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Post by joseph09 on Jul 30, 2009 1:19:43 GMT -5
1. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names, ages, genders, and do they have any health problems (this is VERY important)? my ferret is a 1yr old female named peach she will be 2 in november.Nope 2. What are your ferrets currently eating? Include their main diet, plus any treats or supplements (such as duk soup). 8-1 kibble from walmart 3. What kind of diet do you want to switch to?Raw
4. Why do you want to switch to this more natural diet? To keep her as healthy as I can
5. Where/what/who got you interested in natural diets?When I learned what was in dog food
6. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone? Last vet visit she was almost 3lbs she isnt overweight or underweight
7. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?)Her teeth are clean and she has none missing.I doubt she would be still for a picture
8. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat.Her coat is soft.She is brown and tan colored
9. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?I dont know
10. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell? yes
11. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?Not very
12. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?10
13. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)? Not very happy but she eats
14. Have you attempted to switch from kibble to a natural diet in the past? If so, what methods have you tried. Be specific.I havent tried
15. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share? Peach is my first ferret
16. If you can, please post a clear photograph of EACH of your ferrets directly below:
17.
a.) Do you understand that by starting this thread you commit to posting updates on the progress of your ferret(s) diet switch atleast every other day?**Yes
b.) Do you understand that if you will be away from your computer for an extended period of time you will need to exchange phone numbers (or email addresses if you don't feel comfortable exchanging numbers)via private message with your assigned mentor, so that we can monitor your progress and ensure your ferret's saftey during the switch?Yes
c.) Do you understand that any threads that have not been updated in for more then a week (with no explaination as to why you are absent) will result in the deletion of the thread?*** Yes
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Post by Heather on Jul 30, 2009 12:24:37 GMT -5
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program This is great that you and Peach have decided to start on this new adventure into natural feeding . Peach may not appreciate it in the beginning but she will once she gets the hang of it and you will once you see the results . Please feel free to prowl around this site, check out some of the mentoring threads. See what others have done, and where you might like to take this. Over the next couple of days I will try and dig you up a mentor, so while I'm doing that feel free to ask questions here (this is your space), either myself or one of the other mentors will pop in and answer them for you. Good luck and have fun ciao
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Post by joseph09 on Jul 30, 2009 17:09:08 GMT -5
ok thanks
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Post by Heather on Jul 31, 2009 0:00:29 GMT -5
I noticed that you posted in the raw section too, I will answer your questions here as it's easier and I will also get you a mentor ok? ciao
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Post by joseph09 on Jul 31, 2009 0:15:46 GMT -5
Ok.my main question there was what should I not give her
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Post by Heather on Jul 31, 2009 0:50:10 GMT -5
What you shouldn't give her.....are we talking about proteins? fruits? veggies?? supplements? Just about any protein source is good. Ferrets are obligate carnivores. Veggies, if some are offered (little to none is good) should never be raw. Both veggie and fruits can cause blockages. Pumpkin and squash (cooked) can be offered to ease IBD symptoms, to ease constipation or to ease off loose poops. Supplementation is generally not necessary if proper feeding proceedures are followed. ciao
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Post by joseph09 on Jul 31, 2009 1:24:09 GMT -5
meat wise I was told by someone there were certain meats not to give
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Post by Heather on Jul 31, 2009 6:08:38 GMT -5
I cannot think of any meat sources you cannot feed. At least off hand. I feed, chicken, beef, pork, emu, venison, bison, quail, rabbit, lamb, goat, some fish, rats, live mice....I've even fed crickets. Can you remember what you were told "not" to feed? Perhaps, I can either let you know why or why not. We had a discussion about some game animals but other than some parasites that might be in the hoast animal we couldn't come up with a why not either. Let me know, I'm curious. ciao
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Post by joseph09 on Jul 31, 2009 14:42:31 GMT -5
fish,buffalo,beef,deer
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Post by Heather on Jul 31, 2009 23:46:54 GMT -5
They can eat all of that. My guys have a fish mix (halibut, salmon, and I can't remember ), they get venison during hunting season and sometimes eat it as a commercial ground. I can get bison as a commercial ground but not enough of my guys liked it for me to pay the outrageous price. As far a beef, they eat it all the time. Sometimes I buy them stewing beef, they eat beef liver and kidneys, they also steal my dog's beef tripe (green not the bleached stuff you buy at the grocery store). They've tried raw shrimp...some of them liked it, again not enough for me to spend that kind of money to let them throw the stuff around and the let it sit until I throw it out. Off hand I can't think of anything that they can't try....we even had a discussion about feeding them bear but we needed to find out if the parasite (that is killed by cooking) was killed by freezing. I hope that helped a little ciao
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Post by joseph09 on Aug 1, 2009 0:52:35 GMT -5
it did thanks
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Post by joseph09 on Aug 1, 2009 19:16:04 GMT -5
how many times a day should I feed her
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Post by Heather on Aug 1, 2009 21:49:16 GMT -5
When feeding raw, you should feed about 2 or 3 times a day. My guys have food available most of the time because they eat the cats food during the day (my cats eat a natural diet too) but a lot of the people on the board feed 2 or 3 times a day. How much you feed depends on how much your little girl weighs. Have you thought about what method you want to do to switch your little one? ciao
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Post by joseph09 on Aug 2, 2009 0:11:52 GMT -5
Last time she was weighed she was 1.4lbs.Im thinking maybe giveing her a little bit of raw in with her kibble I offered her alittle bit of chicken liver earlier and she ate it without a hesitation
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Post by luci on Aug 2, 2009 20:36:31 GMT -5
Hi Joseph! I'm Luci (my real name is Tara) and I'm going to be your mentor. I'm really excited to get your little furball onto her raw diet! I think you'll be so pleased with the results once you get there. A little about me: My Significant Other and I share our home with two cats and two ferrets all of whom are on a prey model/RMB diet. I had wanted ferrets for as long as I knew they existed, but I waited until I was in my *ahem* mid-thirties before I felt that my life was stable enough to give them all the attention, space and stability they needed. After many long talks, hours on the internet researching, reading Ferrets for Dummies cover to cover, meeting with a ferret rescue organization and learning everything we could... we adopted two girls, Fierra and Ghia, in December 2007. Their previous owner had ditched town and left them with his brother, who liked them, but hadn't planned on having pets. An impending move to California prompted him to contact the rescue organization to have them re-homed. The poor things were living in a room covered in poop, eating 8-in-1 Ultra meat flavored cereal, sprayed with fresheners to cover their smell, additives in their water to reduce their smell, etc. etc. You get the idea. It took three months to switch them to EVO kibble. In April, our second cat found us and joined the household. At that point I had been feeding my first cat EVO canned and Evanger's with a couple other high quality canned foods for variety. Once the second cat joined the family the cat food bill was a small fortune. I had already been researching raw diets and this was the kick I needed to jump in and go for it. In early May I switched the cats to raw. No transition needed. I put down raw meat and they ate it. Woo! There were a couple of bumps in the road, but they were easily overcome with a couple of minor changes. I was so excited and by early June I was ready to switch the ferrets. First tried the old standby: boneless chicken breast. Minced it into the smallest pieces ever. They gagged on it. Tried coating the raw bits in smashed kibble. Nope. I purchased a few jars of Gerber's turkey and chicken baby food. Smeared a bit on their noses. Ghia went for it and happily licked the baby food off my finger. Fierra was totally unconvinced. I scruffed her and put a dab on her tongue. And she loved it! For June and July I spoon fed them chicken or turkey baby food every day in addition to their EVO kibble. In August I started trying to sneak some tiny bits of raw turkey into their baby food. They spit it out every time. I started blanching pieces of meat and adding that to the baby food. Didn't work. I blanched 1" cubes of chicken, cut it into kibble sized pieces and coated it in kibble powder. That was the trick that finally did it. This plus the baby food became their diet for the next four weeks. It was a lot of work, but I knew that eventually I would be plunking down a hunk of meat for them the same way I did for the cats. I started making the blanched pieces of meat bigger and added less and less kibble and by Sept. 22, 2008 they were completely off kibble. It was then that I joined this forum and became a newbie in the mentor program. You can read the rest of Fierra and Ghia's journey here: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newbiearchive&action=display&thread=1669On to Peach... So aside from chicken liver, what other meats have you tried? What was successful and what wasn't? Are you free feeding kibble right now? How much time do you have available each day to devote to switching her to a raw diet? Let's start with those questions and move on from there. It's nice to meet you and I hope you'll find this forum to be friendly and informative.
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