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Post by tink80 on Oct 7, 2008 22:32:37 GMT -5
well my kids get soup daily and today i made a new batch with a small portion raw because baby bear is one of those high maintenance picky kids that notices *any* slight change..but they took to it. (yay) i bought some chicken drumsticks i thought maybe at least monkey would gnaw on. last time i put raw meat in their cage they stashed it in the litter box  i boiled one for a few minutes so only the outside was a little cooked. i'm going to try to put in cage tonight (so it won't be stashed somewhere in the house to rot, they are free roam about 10 hours a day). my best chance is with monkey. any suggestions are welcome. i'll let you know how it goes  |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 8, 2008 0:15:10 GMT -5
Well first of all, welcome aboard! I have confidence that we can provide you with all the information and assistance you will need to get your two carpet sharks started on raw foods. If you could please copy/paste this form into your first post (and fill it out). Then we can take a look at all the details about your babies and their current diet and we can help you to get them started eating raw holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=newbie&action=display&thread=822 |
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Post by tink80 on Oct 8, 2008 1:10:20 GMT -5
1. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names, ages, genders, and do they have any health problems (this is VERY important)?Two; Monkey: 2 yrs old/Male; Baby Bear:1 yr. old/Male (the only event we had was baby bear being extremely allergic to vaccinations) 2. What are your ferrets currently eating? Include their main diet, plus any treats or supplements (such as duk soup).Mix of 2/3 Evo Ferret, 1/3 Natural Gold, Daily Duk Soup
3. What kind of diet do you want to switch to? Not sure yet if completely raw to be honest, but at the least partially
4. Why do you want to switch to this more natural diet? I want my ferrets to live long healthy lives..I am constantly worrying about their diet. 5. Where/what/who got you interested in natural diets?Various literature 6. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone? Monkey is 2.7 lbs. (lost tons of weight after he came home from the shelter, so he was bigger before), Baby Bear is 4 lbs...his veterinarian agreed that with his amount of exercise and diet it is just genetic and he is very healthy. I'd say both are ideal weight for their frame. 7. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?)Monkey is sparkling white. Baby Bear has plaque because he has a snaggletooth so it is harder for him to get his teeth clean..i am saving for that tooth to be shaved down per my veterinarian's advice to avoid future issues.
8. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat.Shiny and soft/ Sable and DEW (he has yellowish tint in areas due to oil, i asked the vet and she just said some ferts are more oily than others and it was okay)
9. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?Five to six times a day that I see, then several times through the night it appears 10. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell? Yes
11. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?Not strong. They have a sweetish musky smell..doesn't smell bad at all to me.
12. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?8
13. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)? excited when they are hungry, it's left out all day though so they don't come running or anything..but they will come up and smell at least when i refill or maybe stash some
14. Have you attempted to switch from kibble to a natural diet in the past? If so, what methods have you tried. Be specific.No, only tried to add a bit of turkey neck and a mouse as a treat. (didn't go over well) 15. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share? Baby Bear is my deafie, he is very special and a little different but a love..however he will be the most challenging..it took me forever to get him just to accept soup. 16. If you can, please post a clear photograph of EACH of your ferrets directly below:  17. a.) Do you understand that by starting this thread you commit to posting updates on the progress of your ferret(s) diet switch atleast every other day?**yes
b.) Do you understand that if you will be away from your computer for an extended period of time you will need to exchange phone numbers (or email addresses if you don't feel comfortable exchanging numbers)via private message with your assigned mentor, so that we can monitor your progress and ensure your ferret's saftey during the switch?yes
c.) Do you understand that any threads that have not been updated in for more then a week (with no explaination as to why you are absent) will result in the deletion of the thread?
***yes **Note 1: If you are unable to make it to a computer (such as on weekends) please indicate below so we know whether you just dont have computer access or if you have gone MIA. ***Note 2: If you would like to try the switch again and you are committed to making regular updates you ARE welcome to restart your thread. Failure to provide regular updates will result in the deletion of your thread.
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Post by tink80 on Oct 8, 2008 17:07:02 GMT -5
baby bear smelled it and ran, if i took a piece off and set it down he would avoid the whole area! monkey tried to stash it. i tried to engage him in tug of war with it..he tried twice, broke off a small piece of meat, ran away and spit it out... |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 8, 2008 21:08:54 GMT -5
I have an idea  Lets take the sneaky approach. What is their recipie for duk soup? My plan is to convert their daily duk soup to a special raw duk soup, then we can progress from there to a ground raw food, and then onto whole raw foods (like chicken wings) |
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Post by tink80 on Oct 8, 2008 21:58:15 GMT -5
I have an idea Lets take the sneaky approach. What is their recipie for duk soup? My plan is to convert their daily duk soup to a special raw duk soup, then we can progress from there to a ground raw food, and then onto whole raw foods (like chicken wings) i was thinking about the soup idea too! Soupies: (Big Batch) -8 jars baby food (chicken, turkey, lamb, or beef..ratio of chicken has to be highest though :  i can reduce to 7 but if i go down to 6 baby bear flat out refuses the whole batch *sigh..* -Enough homemade broth from the pot to fill blender halfway -5 chicken breasts -2 to 3 handfuls of chicken hearts -2 handfuls chicken gizzards -2 tablespoons pumpkin -ferretone to flavor -pedialyte as needed to reduce lumpiness this makes about 3-4 weeks worth and i just made some yesterday, one breast was raw(ish), a few gizzards and hearts were raw, i also added some fat and a bit of marrow off a drumstick. what was great was it came out lumpier than usual and baby bear actually ate it...now monkey didn't eat it so i had to thaw it out and blend with more pedialyte today to the right consistency.. i put two drumsticks in the oven and was thinking of trying again with a cooked one, then cook less and less..but i'm not sure if i'll be wasting my time with that..haven't decided yet, they're in the fridge. my food allowance came in yesterday and i'll be going powershopping this weekend..any suggestions of what to add to the list? (oh and it is super hard around here to get hearts and gizzards..once in a GREAT while..and livers, haven't found at all..i'm in the boonies) i forgot to tell you that one time monkey DID eat the tail of a thawed out mouse (arctic mice i used for a snake). i have one mouse left in the freezer..thinking about adding it somehow..*imagines putting a mouse in the blender* |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 9, 2008 14:13:15 GMT -5
Okay here is what well do: What I want you to do is to make up a NEW version of the soupy, but dont' worry, we'll make use of the soupy you already have made This recipie is going to be for a much smallar batch then the soupy you make (this way you wont wind up with a ton of soup they dont want to eat lol. So just make 1 batch at a time): 8oz Raw chicken thigh meat (no bone, but do add the skin, fat, etc) 1 tsp of finely ground eggshell powder (take eggshells, rinse them out, let them dry, crush to fine pwdr) A few drops of fish body oil (NOT cod liver oil) or a few drops of ferretone Pedialyte (UNFLAVORED!) or water to blend smooth Do you have access to a butcher or any ethnic markets? Try seeing if they carry any "weird" things like chicken liver, gizzards, heart, and pork kidney. So anyway, if you CAN find the liver, heart, gizzards, or pork kidney then add 1/2 a raw chicken liver, 1 raw chicken heart, 1-2 chicken gizzards (raw)and a "1/2 thumb sized" piece of kidney(raw) to the recipie above. if you cant find these extras, dont worry about it. Ideally you want to have the meat, eggshell, and organ because it *roughly* replicates the percentages in a whole animal but they arent going to die if you cant find those things. Okay so now. Blend up the recipie above. DO NOT COOK IT. Freeze the remaining soup into an ice cube tray. You can try offering your babies this soup right away, you may warm it slightly, but dont COOK it. If they take to the soup right away, great! We are a step ahead If they dont like the soup, never fear, mix 1 ice cube of their regular soup with 1/4 of an ice cube of the new, raw soup. Use the same approach that you would when switching to a new kibble. Gradually add less of their usual soup and more of the new raw soup. Continue to let them eat their kibble, we are just going to work on changing the ingredients in their soup. Our goals are to: a.) see if you can scrounge around and find the hearts, gizzards, liver, and kidney (again if you can't, dont panic. If you DO find these things, STOCK UP! They are very inexpensive and its worth it to buy a bunch). b.)Get them eating a new, raw, duck soup in addition to their kibble during the day. We will progress from there once we get them eating the raw duk soup. |
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Post by tink80 on Oct 9, 2008 17:32:53 GMT -5
okay that sounds good. i went shopping last night and of course no hearts, gizzards, or liver..but i do have a few handfuls of hearts and gizzards left. is it okay for me to start with the meat off a drumstick? don't have money to go back to the store now but i might be able to swing something later (sorry, disability income..argh). i might have to wing it with what i have sometimes until i get a definite shopping list of what they'll eat. i do have eggs already though and ferretone and pedialyte. *sidenote*: i thought i'd try a teaspoon of raw ground beef last night (something i have several pounds of now) and mixed it with water and some ferretone. monkey licked some blood and actually ate a piece of it. great, right? i was delighted..but.. he starts running around hacking like mad trying to vomit forever and long story short he pooped out a hairball (crazy because i'm diligent about preventing those)..anyway, the point is i was thinking "omg, i poisoned him!" or "he has an allergy to beef!" so even though i'm sure that wasn't it i'm a little too traumatized right now..LOL. i kind of want to since he was interested but...don't know. why at THAT moment did that piece of meat have to be the last straw before his hairball passed? hope he doesn't have a negative connotation now! i am usually a logical person but i was sitting there getting ready to go to the ER proclaiming "never again! i almost killed him!" "no raw for my babies!". yes, a bit emotional (baby bear went into anaphylactic shock two weeks ago and it was like having flashbacks!). so it most likely had nothing to do with it, but i'm still scared even though that is irrational. i might need a little motivation to get going today, maybe read a few articles or something... |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 9, 2008 17:39:39 GMT -5
As long as you dont make a big deal out of it, I dont think he'll make any unfounded connections Drumstick meat is just fine. Try to stick with drumstick or thigh meat (dark meat). If you just give him chicken breast or wing its too low in fat and taurine. You can also add in a LITTLE ground beef to the mix. If you add 4oz of ground meat to the recipie (in addition to the 8oz of thigh meat) you will need to add an extra 1/2 tsp of ground eggshell (this helps to keep the calcium:phosphorus ratio balanced). Meat is high in phosphorous, bone (or eggshell) is high in calcium. Keep the calcium/phos ratio balanced. That is the key thing to remember. 8oz of meat means 1tsp ground eggshell. |
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Post by tink80 on Oct 9, 2008 23:16:51 GMT -5
okay so i tried it tonight..i did just the raw soup first and baby bear licked it off my finger and ran away (LOL) and monkey licked on his own several times and hid (they are so silly!)..
sooo i took your backup plan and mixed a cube of their soup with a cube worth of raw..and...
BABY BEAR ATE ALMOST THE WHOLE PLATE (WOO HOO!)..
i made another serving and gave it to monkey..i'd say he ate a third of the plate. however he hasn't been chowing down on his soup lately so that might not mean anything ..(they DID have regular soup this morning and he ate a little kibble so he might have just been full!).
i saved the rest of the plate and will offer it to them again before they go to bed to see if they want anymore (no use wasting it). i had a few cubes worth leftover so i froze those with their regular soup in the tray.
i am pretty excited that we even got that far though! :-)
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Post by tink80 on Oct 10, 2008 15:29:27 GMT -5
argh..okay monkey ate a third today while feeding him with a spoon. baby bear didn't eat any yet. they're almost off their soup. hmm..
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Post by tink80 on Oct 10, 2008 15:48:48 GMT -5
okay baby bear just vomited. i don't know if this is making them sick or they are sick so i have to hold off.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 10, 2008 21:09:43 GMT -5
Is it possible that babybear just ate the food to fast? We have another member who is switcihng and her little girl gets so excited about the food that she's scarfing down WAY to fast. Hold off on trying again until you are comfortable. Next time you try, offer him less soup. If he eats too much too fast, he'll get sick (just like a person would if we ate too much, too fast ) I have a feeling that all this was was a case of a ferret getting a *little* too excited about soupy time. Hope he's feeling better soon. |
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Post by tink80 on Oct 11, 2008 18:06:12 GMT -5
thanx, turns out he has a blockage..he is just starting to eat again so i'm gonna hold off..he was ill three weeks ago and now this..i'm so stressed and worried i think i have to hold off for now till i see him healthy for awhile..sorry.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 11, 2008 22:08:23 GMT -5
A blockage? Oh my goodness! Is he alright? I hope he's okay. I just lost my Sams to a blockage back in July, I know how scary blockages are. Don't worry about it, hold off until both you and him are ready.
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