Ernie, Didjeridu and Ramona start the switch!

[animalsgetrevenge]

What a week... Goodness. Things have been crazy but at least the ferrets have made a little improvement.

On Sunday I picked up 25 frozen JUMBO mice from a snake owner on Craigslist.com that had bought too many. I waited about 3 hours extra before feeding the mice for breakfast. At first I cut in in half, thawed it, and stuck it in their cage. No one touched about an hour, even after much encouragement, so I cut it into about 5 pieces and drizzled some ground raw mix over it with some ferretone. Everone took licks, Didjeridu eventually ate a leg, the tail, and rump, and Ramona ate an arm and chewed on the head a little. Overall they weren't impressed. I tried to make it as appealing as possible: short fast, tried playing with it, cut it open to expose its insides, and flavoring it with ground raw and ferretone. Are there any other strategies I should try?

They also got their first tastes of ground raw quail which I had bought a few weeks back. Right now I have about 5-7 more days of ground raw chicken/lamb/quail that I am going to feed them with chicken, then after that I am going to try to not by ground anymore unless Ernie refuses to eat.

Ernie has been doing a lot better about eating chopped up chicken! He shocked me the other morning when he ate a small chunk of meat! When he does eat chicken pieces they are about the size the tip of my pinky finger to the nearest knuckle (less than 1 inch long), and even then he chews off a few bites and moves on to another piece, but HEY! I will take any improvement I can get!

One last thing- I had posted an ad on craigslist looking for meat from local farmer and got a reply from someone who is getting out of the rabbitry he owned. He ended up selling me 10 $1 pinkies (about the size of a medium sized rat) and three rabbits for $2/lbs. Two rabbits are a few months old and about 2 pounds each, the other is 6lbs. and HUGE. All three rabbits have beautiful white coats and are fully... whole. It will be really hard to feed these because I will have to skin them first.... But this will be good for my kids. These rabbits have only been frozen in the past month so hopefully they still have a nice amount of taurine (at least for rabbits).

Also, the freezer is painted and beautiful! Tony did all the work! Haha. Now I just have to wait for my dad to rewire it in the back so it doesn't burn my apartment down! YAY!

[Forum Administrator]

It can take a while to get your ferrets used to whole prey. What is funny is I find most ferrets prefer whole prey to raw. My own guys will tear your face off to get to a mouse, but they don't two hoots about a chicken wing Give it time. They made GREAT progress for their first time, some don't even try it on the first go. Other then the things you already tried, I would try warming the mouse slightly. Put it in a ziploc baggy and run under warm/hot water to bring the mouse up to "body temp". That can help. I also would like you to continue the "short fast, tried playing with it, cut it open to expose its insides, and flavoring it with ground raw and ferretone" All will yield positive results

I am happy to hear you will be off the ground soon, very good Its okay to still include it on "boneless meat days" (which are 2 days a week) but by and large its best to get them eating raw meaty bones most days of the week (for oral health).

I'm happy to hear you are incorporating some whole prey into the diet. From my own experience I have found that when my kids eat prey they seem at their healthiest. Their poops look perfect, their teeth sparkle, and they go ape sh*t over their food

I must say I am VERY proud of you, not only for putting your kids onto this new natural diet, but for sticking with it when times were tough, AND for being willing to feed whole prey. You are doing great. We are in the home stretch and its time to kick it into high gear. Lets get these kiddos onto raw meaty bones and whole prey. We are very close!

BTW- When do I get pics of this new, awesome freezer?

[animalsgetrevenge]

Thank you so much for the encouragement Giuli!

I feel like Ramona and Didj will accept larger meaty chunks at a much faster pace than I have tried. If I give them much bigger RBMs they will probably reject it for a few hours then eat them. I think I could have them eating off chicken wings in two weeks.

As for Ernie, he has lost a tiny bit of weight now that I am feeding more chunks in their dish and holding/hand feeding for less time. I really want him to start eating more chunks...

I am also concerned about this: Once I get them eating chicken wings/legs etc I am afraid they won't want to try other meats such as beef, lamb, or pork. How is the best way to introduce these new flavors and textures? I was thinking to puree some meat and pour it onto chicken.... Any suggestions? They eat ground lamb and quail already... but how can I get them to eat it whole if if they are eating whole of something else?

As for the freezer... I plan on posting pics once Tony does the stencil on it. He is working on a stencil of a steak with flames on it... it's pretty sweet! We are thinking about cartoon drumsticks, t-bones, roasts, ect. just for fun

[Forum Administrator]

Believe it or not most ferrets prefer other meats to chicken. Once you get them eating chicken wings, legs, etc introducing them to new meats will be a fresh breath of variety and a WELCOME change. I find that ferrets arent opposed to new FLAVORS so much as they are opposed to new textures. Now I BELIEVE Bob church feels its more about taste/smell then texture but from my own anecdotal evidence it appears to be the opposite, which to me makes sense. I mean a piece of kibble looks, feels, smells, and tastes RADICALLY different then a piece of beef. Now the difference between a piece of beef and a piece of chicken, well there is taste (of course), a difference in smell, and a slight difference in texture. I've never heard of a ferret that sucessfully switched to raw chicken wings and such that wasn't willing to try new meats with little to no persuasion.

If they DO present resistance simply start placing CHUNKS of quail or lamb in their ground quail or lamb. They'll get it soon enough

PS-Oh my freaking god your freezer sounds awesome! I can't wait for pics!

[animalsgetrevenge]

That is good to hear about ferrets being open to new meats! That was one of my big fears.

Today I bought some pork for the ferrets from Trader Joes. It was freaking expensive! $4.49/lbs. I probably could have bought it cheaper at New Seasons but I was already at TJ.

I chopped the pork up into pieces a little smaller than the tip of my thumb to the first knuckle. I offered them to the ferrets; Ramona and Ernie wouldn't even lick them but Didjer ate every piece right out of the bowl like it was CANDY! I was so happy!

I cut more pork up into smaller, kibble sized pieces and offered them to Ernie and Ramona but no takers. Then I mixed it with a little ground guinea hen/lamb/chicken and a tiny bit of water. I held Ernie and hand fed him, he ate it with a smile on his face. Ramona wouldn't touch it for now.

I went back into the ferret room about 15 minutes and Ernie was back to the food bowl eating some more Ramona will get the idea.

[Forum Administrator]

My ferrets love pork. It can take a little time to get the idea that the new meat is tasty and okay, like I said "some" resistance is normal, but you really shouldnt get anywhere near the amount of resistance that comes with switching from kibble to raw

Let me know when you've got them off the ground and onto the raw meaty bones I'm excited to get them totally switched. Eeeee!!!! (happy dance)

[animalsgetrevenge]

I have been feeding Pork and ground mix the past four days. Ernie is now consistently accepting kibble sized pieces of pork while I hold him and hand feed. Ramona finally ate a piece of pork a day or two ago and is now taking 1-3 kibble sized pieces per meal plus ground mix. Didj is eating 1-2 thumb size pieces plus ground mix.

I have about 1 meal of pork left, 1 meal of ground guinea hen/lamb/chicken left and about 3-4 meals of chopped up chicken necks left which should last until Sunday morning or afternoon. My dad should be fixing my freezer cord on Saturday so it should be all ready to add meat by Monday. I also have rabbit pinkies, 2 month olds, and 1 adult sitting in my parents' freezer and 24 JUMBO adult mice sitting in my inside freezer

What would you recommend I do next? I would like to TRY to NOT buy anymore ground meat and go for chopped up meat/rmb. I could also try the mice again or rabbit pinkies. I haven't ever given them any sort of beef.... What would you suggest? I am at a point where I am almost out of food and about to have my freezer ready. Once it is ready I will be ready to buy/store/feed anything. Just give me some guidence! I am lost!

[Forum Administrator]

So they will all eat chopped up raw meaty bones? If so, then what I want you to do next is give them a WHOLE raw meaty bone this time around, don't chop it, just give it whole. Start out with a chicken wing. Break it into three segments and cut gashes into the wing (so they can learn to get a grip) and let em have it.

You can also let them have beef it you wanna try something new. That would be fine. Mice or rabbit pinkies is good too. Honestly you just need to move towards them eating either raw meaty bones (WHOLE) or whole prey (like mice). Getting them onto WHOLE foods is the key right now. However you do it is fine, just go at a pace you are comfortable with and a pace that they are comfortable with. You dont have to rush, just make sure you are slowly but surely working at progressing toward the WHOLE foods.

Let me know what you decide.

[animalsgetrevenge]

Okay that sounds good. Ernie is only eating kibble sized pieces (sometimes a little bigger) and Ramona and Didj are eating pieces about the size of my thumb or half my thumb. I think that if I only feed larger pieces Didj and Ramona will eat it when they get hungry enough -possibly a few hours- but I am concerned Ernie would just shut down and refuse to eat. He is still being a butt head when it comes to eating on his own. Once the freezer is all set up I will try giving them chopped up or ground rabbit pinkies so that they can get used to the taste, same with the jumbo mice.

[Forum Administrator]

Keep an eye on Ernie, you might have to pull him aside and feed him seperately. When De was still eating kibble and she was living with Sams (who was switching to raw) I would keep them in the cage together but I only put raw in the cage). Every chance I got I would pull De out of the cage (or pull her aside if the ferts were running outside the cage and playing) and I'd give her access to her kibble. You can do the same thing with Ernie and the rest of your crew. Dont seperate them, keep them all together but put the segmented chicken wing into the cage for them to eat. Ernie might show interest, he might not. if he doesnt you'll just have to feed him on the side (if you leave chunks in the cage its possible the other two will eat them and then poor Ernie will have nothing).

I really think you are right about Ramona and Didj. I am hoping they take right to the segmented chicken wing. When broken into 3 pieces (at the joints) the wing segments are about the size of a thumb (and sometimes a little bigger). Dont forget to cut some gashes into the meat so they can learn how to grab on. I hope those two take off and get onto the whole raw bones! Dont worry about Ernie, he is really doing great (he's just moving at a different pace, and that is a-okay) he'll catch up soon, but you'll have to be patient and bear with it until he does (it sucks to have ferrets on different stages when you have multiple ferts).

Keep me posted!

[animalsgetrevenge]

Thanks Giuli. I am already feeding Ernie by himself for the more part. Each half of my FN has a hammock, water, and litter box so I could always seperate them for a few hours each day for Ernie to eat. I have to keep them caged when their are actual chunks of meat or Didj and Ramona will hid meat around their room.

[animalsgetrevenge]

My dad fixed the cord for the freezer today. I have to patch a crack and then I will plug it in tomorrow!!!! YES!

I was ALMOST out of food so I went to new seasons to buy some things. I ended up with 8lbs. of chicken NECK, 3lbs. of chicken drumsticks, about 1 lb. of beef liver, and about 1 lb. of lamb kidneys.

My mom helped me chop everything up and bag it into day sized portions... it took us over an hour and a half! I can't wait to be able to throw a drumstick in and not have to do any prep!

The chicken necks seem like a lot a skin/fat and not much meat. Do these still count as a RMB? I can get them for $1.19 for free-range, veggie-fed so I would love to feed them for 2/7 days a week if possible. The bones are also nice and small which should be easier to get Ernie eating bone. Your thoughts?

Tonight I fed my last container of ground chicken/lamb/quail for dinner. I didn't buy any ground meat today at the store. I am going to TRY to not buy anymore ground meat from here on out! Wish me luck!

[Forum Administrator]

I like to give chicken necks on the day I feed organ meat. This helps to provide a little extra rmb and provides fiber to keep the poop firm.

What I would do is feed one neck on organ meat day and one neck on boneless meat day. As you've noticed there isnt much meat, so I wouldnt feed them on RMB days, but with the boneless meat or organ as a supplement, you should be fine. Its okay to feed bone daily, we just recommend that people feed it atleast 4 days a week.

Good luck on getting off the ground and good luck with the freezer. Keep me posted I'm excited to hear how everything goes!

[animalsgetrevenge]

Thanks for the chicken neck information!

The past few days Ernie hasn't eaten much and is feeling a little more thin. As I daid, last night was their last meal with ground meat. This morning he didn't eat more than a few bites of chicken and because I was running out the door I didn't have time to hand feed him. Tonight I fed chicken necks and chopped some meaty chunks into smaller-than-kibble sized pieces. I was able to hand feed him in my arms, but he is still running away to spit food out when he gets a piece that he thinks is too big. What can I do about this? It's like he won't even give it a chance.

I am trying to think about a meal schedule for the ferrets for each week. How does this sound?

Monday: 1/2 Cornish game hen
Tuesday: Chicken wings or drumsticks
Wednesday: Pork & chicken neck
Thursday: 1/2 Cornish game hen
Friday: Beef or lamb
Saturday: Chicken wings or drumsticks
Sunday: Organs: lamb kidney, beef liver, chicken hearts & chicken neck

Would 1/2 a cornish game hen be considered a RMB? The ones I get from new seasons are really big compared to the ones most people have talked about on here. The usually only have some organs, according to the people in the meat section.

On the organ/bone-less meat days should I feed half one of those things and half chicken neck? You said to feed one neck... is that per ferret?

What do you think?

[Forum Administrator]

The schedule looks great Let me know when you make it through 1 full week without any rebellions from the crew. Then you will be ready to graduate No need to rush, take your time and when you get there, let me know.

On organ/bonless days just experiement and see how much meat you have to give so that they'll eat all the meat and then the neck too. You'll just have to fiddle with it until you find the right amount.

Cornish hen is considered a RMB, yes.

And yes, that is one neck per ferret.

Erine might need a little more time. You might have to keep him on the ground a little bit longer and slowly slip in chunks into the mix. I know its a pain to have a ferret on a different switching stage, but I have a feeling that he just needs a little more time to catch up. I'm sure he'll get it once you go at the right pace for him. Hang in there, he should catch up soon, in the mean time though try and get him eating SOMETHING, going too long without food is never good.

Let me know how things go.