Nilla and Mocha's Switch

[horseyliz]

I think i did too. i had to refill their dish twice today. I do not know if i was going to fast or what. they seem like i was starving them the poor babies. i'm just glad they are both eating again and i will add some ground meat starting tomarrow, very slowly.

[Forum Administrator]

Its okay, sometimes that happens. You caught it early and you have them eating that is what is important. So dont feed bad. Just go slow and steady, at times you'll need to go PAINFULLY slow, but its all worth it in the end, I promise.

Let me know how the ground meat goes over with them

[horseyliz]

Nilla is running around and has all sorts of energy. it is amazing. even though her leg is still not right but i guess it is good that she is running around.

[Forum Administrator]

That is great news! I'm glad she is feeling better. What is she eating right now? Has she started on the meat/ground kibble?

[horseyliz]

ground meat and wet kibble and as much cat kibble as she could devour.

[Forum Administrator]

Excellent Now what you do is slooowwwwllllyyyyyy cut out the DRY kibble. Then after the dry kibble is all gone slooooowwwlllyyyy cut out the wet kibble. This way, you are able to get them onto just ground. The ground meat is raw, correct? And is it ground beef?

[horseyliz]

that would reqire picking up the cat kibble when the fuxzzies r out. Its a mix of beef steak and chicken thigh and a tiny bit of pork liver i blended in the food processor. I had to through out the food i had left for them while i was at work because someone had to go poopy in it. silly ferrets!! they r eating everything in sight and actully playing. now can i put a little ferret tone on toys to get them interested in playing with them?

[Forum Administrator]

You can, but it might encourage them to lick and chew on the toys. I'd be careful with what you put the tone on. You dont want them ingesting anything that could get stuck in their intestines. Some ferrets just dont like toys, while others like a very specific kind of toy:

soft, stuffed animals
Hard, plastic balls
Squeeky toys
Paper bags
Tunnels
Etc

You just have to find the right toy for your ferts

So did they eat the beef steak, chicken thigh, and pork liver soup?

[horseyliz]

they ate some of it but are not thrilled with it at all, unless mommy feds it to them. i made more mushed up kibble as the last batch got spoiled. I also bought 6 pinky mice two for each ferret and one for each cat, the cats will get what the ferrets leave behind. i have plastic cat toys and was thinking to put a drop on one to see if my ferrets wouild play w/ something. the only toy mocha was interested in was a new york loto key chain.

[horseyliz]

last night they ate 1.5 oz of dry and 2 oz of wet kibble and ferretvite. So today i decresed the amount of dry and added a dime size amount of grund meat to their wet kibble. hope fully they will eat kibble and then eat the wet/meat mix.

[horseyliz]

they ate an oz of dry lastnight and 2oz of wet. today so far they have eaten 2oz of wet. and now they have two dime sized amounts of ground meat. which they are eating.

[Forum Administrator]

Excellent Slow and steady, its a good solid plan. Just keep those little monkies eating something. In the mean time, I have less acess to the computer (as you've seen) so I am going to be assigning you a permanant HF Mentor that will monitor your thread and correspond with you. I will still be checking in on you (as I do with all my newbies) but your new mentor is the person you'll talk back and forth with. Let me go grab her...

[horseyliz]

can i add egg / eggshells to theirwet kibble?
i just made cake and saved a little egg and the egg shells for Nilla and mocha.

[horseyliz]

yes i have noticed that u have been on less often. i was hoping i would find out who my mentor was soon. I do not know where i should post this but thrusday to monaday i may not be able to post due to having to stay at a friends house so that i can get sleep as well as work, and where she lives is easier to get to and from work then where i do. but i will post thurs and again on mon.

[Heather]

Hi Liz
Hi
I'm Heather, and we're going to be working together for the next little while trying to convince your furbabies to change to a healthier diet
I've been feeding a raw/natural diet for a little over 10 yrs. I have a small private rescue/sanctuary where all ferrets turned into me are switched immediately over to a raw diet that consists of ground raw/whole meats or frankenprey/ and prey diet. At present every ferret eats this full range of diets. I don't keep kibbles in the house All my furbabies are free roaming and have access to an outdoor play area that they can access at will. At present there are 14 little fuzzbutts who call this their permanent home. They range in ages of about 2 yrs to my little senior citizen, Babushka who is coming up on 10 yrs (she by the way has been my biggest raw switch challenge, which had me at times wondering why I was doing this to her) Now completely switched and putting on a beautiful dark black coat, teeth that are now nicely cleaned up, and she actually has a lot of fun investigating the house (she used to do nothing but sleep when she first was turned in). She has made me aware that every ferret no matter how old, can get a new lease on life by eating a species appropriate diet
I've read through your posts and hopefully I can help you out Yes, you can add raw egg and egg shell (ground to a powder) to your mix. Scramble the egg so that you have both egg white and yolk to balance the biotin. You may also note a difference in stools until your furbabies tummies get used to the change. I have one boy, Napoleon, who's an egg hog and will eat most of a whole egg himself and then his litter box tells me the story of his piggy habits
I believe there's no problem about posting as long as you tell me that's how you're doing it. I've got another switching person who only emails me on the weekends as that's the only time she has access to a computer. Do you have access to post if you need to...say if you have a pressing question? You seem to be reasonably on top of it anyway Are your furbabies being fed kibble while they're at your friends' home or are you trying to continue to switch them when they're with you? Let me know and I will talk at you again on Thurs according to what you've written here Good luck
ciao