Babycakes0707 Switching Thread

[Heather]

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Name: Catherine
HF Forum Username: Babycakes0707

1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?Here

2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your ferret(s) to. Be sure to include if you are interested in feeding whole prey (live or frozen-thawed) and if you are wanting to FULLY switch to a natural diet or PARTIALLY. If you are unsure what kind of diet you want to put your ferrets on, please express that and we can help you find the best type of natural diet for your ferret. Raw meats and bones..no live prey please!

3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?because i know its healthier for them and its better for their smell..

4. Do you understand that switching your ferret to a natural diet can be a lengthy, arduous process? Its not an overnight switch. It can be a commitment of several weeks or even months. Your HF Mentor will be more then happy to assist you in switchng your ferret(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as commited. If you aren't willing to tough out a potentially lengthy switching process, or if you have major life changes approaching (baby on the way, moving, starting school, getting married/divorced, etc) then it might be a better idea to wait on switching your ferret's diet until you have more time. Are you willing to make the commitment?of course! but its something i really wanna do

5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?i have 2 ferrets, one is 2 years old(molson) and the other bout 4 months old(scratch). they both seem to be at heatlhy weights although im pretty sure scratch is still growing and they are both males

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)unfortunatly i only have access to marshall and living world kibbles so...

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened? yup, i had molson almopst completly switched last year but wen my boyfriend and i went through a small seperation he kept him and decided to give him kibbles and now its like molson forgot wat meat is..

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
for now its once or twice but soon it will be all the time!

10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).

[sherrylynne]

Hello there! I'm Sherrylynne, and I'll be your mentor for their switch
First, a little about me. I'm 51, and have my own housecleaning business here in Calgary Alberta. I have 4 cats, ranging in age from 4yrs, to 15(only one would eat raw, unfortunately ). I also have 8 ferrets. Boris and Vincent came first, two brothers, a sable and albino. Then Sinnead. I got her when she was 2. She's now 3, and adrenal. She's on lupron, and having her surgery in January.
After that came my first deaf ferret, Lucrezia. A marked DEW. Then two foster ferrets, whom we fell in love with and adopted- Zeus and Athena, both two years old.
After that, a little abused ferret we called Willow. She was the worst fear biter I've had, although now she's becoming a sweetie . Then, Emily. 1 month younger than Willow, and those two have bonded strongly. She's the only one Willow wasn't terrified of.
While transitioning the first four, Boris was my hold out. EVERYTHING I gave him was poison, in his mind . Worst little drama queen I've seen yet . Twisting to get away, gagging, retching- he did all of it! Then one day- he ate it! Every single piece on the plate ! Those four haven't looked back. Although Boris would still be a kibble head if I let him.
The next two for transitioning were the fosters. Until we adopted them, I could only supplement with raw. So in order not to cause unnecessary tummy upsets(mixing kibble and raw too closely can cause some problems- more about that later), I'd give them raw one day, and kibble on a different day. So, by the time we adopted, they had no problem with 100% raw diet.
With Willow, I brought her home, and she flatly refused to eat the totally ferret kibble, so I went back to the pet store and got her a small bag of the crap they were feeding them there, and brought it home. I tried to give her some, but she just upset the dish. So- I tried her with some chicken breast. She ate it up! Hasn't had kibble since . Emily came to us as a raw fed ferret, so no issues there. And, I just recently got a little 8 month old kibble head named Suki. I'm in the process of transitioning her right now
That's me and mine in a nutshell

The reason I started looking a raw feeding was something my vet said to me. I was, at the time, giving them small pieces of fruit for treats. She told me that was VERY bad for them, and in fact, some studies have started to link early feeding of sugars with insulinoma later in life. So- I started thinking. Kibbles are full of carbs. It's all those grains/veg/fruits in them. Those are converted to sugars by the body. To me then, sugar= potential insulinoma.
So, I started checking out various diets. I had no idea what an obligate carnivore was at the time. I found out! Not much wonder there was soooo much poop in the box! I may as well have been tossing my money in there. They can't process anything that's not meat based! So I feed meat
Their fur is softer, their energy levels are amazing- no mad rushes then crashing. Even my three year old's teeth are amazing. No plaque whatsoever Healing is faster, and if they do get ill, they have more reserves to rely on than when they were just kibble fed!
And there is a LOT LESS POOP!!!! Yay!
I'm looking forward to helping your little ones get on a much healthier diet, and having fun while we're at it ;D

[babycakes0707]

I bought Molson, my first ferret when he was 7weeks old on Oct.26th 2007 and I still have him now We had him delivered to our nearest petshop and the owner called me to let me know he was going to be there in 5 minutes so my boyfriend and I rushed over and I was actually the one to open his lil box&i was the first to hold him :)He was born around the date of sept.1st 2007 so he's about 2 1/2 years old now and within the first year of having him i made the switch to raw meat because all the petstores in my area had the cheapest,crappiest ferret food. It really didnt take long at all for him to start eating bones and all that and I had a pretty good feeding schedule that giuli had made for me.But that got lost in a horrible computer crash....

Unfortunatly the father of the ferret and I split up for abit and he refused to let me keep the ferret and him being kinda cheap he bought the kibbles again But now I'm back and we recently bought another male ferret named Scratch he was born on June 15th we also bought him at about 7 weeks old and my boyfriend and I live in our lil home with our oldest pet Molson, our only girl Cali (a pittbull lab who we have to seperate from the ferrets cause she plays a lil rough...) who is almost 1 year old and our youngest Scratch. He has never eaten raw meat and I really want to start this up again but I dont remember the right way to start up abd which meats to feed and I was hoping to get another feeding schedule. Giuli had it pretty detailed (like which meats to feed on which day and how much of it and different options...) The only thing is i'm realllyyy not into feeding life prey and i know Molson has completly ignored frozen mice so if we can just keep it to raw meats that would be great. Thanks

Sorry again for the delay!!!!

[babycakes0707]

oh and i forgot i wanted to show u a bit more of my pets!i dont know if this pictures will load but its worth a try!






^
this is molson->
this was taken the night i bought him


and this is my dog Cali

she was bron march 29th 2009

[sherrylynne]

Gorgeous babies! My hubby and I had a lab/pitt cross as well, but a black lab. We also had a pure bred pit

As you can tell, she got along well with the ferrets! Mind you- she was 13 at the time
Ok- I'd try both of them with some small chicken chunks(kibble sized), and see how they do with it!

[babycakes0707]

alright ill try to go get them some chicken tomorrow. do i leave the bones or not yet? and lucky you! my dog licks the ferrets to death!!

[sherrylynne]

For now, just try them with some bits of straight meat. If they take to it well, we'll keep upping the size to build up some jaw strength for the bone.
Yeah, she really loved them. She'd totter around, elderly lady that she was, trying to play chase with them. We got Boris and Vincent about 6 months before she passed from old age.

[babycakes0707]

i was told before that i could feed them chicken&broth baby food...is that still ok? i remember molson LOVEDDDD the stuff so i tried to give them a bit yesterday and of course molson still loves it, but scratch was SO not intrested! lol

[sherrylynne]

Of course you can! It's always a good idea to have something of a soupy consistency that they will accept, just in case they ever become ill!
So, with molson, try warming it slightly, and see how he does with that. You may have to scruff and dab some on the end of his nose for him to take it.
So, do you want to start from the baby food and work up, or try the meat and see if they eat that, or some raw meat soup? Any of the above is fine. Different ferrets sometimes require different methods, so we'll use the one you're comfortable with

[babycakes0707]

how does warming it make a differance? (just out of curiosity) so i'll try to go &get some chicken later..should i get raw pieces of chicken taht are cut into strips or should i get cubed pieces...or a whole chicken breast?

[sherrylynne]

Warming it slightly makes for a stronger smell. And ferrets go more by scent than sight!
As for the chicken- go for the cheapest! If the whole breast is cheaper, get that. They can use the cartiledge in their diet, definitely, at the least.

[babycakes0707]

alright ill try that and let you kno!

[babycakes0707]

ok so i bought a few things that i remembered were on the feeding schedule i had before; chicken hearts,drumsticks, beef cubes and something else with bones in it. i put in the chicken hearts and molson ate 1 but scratch didnt touch it in a different bowl i had put a tiny bit of kibbles and thats all scratch ate and even molson went and ate that after eating 1 heart.

[sherrylynne]

I'm thinking you might have to go the soup route with them. Hey- it's a good idea to get them used to it anyway, incase you have to give it to them when they are ill!
Puree meat, heart, liver, powdered eggshell, and water to a soup consistency. I use a blender for this. Start with dabbing it on their noses, graduated to them licking it off your finger, then a spoon, then a bowl.
We'll get them there, never fear
Also, you may want to remove the kibble for the night before you do this! A little bit of hunger certainly won't hurt them

[babycakes0707]

aarg i knew i shouldnt pack all my kitchen stuff right away! see im in the process of moving and my blender is already packed ill try to like..mush it some other way. molson eats meat faster than a fatkid can eat cake he smells it miles away! lol scratch seems to be like..wat the heck is this junk?!ill try taking away the kibbles.

i was just wondering though, because before i was given the sizes or the portions i should give so now i dont really know how much i should be giving? does it matter for now?