Chewie goes raw!

[bigsis7]

Ok, so now Chewie is home and I'm not planning any more 5 week vacations it's time to switch Chewie....I'm going to give him one two days to settle back into life then we'll start. Do I start with soaking his food with low sodium chicken broth? Or little chicken chunks? He has eaten a bit of steak, but like 1 or 2 chunks. Anyways here I go! Not planning on it being as easy as it was with Oliver, but we'll make it through. My goal is to have him switched by my b-day (Oct. 10), so we'll see if I can make it!!

1. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names, ages, genders, and do they have any health problems? I have two ferrets. Oliver is switched already (male, 7 monthes, no) Chewie is male around 3 years old and has adreanl

2. What are your ferrets currently eating? What Kind of diet do you want to switch to? Chewie is eating Totally Ferret right now. I want to switch to a raw diet with whole food every once in a while.

3. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone? I do not know Chewie's current weight, but between 1.11lbs and 2.0 lbs. He appears normal weight. Muscle tone is not great, but not terrible

4. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?) Gums appear fine teeth have a little tartar build up.

5. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat. What he has? Coarse, uhh supposed to be Champange, so has white

6. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom? A lot!! About every 2 hours

7. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell? Not as bad as they were, but yes compared to Oliver yes

8. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor? It's not very strong, but it is a little worse than Oliver my raw fed ferret

9. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?
Maybe a 6...depends on the day, but usually 6

10. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)?Not very.....eats it, but whoop de doo it's my flavored cardboard!

11. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share? Chewie does have adrenal, so I want him eating the best diet possible. I have seen many improvments in Oliver while he's been eating raw (plus it's actually cheaper than Chewie's food).

[tss]

Cool! I'm sure Chewie will be very happy after the switch!

I would start with moist kibble, if he likes the low sodium broth then use that but if not just use water. You will probably want to use hot liquid but allow it to cool before you give it to him, it should be a little bit warm.

[Forum Administrator]

Sounds like a plan

Oh hey, almost forgot, do me a favor and fill out one of these forms:

holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=newbie&action=display&thread=822

and copy/paste it in your first post of this thread (above the post you currently have there)

Thanks

[bigsis7]

Ok. I soak his food in water right now. I've added broth once or twice before to his food and he doesn't seem to mind it. I added some blood/steak juice from Oliver's steak once to Chewies food and he still ate it, so doesn't mind any liquids with his food....When should I start offering meat?

[bigsis7]

Oh, I'm on it Guili!!

[tsslilsis]

You can go ahead and add a little bit of ground meat and see how it goes.

ETA, the wrong account was signed in. This is Maria

[Forum Administrator]

Keep him on the wet kibble for a few days

1.) Because he just got back home with you
2.) So that we don't stress him out

Does Chewie currently eat any type of soupy food? (duck soup, pingford's porridge, etc)? If not then once he is eating the wet kibble you should transition him over to a purreed raw soupy. If mom doesn't want you using her blender to whip up some raw meat soup lol then perhaps she could get you one of your own? You don't need a fancy one AT ALL. Just go to walmart and pick up the cheepest one you can find. It shouldn't cost more then $20-30 and its a good investment because if one of your babies get sick , then you have it on hand to blend up some duk soup.

Now make the following recipie for chewy:

8 oz of raw chicken thigh meat (including skin and fat)
1 tsp of finely ground eggshell powder (crush eggshells yourself. Make then VERY powdery)
1 raw chicken heart
1/2 raw chicken liver
(optional) 1/3 Nature made (or any brand, really) Fish Oil Capsule (poke it with tack and squeeze into soup)

Now if Chewie likes ferretone you can replace the fish oil with ferretone instead and use it as a bribe. Use only 3-4 drops of tone, don't use too much. Also, use about 1/4 cup of crushed kibble and sprinkle it on top of the soup, this should entice him to eat it. You can also warm the soup slightly.

So thats keep on wet kibble for a few more days, then go to soupy raw (the next step will be provided when you complete these two steps).

[bigsis7]

Ok thank you!!! off to get my own blender.....hehe

[bigsis7]

Alright I started today!!! Instead of soaking his food in chicken broth though (we don't have any low sodium) I soaked it in liver juice (or blood which ever you prefer ) Chewie almost wiped out the whole bowl !! YAY!! So I'll do that for a while and see how it goes. I also put teeny tiny pieces of liver with his food that he ate too! Plus he ate some egg yolk too! He's on a roll!

[bigsis7]

Oh and I'm also trying to get my own blender right now, so I'll start on that too soon!

[Forum Administrator]

Liver is okay to use occasionally, just dont feed daily. If you feed too much you *could* cause Vitamin A toxicity. You can use the blood daily, but limit him to about 1 chicken liver (split up over the course of a week). Mix that in with some chunks of raw chicken thigh or breast.

[bigsis7]

Ok. Yeah I wasn't planning on feeding the liver all the time just wanted to test it out today. The blood from the liver is ok daily right?

[Forum Administrator]

Yes Just be sure to replace "blood soaked" kibble every 4-6 hours so it doesnt spoil

[bigsis7]

Ok. Thank you!! I'll keep you guys updated!

[bigsis7]

Chewie had his first soup yesterday and ate all of it with in 12 hours!!! YAY!!! I out it in his cage, he went over to sniff it and walked back to the front of the cage to stare at me as if to say "What the heck is this!?" So I left him alone for 5 minutes come back and he's eating it! He crinkled up his nose while licking the soup, so he wouldn't get it dirty!! Silly boy!