Hello all, 
My SO and I were looking online at ferrets, as he had them in the past, and we saw a pair for giveaway. We went to go look at the ferrets, and they were in such poor condition we could not leave the poor babies! Their cage is aweful, and unfortunately we cannot afford a new one until payday, but regardless, they had a cat litter box in the small cage, no water (at all), are at least a pound underweight, and no bedding. They had kitty litter. All things I've heard that are terrible for ferrets. They were also given walmart brand ferret food. (eek) We purchased paper pellet litter from Petco, new food called Vita Prima Ferret Formula, and a new water bottle. We also got them some wet food to fatten them up, they've spent the past 20 minutes drinking water. The bottle is a fourth ways gone. :( I want to give a shout out to Petco though, for giving us 10 dollars off after finding out the story on the girls. One is 2, one is under a year old. The older one is spayed and descented, the younger is not. The ferrets have actually bent most of the bars on their cages, my SO says its because they were trying to find food and water...
My question to you all is what can we do to make them healthier? I've never dealt with such an emaciated animal before. I will upload pictures if you guys would like to see them. Thank you so much for reading, and I am so glad I've found this forum! I'm hoping you guys can help me out! :)

look up soupies in the nutrition board, I used half chicken baby food half water and a few drops of cream (like coffee cream) also a few drops of ferretone to fatten uo my buy that had to get a tooth removed, so he wasnt using his mouth because it hurt. You can syringe feed them or let them lick it off your fingers until they get used t o it, they'll just lap it form a bowl once they know they like it. But the trick was the cream, its hi calorie, so just a few drops is needed.

good luck and good on u for rescuing them, also make sure they see vets asap.

a few drops of cream (like coffee cream)

Better solution and much healthier is heavy whipping cream added to the soup.
I would not give my furkids coffee cream

I hope you can get them to where they need to be health-wise.
Start looking for a better food.  Ferrets are designed to get nutrition from meat, so the more meat in the kibble the better.  Also, corn is broken down and processed as sugars, and sugars are not so good. I have to say anything is better than the so called premium ferret diet from wal-mart, which, looking at the ingredients, is more appropriate for rabbits.  Good food in adequate amounts, supplemented with the soups, will bring the weight up.
Heavy cream is higher in fat without any added sugars.     

Check out these food charts.  Think High Protein and Fat and Low Carbs.
http://forum.ferret.com/tm.aspx?m=13915

People that allow their pets to get to that condition really should be prosecuted, but at least these were finally smart enough to get them a new home.  

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

o man, thank you wenmister for correcting me. I DO use the 35 % stuff. Im so sorry i called it that. I appoloqize for providing a wrong statement. I DO understand that the fat to carb ratio is way healthier for a ferret than the coffee cream.

o man, thank you wenmister for correcting me.

Not a problem.


I hope the little one are doing better.