Derivation of gnotobiotic ferrets: perinatal diet and hand-rearing requirements

A procedure is described which has resulted in successful gnotobiotic derivation of the domestic ferret. The most critical element of this hand-rearing procedure was found to be diet, with ferret milk being required for at least the first 7 days. Puppy milk replacer was phased in during the next 10 days, and enriched cow's milk sufficed thereafter. Around-the-clock sip-feeding with fire-polished Pasteur pipettes was necessary at intervals gradually increasing from 1 to 1.5 hours at birth to 3 hours by day 21. Temperature regulation was accomplished with an electric heating pad placed eccentrically under towel bedding to provide a 30 degrees-40 degrees C gradient, along which the kits positioned themselves to their own comfort. Techniques are described for minimizing fatalities due to dehydration, milk-aspiration pneumonia, underfeeding, overfeeding, gut stasis and obstipation. Internal hemorrhage, the greatest single cause of mortality in this study, manifested at day 13 and involved all kits by day 17. Despite immediate vitamin K1 dietary supplementation, five of the seven remaining kits died of hemorrhage by day 19. Around day 50, the two surviving kits were weaned from milk to dry commercial cat and ferret diets supplemented with vitamins K, C, A, D, E and B-complex and were reared to adulthood on this diet.