Animalfarm2006's Switching Thread

[AnimalFarm2006]

1. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names, ages, genders, and do they have any health problems?

Quantity- Two
Names- TBA
Ages- One year's old- Boy; 6/10/2007, Girl; 6/24/2007
Genders- Girl & Boy
Health- Everything well except that I think they might have a few flee's.

2. What are your ferrets currently eating?

Avoderm for kittens; I am going to switch to a better base food.
Ferret Chew Treats; Chicken flavor
A Quick version of duck soup with added whole meats that I grab before dinner.
Duck Soup- Chicken broth; just the water we boiled our whole chicken in, Chicken, Cooked Egg & Shell

3. What kind of diet do you want to switch to?

I want to switch to a partial meaty diet. Feed some raw/cooked un seasoned meat every nigh, and save some for a breakfeast.

4. Why do you want to switch to this more natural diet?

Because i love my kids already, and i want to make sure they get what they deserve.

5. Where/what/who got you interested in natural diets?
Ferret Village recommended you guys!

6. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone?

Weight- Girl; 800 g or 1. something pounds Boy; 3 pounds.
These are Accurate because i have a scale that I bought for the guinea pigs.
Overweight- The boy seems to be a little chunky

7. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums?

They need to go to a vet to get them cleaned, but they aren't falling out, or icky looking.

8. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat.

The boy's coat was a little rough, but I bathed him, to start out the three months before the next, and now he's pretty soft. He is a albino.

The girls coat is soft, and cuddle. She is said to be a chocolate ferret on her records.

9. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?

Not sure; once every 45 minuets perhaps.

10. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell?

A little, but that's just the normal poppy smell. They don't smell strong, or are slimy etc.

11. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?

Before there bath, they smelt a little strong of the odor, but these are my first ferrets so I'm not sure what a bad ferret smell is.

12. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?

They are both a 10, and it drives me bananas. The moment they get out of there cage, They take off tackling, playing, running, getting into trouble. The only time they slow down is when they are ready for a cat-nap.

13. How excited is your ferret about meal time?

They are like my guinea pigs. You pick up the container, and there up and ready to eat.

14. Have you attempted to switch from kibble to a natural diet in the past?
Nope; These are my first ferrets so i am a complete newbie.

15. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share?

They aren't going to the vet until the end of this month when we have to take our cat, and three dogs.
My little girl keeps sneezing, but i think it's because I'm using pine for litter until we can find un clump, dust free litter near us.

16. If you can, please post a clear photograph of EACH of your ferrets directly below:



This is the crazy little female.



Isn't he goofy?

17.

a.) Do you understand that by starting this thread you commit to posting updates on the progress of your ferret(s) diet switch at least every other day?

Yuppers!

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 safety during the switch?

Yuppers! I re read the rules a couple times to see if i REALY wanted to do this. I will do anything for any of my children Ferret, or dog.

c.) Do you understand that any threads that have not been updated in for more then a week (with no explanation as to why you are absent) will result in the deletion of the thread?

Yes I do.

[Forum Administrator]

Welcome aboard! and welcome to the world of natural ferret diets! I'm excited to get you started, so lets begin....

When you say "A Quick version of duck soup with added whole meats that I grab before dinner." what exactly does that meat? What is this soup made of? Is there chunks of meat in it? If so, how big are the chunks?

The reason I ask is because this "duck soup" is what we will use to get your guys onto a raw diet

I will be working with you to get your guys started into the transition to a natural diet. Once I have an idea of how your ferrets are responding to the switch, I will pair you up with a "Holistic Ferret Mentor" that will be able to further assist you in making the switch.

Let me know the answer to the question above and we'll get started I'm excited for you and your babies!

[AnimalFarm2006]

The duck soup thing i made is all ground up, so no chunks. We had boiled a whole chicken to cook it before we baked it, so i just used the water
that we boiled the chicken in as a base, Added some cooked egg, Shell, and than scraped off some chicken meat before we seasoned the chicken.
Everything was placed in my blender, and choped up untill it could be eaten easily. I have about a pint of it, most in the freezer.
I gave them just the blended mix yesterday, with barely any luck. My girl would lick it off my palm for about a second before running off.
I had to grab one of thoes baby needless thingys for medicine that i use to feed sick guinea pigs, and squrt a little into his mouth.
He acted like i was feeding him poison.

Today, Since we had toco's, I scraped some hamburger meat and heated everything together for a few seconds.
This time i had to hold each of them and put a little peice in each of there mouth. My girl seemed to like just "licking" it, and my boy spit it out yet again.


Today

[Forum Administrator]

Do you feed duk soup every day? If so, now's the time to start. Feed them each evening and use the following recipie:

8 oz of raw chicken thigh meat (including fat and skin)
1 tsp of crushed eggshell powder
1/2 raw chicken liver
1 raw chicken heart
Enough water to get it to the consistancy you want (soupy or thick)

Each night fast your ferrets for about 4-6 hours. Remove all kibble from their cage but provide plenty of fresh water. After 4-6 hours offer them the raw soupy. You did right to have them lick it from your hand. Have them do that again, or you can try spoon feeding or syringe feeding (again), the key is that every night, without fail they are exposed to this raw soupy. You can heat is slightly (dont cook it!) or you can even add some crushed kibble on top, but make sure each night they try a little bit. After you attempt to get them to eat it, leave it with them in the cage overnight. In the morning when you get up, if they havent touched it, put their kibble back into the cage and try again that night. Does this make sense? Try to use the "fasting" sparingly. A ferret should never go more then 24 hours without eating. This is very important.

If they flat out refuse to touch the raw soupy, even after syringe feeding, spoon feeding, and more. Try blending about 1/4 a cup of crushed kibble into the soup mix.

Let me know how these suggestions go. I am hoping we will get success and that they will want to start eating the soupy on their own each night.

[AnimalFarm2006]

Good New!

Around Five oclock, I took away there food like you said and let them out for a bout an hour before we left for the store.
After cooking dinner, going shopping, etc, It was nearly 8:00 so i got the soup out, heated it to warm it, added some raw meat, and started the feeding session.

My girl was first up, and she started to lick it off the squrter, so i put her down and showed her the bowl. Se started to lick that up!


The boy on the other hand would only lick it a little on the dispencer.

[Forum Administrator]

That's progress though, even if he only liked it off the dispenser. To get him to eat out of the bowl, keep giving him the food out of the syringe, and then as yu feed him lower the dispenser every so slowly towards the bowl. Finish the feeding session with him licking the dispenser that is placed IN the bowl of soup. Eventually you wont need the dispenser at all.

So did you wind up using the duk soup recipie I posted above, or the version they are already used to? Were their chunks of raw meat in the soup? If so did they eat them? If so, how big were the chunks? Or did you puree blended raw meat into the soup? Once I get this straight we can progress further into the switch. I'm happy to hear this went well for you the first time out! That is excellent news!

[AnimalFarm2006]

I used my own version with added ground up beef peices. At the moment, I need to eat all of the stuff i have,
and than make a better version. They have yet to eat any of the whole meat, but the soup it's self has ground
up chicken in it.

*UpDate* I left the soup in the cage last night, and when i woke up i noticed there was a slight dent in the
Volume. ^.^ Hopefully, they might eat more today because we are having steak, and i am going to cut a chunk
from it and see if they will nibble, or at least put it in there soup for the night.

Do you know any famious names of two misfits/nosey characters that always got in trouble for being in the wrong
place? The two of them always seem to be getting in trouble some way for another.

[Forum Administrator]

Sounds Good! Keep me posted!

As for names, I always liked the names Bonnie and Clyde for ferrets

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Barrow

[AnimalFarm2006]

:tackles with Kudos: I can't believe i forgot about my favorit fugatives! Thank you Giuli.

Most likely they will be named Bonnie and Clyde.

[Forum Administrator]

Sweet! I love Bonnie and Clyde!

[AnimalFarm2006]

Well after studing both of them to decide what kind of names i want to give them, I've decided that the girl isn't a bonnie.
She's too frisky like to be a real bonnie, since bonnie was the one that was laid back.

Is there a way you can make a bonnie like name for a boy, and Clyde like name for a girl? The boy is the laid back one, and the gir
is the one i have to check on every few minits.

Update-

Yesterday went alright. The boy licked more of the soup, while the girl fed mostly from the palm of my hand.
I think i am going to skip the whole meats mixed into the soup, place some ground up kibble over top and concertrate on just trying to get them to eat
the soup normaly.

Good news though, I left the soup in the cage again last night and I noticed there was a big difference in how much i placed in the cage.

[AnimalFarm2006]

Today went pretty good. The boy licked alot of the stuff from my palm/spoon which is a big change. He also didn't need that much provoking.
The girl realy got into eating the soup and even was chewing up a few of the larger ground up chicken peices. ^.^

Do you have any recomendations for the boy? I saw in a nother post that you can wet down there food. Should I give that a try for tomorows feeding?

[Forum Administrator]

The "wetting the kibble" method is a way to switch ferrets that just will not try the new soupy. Since the boy IS trying the food, I would say just stick with offering him soupy. They are doing VERY good for beginners. Just be sure they are maintaining their weight and not losing substantial amounts of weight. They will probably start eating more once they get used to the soup. Feel free to keep adding the crushed kibble on top to get them to eat it. Once they show regular interest in the soup (and I have a feling it wont take that long) then you can stop adding the kibble and start increasing the chunk size in the soup.

[AnimalFarm2006]

Persistance pays off:



I did not have to use the sureng, and only showed him the spoon first and than ended up putting it in the bowl. He eat pretty good!

My girl fed from the spoon like the boy, but they both where eating the oatmeal thick soup instead of just licking the juice.

Question- I noticed that both ferrets kind of freeze when they eat a bigger chunk in the soup. If i don't guid them back to the bowl, They hop down and go under the sofa to eat it. The girl also closses her eyes when eating a larger chunk. Why do you think they do this?

[Forum Administrator]

I don't know about the freezing. Perhaps its becaus they are like "what the heck?" when they get the chunk in their mouth

As for the squinty eye, its totally normal. It has to do with the way ferrets eat. Allow me to explain, if you open your ferret's mouth you will see in the back of their mouth they have what are called "carnassial teeth". These teeth work like scissors to cut through meat. They can't grind (there is no tooth surface on which to grind) and they can't move their jaw side to side. All they can do is slice. When a ferret eats it uses the powerful muscles of the jaw to open and close its mouth. Slicing through the meat, like a pair of scissors. They cut off chunks that are just big enough to swallow, and then they gulp those chunks down.

When you see the eye squinting you will probably notice that its the eye above the side of the mouth that they are chewing the food on The eye is closed slightly when they are chewing because the jaw muscles make it squint. I have also heard someone say that they squint the eye when eating because if they were eating live prey, it would protect their eyes from being bitten/scratched by the prey animal, but I'm not so sure about the validity in that hypothesis.