Weasel & Slinky's Diet Switch

[Jen]

Today Weasel is still munching on the thigh bone (eating it, getting into the red middle) and ate a chunk of the meat (I cut the thigh down). Here's pics of him chowing down last night. This is why I must stop leaving his cage open when there's food out.. though I feel guilty cooping him up, he eats like a bird. He drug the bone into his box.. I guess he's asking for a dark den to eat in..

[Forum Administrator]

Yes, ferrets like to eat in "feeding dens"

holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=enrich&action=display&thread=230&page=1

[charmantpapillon]

Yay weasel =D My favorite nickname for beast is The lil bone cruncher =P And they DO like to eat in dark spaces mine currently has his bowl under the ramp where it meats the floor in his cage =P

when do you think you'll try a different meat other than chicken cornish gamehen is similar and you can get them in packs of two at walmart for about 6 dollars. mine likes duck and veal a lot (yay for meijers day before expiration sales WHOOHOOO) But his favorite is pork loin. He eats anything you put in front of him since he was switched at 12 weeks of age but you know which one he likes better by how he attacks it and by how long it sits in the bowl =P

[Jen]

Oh, next time I go grocery shopping, I'll pick cornish hen or chicken legs. I guess I should look for a whole little chicken/hen to cut up so he'll eat it throughout the week.

I wondered about a couple of things.. what about fuzzy kisses after he's eaten...? He finishes eating then he's like "love me mama".. his face in my face.. is there anything I should do or not do about that?

Also, my bf thinks Weasel may be getting more aggressive since he's eating raw meat (I think he's going by some old wives' tale).. I think he is more active than when he was on kibble, but this could also be because we've been stuck inside the past 2-3 days due to cold, rainy weather. I think his nails are growing faster (just cut them last week!) lol

[charmantpapillon]

natural diets act as a healthy, appropriate outlet for *natural* chewing and biting behaviors. Instead of chewing on you or on random objects your ferret will vent its instincts through ripping and tearing through meat and flesh. These instincts are ALWAYS present in the ferret. Unlike a kibble diet, a natural diet allows these behaviors to be properly vented: much like giving a cat a scratching post for its natural scratching instinct.

Prey drive is always there, regardless of what the animal is eating. For the future, here is a good link for your boyfriends worries about a blood thirsty weasel!
rawfed.com/myths/bloodthirsty.html

And he WILL be more active. natural diets do seem to cause ferret's energy levels to increase. In fact, it seems that ferrets energy levels are more stable on a natural diet, they don't get uber hyper and then crash 5 minutes later, they tend to be more active overall.

And i would like to correct myself from earlier about the wories of loving on him after he eats: The whole "dogs mouth is cleaner then a humans" is untrue (http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/080422-llm-dog-mouth.html).

Ferrets mouths do not have enzymes that kill most microbials. In fact, ferret's mouths dont contain digestive enzymes at all Ferrets lack the carb digesting enzymes found in human saliva (because they have no biological need for carbs ) also they don't have "meat digesting" enzymes in their saliva, because if they did, those enzymes could digest the mouth of the ferret (because the inside of a ferret's mouth is "meat") In a carnivore such as a ferret or cat, digestion begins in the STOMACH not the mouth. Ferrets cut meat (they DO NOT chew it) into pieces that are small enough to swallow. Once it gets to the stomach, digestion begins. (a little bit off topic, but its useful info nonetheless)

It IS possible for salmonella to be shed in the saliva and feces of a ferret (or any other animal being fed raw meat or whole prey). This isn't cause for panic though, it simply calls for the use of common sense:

*Don't engage in a bout of "kissy face" with your ferret RIGHT after they finished eating raw meat! You CAN kiss your ferret, but do wait until several hours after they have eaten

*ALWAYS clean up ferrets feces with a disinfectant

(FYI You should be doing BOTH the things above. Salmonella has been found in several commercial dog kibbles and it wouldnt be unreasonable to think it could be present in ferret kibble as well. Just use common sanitary methods and you'll be fine).

He will see animals as prey now but with the proper training you can get him to know the difference between Pets and food.

If you feed one ferret a piece of meat that is 56% protein and you feed another ferret a commercial ferret kibble that is 56% protein, why is it that the ferret eating meat will have faster growing nails? Because the protein content on the bag of kibble can include BOTH plant AND meat protein (and ferrets can only digest meat protein). So what that means is if 20% of the protein in the kibble comes from plant sources, that means your ferret is only getting 36% useable protein! So the ferret eating the raw meat is actually getting MORE protein the ferret eating kibble even though "technically" they both have the same percentage of protein. The meat ferret is getting 56% USEABLE protein, the kibble ferret is only getting 36% useable protein. (this is just an example btw, the amount of plant protein in kibble varies, "better" kibbles have only about 10% plant protein, "bad" kibbles contain more.

FYI---Most people recommend picking a ferret kibble with about 36% protein, IMo that is WAY to low, a mouse is about 56% protein and that is 99% digestable protein.

So the ferret is getting raw, digestable protein on a raw diet, so its hair, nails, and fur grow longer, stronger, and faster. This is ALSO why a ferret "beefs up" on a raw diet and gets more musculare (more available protein).

I gave you some wrong information and i also didnt give you enough when giuli brought this to to my attention to help me mentor you better i took some of what she sent me and copy/pasted it to you.

I hope i havent just confused you! but let us know how weasel is doing please! you didnt post on him yesterday and i just wanna see if he made any progrees no progress or a slide backwards. (its okay if backward slides happen im currently in the middle of a weight loss programs and we're taught that if you fall off the wagon you cant give up you gotta get back on it and change.)

[charmantpapillon]

Hey Jen could you please post an update on how weasel is doing?

[Jen]

Wow, I didn't see that post yesterday Cool! I have to go check out the links now. What should I use to clean Weasel's face after he eats? He comes to me for cuddles when he wakes up and after he eats, so I'll just have to not let him get 'kissy' after meals.

SORRY I haven't updated, y'all. There's not much of a change. He's still eating his raw chicken (wings and thighs; bought some legs but haven't introduced them yet); he's eating even more of the bones now(only 1" left from about 4"). My bf noticed... we can hear him crunching from the next room. Cute though, and good to know he's eating. After eating, Weasel's like 'play time!' and goes for attacking feet (I try to taunt with a feather toy on string and he thrashes and alligator rolls it) and chasing me around his room (after my feet, like "dance, mama, dance"). lol We'll introduce legs tomorrow; I may cut it down though like the big thighs. Then he'll be offered the meaty bone and later a couple chunks of chicken meat, too.

[charmantpapillon]

heh mine LOVES white socks i can wear him out by bouncing around with the socks on my feet he'll latch on sometimes and i'll drag him aaround like a lil ferret ride =)

And pleaaaase up date atleast every other day whether there is any change or not. can you give me a list of meats that he has tried yet?

[Jen]

Haha.. he'll latch onto my pants sometimes. I'M SORRY I didn't post for a couple days. There wasn't much of a change, just slowly eating more.. I'll just update regardless next time. His list is still the same; I bought the legs yesterday, but haven't introduced them yet (HEB didn't sell cornish game hen, just whole young chicken, so maybe next time). The legs are pretty big, like the thighs, so I'll probably cut most of the meat off then give him the bone first and add meat chunks when there's none left on the bone.

Weasel's Current Meat-Eating List:
*raw chicken wings
*raw chicken thigh

What about fatty supplements? Is there anything I should offer him besides bones and meat? His FerretVite ran out so I'll have to get some online or convince HEB or Wal-Mart to stock some..

[Forum Administrator]

Kate, I'm going to pop in real quick to dispense some quick advice for Jen and then I'll go back and leave her to you

Besides RMBs (raw meaty bones) you can offer him boneless meat, and organ meat. Ideally you want to work towards feeding him the following each week:

4 days a week (atleast) of raw meaty bones. You can feed RMBs daily, if you wish, but no less then 4 days per week. Raw meaty bones are things like chicken wings, legs, and thighs, turkey necks, oxtails, and cornish game hen. Very important: It only counts as a raw meaty bones meal IF your ferret eats the meat AND the bone. If you give him a chicken thigh and he eats all the meat and not the bone, that doesnt NOT count as an RMB meal.

2 days a week of boneless muscle meat. Things like raw boneless chunks of pork, beef, lamb, etc.

1 day a week of organ meat (chicken liver is a MUST. If you can find it, also include chicken gizzards and hearts, pork/beef kidney, etc) I also like to feed a raw chicken neck on this day or a raw egg (shell and all) so that there is some fiber from the eggshell or bone. Organ meat is rich and can cause the runs. Regardless, it MUST be fed weekly (do not feed more then 1x per week).

For supplements I dont really recommend anything. You can add a few drops of fish body oil (omega 3 fish oil) to his food 1-2 times per week, but this is not necessary. I generally don't recommend ferretvite, because its high in sugar.

[charmantpapillon]

Jen i wasnt trying to berate you or make you feel bad for not posting. im sorry if it came out that way.

[Jen]

No worries, Katie. It's all good (lol)
Just didn't want to seem like I was leaving ya hanging; I really appreciate the help

Today I gave Weasel a chicken leg bone and two meat chunks. He ate one meat chunk and either ate or hid a 1/3 of a chicken wing earlier. (He's still eating, so we'll see how much of the leg bone he eats). He eats more of the bone now; like with the wing and thigh bones, he'll eat most of it and only leave about 1/3 (of the bone).

[charmantpapillon]

so hes getting to the part where you can see the marrow? sweet marrow is FULL of vitamins and such because marrow is fatty and it is where bone and blood cells are made whoohoo yay for another widdle bone cwuncher! are you just giving him chicken still? or have you tried to have him try new stuff?

[Jen]

He is a little bone crusher. lol. Reminded me of your nickname for Beast. He eats most of the smaller bones (wings and thighs- he'll eat all of the bone or leave about 1" left). The leg bone must have been too big for him (or I messed up by offering two meat chunks at the same time), so I'll offer another one later tonight when he wakes up. I'll pick up some organs next time I go to the store. I guess I should start marking what he eats each day (MB, MM, OR- meaty bones, muscle meat, organs).

[charmantpapillon]

i got the shortenings =) keep me updated please it seems like hes making the switch without too much trouble
=)