters you will have one or two kits that just dont suss how to drink whether from a bowl or from the bottle ... the jills milk is drying up and they simply cant get enoughe fluid dehydrate and die ... if i see a kit that looks to be weakening the first thing i do is to help it understand how to drink then see how it goes from there ...........

[max abell 196]

Good advise there from socks

Well done lurcher lass looks like hes gonna make now

BRILLIANT NEWS

[lurcher lass 9]

thank you socks and max

i know i'm so chuffed but also absolutly shattered too

keep checking on him and he's well in the nest nice and warm

still keep topping him up until i see he's drinking

all the best lurcher lass x