Exciting news!!!

[ls84]

So, I posted a thread a few weeks ago about trying to get my last of three ferrets switched to dehydrated raw. I finally got her switched over, although it was hard, and we have been kibble free for a couple weeks.

Well today, I decided to throw the left over drumstick bone from the cats in the ferrets playpen. They were all interested and sniffed it, and guess who picks up the bone and hides with it? My pickiest one! The kibble addict decides after only a few weeks of eating her raw that she likes drumsticks. I thought this hiding of the bone showed interest, so that was good enough for me. Until I heard CRUNCHING! I check on her and half the drumstick is gone!. Right now, she is still working on it and chewing it. I'm so excited!!! This is definately the start of feeding my guys RMB's and possibly switching their diet over to frankenprey completely. Just thought I'd share how surprised and excited I was to find my pickiest switch eating bones all on her own. Yay!

Besides all that, shes not having too much trouble with the drumstick, but it is very thick, so should I stick with chicken necks next time? I know the size of the bone isnt really something she would eat naturally.

[Heather]

Congratulations, it's a wonderful feeling isn't it There is a certain amount of satisfaction when a particularly difficult switch is achieved. The one thing I've noticed with mine, is the ones that are the most difficult are more willing to make a total leap of faith, compared to the ones who have switched easily. The ones with the easy switch drop their little furry butts and drag *ss big time when things change a little or find themselves eating bone. The more difficult ones go with great gusto and never waver.
Great work, pat yourself on the back and give great big hugs to your little hold out. The difficult ones hold a special place in my heart.
ciao

[weloveourweasels]

That IS exciting news!

Which diet are you feeding, how many or how much of patties do they eat per day each, how much have you paid in total for the food they have eaten so far? Sorry for the questions, Mine have been kibble free since the 14th but are only on thick meat pudding textured soup. They were getting close to being on ground but I gave them turkey after a while on beef (which was REALLY thick) and they protested and wouldn't eat the same texture again.

[Forum Administrator]

Congrats! I know the feeling of relief, excitement, and satisfaction once your picky babies finally take the plunge and go raw!

As for your question, all parts of the chicken are acceptable. Your little one will become more proficient at eating the bone. She'll probably chew the ends off the leg bone and leave the middle piece. This is sufficient. Personally I buy whole chickens or whole chickens that have been cut up (whichever is on sale) and I feed all the parts in rotation:

Neck
Back
Wings
Bone-in-breast
Legs
Thighs
Tail
Organs inside the chicken

Hope this helps!

[ls84]

When I first started out with my first "rescue" I just started mixing the freeze dried Stella and Chewy's, AFS Niblets and Wysong Archetypal in with his kibble. He switched easily because we think he was still under 4 months.

Out of my two new ferrets, my male ate the freeze dried right away too, but the little girl would only take the freeze dried if I rehydrated it into soup. I found of course that the freeze dried lasts MUCH longer if you rehydrate, so I have just been feeding one patty rehydrated 3 times a day, which comes out to one patty per ferret. I spend 8.99 per bag of the Stella and Chewy's, which have 12 patties in each bag.

This isnt ideal in terms of saving money, and the frozen Stella and Chewy's is a little cheaper (6.99), so I have started to mix the frozen raw with the freeze dried. Once they are on that mix my plan is to slowly switch them to chunks of meats or the raw ground with bones... what is strange though is that they dont really like the frozen raw very much, but its the same brand and flavors and everything. They can tell the texture of the raw frozen is "smoother" than the chunky texture of the rehydrated raw and they dont like it very much! So thats been a slow go.

Im just grateful that at this point no matter what they are completely on raw. Even if I cannot get them completely switched to frankenprey or whole prey, their diet is infinately better than kibble. The little picky one eating bone is just the icing on the cake, an gives me hope to be able to switch her as least. The way I am feeding now is very expensive, close to $60 a month for 3 ferrets. I feed both my cats on less an $1 per day on frakenprey!

[jojodancer]

OK, I have to respond to ls84... Stella and Chewy's is $8.50 at Casey's... *cough* *cough* (although, you have to pay for shipping)

Also, my commercial raw diet is less than $1 per day for my 6 ferrets. I feed ziwipeak and Stella and Chewys/AFS/Wysong.

[Forum Administrator]

I was coming to this post to mention CHP, I'm glad you got here first Jojodancer.