Vomiting during the switch

[ferretfreke]

Is this common for ferrets to have vomiting issues while switching to raw/whole prey? I have four ferrets and we have been in the process of switching for at least two months now. Three out of four have all vomited at one time or another. None vomit at the same time. With one of my ferrets I ruled out that he is really sensitive to meal worms. I haven't given him anymore and he hasn't vomited since. One in particular (BillyBob) has seemed the most sensitive. He has not had signs of IBS before. The things that have made him vomit are pinkies, adult mice, chicken, organs from beef or chicken. It's all really random though. He can eat all the above for weeks and not have a problem then one day he'll just randomly vomit right after eating. He vomits to the point of dry heaving each time usually. I just fed them dinner a half an hour ago and Billy started puking while he was eating. Someone vomited all over the cage and out the other night but I didn't see who. I was suspecting my other ferret Unagi because he was kind of down that morning when I discovered it. Someone also vomited a small amount the day before, but again I didn't see who. None of my kids had problems like this before the switch. I'm getting very concerned. I would really appreciate any feedback and experiences others have had.

Thanks.

Here's my switch thread for my info on my group:

holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newbie&action=display&thread=2880

[ferretfreke]

I take that back that chicken has made Billy vomit since I don't know who vomited the other night, but that is what I had fed them that night. He hasn't vomited from chicken breast, wings or gizzards before. Those are all his faves. He does fine with baby chicks as well. I fed them all a pinkie mixed in soup, since they wont eat them any other way yet, all week last week with no vomiting.

I guess I should also mention that I get my meat from the grocery store then I portion it out and freeze it. I thaw it out as needed. I would prefer to by them organic, but that just isn't possible on my budget. Stocking my freezer with dead animals has broken me as it is.

[Heather]

I cannot afford to feed organic either. It would be optimum but I think for the most of us you will find that we feed grocery store as well.
I read through your thread. I think from the sound of things that you may be getting a combination of things that might be causing the vomiting. It's not that unusual to have a certain amount of vomiting with new foods. There is considerable changes that go on with their little bodies as it learns to digest and process their new diet. Vomiting is never good with a ferret but I find that with the raw diet because they're not always on the border of dehydration (as with kibbles) that they can handle the occasional bouts of vomiting. You may also be seeing where they over eat (we've had a number of members who have had to deal with piggy ferts, especially when these little guys suddenly have "real" food to deal with ) Sometimes, when they're first learning how to eat they will swallow a whole chunk and it gets stuck, they choke and then start vomiting. Ferrets seem to have an innate ability of "not" being able to stop vomiting (which is why it's such a bad thing for them) until everything is up. I found one of my guys vomiting the other night and he'd eaten a whole gibblet ...whole He'd started chewing and one of the other guys tried to steal it from him...he ran and hid but was found again. So rather than loose his treasure he swallowed it whole....to say the least...it all came right back up again . You mention one of the furbabies vomited all over the cage....if it was indeed just one that was vomiting, overeating does indeed sound like a possibility.
Youre guys may have also picked up a virus of some sort. Like in a family household, not everyone has to be affected to be a virus. Have you tried feeding pork? This is another mild meat that is well received and seems to sit well with most ferrets. My guys love it and I've not had issues with this meat. The one that I have the worst results with is beef. I find that if I feed it too much I get stomach upsets (I also have 2 furbabies with IBD). The meats that are best recieved are rabbit, chicken, quail, pork, a fish mix that I buy for the cats (the fuzzies steal the cat food...it tastes better stolen ) lamb, elk (some can't eat this, same as the bison and beef)...the best loved meat...rats and mice.
If you have a ferret who is consistently vomiting....then I might suggest that some blood work might be necessary but as the vomiting is random and not a particular ferret you may have to look at it on an individual basis rather than a business problem or even related to the food.
I'm sure that there will be others with suggestions and input. Good luck.
ciao

[ferretfreke]

In the instance with Billy tonight it definitely wasn't due to overeating because he had just started eating. I fed them a chicken liver, some beef kidney and heart chunks blended in soup cus they wont eat organs any other way yet. He ate a small amount of soup and then moved on to a gizzard and right when he started eating the gizzard he started the vomiting. Once he was feeling better he ate some gizzards and was fine. So I suspect that one of the organs in the soup was the cause. Or maybe I put too much organ in the mix?

I haven't been crazy about feeding them beef anyways. It doesn't seem natural to me. In the wild they wouldn't be taking down a cow . But how else do I find the organ meats I need to feed them? I wish the little monsters would take to the mice already so that I don't have to stress about them getting a proper balance so much.

Whoever vomited all over the cage the other night might have over eaten cus it was a lot of vomit. Billy just had blood work done recently and everything was normal. He has vomited the most out of the group.

I have been hesitant to feed pork. How do you feed raw pork safely? If my rodentpro order ever gets here I will have lots of quail, rabbit, mice, and chicks for them. I bought them some fish mix the other day but I haven't offered it yet.

Thanks again Heather

[sherrylynne]

I feed pork on a regular basis. Freezing takes away any concern about trich that may be there, and with the farms the way they are now set up in North America, we don't have the same concerns with exceedingly unsanitary conditions that there used to be. If you get the pork directly from the farmer, just toss it in the freezer for a month or so, to alleviate any concerns.
With the vomiting, Boris will eat too quickly sometimes(especially beef heart- his favourite), and it comes right back up. If Athena has hers cold from the fridge, she'll vomit it back up. Lucrezia overeats, same result. Some ferrets find organ a tad rich, and have to have them in smaller portions as well.

[mustelidmusk]

I don't thnk this much vomitting is normal.....My Kachina will over-feed on raw, get a weird look on her face, barf once, and that's it. Then she's more cautious - but she has to eat twice as much as her brothers who are twice her size.

That being said, I wonder if your kids may have a high bacteria count or giardia or something similar acquire from tap water??

During a switch, your fert's tummies are learning to deal with lots of new bacteria, etc. My kids got a couple rounds of antibiotics during their switch. They had "high bacterial counts". Antibiotics cleared things up. i'd have fecal checks done on the barfers. Again, high bacterial count is not unusual during a switch.

-jennifer