Switchiing Penny and Paco

[michiskip]

Alrighty, down to business. Copy and paste the following into the first post of your update thread. Fill it out and continue to post all updates on your "furkid(s)" progress in that thread:

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 ferrets
Penny 15 weeks female none
Paco 15 weeks male none

2. What are your ferrets currently eating? Include their main diet, plus any treats or supplements (such as duk soup).
Main diet, Kaytee Fiesta and Marshall kibbles
Cut up chicken treats- last night-cut it before I fed the grandchildren, both ate it-no adverse reaction noticed.

3. What kind of diet do you want to switch to?
raw-possibly whole prey

4. Why do you want to switch to this more natural diet? I lost a ferret during the bad pet food a couple of years ago.

5. Where/what/who got you interested in natural diets?We have other strange pets that eat whole prey.

6. Please list the current weight for your ferret(s). Do they appear overweight? Underweight? How is there muscle tone?
Penny is slender, Paco is larger-not overweight.

7. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?)
healthy and pink

Penny's teeth


8. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat.
Penny-copper colored, soft
Paco silver/white soft

9. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?
several times a day- 7 or 8 each

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

11. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?
pretty musky, can really smell them because we haven't had one in a while

12. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?
Penny 7 sustains playfulness as long as she is out of the cage, would rather play than cuddle
Paco 5 playful as long as he is being entertained, willing to cuddle,

13. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)?
Penny eats to live
Paco lives to eat

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

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

16. If you can, please post a clear photograph of EACH of your ferrets directly below:will send as soon as I can.


Penny




Paco

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. internet connection is sometimes iffy

***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. thats understandable.

[michiskip]

[img src="[/img]i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv174/MichiSkip/100_1963.jpg"]
[img src="[/img]i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv174/MichiSkip/100_1930-1.jpg"]
not very good pictures will get more at play time

[michiskip]

paco
I think I got the pictures to lode this time?
none of penny she was sleeping last night when I took these.

[bigsis7]

One picture of Paco showed up. He's a cutie!! Anyways welcome to the Holistic Ferret Mentor Program!! You'll see a few of us mentors pop in and out until Giuli assigns a mentor. Since your ferrets are young they should be easy to switch! I would start with feeding them small pieces of chicken breaded in crushed kibble for now. If that doesn't work, then try blending meat together to make a soup/gravy and pour it over the kibble! Let us know how that goes!

[michiskip]

;D Penny will eat the chicken chunks without the kibble, some.
Both will eat the water (broth?) that I use to heat the raw chicken up. Paco tasted the chicken and then spit it out. Licked the kibble off, and gobbled the wet kibble.

[sherrylynne]

Since they both like the broth, try adding a wee touch of pureed raw to it. Just enough to flavour the water a bit more than usual.

[michiskip]

;DThis morning I decided to make the raw puree, used a 2 chicken breast tender (unbreaded) and a 4 oz. steak. The blender kinda got away from me--so the slightly chuncky I was going for turned into paste.
Can I use this as a base and add to it?
How long should it last in the fridge?

Added the Kibble to it-
Paco ate the paste-left the Kibble
Penny acted as if I were poisoning her-then went off to find the shells I hid while they were sleeping.


Penny's teeth


Penny in the playpen
its surprising that neither of them have figured a way out of the pen-a great place to play while I clean their cage and am distracted.

[sherrylynne]

Mar 10, 2009 8:22:25 GMT -5 @michiskip said:

its surprising that neither of them have figured a way out of the pen-a great place to play while I clean their cage and am distracted.

Give them time Anyway- with the paste, you could simply freeze the extra amount in ice cube trays, and pop them out the day before to defrost in the fridge. By all means use it as a base. Simply make it a little moister if necessary, and add some ground raw if Paco will accept it. With Penny, you'll probably have to scruff her and rub some on her nose/lips to get her to lick it off. After she does that, she'll probably take some from your finger. Let me know how it goes.

[michiskip]

Penny finally ate the kibble out of the paste
Paco ate all of the paste-2/3 cup already today-he has started to eat around the kibble -Penny will go behind him and eat the left over kibble paste.
Paco has started to make a growling? sound while he eats-once this sound starts Penny leaves the bowl and won't go back until Paco leaves. Should I feed them in seperate bowls? She is normally the aggressor-not him. Does he just enjoy the food more now or is he warning her away?

[sherrylynne]

He is actually doing both . You should see mine! Grab a piece of meat, and run before someone else can get it. What you are probably hearing is him hissing with food in his mouth. It does sound odd !
With Paco, try giving him the paste with no kibbles, see if he likes it that way. With Penny, can you moisten the paste, and mix in the kibble before she gets it, maybe by about 10 minutes, so it softens just a little. The idea is to make it softer and softer, til it's mush, then decrease the kibble while increasing her raw. Good luck!

[michiskip]

So apparently Penny is not eating the chunks-sort of tearing them up and hinding them-She is also not eating the paste-except what is on the kibble-I was weak and finally gave her the plain kibbles and water.
Paco has the chicken and beef paste-kinda bottom of the days bowl and more chunky than this morning.


Whats left

[sherrylynne]

That's fine. You might just have to take it a bit slower with her. I'd still take the kibble out at night. The idea is to stop her from filling up on "junk food". First thing in the morning, put some paste in a dish, grab Penny, scruff her on your lap, and put some on her nose/lips. Keep doing this until she licks it from your finger. You may have to have her scruffed for this as well. Once she's licking it from your finger well, try using a spoon. Do this before you give her kibbles. You may find you can get her to take enough like that, so she won't be as interested in the kibbles for a while.

As for Paco, keep him with the paste, and add some ground bits mixed in well. Let me know how this works

[michiskip]

:DThis morning on Paco's side of bowl I only put 2 teaspoons of kibble and the rest paste, and on top I put chunks cut from about a 4 inch chicken tender. He left the kibble and about 5 chunks. He also had a seperate bowl of paste because I was worried the half bowl might not be enough and hoped that Penny might try it. She didn't, but he finished it off about 3 hours later.
;DPenny's side had kibble soaked in paste and smushed together. She refused to eat for about an hour, then ate about half of what she was given.

[michiskip]

:DSo Penny likes pork.
kinda funny how this happened-asked my teenage son to take the chicken out of the freezer so that I could make some more puree. Turns out he took pork loin out of the freezer.
Figured it would have to do.
Paco turned his nose up but Penny dove right in. Then caught Paco eating her kibble paste.

[sherrylynne]

That's hilarious , but if we have foods we prefer- so do they!
Once she gets over her sulks about not having her kibbles the way she's used to, she'll do much better. Every single time I try(still happens ) to introduce Boris to something new, I'm poisoning him! Such a drama queen.
For Paco now, I think I'd leave the kibble out entirely. He's not eating it anyway, so see how he does without the smell of it there. With Penny, since she seems to love pork so much, use that as her main meat right now. Give her the same thing again, just to make sure she'll repeat her behavior with it. If she does, then increase the pork paste, and decrease the kibble.
Later, you can add new meats mixed in with the pork.