New here introducing myself

[tschadt]

Hello all,
I am a Certified Vet tech and live in WI. In Nov. I switched my dogs over to a raw diet and they are doing great. We lost our two ferrets within 1 month of each other. Our male Monkey had intestinal tumors, our female Scooby just got really sick, really fast. I did not have a necropsy done on her so we don't know what happened to her. Since we got two new guys Diesel and Turbo. I want to switch them over to raw also (at the same time as my cats). I have not had time to look through old messages yet, but I would love to hear from anyone who wants to give me advice.
Thank you Tara

[Heather]

Hi and welcome on board.
I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your two little ones. It's not uncommon for a ferret to mourn the loss of ones cagemate to such an extent that they follow them shortly afterwards. I've had a couple of fuzzies that I've had to do major interventions on just to keep them alive. It doesn't even have to be a cagemate....being dumped at a shelter can be enough to send them on a downward spiral. They are very sensitive little creatures and love very deeply.
I'm sure that Deisel and Turbo will love your adventure into a more natural diet Please feel free to prowl the site, read through threads and ask questions. You may want to pay particular attention to our nutritional section. In there you will find everything from raising prey and feeding live or frozen to feeding commercial and frankenprey. There is also a mentoring program available that allows you to work one on one with a mentor to help you get through the bumps that you may encounter while switching your little furry pals. You didn't mention age of you little fuzzies, but the younger they are the easier the switch. That doesn't mean that the older ones don't switch and don't benefit, they do. I run a small private rescue/hospice and every furchild that sets a paw in here is switched to a natural diet and learns what it is to live without cages during the day. The oldest little furchild that I've ever switched was Babushka who came through my door at the ripe old age of 9. She weighed less than a pound and her owner didn't believe that she would last the summer. She did me proud and lasted 2 summers before her internal organs failed and she passed on. She even at one point weighed more than a pound and thought nothing of dragging off one of the ratcicles to her hidey for a private munching.
I hope that I will be seeing you around, we'd love to see pictures of your little ones Good luck
ciao

[sherrylynne]

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your two little ones. Like Heather said, it's not uncommon for one to follow their fried to the bridge!
Since she's given you the pertinent info, all I can say is