Well, it looks like I'm going to be your official mentor
, and I should warn you- this is a long post
. Let me tell you a little about myself, then we'll get to dealing with all the questions:D(and not to worry- the only silly question is the one you don't ask!)
As you've noticed, my name is Sherry, and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'm 50, got my own business cleaning. Enough about me- now to the important things- fuzzies!
I presently have 4 of my own, and 2 foster ferrets. Mine are Boris(sable) and Vincent(albino), two 1 1/2yr. old brothers(littermates), Sinnead(3yr. old sable female), and Lucrezia, a 10m. old marked DEW who's also deaf. They are all brats!
The switch for my guys was-interesting! Lucrezia was an easy switch, because she was only 12 weeks when she went raw. Sinnead wasn't too far behind. Vincent had a setback when he choked on a piece too big for him to swallow, the piggy. He was fine, but scared off raw for about a week. Boris? Well, to this day, every time I try something new with Boris, he's convinced I'm poisoning him
. Even with his organ soupies, since it's weekly, it's always new to him. I have to scruff, put some on his nose as he's twisting to get away, THEN he realizes, "Hey- I've had this before, and I like it!". But he still has to be fed on my lap from a spoon, or he wn't eat it
As for my fosters- there is Zeus, who I'm convinced is going to be as difficult a switch as Boris was
. He's a 2yr. old happy-go-lucky cuddly boy, silver in colour, and his bonded cagemate, Athena. She's a light sable, who has decided she far prefers real food to that awful kibbles. She's been an easy switch so far.
The advantages of a raw diet are amazing! They have so much energy, they run rings around my fosters, who are just starting their switch.
Their fur is so soft, their teeth are gleaming white(which means no dental costs- yippee!), and, as I found out recently, their healing capacity is dramatically improved! Sinnead sliced her tongue open quite badly. It was cut 1/3 of the way across, right through, top to bottom. In a week, she was pronounced over 95% healed, and was back to her regular diet, bone and all, within 2 weeks from the date of the injury!
And that last bit should help a little with the concern about bone injuries. She got hold of a piece of old brittle bone she'd stashed somewhere that I didn't find it. Is there a danger from fresh bone? Of course, but the fresh bone will not splinter, nor cut. What could possible happen is that a piece gets stuck in the teeth(usually they work it out on their own, like a popcorn shell in yours.) The very odd time, you might have to help.
You have to remember- ferrets are well equipped to deal with bones. The natural diet of the polecat is whole prey. They don't have anyone to debone their meat for them.
As far as supplementation goes, some people feel more comfortable giving taurine along with the diet. Personally, I don't think it's necessary. Yes, there is some taurine depletion with freezing, no one is certain just how much. And yes, ferrets probably do need taurine in their diet, but again, not enough is known about it. Before I switched mine, I did a great deal of research into diets, and finally decided this one is the most appropriate for my ferrets.
With the nutrients, that's why it's so important to give a minimum of 3 different protiens, preferably of different ages(ie, lamb and mutton, fryer chicken and stewing hen). That way, you know your bases are covered.
When I go shopping for the ferrets, and my one cat(the rest haven't as yet been switched, stubborn kitties
), I get pork, beef, cornish hen, quail, turkey necks, duck necks, elk, smelts, herring, whatever liver and kidney I can get my hot little hands on
, rabbit, turkey meat. I simply buy whatever is on sale, whatever is close to the expiry date, I raid friends freezers for slightly freezer burned meats(I just cut off the burned part). They also get freeze dried Stella and Chewy's, and Wysong's Archetypal 1 Ferret, for when they have to spend the day at the vets(when they have a check up, I drop them in the morning, and pick them up after work), or if they've been piggies and eaten all their meat for their meal
I guess what I'm trying to say is they can eat whatever your imagination can come up with. And of course, a commercially prepared diet is always acceptable, but I really think you should also give things like chicken wings, so they can have the dental benefits, as well as something they can literally sink their teeth into! It's really something to listen to a ferret crunching bones, as they were meant to do
Actually, here are a couple of websites I've found to be of great use during my research:
www.rawfed.com/myths/exoticpets.about.com/od/ferretcare/i/naturaldiets.htmThere are many more if you are interested. The first one talks a lot about dogs, but is also applicable to cats and ferrets, as they mention.