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Zeke
Jul 26, 2009 19:21:57 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 26, 2009 19:21:57 GMT -5
1. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names, ages, genders, and do they have any health problems?
I have one five month old ferret, male, named Zeke. No health problems.
2. What are your ferrets currently eating? Include their main diet, plus any treats or supplements (such as duk soup).
Just regular kibble.
3. What kind of diet do you want to switch to?
Live prey—I already have the materials to start a small colony of mine own…
4. Why do you want to switch to this more natural diet?
Because I’ve always been interested in keeping my pets as healthy as possible. I know how to keep my baby pup Mitsey healthy, but this is my first ferret and if this will make him happier, then I’m willing to give it a shot.
5. Where/what/who got you interested in natural diets?
I’m not sure, really. I just read somewhere that people can and do. It got me interested in the health benefits and the overall happiness of my pet.
6. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone?
I’ve never had a ferret before, so I’m not sure/aren’t able to get to an appropriate weighing scale. He might be a little underweight, considering his food.
7. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?)
He’s a baby, and they look (and feel—ouch) perfect.
8. Describe the texture/color of your ferret’s coat.
Soft and thin.
9. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?
Whenever he gets up, or every 3-4 hours. Though I can’t be sure.
10. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell?
Um… I don’t think I’ve done that. But there seems to be no ordor.
11. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?
Doesn’t smell bad except for his ears, which I have to clean… again. I’d say light odor.
12. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?
I give him a nine.
13. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)?
When he’s hungry? Very. Otherwise he doesn’t care much.
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 gave him one of my many pet gerbils. He killed it, toyed around with it but never ate it. I still feel terrible. I just let the gerbil down, he chased it after it started running otherwise he just sniffed it, had some difficulty finding its neck and then bit down—clean kill.
He still wants at my gerbils though.
15. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share?
I’ve never had one before. I got the one now from my friend’s sister since she had no time for him because of her baby. He doesn’t like using a litterbox, just his corner. He still has temper tantrums when I put him to bed, and still bites when angry, though it has subsided greatly from when I first got him. I got some helpful discipline methods from Yahoo!Answers. He’s an escape artist and I haven’t been able to get him to stay put in my room, so I have to keep a constant vigilance on him while he’s roaming his house, but I love playing with him.
16. If you can, please post a clear photograph of EACH of your ferrets directly below:
(Will have it up later, just need to get camera back and hooked up.)
17.
a.) Do you understand that by starting this thread you commit to posting updates on the progress of your ferret(s) diet switch at least every other day?**
Yes, yes I do. I don’t want to be rude, and I definitely want to do this. If I wasn’t determined I wouldn’t be doing it in the first place.
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 safety during the switch?
Yes. I’m not eighteen yet, so I’m not so sure about the phone number, but I will if I can.
c.) Do you understand that any threads that have not been updated in for more then a week (with no explanation as to why you are absent) will result in the deletion of the thread?
I don’t plan on leaving without an explanation, but yes. I understand very thoroughly.
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Zeke
Jul 26, 2009 23:19:12 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Jul 26, 2009 23:19:12 GMT -5
Hi and welcome to our mentoring program. Over the next couple of days I will be in the process of finding you a mentor I noticed that you mentioned feeding a gerbil to your guy and he made a clean kill. Great work . I posted to your Help...post but try leaving the gerbil with him for the night. One of the problems is teaching them to get past the fur. You've kicked in his prey drive but now he has to learn that though the chase is fun, and the kill is thrilling, eating is part of the game Try cutting open the gerbil (if you're up to it), you can also play tug and chase with it. One of the problems is that you view the gerbils as pets, you may not be able to get past the guilt stage on this one. You many want to try a different protein source, that maybe you don't have a personal connection with. While I'm trying to find you a mentor, prowl through the various mentoring threads, see some of the hints, suggestions and even failures. It will give you some ideas of things you may want to try or not . If you have any further questions, post here (this is your space) and either myself or one of the other mentors will try and answer your questions Good luck ciao
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Zeke
Jul 27, 2009 0:44:36 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 27, 2009 0:44:36 GMT -5
Aha, I actually cut it open for him, tried to get him to play with it but all he seems interested in is playing around the house... I may not be letting him out enough (I've yet to find a blockade for him that works to keep him in my room so he'll be safe. He tears them all down even with scolding).
I can get past the guilt stage, but only if he eats it, then I feel as if the gerbil's death wasn't a waste. If he doesn't eat it then I feel horrible. I'll try some other prey though. What would you suggest? I'm sure I could handle mice--I've never really liked them. My mother actually has quite a few (and by few I mean a hundred or so) rats that she keeps as pets and for breeding. Zeke seems to get along really well with the bigger ones though, and even plays with them (right along with the dogs, but he is rougher with them). I'm not sure how that would work out...
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Zeke
Jul 27, 2009 11:54:36 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Jul 27, 2009 11:54:36 GMT -5
I'm sorry that he's still not eating the gerbil Is it so abused that you can't put it in the freezer for another time?? He might eat it later when he figures out that it is indeed food. I would be very careful letting Zeke play with the rats, especially once he discovers that he can kill. I'm concerned both for the rat and Zeke. I'm going to suggest a pinky or something with very little fur to try and entice him to eat it. You may have to go to a soupy thing to convince him that there is other food than just kibbles and that mice, rats and gerbils are food, not toys. Hopefully, we won't have to go that route, though you may want to teach him how to eat soupy for the inevitable time that he's sick and you have to get something of nutritional value into his tummy. I don't allow my guys to hunt rats anymore. I'm a bit of a softy and my guys have to make a clean kill. They started on rats (about med sized) and we were doing really well. They liked the hunt and it was usually very clean. Unfortunately, we got a shipment of larger rats, my Attila (RIP) was my lead killer and he (at just under 5lbs) was unable to get a good grip on the base of the skull...his jaws weren't wide enough to make a good kill. I've talked to others about the next part of the hunt but to say the least it was horrible to watch and because they were hunting in their room, I was powerless to stop it. I had grave concerns for the health and safety of my guys but they worked together as a pack (at that time the business was 9 ferrets) to bring down the rat (this is not a normal ferret way of hunting, they are solos, they don't work as a group) and it was messy and not clean. They've never hunted rats again. We use them frozen and they enjoy them that way. They hunt mice that I raise in a tub hunt. I will check in on you later to see how things are going. ciao
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Zeke
Jul 27, 2009 15:21:31 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 27, 2009 15:21:31 GMT -5
Aha well, I left it in overnight to see if he would eat any of it, so when I checked on him before he woke up I was afraid it wouldn't be edible anymore, so I tossed it. But it seemed like he ate some of it. After all that time playing with it, it looked like it had some innards missing. The body was rather mangled and just looked like a heap of skin, even in the skull area, so I assume he crushed it up quite thoroughly... I won't be letting him play with any rats--I already had my fears that something bad would happen. I'm a bit paranoid... but with my terrier mix he seems fine. Although Zeke does bully her. If I did try to give him a baby, what reaction do you think he would have? He only seems interested in moving things, and since those don't exactly try to get away from you... I'm not sure he'd be interested. When I first showed him the gerbil he wanted nothing to do with it, but when it started running he chased after it. Every time it would stop, he'd lose interest in it. I tried to feed him raw meat, but he wasn't interested in that. I'm sorry you had to experience that... but at the same time it makes it sure that I won't try the same thing. These are how things are going so far... but should I try to feed him something live again soon today? When would be the best time to try it? Should I take out his regular food before that to make sure he's hungry and just won't go for that instead?
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Zeke
Jul 27, 2009 16:07:34 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Jul 27, 2009 16:07:34 GMT -5
He may have eaten some of it. See, right now he's looking at these furry creatures as play toys, not food. Food comes in crunchy bits, not soft stuffies. Captain Jack, when I got him treated the mice as stuffies. He'd pick them up, snuggle them but he didn't look at them as food or even something you chase. He still doesn't like to hunt (his prey drive is in the negative numbers ) but now he eats them, fresh or frozen but they have to be dead. Zeke likes the game of chase, but he doesn't know that it ends in dinner . I agree with you he may not even recognise the pinkies as anything...they don't run, so they don't and won't activate the prey drive. They might sqeek and peep...which may get him interested. I would try taking his food away for a couple of hours and then playing with him with something small and almost or totally hairless. If we can get him to taste it, get chunks of it in his mouth we may get something done. Some people have resorted to taking the well played with mouse and throwing it in the blender (it's dead at this point...no live ones , that's just sick and wrong )...once ground up then they try either mixing it with a recognised soupy or spoon feeding. Anything for them to recognise the taste and then associating it with food. I even know of one lady who cut it up into little bits, scruffed her guy and then popped pieces in. Sometimes, it's spit out but other times they will give a couple of chews and swallow. As far as being able to tell what he will do next...sorry..sweetie...can't be done Ferrets are their own little furry people, we can give a best guess but that's all it is. I'm thinking that he doesn't recognise this stuff as food and that once we get him to come to that brainwave...he will be eating prey without any problems. I will check in later tonight. ciao
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Zeke
Jul 28, 2009 1:13:45 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 28, 2009 1:13:45 GMT -5
Oh, that sounds very cute... I'll have to give 'soup' a try. First I'll get some good recipes for it though, just to see my options and it might take a little to get the ingredients. I tried giving him raw meat, but he just didn't go for it. I also tried showing him a pinkie, but again he just didn't seem interested in it at all, not even when I tried to make it interesting for him. As much as I play with him and as much as I let him out, for the few hours that he's in his cage for the night all he can think about is getting out. It's getting harder to get him interested. I do have one problem though... as I'm not yet eighteen I still live at home. My mother has a few problems with feeding live prey even when I tried to tell her it was healthier and we wouldn't be feeding him the pets that she loves, we'd be feeding him food, just a different variety. I'm not sure what to tell her, so... would it be okay to ask of you all the benefits of live prey? What my ferret will gain...? It's okay if it's too much. If I can't convince her, then I'll have to probably go with raw instead of live prey. But I'm pretty sure I can get her to concede. She just doesn't know the difference between food and pets (not that I'm much better, but I'm getting there).
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Zeke
Jul 28, 2009 15:19:35 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 28, 2009 15:19:35 GMT -5
I just gave him another gerbil--not a very clean kill, but he still managed it--and he can't seem to get it open... I was wondering what would be best; cut it open for him or let him do that himself?
He seems to be getting distracted from it though. He's more interested in getting out, but I don't want blood on the carpet, and I want him to eat it first, so I'm unwilling to let him out. He's already been out to play for the entire morning. He also does this strange 'dance' where he holds the gerbil in his mouth and circles his cage rapidly... backwards. It's hilarious to watch, but is it connected to something else?
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Zeke
Jul 28, 2009 20:29:21 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 28, 2009 20:29:21 GMT -5
My Morgan dances when he gets a mousey Generally it looks like he's running off (tuck & scoot style) to stash the mouse, but can't decide if he's too excited to actually do that. I think it's a pretty normal (albeit adorable) quirk. If he's making kills just fine, and not connecting killed items as food items (or how to get inside them) you can try cutting it up to expose the blood and innards a bit. This gets my finickier bunch licking the prey, anyway, and it might be enough to convince Zeke. Give it a try
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Zeke
Jul 28, 2009 23:01:40 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 28, 2009 23:01:40 GMT -5
Ah, well, he ate the tail and a foot! And right now he's still crunching down on the harder stuff... I think I just had to get him hungry enough to eat it. I didn't give him much kibble today, and now he's still chewing on it. I tried cutting it open, but it doesn't look like he wants the innards... But the bones he seems pretty keen on eating. The rest though... I don't know.
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Zeke
Jul 29, 2009 0:29:01 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Jul 29, 2009 0:29:01 GMT -5
Congratulations, Zeke's on his way. The crunchy stuff is his idea of kibbles, then he will realize that the soft stuff makes him feel good. You two are doing fantastic. Great job. There are going t be days when he's kills are going to be less than perfect, but he will get better. Leave him with his kill, you may find that he eats more if you leave him with it. I will check in on you tomorrow to see if he did finally eat some of his prize. Good work ciao
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Zeke
Jul 29, 2009 8:58:04 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 29, 2009 8:58:04 GMT -5
Congrats! The crunchy stuff always is the first to go - but he's well on his way. I think you'll find if you leave him alone with his prey he'll finish them right up, like Heather said. Sometimes ferrets like their privacy
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Zeke
Jul 29, 2009 15:08:47 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 29, 2009 15:08:47 GMT -5
Hello again After talking to Heather, we've decided I'm going to be your mentor for this switch of Zeke's. It sounds like he's well on his way for sure so let's get him 100% A little about me and my ferrets: My name is Erinn, I'm 24, a vet tech student (planning on going on beyond to pre-vet and then medical school.) I live in New Hampshire and love it. I work at a bank, and don't love it so much but what can you do. Gotta feed the weez! Ranger is a sable Marshall's, about 4 years old, that I adopted off of a friend on another forum in 07, along with Pilot. He's my delicate little flower Pilot is a dark-eyed white Marshall', about 5 or 6, and deaf. She's a complete sweetheart and though adrenal, still loves to bounce around and dook to herself. She's an avid juggler. Diesel is a champagne DMK rescue, late alter, and he's a clown. His energy levels are through the roof and he was my first kids to accept raw. He smelled my old roommate preparing some chicken one night and climbed up my leg to get at it. He never ate kibble again after that night! Tank is a Marshall's dew that fell into my lap unexpectedly. I had been eyeing him at a local petstore for weeks, loving on him. But I refused to purchase him, as I always adopted. A few months passed and he must have been bought. Then I show up at work one day, and a customer waltzed in with him in a cardboard box saying she had heard that I have ferrets and was wondering if I'd take him. I peered in at him, he was three times the weight of a normal ferret his age, and covered in fleas. He looked miserable, and was petrified of humans. Of course I took him in, cleaned him up, fed him some real food (SOUPS!) and introduced him to a foreign concept: exercise. He quickly lost the weight. His social skills were not so quick but with lots of patience he's turned into a loving, sweet boy. He gives me kisses and when he wants to play, he'll run at my legs and jump at me, wrapping his arms around my leg. What a cutie. He was my hardest to switch to raw and took a lot of coaxing, because he had been fed so poorly earlier in his life. Lastly (but certainly not least) is NB's Captain Morgan. He's a private breeder boy (late alter) that I fell nose over tail for at the 08 Winter Nationals. He's a big, squishy chucklehead of a boy and he dances when I offer him whole prey foods. It's the cutest thing Anyway, I don't feed live prey, but a frankenprey/ whole prey diet to my kids - but I am confident that I can help you and Zeke on your path to natural feeding! Let me know if you have any questions. I'm going to be PMing you my email address and phone number should you need them, but if you update me daily I doubt they'll be needed Here's to happy switching!!
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Zeke
Jul 30, 2009 2:32:57 GMT -5
Post by doodlelover on Jul 30, 2009 2:32:57 GMT -5
Aw, those stories are all very heart-warming! It seems like you have your own little happy family there with your furries. I only have Zeke to care for, thankfully. At the moment I think it'd be too much for as many as you have, as nice as it sounds.
As you've introduced yourself, I can't help but feel obliged to give you a quick introduction of myself as well:
My name is Nykolle, I'm only fifteen years old but very open to things and people around me. I don't have a job yet, but in the future I plan on going to dentistry school. Unlike a lot of people my age, I value punctuate and grammar as it were my God. ...and sometimes that's not very good with communication on my part. My friends get annoyed with me often. Aha...
I got Zeke from a friend's sister. As she had a new baby to attend to, she decided to give him to me. The only alternative they had was the person they gave their last ferret to--he didn't make it, sadly, because of their poor care, and they had neglected to get him put down or treated and eventually he died and suffered without proper care. I didn't want that to happen again, so I took him, even with my mother's protests.
As for updates... well, the rest of the gerbil he didn't eat the last day I froze and put away for later. Today I gave it to him and he seemed VERY pleased to get at it. He seemed a lot more excited that it was frozen... but he didn't eat much of it, though I suspect he more of the insides. He licked at it when it was frozen and even wanted to drag it away from his cage. He seems to like it in his kibble bowl. He'll actually put it there and then start eating it.
Also, today my mother suggested giving him a very small rat, as she's getting too many of them again and has nothing to do with them. I agreed, but only if it were small enough that he could kill it cleanly and not get hurt himself. And... he started grooming it. It started following him. I couldn't believe it. And when they started playing. Oh wow. I didn't expect that.
It's so nice to meet you Erinn! I hope we can get Zeke on a more permanent track too.
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Zeke
Jul 30, 2009 19:17:44 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 30, 2009 19:17:44 GMT -5
Hi Nykolle! Sounds like divine providence that Zeke found his home with you and I know you're going to make a great ferrent. You're already doing great. As for your neuroses about grammar and punctuation - I went to school for English (creative writing: poetry) though I dropped out and changed paths. So I think I can understand your English language snobbery I can believe he and the rat played - sometimes bigger animals (like rats) aren't seen as prey early on in the switch. I hope you removed the rat, and will try smaller prey items for a while, until Zeke understands not to fall in love with his dinner Have you offered any pinkies, more gerbils, mice, etc to him yet? What about frozen? I'm excited for Zeke's journey, it's going to be fun!
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