Gracie,Saybor,and Ashers switch.

[briannahurst]

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)?
I have three
Gracie-1 year (will be two in 10 days),female, and none
Saybor-3 years,female, and none
Asher-2 years,female, and none

2. What are your ferrets currently eating? Include their main diet, plus any treats or supplements (such as duk soup).
I feed them 8 in 1 ulitimate ferret diet
treats:
ferret chew sticks chicken flavor
All sheppard&Greene treats
chicken nacho flavor
chicken bacon ranch flavor
egg&bacon flavor
ferret vite
and RARELY duk soup
occationally a boiled egg


3. What kind of diet do you want to switch to?
Only raw. no whole prey
4. Why do you want to switch to this more natural diet?

I think it will be better and heailther for them

5. Where/what/who got you interested in natural diets?

My friends dad,booke,and here

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

Gracie-1.4lbs low muscle tone and a bit under weight
Saybor-1.6lbs low muscle tone and a bit under weight
Asher-1.8lbs medium muscle tone and not under or over weight

7. What is the condition of your ferret's teeth/gums? (can you get a picture?)
they wont hold still for a picture

All of their gums are light pink

but gracies teeth are very long and sharp while the back ones have a build up of tarder.

ashers are clean but wore down.

saybors are short and all are a tint of yellow.

8. Describe the texture/color of your ferrets coat.
gracies fur is white and gray, and is softISH
saybor is a black mitt and her fur is course
ashers a champange mitt and her fur is very soft

9. How often does your ferret go to the bathroom?
not a clue all i know is ALOT because after cleaning it out in the morning then comming home from school eight hours later their is a lot of poop

10. Does your ferret's feces and/or urine smell?
yeah....
11. Smell your ferret. How strong is their odor?
gracie is very musky
asher has strong odor
saybor has low odor

12. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely lethargic and 10 being "through the roof!" what is your ferret's energy level?
gracie-9
saybor-6
asher-5
13. How excited is your ferret about meal time (when fed kibble)?
im not sure i have food out all the time

14. Have you attempted to switch from kibble to a natural diet in the past? If so, what methods have you tried. Be specific.
this is the fisrt time

15. What other information about your ferret(s) would you like to share?
The are crazy.
saybor has killed a chicken before but i didnt let her eat it even though she tried.
gracie has go into a fish tank and caught a fish then ate it before.
so i think they will be easily switched

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

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?**

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?

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?***

**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.

***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.

I understand. ;D

[Heather]

Hi and welcome to the mentoring programme.
What little sweeties Please feel free to prowl through the mentor threads and see if there's a method that you would either like to try or would feel comfortable with. It will probably take me a couple of days to get a mentor lined up for you but please feel free to post any questions you may have. I will be checking in with you, and will answer any questions (if I can ) until I can line a mentor up for you.
Good luck, and have fun
ciao

[cristina]

Hello and nice to meet you!

I am Cristina and I will be mentoring you in your switch to a raw diet! Your ferrets seem to be quite the hunters already and thats great! So have you chosen a method you would like to try at all? If not I can suggest some, and ones that I have had good success with in the past....just let me know!


*A little bit about me, actually who am I kidding, I mean about my babies lol * (in case you wanted to know )
I have 3 fur babies, Penny who is a sable girl almost a year and a half old, Boomer who is my dark-eyed white little man also just about a year and a half, and (my first rescue) my little Mimi who is an albino little girl whose around 2 years old. They are all on a raw diet and occasionally are fed fuzzy feeder mice. I am into almost anything holistic, after joining the program I became very natural in respect to products I use and things I eat as well (I like to feel that Im pretty healthy! haha)

[briannahurst]

Hello, Cristina.

Its so great to finally have a mentor!

ha, we both have three babies

Um i guess i know what method, i want to only to feed raw maybe with bones. but i dont want to feed frozen or live prey.
if thats a method.

isnt their a risk of salmonella?

THANK YOU SO MUCH for mentoring me

[cristina]

Hey there,

Ok well you basically want to be on the same diet as mine (minus the mice), I feed raw (and some mice).... one thing to explain really quick, bone is an essential part of the ferrets diet (its even in kibble), so on any diet they need to have some source of bone, but dont worry its not as gross as you think!!

The method that Heather was mentioning is more so how you want to go about the switch (I know its kinda confussing at first)...so the one I think that would be beneficial for you to try out first is the one I did, which is putting little bits of ground meat in with the kibble then add more as they begin to accept and like the raw meat.

*About your salmonella question...it is VERY rare for a ferret to get this virus from eating raw since their digestive tract is VERY short, there isnt enough time for the virus to get into their system (like if there was salmonella in a piece of raw meat they ate, most times its fine for them to eat and they wont be affected by it at all)....Now I wouldnt feed bad meat or meat that smelled "off"....but it wont hurt them, My babies stash chunks of meat (sooo gross lol ) and Ill find it literally rotted 2 weeks later, and during this time they have been snacking on it and they are perfectly fine!!

One thing I will mention is I dont like to feed pork due to trichinella (which is actually a form of round worm) and it is killed off when cooked but can remain in raw pork, so pork isnt a part of my babies diet.....others do feed pork but its totally up to you, I dont know of any ferret actually getting this worm but in my book its better safe than sorry! Plus my babies arent very fond of pork anyways, so it works out!

So if you want to get started (and if this method is ok with you), then first I would go out to the grocery store (if you already dont have any at home) and get some ground chicken and turkey. Freeze the turkey, we will do the chicken first (I always buy in bulk then freeze the extra for later use)....put about a tablespoon of the raw ground chicken in with their normal kibble (just enough meat to touch all the kibble so they can get a taste of it)....then let me know how this goes and who takes to it and who doesnt.



*also, I am on all the time so dont be afraid to ask as many questions as you want! Believe me, no one could ask more questions than I did during my switch!

[briannahurst]

Hi, happy mothers day.
I have no problems with feeding bones, so ill be fine.

HAHAHAHA. thats gross. but i guess if they enjoy eating half rotten meat, and it dont hurt them its fine by me.

Im the same way and im pretty particular with what my ferrets eat so im not taking any chances with pork, i may give it to them rarely but not often. Can you feed them hoves? they seem like they would enjoy it.

i dont have any raw turkey or chicken now an ddidnt go to the store today because it was mothers day and i didnt wanna trouble her with going to the store. But im going tomarrow so i can get it. Can they have ground beef? like raw hamburger
because i already have some of that

Thanks ;D

[briannahurst]

Umm also how much ground turkey and chicken should i get?

[cristina]

Happy mothers day as well

Yea ground beef is great too, they only reason I suggested chicken and turkey is because they are pretty bland and easier to start with, especially with picky eaters, but go ahead and give that! tell me how it goes!

I mean you can buy how ever much you want, I always bulk buy and freeze, just so I know I always have some on hand when I need it. Really it all depends on how much you want to get....Im guessing they all wont take to it right away (but gosh wouldnt that be lovely! ) so if you want to start out just getting a package or 2 (Im not sure if they come in pounds or what not)....just start out giving them a little, like I said before just enough to cover each piece of kibble, at least to get the flavor in there

But do try the ground beef, Im curious to see how they take to it! Some young ferts like the richness so maybe Gracie and or Asher will like it right off the bat hopefully! Well hopefully they all like it off the bat!!

[briannahurst]

I didnt get your last reply till this morning which was to late.

so i got ground chicken and turky like you said and i rolled up the turkey into seprate balls and froze them. I did the same for the chicken but do i need to freeze it also?

I got one ball of chicken out and im about to feed it to them but i have seven chicken balls left and they are the size of my palm (i have regualr sized hands ) and im unsure of how much theyll eat and i dont want the chicken to go bad so should i freeze some and refidgerate some or what?

Thanks

[cristina]

I always freeze everything so I know ts fresh, once I feed meat in the morning I take a baggie out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge until dinner feeding and take another out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge for the next morning and so on.... I pre-baggie the exact amounts they get each meal too (lol I am a bit OCD if you cant tell ....but I find it very organized!)

I would say each cup of kibble put in around maybe half of one of your balls ( sounds weird) and mix it up well

Then from there we can either add more or less depending on how they react to it...so let me know what they do

[briannahurst]

Hah. im the same exact way! my dad is a perfectionist so i get it from him.

I mixed up the chicken with their kibble and it seems they ate a little bit of it.

when i first introduced it to them and gracie licked it two times and walked away
saybor actually bit into it but didnt eat it.
and asher licked it but seemed pretty interested

So for now their doing well, gracie will probably be the problem. she is soooo picky. unless someting is sugary. (if i set my food like ice cream or fruit punch on my bed she climbs up and eats it :/) and she saw the meat in her bowl and just didnt even look twice at it. but shell get hungry later.

[cristina]

That is totally normal and to be expected....once you leave it out and keep giving them the new mix they will realize their food has changed and they need to get use to it. So maybe next feeding put in a little less raw and see how they take to it....its ok if they dont eat for a little, its normal for them to go on strike when you switch up their food

But within a day, make sure they are eating at least a little bit...I actually used duk soup mix during my switch because my babies loved it so much, when I would sprinkle some in with the raw and kibble they took to it better.....maybe try this as well

[briannahurst]

Well they all seem to be doing great with it!
everyone except gracie, she isnt a big fan of duk soup so i dont think that will work.

I separtated gracie from asher and saybor because she ripped her toenail out and i have to keep her cage really clean, and i also didnt want them to wrestle and get her even more hurt.
so gracie is at the top of the cage (i have a FN) and i put her kibble mix with her chicken and she is eating the kibble out of the chicken and not eating the chicken
but the other two pulled out the chicken and its laying in their cage but they have ate some.

so im sure they get used to it.

Should i throw out that meat? now and get some fresh?

[cristina]

Thats fine if they are picking around it, as long as they are at least eating the kibble that has raw on it and smells like it (even thoug Gracie may not eat the raw) that fine.

The general timing for raw to be left out with kibble should be around 6-8 hours (but I have left it out longer than that, just make sure to have at least 2 fresh meals a day)....usually I would feed twice a day...once in the morning and then at night I would discard the morning food and give fresh new dinner and let it sit out until the next morning and so on...you can do more than though...sometimes I did 3 when I first started out or if I thought they needed some more fresh meat.

I would feed (syringe feeding works great) duk soup to her so she starts to really like it, the soup is what I mix everything they dont like with to make them eat it...so its good to get them to like it early on (she will take to it, you just need to give it to her often at first) try just doing a mix of it with some warm water and maybe add in some oil she likes as well

[briannahurst]

saybor and asher ate all their meat! can you belive that.

Ive decided ill refresh their food twice a day.

so i syringed gracie some duk soup and she took to it well.

so do i need to dip the raw in the soup or like take her kibble away?