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Post by nux on Oct 2, 2008 14:14:19 GMT -5
so....i bought him a bag of marshall's kibble, the kind without chicken and it has three meats which i figured had to be the least of the evils...however, while his poops were normal yesterday, i have yet to see him eat and his poop is greenish, kindof mucusy now. not runny, just, icky. i read that that can indicate stress, so i am wondering if yesterday was a stressful one for him and i should just wait it out until he gets back on his groove. he is quite happy, active(ly sleeping!), i gave him good bottled water. his tummy is not as full feeling as it was.
he is active, we've discovered he is a talker (WOOHOO!!!) as i was napping and he woke up and decided he needed to play with us, so he made some really cute noises and of course i had to oblige with cuddles and jingly ball frenzy time...tied a jingly ball to each end of a shoe lace and it was non stop! he seems to be in fine spirits, no weird behaviour....so what say you about the food? they gave them marshalls kibble at petco (where i got him, he's a marshalls).
he's about eight weeks old i think...have to look it up again...should i be moistening his kibble? i did that last night and he didn't touch it. but, he didn't touch the dry today, either. yet.
we are planning to do the switch to raw, but, i figured it would be better for zero to have his kibble and learn gradually after he has settled in instead of hitting him with a lot of major changes all at once. my imminent concern is that he is ok and will eat soon.
is this normal? should i be worried? if so, what do i need to do?
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 2, 2008 14:17:08 GMT -5
Keep him on the marshalls for now. Give him a few days to get settled and then make the switch to raw. The weird poop will most likely clear up on itsa own. Green means the food passed too rapidly through his digestive tract. I am willing to be he's just stressed. Be sure to provide him with a dark area in which to hide inside his cage. He'll adjust, don't worry. After a few days to a week you can begin the switch to raw. Just let him settle for now.
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Post by nux on Oct 2, 2008 16:50:05 GMT -5
he totally isn't wanting to hide, he's all over us and loves the attention. he is a major attention hound! he does have a cushy little pad though, and it's dark.
so is it normal for him to not eat if he is stressed? i worry cause i know how fast their metabolisms are and how they need to eat often.
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Post by Jaycee on Oct 2, 2008 18:33:32 GMT -5
Well, when I first brought home my new ferrets all they would want to do for the first few days was play, play, play, play, eat, play, play, pee, play, poo, sleep, play. But they settle down pretty quick afterward. If he is only 8 weeks, you should be softening the food with either water or broth because the kibble is way too hard on little tiny teeth. It is actually to hard for adult teeth too, which is why the raw diet is much better for them (one of the reasons anyway). I would say, soften with some broth, and try a little chicken in a day or two. My newest ferret made her switch over in about 2 days after I brought her home, and she was 9 weeks old at the time.
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Post by charmantpapillon on Oct 2, 2008 18:47:56 GMT -5
i agree with jaycee. it took beast 24 hours to switch when i took his kibble away.he got into he cats kibble the other day. he thought it was a toy to be dug out of the bowl XD
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Post by nux on Oct 2, 2008 21:00:17 GMT -5
well apparently he simply did not recognize the food...i did buy a better grade than they have at the store....my son just pried his little jaws open and stuffed a peice of kibble in there and he caught on and is still eating away ten minutes later. we are adding a bit of water, yes. so yay devlin! lesson number one in feeding. seems like it'll be something to try when we make the switch. i can't wait for him to be on raw meat!!! i have to say i am not thinking we'll do live, because my nine year old would probably want to save every little creature and it might upset him. we watched a video of ferret eating baby mice (on this forum!) and he was not happy. heh. we'll see. raw first, at least.
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Post by Jaycee on Oct 2, 2008 21:09:31 GMT -5
Good luck, and when you are ready to make the switch please make a new thread here: First fill out one of these forms, if you haven't already. 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. I think you should be able to try meat in the next day or two. Just give him little chunks (kibble sized) of raw chicken breast and see how it goes. Ferrets this young are usually able to almost switch themselves!
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Post by meli on Oct 3, 2008 17:40:26 GMT -5
When I brought my two boys home I kept them on their kibble for about a day, then slowly transitioned them to raw and a week later whole prey.
I started out with chicken breast chunks dusted with crushed kibble, adding less and less crushed kibble every feeding. Eventually they were already eating raw and whole prey with no interest in kibble or dustings. It took 3 days to fully convert them.
My boys started off at the same age your fert did. Now they are triple the size and muscle mass of kibble fed ferrets.
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Post by charmantpapillon on Oct 3, 2008 18:22:12 GMT -5
same thing with meli happened with me ecxept i can not afford to buy whole prey all the time and i dont have the space for a mouse colony but beast will be 6 months on oct 6 hes 3.5 pounds. hes been off kibble since about july 15th/17th.
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Post by Jaycee on Oct 3, 2008 20:16:06 GMT -5
It really is amazing the difference between ferrets that were fed kibble and those fed raw. My Jetta is the first ferret I have that started raw at a young age (about 8 weeks) She is tough, muscular....very strong and sturdy. My ferrets that were fed kibble during their younger years are squishier (kind of like my husband) but I am hoping that they will soon build up their mucsle mass too.
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Post by meli on Oct 3, 2008 20:18:53 GMT -5
It should. Lifting my guys is like lifting weights. Lifting kibble fed ferts is like lifting paper. haha
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Post by charmantpapillon on Oct 4, 2008 13:13:29 GMT -5
love the anology meli!
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Post by nux on Oct 10, 2008 14:02:32 GMT -5
well i am giving him kibble soaked in meat juice and with tiny pieces of raw meat. all raw of course. he is eating it! hooray!!! so i am wondering if anyone notices a difference in the energy levels of their ferts after they eat raw as opposed to kibble?
and uhm the weight thing...maybe if i want to lose weight i should STOP eating meat, heh! if it makes ferts heavier, what about hoomans?
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Post by Jaycee on Oct 10, 2008 17:24:15 GMT -5
well i am giving him kibble soaked in meat juice and with tiny pieces of raw meat. all raw of course. he is eating it! hooray!!! so i am wondering if anyone notices a difference in the energy levels of their ferts after they eat raw as opposed to kibble? and uhm the weight thing...maybe if i want to lose weight i should STOP eating meat, heh! if it makes ferts heavier, what about hoomans? Yes, energy levels will increase in raw fed fuzzies...but the weight thing I wouldn't worry too much about. It is all muscle...and muscle weighs more than fat. Soooo, if you were to start to eat raw, you would become a lean, muscular and highly energetic individual! No need for coffee or the gym anymore! .........only kidding, of course! I don't recommend you to eat raw,. Bleh!
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Post by spiritualtramp on Nov 6, 2008 13:30:17 GMT -5
Soooo, if you were to start to eat raw, you would become a lean, muscular and highly energetic individual! No need for coffee or the gym anymore! .........only kidding, of course! I don't recommend you to eat raw,. Bleh! Hahaha ewwww!!
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