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Post by arachniac on Mar 10, 2010 22:43:54 GMT -5
Hi,
I'm a new fuzzie mom having rescued three ferrets from three different people in 4 days!! Here's the breakdown:
Calvin- sable male 13 months old. Underweight at 2lb 4.4oz and very lethargic. Working on getting him to eat and relax.
Hobbes: cinnamon male 2 years old, underweight at 858 grams. Is active and eatting wellness core food. A little stressed his old cagemate was just killed by a dog, needless to say he's slow to warm up to my two big dogs!!
Artemis- albino male 1 year old in good weight and spirts but small for a male at 718 grams.
None of them were on a descent food (marshalls, purina cat chow and 8 in 1 fruit blend and walmarts ferret food). I have plans to get them switched to first wysongs archetype and other FD meat diets and then to raw. But for now just trying to get them all eatting and holding a steady weight or hopefully gaining. I've ordered some nutrical for Calvin and have some duck soup I'm going to try for him along with some baby food chicken. I'd like to see him and :Hobbes gain a few ounces before I stress them with another diet switch. How's that sound for a plan?? I'm new to ferrets ( I had a pair as a kid but not in 20+ years) so I'm open to all suggestions. Does anyone have a good recipe for duck soup??
Thanks in advance and ill keep you all aprised of how the boys are doing.
Jill in Tampa, fl
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Post by Heather on Mar 10, 2010 23:41:04 GMT -5
You have a heart of gold  Thank you for rescuing these wee ones. Hi and welcome to the forum. Please feel free to prowl around check out the various sections and threads. Pay close attention to the nutritional sections. If you have questions ask away. Everyone here is friendly and are more than willing to help out in any way possible. I do rescue/hospice and every furchild that is brought through my door is switched to raw. Might I make a suggestion??? I've had some little ones who have come in who have been horribly neglected, abused and starved (there are a few here who've got some documented journeys of their little lost ones, their rescue and their journey to new found health and happiness) If you're going to switch them to a better diet, why not switch them to their ultimate diet? Your going to encounter switching issues anyway, why not go the whole deal? We have a mentoring program here but it's busy and at the moment we don't have any mentors available, and you need assistance now. I would suggest (if you chose to go the raw route) opening a thread in the nutritional section and allowing us as a group to help you through this. Apply for a mentor if you wish (especially if you would feel more comfortable working on a one on one) but in the interim get help from the group. I had Shazam and Houdini come into my rescue Halloween afternoon. These poor little boys hadn't eaten in 5 days  They smelled horrible and felt so grosse that my son refused to handle them. When I got into the car to bring them home, my husband wanted to know where their cage was...I just told him to drive. I was so angry that I could barely speak. I picked up a bag of kibbles (something I've not had in my house in years) and fed my new little ones as soon as I got home. Unfortunately, because of the poor quality of the garbage they had been fed and the fact that they hadn't eaten anything in days....they developed horrible gastro problems. The bonus...they knew what it was like to be hungry...they just helped themselves to the food that was in everyone elses bowls. They were completely switched over by the end of the weekend. It didn't matter, frankenprey, ground they didn't care. They ate it all. Your little ones are young, the switch shouldn't be that difficult. Shazam and Houdini were at least 7. Read through some of the mentoring threads to get ideas of how some of the people have switched their little ones. You can't post to those threads but it will give you an idea as to if you're up to attempting the switch. Your idea is sound, but give it a thought to jump in with both feed  . I believe that Luci has just rescued a little girl who was in terrible shape a few months ago. I believe she cooked her little one's dinners. The changes that she has posted are wonderful to see. Please don't feel pressured to switch to raw, these are only my opinions and suggestions ciao |
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Post by luci on Mar 11, 2010 12:37:11 GMT -5
Hi Jill! It sounds like you've taken on quite a challenge. Thank you for rescuing these little ones. You will be richly rewarded for your kindness. In mid-January my partner and I picked up an 11 month old female from a home that had her living in cedar chips and being fed gerbil food. She was in rough shape. I ended up using a cooked mush to get her eating and have been transitioning her to raw using the mush as a vehicle. In six weeks she gained six ounces and a whole brand new amazing coat of soft, thick fur. Her story is here: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=talking&action=display&thread=4473&page=1It truly is amazing how quickly these little ones can recuperate from horrible conditions. Your fuzzes are young and chances are good that they will be able to bounce back in no time. Good, wholesome food; a clean environment with cozy sleep sacks and stimulating toys and games and a lot of love can make all the difference in these tiny souls lives. My two students are MIA at the moment, so I'd be happy to check in on you if you're looking for advice. Just start a thread in the nutritional section as Heather suggested and we'll all check up on you until a mentor is free. |
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 12, 2010 0:01:50 GMT -5
Hi Jill, and welcome  I, too, thank you for taking in these poor lost little souls. I had a little abused girl who I switched to raw her first day here(actually she did it herself  ). Please feel free to ask away! That's what we're here for, after all  |
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Post by arachniac on Mar 13, 2010 20:03:44 GMT -5
Thanks ladies for the welcome!! Everyone is settling in well and I figured out why Artemis is so small...he's a SHE!! And the sweetest one of the bunch. She has been renamed to Alucia. Calvin in his last home was a free roamer and I suspect he didn't have much attention cause he is always off in a corner all by himself and he rarely checks in with me. But he's very sweet when I do pick him up. Hobbes is getting used to the dogs after losing his cagemate to a dog breaking into their cage and killing it. Atleast he's stopped biting my 65lb dogs nose!! Now that everyone is settling in I'm just waiting for my order of raw to come in on the 25th then the switch will begin!!!
Jill and Calvin, Hobbes and Alucia.
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Post by rarnold18 on Mar 14, 2010 13:08:35 GMT -5
Hi Jill!
It's great to see another Floridian here, your screen name looks familiar...your over on Raw4Pets too right? I get my food for my Fuzz and dogs from Kathy too. Thor and Gabby are my two most recent additions and were severly underweight when they came home, I started their switch to raw right away because they needed the "good stuff" to get healthy, they were so malnurished, skin and bones with rough brittle fur... they've been with me for almost 2 months now and the change is tremendous! soft silky fur and about a pound of weight gain for each of them!
Good luck with the switch, don't be afraid to ask lots of questions, I know I do and the group here is GREAT and VERY knowledgeable, and great helps! I <3 it here!
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Post by arachniac on Mar 22, 2010 21:08:12 GMT -5
Ferret Math has yet again occured at my house... I have 2 new additions, Chaos and Asia, and two sisters 7 months old coming April 5th!! I must be nuts!!! But the more the merrier as far as ferrets go!! Asia is a 2.5 year old female surrendered by her dad yesterday and Chaos is a two year old Albino male a big 3 lber ...of course he's the only one I've gotten that wasn't rail thin. The girls are a sable and a champaign (or so it looks from the pic I got..will update that once I get her.) -m hoping they are in good condition... But one never knows when they are rescuing them. I made some semi raw soup tonight..some boiled chicken, the broth from boiling the chicken, chicken heart and liver (raw), some nupro, some uncle jimms, a vitamin tablet, and some ground up kibble. Put some in each cage will see in the am if anyone touched it or not!! Keeping fingers crossed. Well, Chaos is living up to his name trying to ram my cellphone holder into a hidey hole THUMP THUMP THUMP...better go steal it back!! Cheers,
Jill and the crew: Calvin, Hobbes, Illusia, Chaos and Asia
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Post by Heather on Mar 22, 2010 22:19:20 GMT -5
Congratulations on your newest additions . Careful that ferret math stuff is really hard to control ciao |
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Post by suzieszoo on Mar 22, 2010 23:43:16 GMT -5
Heather, I read your first post, and I am waiting for mentoring also but appreciate your suggestion of switching right away, thanks- it makes sense! I was just so desperate to get some protein into his belly I made him soup with soaked 8 in 1 Ultimate, Wysong Archetypal 1 and baby food chicken with FuroTone oil w/ warm water...want to get the seeds and guinea pig food out of his digestive tract! Ollie took to raw so willingly I hope the other two will get interested as well- I will be reading up on all the tricks! Maisey will only lick a chicken wing if I put FuroTone on it!! LOL  |
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