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Post by tschadt on May 12, 2010 13:09:04 GMT -5
Hello everyone, I am signed up and waiting for a mentor, but I just got bad news from the vet. I took my not even 4 y.o. cat in for a dental today he is loosing 4 of his molars. When he comes back home him and the rest of the cats will be switching over to raw (I have my dogs already on a raw diet). But in order for this to work I am going to need to switch the ferrets over with the cats (the bad tooth guy will eat ferret food). So I am looking for any suggestions. The boys are not 1 y.o. yet. So ferrets do not need to have food available all the time? How do you start the switch? I have them on a homemade soup recipe (I use cooked meat) should I tried mixing chunks of meat or ground in with that? Start with pork? Beef? Chix? Turkey? Or try a raw soup recipe? Please if someone could help that would be great. Thanks Tara, 1 Rotten, 1 wild Weim, 3 little lions, and 2 fuzzies
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Post by horse656 on May 12, 2010 14:04:05 GMT -5
it depends, i got my girl to switch using small pieces of chicken "breaded" with her kibble food and she took it. she also really likes soups. i would try a raw soup, and if they don't take it, mix some raw into the mostly cooked soup, and just gradually start from cooked soups into raw. i mixed the kibble in with the soup to start of for my little guy, who has now passed on. with the raw soups you might have to use the scruff and stuff method for them to get it that it is food. but since they are already eating soups they should be used to the texture. chicken is the most common of the switch, its what i used, and apparently it's not to strong in taste... there is my two cents
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Post by sherrylynne on May 12, 2010 21:03:58 GMT -5
I used to use a cooked soup as well. I just pureed up some raw(you can freeze extra. I use ice cube trays), and started by mixing in just a wee bit of the raw puree into the cooked soup. As they tolerated that, I mixed in more and more raw, and less cooked.. As for your cat, I remember reading about "Rex, the Wonder cat" on rawcats pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/This was a cat who only had two or three teeth left. He stole a turkey drumstick from the dogs, hid it, and gradually ate the whole thing(except the bone) over the course of two days
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Post by Heather on May 12, 2010 23:04:36 GMT -5
Missing a few teeth won't stop a cat from eating raw My old fart, Samurai eats raw quite comfortably and he's got basically no teeth left and what teeth he does have are ground down to practically nothing (he's 22 yrs old this year) He does eat ground and recently started eating a commercial grind because it sits better (finer grind) but he's eating a balanced raw diet of bone, meat, organ and this week some veggies. Now he does get turmeric for arthritis but other than that....he's been eating raw now for 10 yrs . ciao
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Post by tschadt on May 13, 2010 13:40:39 GMT -5
Thanks for all the suggestions. I got my cat back from the vet last night. He lost 4 molars I am not worried about him not being able to eat raw, just not wanting to. 1) Should I take the dry ferret food away from them or leave it out? 2) How many times a day do you feed them?
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Post by sherrylynne on May 13, 2010 19:48:39 GMT -5
As to whether your cat will want to eat raw, who knows! Out of four, I've got one who is willing, one who likes raw snackies, one who will only if she has to(ie- nothing else around), and one kibble head who will quite literally starve himself to death rather than even eat canned, let alone raw . Some take to it, some don't. For your ferrets(as long as they are healthy), try removing food the night before at bedtime, and offer them the soups in the morning. Or the other way around, if that works better for your schedule Mine are now fed twice a day, but in the beginning, I offered a few different times a day, just to keep them tasting it.
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Post by tschadt on May 21, 2010 8:04:32 GMT -5
I just wanted to update anyone who is reading this. I started to mix ground pork and chicken in with my ferrets cooked soup and they are gobbling it up. I am going to go to the store this weekend to pick up some more variety. I am a little leery on giving them beef heart that I have for the dogs because I had a cat vomit on the beef twice and I read that some cats are sensitive to grain fed beef. Can ferrets be sensitive to grain fed beef also? These guys are young (not even 1 y.o.) and very active I have been giving them 2 baby food jars of the soup a day. I believe there is 4 oz in each jar. Should I give them a little more? Thanks Tara
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Post by sherrylynne on May 22, 2010 15:38:33 GMT -5
That's wonderful!!! Give them however much they'll eat. As a rule, ferrets won't overeat, although there are exceptions, especially with something they really like Mine haven't had beef heart for a while(for some reason, the cost has gone through the roof!), but I never had any problems with that, just with the kidney with one ferret. And yes, they can have sensitivities the same as anyone else. I've heard of ferrets who are sensitive to store bought chicken, but not organic.
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Post by tschadt on May 26, 2010 7:52:41 GMT -5
Thank you. They now have slowed down with their eating. They are eating enough. I guess I will try everything and see if they have any issues. Tara, Diesel, and Turbo
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Post by Heather on May 26, 2010 10:34:31 GMT -5
I have a cat with a beef sensitivity, I just don't feed it to him. I've had more than a few ferrets and not had a problem with them eating it. I've had a couple that aren't fond of it but they will eat chicken and turkey hearts so I'm ok with catering to their little quirks. I've heard of more chicken sensitivities than beef with ferrets. Be careful not to move too quickly in adding too much raw to their soupy at one time. That is a common error made and they often go on a food strike. It's nothing serious you just have to backstep a bit to where they're accepting again. ciao
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