amazing

[horse656]

wow. i just tried to start my two ferrets on a raw diet tonight.

belle my younger one, took to it very well. i didn't except that at all.
i had "breaded" small pieces of chicken with their food, and she took about 5 pieces, i didn't think she would at all.
...Joe on the other hand didn't take any. so it is soups for him.
i mixes some chicken, heart, and liver in, with water and about a handful of their kibble in. He took to it not well. i had to scruff him and then he would lick it off my finger. he didn't need me scruffing him, after the first lick, but then he realized i wasn't holding him and then of course, escape time. so i just had to scruff him the whole time to keep him licking it off. he would eat it out of the cup if i had him scruffed. Belle was also curious for what Joe was getting so i let her lick some, and she didn't need me holding her at all to eat any.

i think I'm going to put their kibble back in for the night, because they didn't get THAT much. I'm hopping they won't eat it through the night and they will be hungry in the morning and i can try again.

any help for getting Joe to actually EAT the meat, instead of soups?

[Heather]

This all takes time. It's not going to happen overnight You had some very good results if this was your first try. Sherrylynne had to scruff and stuff her little guy.....a lot and still has to if she wants offer a new protein. I start all my furbabies on soupy and then move to frankenprey and prey. I just find because almost all the furbabies I get are usually over 4 or 5 yrs this is the easiest method to switch them
ciao

[horse656]

well belle is only about a year and a half, so i thought i would just try it straight up breaded to disguise the smell, and she took to it. i also gave her some of the soup just to see if she would take it, and she did.
i gave them both some just a little awhile ago before bed. Joe had i think, what is enough to last him through the night, belle had a small chunk or two, and soupy, so i think she'll be good as well. but just in case ill put some kibble in and if it's all gone in the morning ill feed them some extra.

[Heather]

One can never tell how difficult or easy it will be just by their ages. Ferrets hate to be catagorized . I had 2 boys come in, horrible neglect case. To make transition easier on them and because they'd been starved I purchased some high end kibbles. As they hadn't had any food for the good part of the week, and because all they'd had was garbage dog food, the good food only made them sick (horrible loose poops). I let them run with the rest of the brats (who were all eating raw). By the end of the weekend, they were eating raw and had basically stopped eating the kibbles (I gave the kibbles to the local shelter and they used it for their kittens) They were 6 and 7 yrs old. One of the most difficult rescues that I got to switch was a little girl, Calypso who was only 3 when she was turned in. She decided that she wasn't going to eat....not anything. She curled up to die, she felt abandoned and decided she couldn't live with it. It took me almost 3 months to get her switched and another 3 months before I was comfortable letting her be to eat on her own. So you see, different personalities also come into play. Some of our little furbrats are terrible to switch others just take to it like water
What you did was just fine. You did an awesome job. Right now I would continue to give them kibbles at night. If you can feed them in the morning do so. If they eat well, take the kibbles away and feed them again in a couple of hours. If you have to go to work give them kibbles so they can have something to eat while you're gone. I'm at home during the day, so I just lift the kibble during the day and hand feed during the day or offer their raw foods or soupy hand feeding as necessary.
ciao

[horse656]

OK thanks
no I'm off. i took out their food around midnight, i didn't see belle take any, but i saw Joe take some. i think hes going to be horrible hard to switch
it could also be he just hates the soup, so i don't know about him. and i also don't know how to transition him to just raw, from the soups, i really shouldn't been thinking about it, as I'm thinking he'll take a while. but he is taking the soups, not really willingly, but he is taking them.

i froze the soup in ice cube trays. so as something, should he be eating an ice cube(thawed) each meal?

[sherrylynne]

Like Heather mentioned, my Boris was terrible to switch He's still a brat about anything new, or anything he considers "new"! If he hasn't had it in about a month- it's "new"
It took almost 6 weeks just to transfer him from finger/spoon feeding to eating on his own out of a dish. Even then, I had to keep my hand on his back, I'm guessing so he felt secure.
The thing is- one day he decided to have a chunk, and hasn't looked back since

[horse656]

well right now i have to scruff him to get him to eat it, is that normal for the first while. he'll take if off my finger if I'm holding him with the scruff, and he'll take it off the plate if i shove it in his face with a little scruff at the beginning, and whenever he turns away to not eat it, i have to hold him for that too.
im not sure what to do with Joe, though. i have some stuff planned for Belle, as she is taking the chunks and the soup, but i have no idea with Joe.

[sherrylynne]

Do what you are doing now for him. After about a couple of weeks, he'd actually take it from my finger as long as I kept a good hold on him. I did frequently have to follow his mouth with my finger, though