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Old man
Jul 15, 2008 15:15:33 GMT -5
Post by ashley on Jul 15, 2008 15:15:33 GMT -5
I've read through the other posts and have a good idea of how to start my guys on raw. I'm just concerned with my old man, Bear. I don't know if he'll be okay with the switch as he is eight years old and blind. He'll pretty much eat anything under the sun but we've offered him raw meat and he looked at me like I'm crazy. I'm not sure if the switch would stress him out or not, and stressing my old man is the last thing I want to do.
Any advice?
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Old man
Jul 15, 2008 15:20:01 GMT -5
Post by Forum Administrator on Jul 15, 2008 15:20:01 GMT -5
My oldest ferret, De, is 8 years old and adrenal. She just recently switched to raw. Im so happy I did it because she is thriving! The key with older ferrets is a.) to go VERY slowly and b.) even if you cant get them TOTALLY converted, its still better then nothing. De currently eats a ground raw diet. I am working to get her onto whole foods, but she may not ever fully convert. Does bear eat any type of "duk soup"? If so then the switch can actually be quite easy for you! I got Delilah to accept a raw "duk soup" and I gradually made it less soupy. Now she gets ground raw. I dont normally recommend ground raw foods, but with an 8 year old ferret its a good starting point (and if he cant fully convert its a good stopping point too ) Its SO important that older ferrets eat an easy-to-digest highly nutritious food, and kibble just isnt cutting it. De has put on much needed muscle mass, she's got more energy (she dooked for the first time in a year recently!), and she no longer drinks a TON of water (she gets her needed moisture from her food....just the way nature intended). We'll have to be careful with Bear, but I can help you transition him (and all your other babies). I've got experience switching young ferrets, middle aged ferrets, and older ferrets. So whatever you need, im there.
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Old man
Jul 15, 2008 15:27:34 GMT -5
Post by ashley on Jul 15, 2008 15:27:34 GMT -5
Bear absolutely LOVES soup. If there's a bowl of soup down for all of them, he'll eat at least half of it. There's almost no kibble in my soup, just raw chicken and nupro. All of mine eat duck soup except for Rogue. I was also reading through the "how to convert to raw" post and was wondering if soup could substitute for the canned food? I know that Bear would be happy as a clam to eat soup rather than kibble and so would my 3 other kids (minus Rogue :/).
We're going to start the change tonight. They're currently eating evo and I'll start watering that down if I can't use soup to switch them. This is all really new and my boyfriend and I are really committed to doing this for our ferrets, especially Bear
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Old man
Jul 15, 2008 15:38:36 GMT -5
Post by Forum Administrator on Jul 15, 2008 15:38:36 GMT -5
Excellent! Now here is the plan I want you to work hard to switch all the other ferrets (besides bear) to WHOLE raw foods. Start a thread in the "Natural diet newbies" section where you can update us on everyone's progress.
Now for a little explaination about ferret nutrition. Ferrets (like people) have a basic "food pyramid" only theirs is ALOT different from ours. While our diet should consist of grain, fruit, veggie, meat, etc in certain ratios, a ferret's "food pyramid" is based on the body of a whole animal.
These are the parts of a ferret "food pyramid":
75%- Flesh (that includes muslce, fat, tendon, ligament, cartalidge, and skin) 15%- Edible bone (RAW bone) 10%- Organ meat
This is the approx percentage of what makes up a whole animal. When we feed our ferrets we need to be sure to include meat, bone, AND organ. Without one of these parts a ferret's diet will be thrown out of whack.
When you feed your ferrets an easy way to do this is to break it down into THESE percentages:
60%- Raw meaty bones (like chicken wings, thighs, and legs) 30%- Boneless muscle meat (like boneless beef chunks) 10%- Organ meat
The reason we feed THIS way is because you cant go to the store and buy raw chicken bones. You have to buy MEATY bones.
Now using the percentages directly above if we split this up over a week it looks like this:
4 days per week of raw meaty bones 2 days per week of boneless muscle meat 1 day per week of organ meat
For your other ferrets this is the method you will follow. But for bear (who might not be able to fully convert to WHOLE raw foods. we'll TRY but incase he cant switch) he'll need to eat raw GROUND foods. His raw ground foods MUST contain meat/bone/organ, otherwise he'll get a deficiency. I buy Delilah's meats through hare-today.com I but ground chicken, duck, pheasent, and turkey (these ground mixes contain meat, bone, and a *little* organ). She eats these 4 days per week. 2 days a week I give her boneless meat chunks and 1 day a week I give her chunks of organ meat.
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