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Post by silverphoenix69 on Sept 30, 2008 17:26:23 GMT -5
Hello everyone. I've had a stressful last 2-3 months since I've been here. But I am back. I just lost my 15 year old dog Max at the beginning of September, "quit" my job, been going through depression and I've just been stressed up to the sky. And I lost everything on my computer when it crashed! Anyways I'm back and now that things have calmed down and Gloria's doing great after her surgery I'm gonna start them on a raw diet. Though I have a question before I make my raw starting post. I'm thinking of doing the mushed up kibble and adding ground meat to it way of switching. I want to use chicken, but should I use breast, thigh, ect? Also I've seen people posting about NV chicken, lamb, veal est.. What is that? And could I get it at a grocery store? Thanks and sorry I've been away
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Post by Jaycee on Sept 30, 2008 19:28:27 GMT -5
Hi, and welcome back! I am glad your Gloria is feeling better, I know it is rough when they are ill. I think I might be able to help you some with your question. I just switched all 10 of my guys using the method you just mentioned. Before I even made my decision to start the switch to raw, I started to moisten my kibble with low sodium chicken broth...since kibble is way to abrasive. This began intoducing the new taste of meat into their diet. After this, I decided to try to switch over to a raw diet. What I did was pour broth on the kibble and heat up about 15 seconds so it starts to get soft. Then I would blend this up in the food processor until all the pieces of kibble were pulverized. Next, I put chunks of chicken breast in to the mix and blended the two together. This usually results in a pasty mixture. You can add more water or broth to this to make it more soupy when you are beginning the switch IF they don't accept the thicker first. After this point, if they all eat it (mine had to be spoon fed at first) on their own, you can advance this mixture by adding small chunks of chicken (kibble size) and gradually increase the size of the chicken while decreasing the amount of "soupie" once they start eating the chunks of chicken. I think this is good for starters. Chicken, I think, is the easiest to start the transition over to raw. I would start with the breast, and once they start eating large chunks then transition over to wingettes next. When you are ready to make the switch to a natural diet, remember to fill out one of these forms: holisticferret.proboards80.com/in....play&thread=822and start a thread in this section (copy/paste the filled out form into your first post): holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=newbiePost all questions/updates on the progress of your ferret's diet switch in that one thread. After making your initial post we will help you start the switch and we will assign you a "Holistic Ferret Mentor" to assist you and monitor your progress Good luck!
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Post by Jaycee on Sept 30, 2008 19:36:36 GMT -5
Also, I am not sure what NV chicken is, but I will try to find someone who can answer that question. You've got me curious too!
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Post by suds on Sept 30, 2008 19:41:46 GMT -5
NV = nature's varity foods it a commercail frosen BARF diet,
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Post by silverphoenix69 on Sept 30, 2008 22:49:52 GMT -5
Thanks Jaycee I'll be sure to try it that way! And I'm planning on starting tomorrow, so I'll start the thread then. I have it written out already, did that today. And *hits head* Thanks Suds. See you all soon
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Post by silverphoenix69 on Sept 30, 2008 23:00:50 GMT -5
Oh I just remembered another question. I want to do a kibble and raw diet, at least until I have a better schedule myself. I have trouble sleeping at night, no matter how much sleep I get so I usually end up waking up later anywhere between 10am to 2pm depending on when I actually got to bed, or how much sleep I've gotten that week. So feeding them just a raw diet right now isn't an option.
Anyways I read somewhere that you can't feed kibble and raw together. How would that work then, if say I feed them around 2-4pm as there "lunch" and then again around 11pm to 1am?
Also if you can't feed raw and kibble together, how does it work when your starting out when your feeding the raw and kibble at the same time? I don't remember where I read it, but it was on here.
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Post by Heather on Sept 30, 2008 23:06:35 GMT -5
I'm glad to see you've come back and that things are starting to work out for you. I'm sorry to hear that you lost your canine furchild but am happy that you're little one has come through her surgery and you're now considering to change your feeding to a more natural manner. I hope that I will see you around and I wish you ultimate success in your transitions. ciao
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Post by silverphoenix69 on Sept 30, 2008 23:11:47 GMT -5
Thank you Heather. You will. I really want to do this, it just wasn't the time in July with Gloria's surgery, then everything getting worse and worse. But they aren't getting any younger so I'll be doing this *nod*
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Post by Jaycee on Oct 1, 2008 5:43:00 GMT -5
It is true that you aren't supposed to feed raw and kibble together because they digest at different rates. But during the switch over to raw, I think the good outweighs the bad. The quicker the transition from the soupie to the raw would be best. Mine only recently completly graduated from the soupie mix (about 2 months worth) and they have done fine. No weight loss, and no one has gotten ill from the soupie diet. You have a slightly smaller group than mine, so I think you will be able to switch them rather quickly. The soupie mix can sit out for 6 to 8 hours at a time and be fine. Also, ferrets don't have to have food available at all hours of the day. Once you transition to whole meaty bone, those can set out for 20 hours or more (depending on environmental conditions like humidity, warmth....ect) So, if you feed soupie at 4 pm, you can feed them again at 11 and once again when you wake up for the day. Make sence???
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Post by meli on Oct 1, 2008 10:16:05 GMT -5
My boys eat a wide range of meats, to whole prey, to freeze dried. They were easier to transition because of their age, but I started out with chicken. Chicken breast to be exact. I did this by cutting the breast into small cubes and mixing them with crushed/ground kibble. This lasted about 3-4 days again because they were very young. Older ferts take a longer time sometimes and then this is where the soupie mix comes in that Jaycee is talking about.
When giving my boys raw meaty bone (i.e. chicken wings, chicken thigh with bone, turkey wing,turkey thigh), I let them have the bones through out the entire day until the next morning. I replace it with fresh meat or whole prey. Now that they're 8 months their appetite has slowed down. They eat in the morning and night with some snacks in between. Even then they still have leftovers come morning.
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Post by silverphoenix69 on Oct 1, 2008 14:33:58 GMT -5
So for there food. I could set out for example 4 chicken wings like I would there kibble and just replace more chicken wings as the eat it, for up to about 20 hours?. Of course not just chicken wings, but that's pretty much the idea? And once they're eating it of course. That might not be to bad and I possilby could get rid of the kibble all together.
Here's another question though. If there sick, and at the vets for a day or two and the vet wants to try said ferret on solid food again, could he/she eat the kibble and be ok? Or if I'm away for a night or two, which can happen once in a while, and the person watching the ferrets (mom or sister in law) can't feed raw, could they eat the kibble while I'm away? Or would this totally mess up their systems?
I've tried the cubes before, just to see what they would do with it and the only one that actually took a piece was my older girl Gloria. She ran away, chomped on it a bit then left it.
Now, my kids aren't really picky, as long as its a mush. I've never had trouble with them eating my duck soups, or A/d can food, or baby food est.. Could I try to grind up some chicken breast and see if they eat any? If not, do the soupies? Then I could just grind it up less and less and see if they start eating the cubes to chunks? Does that make sense?
I'm so sorry! I forgot to add this. Thanks so much for your help Jaycee and Meli, it means a lot!
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Post by meli on Oct 1, 2008 16:36:47 GMT -5
I feed my boys like this.
(An example) 2 chicken wings during the day and at night they get a handful of beef. I like to give them (4)superworms, or (5-6 large)crickets as a snack once a week. I also like to give them scrabbled raw egg. They love it. I do this maybe twice a week. I offer them a larger variety of snacks, but this is just to give you an idea of my feeding habits.
You can feed them as they consume. So if they eat all the chicken wings, then you can give them their other meal. If they haven't finished you can leave the chicken wings in there just lessen the amount of the fresh meat. After 20 hours remove the left over stuff. My ferts stash stuff and it can smell horrible lol so you might have to check their cage every now and then if there are no bones left behind. (They only really consume the softer parts of the bones leaving the harder parts.)
Now you can give kibble to them if its easy for you, but space it out from the time you give them raw. This way their body has time to digest it. If you want to get them off of kibble you can try freezedried meats such as Stella and Chewy's Beef Steaks. I do this with my two as well. They eat one steak each. Theres a really good supplement out there called Pingfords porridge. Its almost a soupie consistancy.
You can definetly ground up the chicken breast. It may take them a while to catch on, but if the chicken(or other meats) is all they have available they'll bite. You can try fasting them, BUT only if they are healthy and have no known diseases.
Remember space out the time they consume kibble and raw..say kibble during the day and take it away I'd say two hours to be safe, prior to giving raw or vice versa. I did this with my two the first day they came home.
We're here to help. We have different feeding schedules and ideas. So don't feel obligated to feed them as we exactly do. Do what you feel comfortable with and we'll guide you along.
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Post by silverphoenix69 on Oct 1, 2008 16:39:50 GMT -5
Well! I tried the ground up chicken breast. Only did about half of a chicken breast. And guess what? ALL of them ate it. Gloria was the first to eat it! Then Bandit. Drake and Laura weren't to sure, and when I put some on Laura's tongue she acted like I poisoned her LOL. All of that was feeding them from my finger. So I added some ferretone and then they all took it from my finger no problem, then from the plate!.
So I put their kibble away, and put the plate on the floor and closed my door (so my cats don't eat it). I'll see what happens
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Post by meli on Oct 1, 2008 16:42:22 GMT -5
Awesome! Glad to hear they're enjoying it! and remember we're here to help!
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Post by silverphoenix69 on Oct 1, 2008 16:45:46 GMT -5
We were posting at the same time LOL Thank you so much Meli. I take everything everyone gives me and get idea's from it. Once they're eating meat on bone and the bones and all that. I'll see what fits them and me best *nod* Edit: and again we posted at the same time. Thanks again
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