Go Cold Turkey?

[bronwyn]

Alright, I have been working on switching my trio over to raw. Youngest eats it about 90% of the time. The older 2 are still having nothing to do with it or duck soup with raw food in it. I got all their info back from the vet and they are all healthy, granted the 2 are old and are recovering from at least 6 years of terrible diet/care but they are doing pretty awesome in spite of it.

I offer them raw in the am/pm and I've been giving duck soup mid-day. On the days I notice the pair not eating anything I will give them a seriously small dish of evo kibble(not enough to feed even 1 ferret for a meal). When they get it, the 2 act like they are absolutely starving. Part of the problem is that I'm trying to get them used to 2 meals a day rather than free feeding.

Is it okay to stop giving kibble and force them to eat raw? How long can they go without eating safely? I don't want to hurt them but I'm tired of them holding out until I cave with kibble. Even with them eating that, I know they need more.

I think the saddest thing is, that even though they are eating so little, they have stilled gained substantial weight in the few weeks I've had them. They were so bony, my young female weighed more than the male. Now he is at least double the size he was initially-I'm am so psyched about their progress!

--Just a Note--They are getting offered various parts of chicken, turkey, quail, pheasant, duck, beef, pork, I have some more elk, venison, buffalo, goat and lamb. Variety hasn't been an issue-they just don't know whats good for them yet.

--Its great-I'm a vegetarian so the site of my freezer now disgusts me but the cats are definitely loving it.

Thanks
Jessica

[lithaewyn]

Why don't you try out the switching program if you're still having troubles?

How long have you been trying to switch them?

I don't think it's a good idea to go cold turkey... Granted, a starving animal will eventually eat what it is given, but I don't think it's a wise choice to intentionally force an animal to do something it doesn't want to do. Especially if the process is harmful to it.

[sherrylynne]

Generally, a healthy ferret can go up to 12 hours without feeding. Try leaving their kibbles out overnight, then mix a wee bit of raw in the soup. I used the blender for all of it, so they couldn't pick around it . With your other two, scruff them, and just keep putting it on their noses, and in their mouths when they yawn. Do this over and over, and they will start to accept it, but it may take awhile. Then graduate to a spoon, but still feed in your lap. Then from the dish, and work your way to sitting on the floor with them eating. All the time, as they start to accept it, work in more and more raw blended with their soup.
Also, as Lithaewyn said, why not start up a thread in the mentor section. That way you can get more specialized one on one training!

[jojodancer]

"They are getting offered various parts of chicken, turkey, quail, pheasant, duck, beef, pork, I have some more elk, venison, buffalo, goat and lamb. Variety hasn't been an issue-they just don't know whats good for them yet."

A perfect statement! I have a feeling the soup is even confusing to them. Why not try creating a soup out of 3 parts EVO, and 1 part raw. And the raw you have in the freezer may be too large for them to get used to (even if you cut it up for them). So perhaps getting some commercial ground raw (stella and chewy's, AFS, NV, Wysong) and using that with the 3 parts EVO would be easier?

[Heather]

Until your furbabies show some idea that they are eating raw in some form (either soupy or raw meats) I wouldn't take their kibbles away from them. They're still not recognising the meat as food. It's not fair to starve them. I would strongly suggest that you follow the concensous that you maybe sign up for a mentor who can guide you through this sometimes trying and usually very frustrating part of the transition. Jojodancer has made a very good suggestion of using moistened kibbles to assist in the switching, I lean toward sherrylynne's idea of hand feeding them to start, in fact that is how I always start my furbabies on raw. I don't use kibbles, moistened or otherwise to transition but I do often leave them their kibbles until they start showing signs that they realize that what I'm trying to feed them is indeed food. Don't get frustrated and don't try and move them too quickly, the old ones have years of conditioning they have to overcome. It would be like telling you that after years of eating at Macdonalds you now have to eat spinach and no longer can you eat french fries. That's what we're asking our furkids to do when we switch them. They're conditioned and fixated on that food by the time they've reached 1 yr of age. I've found the easiest way to look at it is to look at every year your ferret lives, it lives 10 of your years. So if you're switching a 5 yr old ferret, your trying to decondition a furchild who is 50 yrs old. Think about it. I switched a furchild who was 9 and a half. She would have been 95 yrs old. That's like asking your great great grandparent to change their ways....overnight. It's not going to happen So be patient and gentle with your oldsters, they're not doing this to frustrate you, they're old and set in their ways .
If you find that you cannot make use of the mentors, continue to ask questions, we will help you all we can. Good luck
ciao