New, want to feed mice

[otterwoman]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I've only had ferrets for about two years. I've heard of raw diets for ferrets, and now I'm ready to perhaps give it a go. Since I have snakes and keep frozen mice in my freezer already, I'm looking for info on building a raw diet around frozen mice. Can anyone help direct me where to start? Should I just thaw out a mouse, put him in with a ferret, and see what the ferret does? I hope I don't sound too ignorant. Are there articles on this forum somewhere I can start off with?
Anway, I have four sweet sweet ferrets, Dipsy, Dutzi, Milkdud, and Blanket, and I fall in love with every ferret I see. Three of them are deaf. My smartest one can do some tricks, like roll over, and jump through a hoop.

[Heather]

Hi and welcome to the forum
Please feel free to prowl the site, check out thread ask questions and get involved. You will find that everyone's friendly and more than happy to help you out. I would strongly suggest that you get out the nutritional section of the forum. You will note that it's subdivided into several sections covering the different aspects of raw feeding. There is a specific section on prey. You can feed mice but their diet has to consist of a lot more than mice. Mice are not a foundation diet for ferrets but many of us feed them. You need a minimum of 3 different protein sources to cover their dietary needs. You can feed entirely prey if you choose but you will have to find at least 2 other protein types. Rabbit, guinea pig, large rats....those are all good large type proteins that will provide your little ones with alternatives to munch.
There are a number of methods that can be used to try and get them to taste the mice. Depending on the ages and personalities of your furbabies, and their propensity of trying new things these will be the key components as to how easily your little ones will accept their new dieting adventure. Most ferrets are usually fixated on a type of food by the time they're 9 months old and have to be taught that "real" food is what they're supposed to eat. We do have a mentoring program that you can sign up for if you're interested in working one on one with a mentor.
Anyway, good to have you on board, I hope that I will be seeing you and your little ones around. Oh....we will pester you for photos of your little ones
ciao

[bluemoose]

Welcome. As Heather mentioned, mice alone isn't a balanced diet. Mine now eat almost exclusively whole prey (occasionally they get some beef, pork, or chicken just for variety) and they get mice, rats, rabbit, quail, chicks, and guinea pig. I order most of my whole prey from www.rodentpro.com/ . Shipping is pricey so you'd want to fill the box completely or better yet, do a Greyhound order. You have to pick up the order from a Greyhound station but you can get twice as much food for nearly the same shipping cost as home delivery.

Most ferrets, unless they were weaned directly onto raw, need some encouragement to try it and some are just downright stubbornly convinced that eating raw will kill them. Deciding to switch to a raw diet is a big commitment but is well worth the effort in terms of health benefits. I would definitely recommend signing up for the mentor program. You're going to have a lot of questions and any mentor you get will do a superb job in answering them and offering advice.

[otterwoman]

I'll see how it goes tomorrow with the mouse.

I tried to post an attachment photo with my ferrets, but it's not coming out. It's not too large. I don't know why. But anyway, they're really cute!

[katt]

Hi and welcome! Read around the nutrition and feeding section of the forum and post any questions. We even have a great mentor program for helping you to switch your fuzz to raw.

[otterwoman]

I had to take one of my ferrets to the vet today, she had a little hemorrhoid. I mentioned this raw diet to him, and he suggested canned food by Evo, and gave me samples of dry food by Core. Any opinions on these?

Also, is there a listing somewhere of the optimal % of a ferret's diet, like % protein, % fat, etc?

[bluemoose]

Ferrets for Dummies recommends a commercial food have 15-20% fat and no less than 32-40% meat-based protein. There are slight variations in these numbers depending on who you ask but they're all in that general area.

Evo did, and possibly still does, make excellent dog, cat, and ferret foods. However they were recently bought by Proctor and Gamble so many people are avoiding that food now. P&G has bought and subsequently ruined foods before so a lot of people expect them to change the formula to make it more profitable. Plus P&G does a lot of animal testing which many people disagree with.

Did you try giving them some mice? No matter how good a kibble/canned food is, nothing compares to the real thing.

[otterwoman]

Yes, I left a defrosted mouse in their cage all day and they weren't having any. The one that I thought would go for it, I played with him and the mouse in the bathtub, and also no go. Of course I know it was just a first attempt, but if canned food can be 95% meat, that's pretty good, I think? I will need a few days to completely read the food section here, I'm working on it, but are there any brands of canned food that people recommend besides this Evo?
When I go food shopping later this week, I'm going to get some raw meat and see how they like that. It would be great if there were an article on how to start out, like, what I might try first (chicken leg? Liver of some type?) Any suggestions on what to try first, and I'll give it a shot.

[otterwoman]

Here are my four ferrets!

Attachments:

[Heather]

Most of us start with chicken, you don't have to, it's just a mild tasting meat. I wouldn't start with liver as a first meat (this can cause some serious tummy upsets if fed in to large a quantity). Texture and flavour are things that a ferret will balk at. Liver is loved by some and detested by many . Have you checked out the mentoring threads. There is some fantastic methods in there on how to switch your ferrets. You cannot post in those threads but you can ask questions here of anything you read in there. Even the information in the vault (those who have not succeeded or quit before completing) has merit. Have you thought of maybe requesting a mentor? Just a thought .
ciao

[bluemoose]

Well part of the issue with the meat in commercial food is that is has been cooked at extremely high temperatures. High heat destroys a lot of the meat's nutritional value which must then be supplemented back in. Also, I don't think canned foods can be 95% meat when a ton of water is added to them. I suppose maybe if you're calculating the protein content before water is added.

[otterwoman]

Thanks for all the advice and input. I am working my way through the nutrition section and when I have a better idea of all that one is in for, I'll move forward. I'm reading a little every day, so it'll be a bit, but I'm doing it. I don't want to request a mentor until I am ready to commit full effort. But I'll continue to ask questions and the point about cooking the meat vs. raw is definitely something I hadn't thought of...this is a whole new subject area for me.
They didn't eat any of that canned food either, though the cats loved it!

[otterwoman]

I'm a member of another forum and we get annoyed when people don't search before asking. I'm just trying to suck up so much information as fast as I can. I was in a specialty pet food store today browsing their stuff and they had this frozen raw food called "Bravo." Do people feed it to their ferrets? It looked so convenient!

[bluemoose]

I know some of Bravo's products have a fair bit of vegetable products which is something you want to avoid as much as possible with ferrets. I don't know if all their formulas have veggies or not. Best to always check the ingredients. I know Wysong Ferret Archetypal-1 is a good diet. It's not really kibble in the conventional sense because it hasn't been heated but it is dry and convenient to feed. Just avoid Archetypal-2 as it is very much inferior.

Feel free to ask questions about anything. Even if they've been asked before someone will be glad to answer them again or direct you to the thread that has the answer.

[rarnold18]

Hey there and welcome! Love the pics of your furbabies, they're adorable!!! Please don't be afraid to ask questions!!! There is definitely a learning curve when getting our Fuzz to eat raw...I had some that were easy to switch and others that were not so much... When I started I used ground whole chicken (picked up a raw fryer and put it and the organs that came with it in the grinder) I had to mix the kibbles in their food bowl with the ground and then decrease the kibble slowly. For most of mine it took a couple weeks, some were much longer (Sophie Ann and Velma took almost a month and a half!)
Don't be afraid to ask questions, when I found this forum I had never been owned by a ferret(s) and adopted two on a whim (I'm just a tad bit impulsive). Believe me I've asked my fair share of silly questions and they were greeted with kindness and understanding! The members here are awesome teachers and genuinely want to help...very accepting and full of knowledge!
Good luck with the switch to raw and whole prey!