Zoologist's switching thread

[zoologist]

*sigh* and so it begins again....

Today I took the step towards raw (again). Chewey is chowing down on raw like a champ so it's just a matter of switching Lily over. trouble is, I have no patience!

I am doing it differently this time around. I've ground down their evo to a fine powder and tore apart the freezer looking for their meat. I found chicken necks, breasts with bones, goat, lamb and deer. SCORE! So i ground down all the chicken meats into a nice mush with bone chunks and ground down the goat lamb and deer to a mush and mixed it together. Then I ground down 6 livers to smoothie consitancy (ew?) and added it half and half to the ground meat mixtures and mixed those.

So started out today with chicken/kibble/furotone mix and a deer,lamb,goat/kibble/furotone mix. Chewey is digging in, Lily is less adventurous. It's gonna come down to tough love i think.

I'll keep y'all updated!

[sherrylynne]

I'm looking forward to it! Been there, done that, as they say
You'll be so happy you've finally decided to take that step with them.

[Heather]

Great work You'll do it. We have faith in you and your ability to overcome Lily Keep us posted and we will be checking in to see how you do
ciao

[zoologist]

first tasting didn't go to well, so i had to take a step back. today I mixed 1 spoonful of chicken mush with 3 spoonfuls of crushed kibble and 2 spoonfuls of water (haha, love my measurements?) and made a nice soup. Lily was tentativly licking it so that's a good sign.

they are not getting kibble anymore. it is either the kibble mixture or they do not eat. I realize this may seem cruel but in my experience 'tough love' does work.... eventually

[sherrylynne]

Don't forget- ferrets can also develop hepatic lipidosis, the same as cats, when they go without food for too long a time!

[zoologist]

Thanks Sherry, I will keep that in mind!

tonight was a mixture of water, kibble and both the chicken and meat mixture. both were licking at it, so I feel a bit better. I need to keep an eye on Lily's portion to make sure she is eating enough....

[sherrylynne]

Agreed! And at least they're tasting it, and on their own- that's a major hurdle. The problem we had with Suki is we thought she was eating plenty. She'd take a piece, and we'd watch her chew on it for a bit, and assumed she was eating enough to remove the kibble entirely. WRONG!!!
She actually started to drop TOO much weight, so we had to put the kibble back in overnight, and had Emily share her cage time during the day with only raw in then. Emily taught her how to eat it properly.

[Heather]

I can't emphasize enough to keep a close eye on your little ones' weight. These little ones are masters of making you think they're eating when they're not. Little Babushka used to spend long times at the food bowl, I soon discovered she was doing nothing more than licking the food. She wasn't eating anything. Calypso was another who tried to fool me into thinking she was eating. If you're using the tough love type of switching make sure you have a very acurate scale to keep track of your little ones weights. Take measurements at least weekly. That way you can intercede if your little ones decide to go on a hunger strike. Ferrets like cats have no problem doing this and like cats hepatic lipidosis is indeed an unfortunate outcome. The only thing that comes as a bonus is that ferrets seem to have better recuperation from this.
ciao

[zoologist]

thank you guys, i will keep this in mind! 2 more days of tough love and if it doesn't work i will start her with raw chicken breasts and work my way up from there. chewey is eating raw again so it shouldn't take too long. I just need patience!

[zoologist]

Day whatever is starting off well. took another step back and started making a soupy soup instead of a mush. I am still pushing my meat blends though.

luckily, it worked! Lily, the little brat that she is, will only start to eat the soup if i feed it to her off of a silver spoon. *sigh* luckily I have the time to sit there and spoon feed her till she squirms.

today was 2 spoonfuls of kibble, 2 spoonfuls of chicken and meat mash and 5-7 spoonfuls of water. oh and a generous helping of ferretone to make it go down easier

[zoologist]

And heather I have been watching Lily's weight and watching her while she eats. She is indeed eating and not just licking the bowl and her weight has not flucuated too much, so I feel content she is getting enough nutrition.

They are being fed out of seperate bowls on seperate levels so I know who's eating what and how much after the initial feeding.

[Heather]

Sounds good. Looks like she just might decide this isn't so bad after all
ciao

[zoologist]

success! apparently they liked what i've been feeding them because the bowl was licked clean

today's breakfast was 1 spoon kibble and 2 spoons chicken/meat mash with some water and ferretone. Lily dug right in with no problems. now I will start decreasing kibble and then ferretone until they on just meat again.

This seems to be flying by very quickly. So onto the next adventure.

There is a lady near me who grinds up meat for dogs raw diets and sells the stuff. she can get chicken, lamb, turkey, duck, pork and rabbit ground up whole with the bones, meat and organs. she sells it for pretty darn cheap as well.

Is there a problem with keeping the ferrets on a ground diet such as the one above? can I mix all the meats together and make patties myself or would it be better to rotate meat choices such as chicken monday, pork tuesday, rabbit wednesday, etc. when I mentioned this before Sherry had a concern with no bone action. If i give them chicken bones on the off day (sunday, let's say) will that be enough teeth action to keep them healthy?

please let me know! I am excited to know this resource is so close by and will make my raw feedings a breeze

[Heather]

Sounds like a good mix, excellent. Don't mix unless you find they won't eat a certain protein and you think that by mixing you can get them to eat it. I've had a couple of people who's ferrets decided they only needed to eat 1 type of protein (should have a minimum of 3), this was a way to get them to eat other proteins. You can mix them but if there is a sensitivity to the protein, you won't know which it is. I prefer to feed each protein as a separate entity.
I've had a couple of ferrets who ate only ground. There is a couple of things to consider when opting for this type of feeding. One is the cleaning action of chewing bone and ripping meat off the bone. The other is the work out of actually chewing meat off the bone and consuming bone. Now, that being said you mention feeding bone and meat a couple of times a week, why not. It sounds good to me. Another awesome cleaner, gibblet or gizzards. Offers all the necessary components except the calcium. It's doable. If that's how you would be most comfortable and it's the best bang for your dollar go for it. Check your little ones teeth and see that you are offering enough bone to clean the teeth. Sometimes, certain components, enzymes don't function properly and it doesn't matter how much bone you offer they still have grungy teeth. My Napoleon, is an example of that. Despite eating raw all his life, his teeth just seem to attract tartar, it has to be cleaned off.
ciao

[zoologist]

Completely switched to raw!! I think that is a record they are eating chicken, goat, lamb and deer with no problems now as long as it has a generous dose of ferretone