Penny, Boomer and Mimi!!! in transition to raw!

[Forum Administrator]

Don't worry, they'll just take time to adjust to the new texture. You can add tone or crushed kibble to the ground mix. Also, try spoon feeding. I had to spoon feed De to get her started eating the ground raw, but now she'll eat from a plate. Let me know how it goes.

[cristina]

UPDATE***
So Mimi eats EVERYTHING that has to do with raw (meat and bone, fur, anything and everything). She is my star child!!!!
Boomer is getting close to eating bone (he gnaws on them a bit) and Penny almost does the same... except shes very private when she eats so its still pretty hard to tell especially since I have class and work all day (thats when she usually eats). I am even thinking about putting a camera running for a 24 hour span just to see what and who eats what and when and how (haven't quite figured out how I am going to do that yet though ).

They weren't the biggest fans of the "hare today gone tomorrow" meats , of course Mimi was all about them (as long as its food she will attack everything, she is my little garbage disposal lol! )

But I just wanted to let you know as of now I leave out chicken and turkey thighs (with bone and all) and chicken drumlets (mimi LOVES these!!!hehe). They dont really like wings (except Mim's of course), I am thinking because there isnt much meat on them.

Now I am wondering what exactly to feed them and how much a day as well as how long I can leave it and variety in regards to different parts of raw to feed.
;D ;D

[Forum Administrator]

Strive to feed the following each week:

Raw meaty bones (atleast) 4 days a week (NOTE: It only counts as an RMB if they EAT the bone)
Examples:
Chicken wings, legs, thighs, necks, and backs
Rabbit legs, ribs, etc
Turkey necks (cut into segments)
Oxtails (cut into segments)
Cornish game hen
Bone-in chicken breast
Whole RAW (not canned) anchovies, sardines, and smelt

Boneless Muscle Meat 2 days per week:

Boneless chunks of:
Beef
Pork
Turkey
Rabbit
Bison
Emu
etc

Organ meat 1 day a week (plus one of the following: a raw chicken neck, chicken wingette, or whole egg---shell and all)

Organs: Chicken liver, gizzards and heart
Beef kidney, lung, and pancreas (these can be purchased on Hare Today, Gone Tommorow)

Strive to feed atleast 3 types of meat per week, and also vary the part of the meat you feed. For example feed chicken thighs AND breast. Feed pork butt AND pork tenderloins. Nutrient composition varies in the different parts of the animal.

Lastly, feed young and old meats:

Veal/Beef
Piglet/Pork
Cornish Game Hen/ Chicken
Poult/Turkey
Lamb/Mutton

Animals vary in nutrient composition as they age.

Follow these guidelines and work to develop a weekly feeding schedule. Your goal right now should be to get everyone eating bone reliably. Try (if you havent already) cutting a bone in half (lengthwise) and squirting fish oil or ferretone on the marrow. Marrow is already yummy to ferrets, and usually when you add ferretone it becomes irresistable and they start munching on the bone.

Good luck!

If you have any questions, please ask. Let me know how things go, and start working on developing a weekly feeding schedule that we can review.

[cristina]

Ok I am in the process of working on a feeding sched. while I look for places around me to find these exotic meats. Right now we are on a feeding routine of chicken, pork, turkey, lamb and some calf liver as well as chicken hearts and livers (I also have ground duck, rabbit, pheasant but they arent too fond of these so they dont eat as much but we are working on that. This is temporary until I can get all that I can and incorporate them all together.

I am wanting to get the emu oil you mentioned, though all that I find are topical oils and not to be ingested. So I am wondering if you have some websites I could get it from or any suggestions.

Thanks!( ;D Booms, ;D Mimis Penners)

[Forum Administrator]

Yay! I can't wait to see your feeding schedule. Sounds like you've got some AWESOME variety going on there.

For emu oil, buy "vivify". Its this product here:

www.theferretstore.com/2007/10/totally_ferret_vivify.html

It is a great supplement and contains emu oil.

Its funny how ferrets have different tastes. Everyone in my house goes BONKERS for duck and pheasent, but everyone HATES rabbit (and turkey). Isn't it cool how each ferret is different? You'll learn over time which foods you ferret likes and which they dont. If they absolutely wont eat a certain food, that is just fine. Just like people ferrets have likes and dislikes.

So are the babies eating raw meaty bones (like chicken wings) yet?

[cristina]

Mimi loves any bones (she brought a huge pork bone to bed with her the other day!) I left some of the meat on the big bone so they have to "chew if off" and Mimi just went for the whole thing! Boomer will chew the tips of wings but doesnt care too much for them yet, but at least its a good start! And Penny always is very secret when she eats (its usually when everyones sleeping, including me, or when Im not home) so I think she has chewed a bit of the tips as well but she is definitely the major one I need to work on!

Thanks for the link! I know my ferrets all like different things! Mimi seems to be the only one who really likes pork and Boomer LOVES turkey...Penny loves her chicken of course (shes not one for variety so I need to get her to work on it), but she does like the chicken liver so they do each have their favorites!

[Forum Administrator]

Well I'm thrilled about Mimi. and I'm really proud of Penny and Boomer. Sounds like they are almost there! It takes practice to master eating the wings. Chewing the tips is a great start! You can slather the tips in babyfood, or even rub some tone or fish oil on them to make them more enticing. I'm sure they'll be bone-munching before you know it.

[cristina]

So yesterday I couldnt believe my ears....I heard gnawing on a bone and I figured it was Mimi, but when she walked by on the opposite side of the room of the chewing I look down off my bed and to my surprise Boomer was really going at it on a thigh bone!!!

He figured out he LOVES bone marrow ! Now I find bits of chewed up bone marrow all over my room lol, I am glad they are pretty much there! They all now play tug of war with just about everything now so Im guessing that instinct kicked in during the transition! I am still awaiting my moment to see Penny gnawing on a bone (I am almost positive she does eat it, but I havent yet caught her in action)

Another really funny thing thats new and I noticed is all 3 of my ferrets grab onto toys and shake them really fast from side to side , which I am also guessing is due from their transition, its almost as if they are shaking their stuffed toys like their prey, to death! Penny really does it alot, and she also goes for my toes like that too and shakes my sock around like a piece of meat! HAHA

I am sooo proud of them, we are pretty much completely there!!! Thanks so much for your help, I know I wouldnt have come all this way without this mentoring and without a website such as yours. You make uneasy and worried people like me achieve the goal of a healthy life style with the support they need to keep going!

I just wanted you to know that without your help and mentoring we would have never gotten this far and my babies are now going to live healthier lives because of it!!!

I know I still have to give you a sched. to look over for feeding, right now is finals for me so I have been busy studying so I will send that when they are over, plus as of now I am feeding a variety of everything I mentioned in the last post so I think Im on a pretty good track right now. Although they get chunks of meat and bone everyday, usually I grab a thigh or something big in the morning and cut it up and leave the bones out with the meat chunks and by afternoon feeding its all pretty much gone. I have also fed 3 cornish hens this past week and they loved them! I cut off the legs, wings and split the bodies in quarters bones and all left in and they gnawed away at them!!!

Im so proud!!!!! ;D ;D

*Last night at 3am I woke up to a screaming noise I have never heard before....It was Mimi and Boomer fighting, and to my surprise guess what they were fighting over.....Yes a raw bone! So I gave it to Boomer and grabbed a new one for Mimi and they scurried off each with their bones under separate dressers!! LOL

[Forum Administrator]

Wow! What awesome news! Look how far you've come, I am so proud of you and your kiddos.

I knew you'd get there eventually. I'm really glad you stuck it through. Switching can take time, but as you are finding, its well worth it.

Don't worry about getting the schedule together, I have finals too, so I know what its like to be busy right now. Just get it to me when you have time and I'll review it and then you'll be ready to graduate.

Yay Penny, Boomer, and Mimi!!!!

[cristina]

ok so I am making up a food sched. and I am looking for what is available around me and I was browsing the hare today gone tomorrow site and found some treats that may interest Mimi and I need your opinion on them.

Mimi LOVES dehydrated treats....right now I give her "pro treat, beef liver treats" and she goes crazy for them , and I was wondering what else she could have as well, so here is what I found interesting (and they are all dehydrated by the way):

Rabbit ears
Rabbit feet
Pork liver
Ground rabbit
Ground goat
Beef liver and lung

If you wouldn't mind letting me know what they can and cant have that would be a big help, since I am going to make my order and I would like to get some treats with it as well.

Thanks! ;D

[Forum Administrator]

All the things you listed above are perfect

Can't wait to see your feeding schedule so we can get you ready to graduate! Yay!

[cristina]

Heres another thing I was wondering about....you say to feed RMB at least 4 times a week and chunks of meat the other days.....but I have a different routine and I am wondering if its ok, since this is what I have been doing ever since the switch "took" with them.

Everyday I feed a mix of bones and chunks of meat (i.e. I feed legs of any prey and cut off the hanging meat for the chunks and leave the bones with them and feed all at once, or I'll feed wings whole with pieces of veal or lamb or rabbit.)

I like to give them variety like this for one reason which is Mimi goes straight for the bones and Penny and Boomer have their time to go at the chunks, then when they are done they switch off, Mimi goes for the chunks and Boomer and Penny go searching for the bones Mimi started for them haha.

If i were to feed RMB one day alone and chunks another day alone, I feel like they wouldnt be eating as well as they are right now, but let me know if this is ok.

If this is ok then I will have a sched. for you by tonight! ;D ;D

[Forum Administrator]

Your routine is just fine. Feeding chunks and RMBs on the same day is a-okay. You just need to be sure they are being fed Raw meaty bones ATLEAST 4 days a week (with or without chunks added).

I hope this answers your question. If you are ready to post your scedule, I'll happily take a look at it.

[cristina]

Ok sorry it took so long, I started school again and kinda lost track of time....but here it is:

~Monday thru Sunday:
my ferrets will be fed RMB and boneless chunks of either chicken, turkey, rabbit, pork, lamb, veal (sometimes mixed, I buy in bulk once a month and pre-baggie it for the freezer and pull out a different variety each day). This also includes cornish hen as well, and venison when in season.

~Once a week they are fed organ meat: liver, lung, heart (usually I have to mix it with duk soup and vivify oil and grind it up so they will freely eat it without me shoving it down their throats )...I usually add a whole egg in with this as well.

~Once a week they are given: either chicken or turkey neck or piece of ox tail.

~Once every 2 weeks they are fed fish, usually smelt (I also have to add vivify oil and duk soup mix and grind it up so they will freely eat it, except for Mimi who loves fish).



~They are fed twice a day, once in morning and once at night.

~For Treats: I feed Mimi dehydrated liver treats since she is the only one who will eat them no matter how hard I try to get the others to try it. Penny and Boomer love N-Bone treats so they get pieces (cut up, not whole) occasionally.

I hope this is ok, let me know!! ;D ;D

[Forum Administrator]

I'm SO sorry it took me this long to reply. As you know, my compy has been down (and still is). By the look of your schedule, everything looks perfect! The right balance of meat/bone/organ. Plenty of variety, great treats (although I'd be careful with the cut up N-bones---be sure they don't choke on them).

I'm so happy to say this, Cristina:

Congratulations on Graduation!!!!!

Now there is one last thing I want you to do (and then I am moving this thread to the "newbie switch archive":

If you havent already, it might be a good idea to start popping in to the yahoo! group NaturalFerrets. I know yahoo! lists suck (the format) BUT there are many many senior raw feeders on there and it would be wise to make use of their knowledge. I try and advise all my "completed switchers" to get on there and post a bit. I still want you to say on HF, but I want you to "broaden your horizons" by getting a bit of NaturalFerret's info as well. Sound good?

www.NaturalFerrets.com

You'll probably run in to the Holistic Ferret Mentors on there. This is where THEY go to ask THEIR questions on natural diet (I do too).

Let me know if you get any good info out of here.

and.......

Now that you've completed the switch, have had your feeding schedule reviewd, and been advised to check out NaturalFerrets, its time to retire this thread to the "newbie switch archive"!



No one (yourself included) will be able to post in this thread anymore once its been moved to the archive. Please begin posting your diet-related questions in the "whole prey" "raw" or "general feeding questions and discussion" area. We encourage EVERYONE that is archived to continue posting. Feeding a natural diet is a learning PROCESS, there is much to learn after making the switch.

I will run a detailed "check up" with you (via PM or email) at the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year anniversary since "going natural" just to make sure all is going well and that you arent having any issues.

Feel free to jump in and help to answer newbie questions. One of the ways you can learn is through teaching. We hope you stick around so that we can celebrate the 1 year anniversary of starting your kids on raw with you!