Pilot, Ranger, and Tank's Switch

[spiritualtramp]

1. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names, ages, genders, and do they have any health problems?
Sailor: 7+ female, lymphoma and adrenal. Already eating raw.
Diesel: 2-3 male, no health issues. Already eating raw.
Pilot: 4ish female, no health issues. Not eating raw.
Ranger: 4ish male, no health issues. Not eating raw.
Tank: 1ish male, no health issues. Not eating raw.

2. What are your ferrets currently eating?
Sailor and Diesel get a variety of raw meaty bones and organ meats. They have access to Evo kibble but don't generally eat it. Sailor also gets daily Pingford's Porride Red Meat formula.

Pilot, Ranger and Tank all eat Evo (Feline) and get a small serving of Pingford's Porridge about five days a week.

3. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone?
Sailor is very underweight due to her illness, muscle tone is minimal.
Diesel is very toned and about 4.5lbs. He is my strongest and most athletic fert.
Pilot is about 1.5lbs with good muscle tone. She is petite but active.
Ranger is about 3lbs, down from a winter weight of 4! His muscle tone is good.
Tank is a heifer at about 4.5lbs but with very little muscle tone. (Recent rescue from a bad situation...)

4. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?)
Sailor's teeth are as one would expect for a 7 year old. No deterioration but there is moderate discoloration.
Diesel had atrocious looking teeth when I adopted him in Feb. He's a DMK. His teeth have improved since switching to raw meaty bones, though.
Pilot's teeth are healthy, no discoloration.
Ranger's teeth are healthy, no discoloration.
Tank's teeth are mildly discolored.

5. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat.
Sailor: decent, she is adrenal/lymphomic so it's a work in progress.
Diesel: is wirey, but hasn't gone through a shed since I brought him home in Feb.
Pilot: soft and gorgeous!
Ranger: soft and gorgeous!
Tank: rough and discolored.

6. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?
Sailor: about every hour or so.
Everyone else: approximately every 4 or 5 hours, though Diesel tends to go less often.

7. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell?
I actually do not have a sense of smell. (long story short - I lost it in a very bad car accident.)

8. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?
See above!

9. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?
Sailor: 2
Diesel: 10
Pilot: 8
Ranger: 7
Tank: 7

10. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)?
Free feeding kibble to those that eat it, so that is hard to gauge.

11. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share? I've attempted to get Pilot and Ranger to eat raw (I tried livers & chicken wings but to no avail.) Tank has no interest, either.

[Forum Administrator]

Okey dokey, im excited to get your other babies started on raw! Here is the method I want you to try, it was written by one of the Holistic Ferret Mentors, Nikki (aleronferrets). It hasnt failed yet, and as long as you are patient, this method works quite well
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Most ferrets are stubborn about food switching but if you stick with it, they can all be switched to whatever you'd like them to eat. I have switched ferrets of all ages and some who flat out refused to willingly try anything but brand X kibble. I don't fast to switch (although I know that works for some people too) but instead very slowly transition them to eating raw food. Works with cats too My tried and true, fail-proof switching plan is as follows (crossposted from another board, permisson to crosspost providing my email contact ([e-mail]) is included).

Getting ferrets to switch to raw food is probably the biggest issue ferret owners face with the diet and is a major reason more ferrets aren't fed raw. Often owners try to switch their ferret but their ferret refuses to even try any form of raw meat. It is true that adult ferrets are quite difficult to introduce a new diet to. However, through trial and error I have created a step-by-step method to switch even the most stubborn, kibble lovin' fuzzy (or cats which are just as bad) to a raw diet.

All you need to start the transition is your ferret's regular food and some ground meat. The ground meat can be either pre-made commercial raw food or ground chicken/turkey from the grocery store.

1. Begin adding some moisture to the kibble by dripping some water over it before feeding. I like to use warm water - not too hot or cold. If your fuzzy already will eat canned food you may be able to skip to step 5 by taking away all kibble and just feeding canned.

2. Add more water to the day's kibble each day as long as your ferret is willing to eat the food. Most will eat wet kibble fairly easily and I think this is because their imprinting is more about smell than texture.

3. Once the ferret is eating the kibble with enough water to make it soggy begin mashing the kibble up a little bit with a fork before feeding.

4. Slowly mash the kibble up more each feeding until the ferret is eating all of the food well mashed. The mashed kibble should look almost like canned food now.

5. Only if the ferret is eating the canned-food-looking-mashed kibble without a problem is it time for this step. Now you will take just a tiny bit of the raw ground meat - maybe a pinch or two and add it to the kibble before mashing. Mash the kibble as usual and be sure the bit of raw food is well mixed with the rest.

6. As long as your ferret will eat the food with the raw meat mixed in you can double the amount of raw food added about every other day. Be sure you are mashing it up well with the rest of the food.

7. At some point there will get to be a lot of raw food in the bowl and it will no longer be hidden in with the mashed kibble. That's great as long as your ferret is consistently eating the food. Once this happens and as long as your ferret is still eating the food, begin cutting back on the amount of kibble in the bowl. The kibble should be cut just as slowly as the raw is added in.

8. Cut back on the kibble until there is no kibble left in the bowl. Congrats! Now your fuzzies will eat raw! It should be mentioned that if at any point during this switch your ferret refuses the food go back a step or two. If your ferret decides mashed kibble is yucky go back to just adding a bit of water. I think the main issue with switching ferrets to raw is to be determined that you want to do it and that the ferrets will be switched. Don't let setbacks make you give up - keep trying and they will eat raw

Now if you were using ground meat from the store to switch, you will need to start thinking about what foods you are going to feed. Feeding all ground food is ok for switching but bone and organs are needed for a balanced diet. Pre-made raw food (with bones, organs and meat all ground) is available, but it tends to be the most expensive way to feed raw. Other options are chicken necks/wing tips, livers and hearts from any number of animals, frozen fish such as smelt, mice (live or frozen), frozen chicks or rabbit parts.

I would start with something easy and try to find chicken necks or wing tips. To switch your fuzzie to eating raw meaty bones:
1. Chop the RMB (raw meaty bone such as a chicken neck) into small parts and mix it into the ground meat your fuzzy is now eating.

2. As long as your fuzzy eats the meal as usual add the chopped RMB every day. Every other day chop the RMB into slightly larger pieces.

3. Soon you won't have to chop it up at all! Once the chopped parts are quite large try just offering the whole RMB.

In my experience once a ferret will eat raw meaty bones such as chicken necks and wing tips, introducing new ones isn't hard. Other RMBs you can use would be chicken wings (all parts), chicken breasts and chicken backs. These all have some bones which ferrets can eat and some which are too large and they will leave. These shouldn't make up the bulk of the diet but can be used for variety - just remember to pick up the leftover bones before company comes. An important part of raw feeding is variety so try to feed different things every couple days. My raw fed guys are fed twice a day.

Switching to mice is a bit different because they don't look like regular RMBs. With my ferrets who hesitated on mice (the older ones) I held the mouse near them and when they grabbed it to try to take it I held on. This caused the ferret to "open up" the mouse and see that it was full of meat. I wouldn't try switching right from kibble to mice unless you have a ferret who is willing to try new foods.

This method of switching works so well even on older ferrets because you are introducing the raw food in phases. To start you introduce moisture where the ferret is used to dry, second you add a different texture, after that just a hint of a different smell, then a different but now somewhat familiar smell, followed by a different but now somewhat familiar texture. Doing this tricks the ferret into accepting raw food as the norm instead of something totally weird and new.
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Aleronferrets is a member of the Holistic Ferret Forum. She is also a natural ferret breeder. If you have specific questions regarding this switching method, or if you would like to speak with her personally, please feel free to email her at the address listed above. Special thanks to Nikki (aleronferrets) for allowing Holistic Ferret to use a copy of her “tried and true” switching method.

Slow and steady is the key with this method Give it a go and let us know if it works for you. If not, I have some other methods up my sleeve




on getting the rest of your crew to "go raw"! Keep us posted, and let us know if you need assistance!

[spiritualtramp]

Thanks for the guidelines Guili! This morning I wet their kibble slightly. They are avid Pingford's Porridge connoisseurs so I hope this goes over smoothly I'll update soon.

[Forum Administrator]

Excellent! When you get to the stage where you are starting to offer ground raw, mix some PP in there. It can entice them to try it. Keep me posted, and if you have a problem come up please post asap and we'll assist you immediately. Stay patient and dont get discouraged (that is the key when switching a fert's diet).

[spiritualtramp]

Update: Success with the moistened kibble, and then the mushed kibble. I knew they'd all do fine on the mushed kibble since they get soupies often, so the texture is not foreign. Haven't added ground meat yet but will try that tomorrow...

And I made a secondary eating den because I'm sure I'll need it once they, too switch over.

[Forum Administrator]

Excellent! Slow and steady is the way to go. If you start to add the meat and they freak out and wont eat the food, take a step back and add just a *teeny tiny* amount of meat. Its okay to go slow. Sometimes with stubborn ferrets you have no other choice But progress is progress (no matter how slow or how little) remember that

Keep me posted

[tss]

Hello! My name is Maria and I'll be your mentor! I currently own two ferrets, one albino female and a male marked DEW. I first got Weezer and feeding raw in October, in November I got Lillian and her sister Jillian. Sadly Jill passed away in April, most likely of DIMS (Disseminated Idiopatchic Myositis).

I will be out of town, most likely leaving Friday night and will be back late Sunday. I will be PM-ing you my email address incase you need to email me, I may be able to check my email a couple times while I'm gone.

So far it sounds like Pilot, Ranger and tank are off on the right foot. Since they had already been eating soupies I would have went right to that, you can really just mix the ground meat in with the soupies. Just take it slow! Add maybe a pea sized ammount first then work your way up.

[spiritualtramp]

Thank you Maria! Enjoy your trip and I will keep you posted on their progress.

[spiritualtramp]

Well, Pilot started protest pooping and flat-ferreting around, so I've taken to hand-feeding her for a bit, until she gets used to it. Ranger and Tank honestly don't seem to notice the difference!

[tss]

Thats awesome! Hopwfully Pilot will take to it after she realizes how tasty it is :-)

[Forum Administrator]

Just keep an eye on pilot. You might have to take a step back and make the food a little less wet. The key is to make sure pilot doesnt go more then 24 hours without eating. Its normal for ferrets to be on different stages of the switch (they are all different after all ) but it CAN be frustrating to have to sepearte them all at meal time! Dont worry, they'll all be on the same stage soon enough

[spiritualtramp]

I didn't have to hand-feed Miss Pilot for long... today the girl chowed down on the kibble/ground turkey mix. So far so good!

[Forum Administrator]

Ground kibble and TURKEY? As in RAW turkey? Whooo hooo! You've got da baby eating some raw food! congrats! Are they ALL eating ground kibble and raw?

[spiritualtramp]

Haha yep! Pilot was the trip-up but now she's loving it, too. Time to start phasing out the kibble slowly, I think!

[tss]

Yay!

You can go ahead and start using less kibble, it's really easy to do the switch once you've got them to the point that you do :-)