Acampbell89's Switching Thread/mustelidmusk

[Heather]

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Name: Ashley Campbell
HF Forum Username: acampbell89

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

Ferretvillage.org, I am also a member there! I have been following threads to learn more about raw diets and a member suggested this mentor program.

2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your ferret(s) to.

I am only interested in switching to a raw diet, not full prey. I am unsure if I want to switch to raw and still include some kibble or just go 100% raw though! Information on the two would be helpful!

3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?

I believe it's all around healthier for my fuzzbutts. It's difficult to find a good kibble you can trust has a good balance of what they need. From what I've learned, raw provides all of the essential vitamins my fuzzies need as well as the levels of protein they should be getting.

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 switching your ferret(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as committed. 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?

Absolutely

5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?

Mia: She is a female, sable and will be 1yr old in April. Good weight but I am currently giving her drops for ear mites.

Marcellus: He is a male, white and will also be 1yr old in April. Good weight and is also getting drops for ear mites.

(Bought both Mia and Marcellus from a Pet Co. They are Marshall ferrets)

Jewels: She is a female, sable and her age is unknown for sure but our vet believes she is 1 1/2-2yrs old. Just a month ago I adopted Jewels and Vincent (you'll meet him next!) from someone who could no longer provide them a home. They came to me with slimey green stools which I assumed meant ECE. I recently took all 4 of my fuzzies to have them checked out. Everyone is healthy and Jewels and Vincent are the only onces with the icky stools. The vet said it is not severe and it should pass in a month or two (hopefully). So far Mia and Marcellus have shown no signs of catching the virus...I'm keeping my fingers crossed! She is not over or underweight.

Vincent: He is a male, cinnamon, as same as Jewels, believed to be 1 1/2-2yrs old. Good weight.

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)

I am currently switching kibble. I am getting my fuzzies off of Marshalls (icky! just found out how bad it is for them!) and onto Zupreem. I recently found out about Evo and, if I decide to keep some kibble in their diet, would love to switch to that brand.

I used to give them Bandit treats but after learning that they're not healthy for them, I stopped. They haven't had a bandit treat is over week. I give them canned ferret food (I forgot the brand name) mixed in their kibble. I also give them Ferretone but am going to start giving them olive oil instead once I finish the bottle.

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?

Nope!

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?

I just want whats healthiest for my babies! I love them to death!

9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?

Everyday!

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

Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (mustelidmusk) will introduce herself and you can get started on a new adventure in natural ferret care and diets. Please remember to post regularly (daily or as per arranged with your mentor) so that your mentor can assist you move along safely in this adventure. If you experience computer difficulties or are going to be away, please notify your mentor and most of all relax and have fun . Your mentor is here to help you on this journey.
ciao

[mustelidmusk]

Hi Ashley,

I'm Jennifer (aka Mustelidmusk), and I'm your mentor. I'm really glad that you've decided to try a raw diet for your ferrets. I think you'll be very happy with the changes you see in your ferrets on a raw diet!!!

I'll tell you a bit abut myself tonight, and we'll get started on the teaching tomorrow.

I have had ferrets over the past 13 years. I've been feeding raw diet for the past 5 years. I kind of fell into raw diet by accident. I
read and article about diets that compared the two types of dry diets, heat-processed vs. cold-processed formulas. I was already feeding kibble, so I thought my brats might benefit from having both types of food. I bought a package of Wysog Archetypal I, which I later learned is a freeze-dried raw diet. WHen I opened the package, my new kits (they were babies at that time) went absolutely wild - they started hissing and fighting over the one piece of food I had offered them. Every time I opened the package, there'd be a fight over this special treat. Since the Wysong package said you can use the Archetype I food, I substituted Archetypal I for half of the kibble. My brats immediately became more energetic. In less than 2 months, they and they had grown thick, luxurious coats. They had lean, well-developed muscle. I looked further into diets and found that people were feeding raw meat to ferrets and seeing remarkably good results. I was a bit apprehensive about try fresh/wet raw food, so I went to a holistic vet to ask some questions before I tried it. Here I am 5 years later - I wouldn't feed my ferrets anything other than raw diet!!!!

I picked you out as a student because you don't have a predetermined pla for what you want to feed. One of the things I enjoy the most with mentoring is teaching people that raw feeding can take many differnt forms, and it's not only healthy, but it an be very flexible as well. I'll start you out by discussing the various options and present the pros and cons of each. This way you can try several different things to see which oes work the best for you and your ferrets. Most people feed a combiation of food types (for example, I feed motly commercial frozen raw with freeze-dried raw and some raw meaty bones/frankenprey. That combiation works well for my budget, my time constraits, the avalablity of food in my area, as well as my need to travel)

The goal here willl be to switch your babies to a healthy diet and develop a menu plan tailored to your individual needs. You'll be able to make changes to this plan without jeopardzing your ferrets' nutrition. Ad of course the forum will always be here to answer questions.

In short, this is your thread. You'll need to let me kow what is working and what is not working for you. I ecourage you to ask me questios, but I want you to feel free to ask these same questions i the geeral feeding sections of this forum. You'll find many different answers/ideas. The is no single way to do things. As long as you stick with the geeral feeding principals ad choose quality foods, your ferrets will be as happy and as healthy as they can be.

We'll start out tomorrow with a general description of foods types that are avilable along with some basic switching techniques. You'll be able to choose the approach that souds most appealig. This will help to get you started on the switchig process.

Most people find switching to be fun, frustrating, and a pain-in-the-butt. Yet for those who stick with it, the results are overwhelmigly worth the effort.

I'm really looking forward to workig with you and your ferrets!
-jennifer

[mustelidmusk]

Hi,
I'm writing up some info. off line since I keep losing network connectivity (and my post ) this weekend - we've been having high winds and electrical flickering. I'm thinking that this may be causing the flakiness???

ANyway. I'll get the write-up done and paste it ito the thread and post later today or this evening. (I have a lot of patience for everything EXCEPT computers )

-jennifer

[mustelidmusk]

Hi!
I'm finally back online!!!! Below is some info on the basic raw diets that are most commonly fed. Please review all this info and think about which options sound the most appealing/feasible for you.

Once we establish the type of diets you want to feed, we can get started on the switch. There are two ways to switch: fast switch or slow switch. The fast switch involves witholding kibble and providing raw food only. Some ferrets respond well to this method. Others do not. I personally prefer a slow switch method that involves getting the ferret to understand that raw meat organs and bones are edible food items before we cut back dramatically o their regular kibble diet.

So, the two things you need to decide before we start the switchig process:
1. what raw options do you think will work best for you?
2. are you intereted in tryig a fast-switch or slow switch method?

While we're switching the ferrets I'll continue to provide infomation so you'll be learning while we work on switching your babies.

Here's the info....Please ask ay questions you may have, even if the questions are about the non-raw feeding options. I didn't provide info on these since you probably have read quite a bit about kibble and have decided to try raw! But you may still have some questios I might be able to answer.

Feeding Options

Definition of Diet:
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The term diet refers to a “complete" and "balanced" food. SO when I use the term "diet" I'm talkig about a complete/balanced mix or combination of food items.

There are commercially available foods that are not complete/balanced diets. These items are intended for supplemental feeding. An example of this type of food would be the Wysong Au Jus canned meats products or Stella and Chewies Carniore Treats that can be used to garnish meals or fed in small quantities as treats. If you're considerig trying a product, be sure to read the label to understand how the product is itened to be used,

A lot of times, the supplemental foods are packaged and sold along side the complete diets, so you need to read the labels carefully when buying/ordering foods – the Ziwi peak treat bags look just like the daily diet bags!!!!

Here is the list of feedig options....

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Cooked diets:
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* Kibble – includes both extruded and baked diets
* Canned
* Home-made cooked diets
Please let me kow if you have ay questios I might be able to answer regarding cooked diets.

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Raw Diets: (uncooked, but not necessarily unprocessed)
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Cold/low-heat processed, dry raw (commercial)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Commonly referred to as freeze-dried diets, the low-heat dry foods are uncooked. Although they are not as nutritious as a good, fresh raw diet, they're as eay to feed as kibble! This allows you a lot of flexibilty for travel, emergency situations, etc.
Pros:
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* Convenient – the most convenient raw diet available
* Nutritious - Maintains natural nutrient content (kibble relies on added nutrients rather than naturally occurrig nutrients)
* Balance – complete nutrition in every bite
* Sanitation - No “big issue” issue when the ferrets hide it around the house!!!
* Sanitation - More sanitary that fresh raw (when fed dry)
* Sanitation - In general, does not spoil readily.(when fed dry)
* Sanitation - No “big issue” issue when the ferrets hide the food around the house!!!
* Storage - Does not require refrigeration (but must be properly stored like all food (even kibble)
* Logistics - Easy for “ferret sitters”, portable
* Logistics - Easy for travel and or vet visits
* Variety - is available.
* Acceptance - High - Most ferrets switch relatively quickly to freeze-dried raw diets

Cons
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* Nutrition - Less nutritious than fresh/wet raw foods but much better than fully cooked foods
* Cost - Very Expensive
* Availability – Can be difficult to find locally depending on where you live. May need to order.
* Dental - You need to clean your ferrets teeth if he is not crunching on bones!
* Messy when fed dry – my ferrets are great at scattering their freeze-dried food! (but it vacuums up easily)

Examples:
Except for the Ziwipeak, the following products are peat-moss-like in texture. They can be fed dry or moistened to create a wet diet.
* Wysong Archetypal I (for ferrets)
* Stella and Chewie’s
* AFS
* ZiwiPeak Cat Daily Diet - Ziwipeak is a little different – it’s more like small bits of jerky-like meat that's served dry.

Note: Nature’s Variety Freeze-dried diets may contain large bits of pumpkin seeds - I've even found WHOLE pumpkin seeds. This presents a huge risk for intestinal obstruction in ferrets! Do not buy yhis food unless you intend to dissect every bite!!!

Nature's Variety frozen raw does NOT have the issue with pumpkin seeds!

Frozen, ground raw (commercial or homemade)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Commercially available products come in the following forms:
“chubs” that have to be partially thawed (in the refrigerator), cut into meal-sized portions and then refrozen until ready to be used.
"Patties": “hamburger sized portions”. One patty ca be thawed out in the refrigerator ad be fed to a ferret over the course of for 2 -3 days.
"Medallions": small servings (typically one-ounce pieces)

The smaller sizes are more prone to freezer burn and are more expensive – but ultimately very convenient fior feeding a small number of ferrets.

Pro’s –
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* Very Convenient - if you purchase commercially made products
* Very nutritious
* Balance – no recipe drift with explicitly measured proportions
* Balance – complete nutritional balance in every bite
* Variety – readily available
* Can be home made – recipes are available, both good and bad
* Quality – you control the quality if you make the diet yourself
* Cost – can be as cheap has high quality kibble if you make the diet yourself

Cons:
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* May be slightly less nutritious than fresh meat diet. (grinding exposes the meat to air)
* Cost - Expensive
* Availability - May not be available locally
* Sanitation - Contains the most bacteria - just like hamburger!
* Dental – ferrets that do not eat bone need to have their teeth cleaned!

RMB/Franken-prey (home prepared)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I typically use the term RMB (raw meaty bones) to describe this diet because it’s easier to type. Purists may argue that there are differences in these two feeding approaches, but both approaches strive to create the balance of a an animal’s natural, whole prey diet by feeding a combination of muscle meat, organ meats, and bones. These three elements of the RMB diet are fed in specified proportions to achieve the correct balance.

The RMB diet can be designed to achieve the required nutritional over a one week period. ALternatively, the diet can be designed to provide the balance on a daily basis. There are pros and cons to each approach that we’ll address as the need arises. Ideally, the RMB diet is fed in larger chunks such that the ferret must tear/cut meat and bone. This maintains dental health through natural means.

* Very Nutritious
* Quality - You have control over food quality
* Cost - can be as cheap as feeding a high quality kibble
* Dental Benefits - With most ferrets, feeding bone eliminates the need to clean teeth

* Balance - You need to monitor the balance of the diet, which requires more diligence and planning
* Balance – You heed to make sure each ferret is eating his share of meat, organs , and bone
* Ingredients Availability - a variety of organ meats can be difficult to find locally depending on where you live.
* Cached Food – Ferrets like to hide chunks of food

Whole Prey – frozen, fresh, live commercial or home-raised
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Whole prey diet requires feeding a variety of whole prey items sich as mice, rabbits, small birds, lizards, insects, etc.

Pos:
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* Ultimate Nutrition- the very best, assuming you provide enough variety
* Dental – most ferrets that eat bone do not require teeth cleaning

Cons:
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* Availability – variety may not be available locally
* Balance – requires planning to provide enough variety
* Cost - Expensive
* Logistics - Can be difficult to find a ferret sitter who will feed prey
* Cached food - I need not commet here

Hybrid Diets
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Most people feed a hybrid diet consisting of a combination of the raw options above.
Some people feel that combing kibble with raw diet causes digestive issues and poor absorption of nutrients. I initially provided some kibble with raw diet for the first year I fed raw. I ever foud any issues with the combination, although the kibble simply served as an occasional snack.

Which is best?
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The one that works for YOU. Everyone has different requiremets!

Factors to consider
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convenience
cost
your lifestyle
your preferences
ferret health
ferret preferences

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of this.

-jennifer

[mustelidmusk]

This is a test - this is only a test (es, most of us have probably heard this before. But you really have to be from Florida, and OLD enough to truly appreciate the humor .
BTW - being old has NOTHING to do with growing up

[acampbell89]

Ok- that was all a little overwhelming but I like it! I had no idea there was SO many different options!!

I'm curious what your opinion is on doing sort of a 1/2 and 1/2...meat and kibble? At this moment, I can't really afford to develope a super expensive diet for my fuzzie but I most definetly want them to get the best nutrition that we can afford.

I'm not happy with simply feeding them on kibble. I've done my research and (through this site specifically) have learned the great things my fuzzies can benefit from eating raw!

So, I guess I'm deciding to go with a hybrid diet.

I would like there to be MORE meat then kibble though.

Does that make sense? I certainly hope so! Bare with me...as you know, I am very new to all of this!

I would love to include organs and bones, etc! I would need to find a good meat supplier to order from as I do not know any around here. I'm heard of some places like HareTodayGoneTomorrow - ring a bell?

Oh! I almost forgot!... I have NO problem taking the slow approach at all! I feel my fuzzies would appreciate that! There have been a few times that I have made them a little meat mush and they loved it! (another reason why I want to get them more raw food in their diets)

I mixed their kibble, some canned ferret food, some ground beef and a little bit of water together and let them go at it! It went very well so I feel if I just work hard to ease them into the transition- they will take it well

Thank you so much for your help, Jennifer! Again, I am very excited and I hope some of this reply made sense

I look forward to our journey with my fuzzbutts!

[acampbell89]

Question about the hybrid diet will be doing...

I mentioned that I wanted to kind of do a 1/2 kibble 1/2 raw.

When I first thought of this, hybrid meant to me, literally mixing raw food in with their kibble. Could I also give them all raw some days and just kibble other days? Just curious as to how flexible this can or cannot be.

Let me know your thoughts! Thank you!

[mustelidmusk]

Hi!

It sounds like you're already off to a good start!

Regarding the feeding of kibble and raw diet...There are mixed opinions on this. Some people are dead set against feeding both kibble and raw. The primary argument against is that the kibble and the raw digest at different rates. Some feel that kibble pushes the raw through the system so fast that nutrients are not absorbed. I've also heard that the kibble slows digestion keeping the raw in the system too long such that there's increased risk from bacteria and/or fermenting of food in the stomach. I've found no data supporting any of these theories.

I have heard that some ferrets have had digestive troubles on a mix of kibble and raw. This may be due to something in the kibble and/or raw (grain allergy? chicken allergy? etc.) rather than the feeding of kibble and raw together. I provided kibble along with raw for the first year and a half I had my 4 ferrets. None of my 4 had any issues with it. One of the top breeders/show winners in the US was feeding both kibble and raw. She even even emailed me what she included in her kibble mix.

Since I've also mentored people who have chosen to stick with a raw/kibble hybrid plan, I suggest we give this a try and see how it works for you and your ferrets. I just want you to uderstand that you'll arguments against doing this.

Please be aware that switching to a raw diet does not necessarily improve stool quality. Most kibble companies work very hard to formulate a diet that produces an "appealing stool" that is easy to clean up . It'sbeen my experience with wildlife rehabilitation that natural/raw diets produce stools that are more varied in color and texture. Also, the process of switching can result in some funky poops since the ferrets are adjusting to eating new and different foods.

Depending on where you live, you may have some commecially available raw diets that you will not have to ship. Hare Today does provide excellent products. But these will need to be shipped frozen, which increases the price quite a bit.

For now, continue adding a little meat to the moistened kibble. I recommend adding a little meat at every meal during the switch. You'll want to make sure all of your kids are eating this mix....If raw meat is not in everymeal, there may be one or two ferts that start boycotting meals that contain raw since they know the kibble-only meals will soon be served.

Many ferrets get addicted to soup - then they won't touch the wet raw food unless the food is fairly soupy. If your ferrets are eating a fairly thick or chunky wet food, I do not recommend making the food really soupy because you've read that other people's ferrets are eating thin soup/gruel. It can be difficult to get some ferrets to start eating thicker/chunkier foods!

Continue adding a little meat to their regular diet. If they're all eating this mix, which should be fed twice per day, increase the amount of meat by a lttle bit if their digestion seems pretty good (some loose stools are normal during the switch. hopefully, the stools will remain formed but loose. If they have mudpie stools, hold them at the same level of meat/kibble of mix for several days and watch for improvement.)

You can stick with the ground beef, but I also recommend intoduction some other types or raw meat, such as chicken, lamb or pork. If you have any raw/unprocessed meats that you're cooking for your family, you can try introducing a tiny amount in their regular mix. You'll want get your ferrets to be accepting of different foods and tastes since variety provides a more complete nutrient mix than feeding the same thing over and over again.

Keep me posted on what and how much you're feeding. Be sure to make note of who is ieating and who is being picky, etc.

-jennifer

[mustelidmusk]

Aother thing I should mention (in additio to the post directly above this one (I post twicw today) is that feeding a couple types of kibble from different companies is a good idea.
1. No single company has a "perfect formula". Somethig that may be missing from one diet may be present in a different product.
2. A company chages a recipe or stops producing your ferrets' favorite food - and your ferrets may not take a likeing to a ew food. Addig variety keeps your ferrets more open to welcoming new tastes.
3. Enrichment.... the same thing every day gets boring. AT first ferrets may dislike variety, but over time, they start getting into it.

I have ot reviewed kibbles for quite some time, but I'll be happy to do so if you'd like some input. Just let me know.

One thing I ca tell you is that EVO was just bought out by Proctor & Gamble - I always hate to see changes like that because it makes me paranoid that they may start makin changes to enhance profits

-jennifer

[acampbell89]

i had no idea about the hybrid diet possible effecting their digestive systems. This will be something I certainly take into consideration. My main concern at this moment is just the cost. I'm just starting a new school and don't want to start something I can't continue to afford. However, I believe it i just take this nice and slow it will work!

Would it be a good idea to eventually add less and less kibble into their bowls? Bigger meat chucks and less kibble? Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself...maybe I should just try baby steps and go from there I hope it doesn't seem like I'm running in circles with what I would like to do!

However, I'm glad my guys are on a good start!

Now, unfortunatley, I've run out of meat so the twice a day always kibble and meat will have to begin this weekend after I get paid.

Question: the meat I've been feeding them is the meat that me and my boyfriend by from our local butcher. I am praying that this would be considered un processed meat because it is not store bought or packaged...please tell me it is!! (I will also ask the butcher) I would hate to find I have been potentionally giving them bad stuff thinking its been better for them

Otherwise, I think continue to by from them will work out nicely. Again, I will visit them this weekend and ask them myself but your opinion is appreciate too

Again, very excite! This will be the first time my two new guys, Bradley and Gwen, will be even seeing raw meat...so, it shall be interesting to see how they do!

I will write you as soon as I speak to the butcher and of course update you with how this weekend goes! I think I'm going to keep a little food diary for the babie

Talk to you soon Jennifer!!

[mustelidmusk]

No worries about the meat you've been feeding. When I was speaking of "processed meat" i my previous post, I was thinking of something like bacon, ham, salami, bologna, pepperoni, etc. You just don't want all the salt, spices, nitrates and presevatives, etc. Aother example = tuna fish from a can - or canned meats

There is one exception - the second stage baby food jars that are meats only are ok for making soups. (Ther gerbers brand will say something like beef with beef gravy". I'd still stay away from the ham flavor though. The chicke and turkey are popular with ferrets, so if your ew kids are reluctant to eat the raw meat, try a jar of turkey or chicken baby food. Put a little of the food on your figer and see if they'll lickk it off. It they won't try it on their own. put a small dab on their oses and hold them so they have to lick it off rather than wipe it off o the carpet or your clothing

I've been known to occsaionally give my brats those baby food hotdogs that come in a jar...my brats don't eat them - they use them as toys instead of food. It's hilarious watching my 4 brats running around all excited with little hotdogs in their mouths.

Don't worry about flp-flopping around on what you want to do. That's normal. So many owners start out thinking they know exactly what they want to do - they change their minds just as often as people who don't know where they want to go with their feeding programs.

I expect your ferrets will be fine on the kibble/raw mix. I've helped people provide raw as supplements to kibble, and their ferrets have done fine on the combination. I hoestly suspect that the bad press given to the raw/ kibble combination is more emotional perception on the part of the owner rather than a real issue with the hybrid mix. Some ferrets have sensitive digestion no matter what they eat. Others have specific allergies. SO the kibble/raw mix may get blamed when in reality the ferret was having trouble with something else - such as the grains in the kibble or perhaps a food allergy/sensitivity to chicken. You'd be amazed at the number of ferretsthat have trouble with chicken!

I recommend that you keep your first set of ferrets in a "holding pattern" by not advancing their capabilities until you evaluate how the two new babies react to eating meat. The reason for this is that it will be cheaper to have everyone eating the same thing. We may not be able to advance your entire group all at the same rate, but we'l give it a try. Also, ferrets learn from each other....If your new kids see your origial babies eating something that is't too different from their regular kibble, the new kids might jump right in without hesitation. You can ever tell what a ferret might do.

Don't worry about what you can/cannot do in terms of offering raw twice a day. We'll work around this. Again, even if the raw feedig is simply supplemental to the kibble, your ferets will still be eatig a better diet that kibble only. I've know people who have worked out deals with their butcher where they buy scraps and organ meats REALLY CHEAP that would otherwise have been thrown away. So the butcher profits from "waste" and you may be able to feed raw cheaper than you can feed kibble.

Whenever we have meat, I trim the meat/chicken and save the scraps for the brats. The one thing you want to do is keep the fat content to 25% or Less relative to the amount of meat. In fact, when you first start out, keep the amount of fat lower since fat is very rich and their little tummies might object (they may get the runs!). Excessive amounts of fat can cause pacreatitis, which is not good. If you keep the fat contet to 25% or less, your ferrets should not have any pancreatitis issues. If you feed as high as 25% fat, cut the fat pieces into smaller bits and make sure one ferret isn't eating all the fat! Most ferrets can actually handle more than 25% fat, but I feel it's best to keep the fat content a little lower to avoid digestive upset.

Have fun feeding your new babies!
-jennifer

[acampbell89]

Hi Jennifer!!

So, this weekend my babies were fed a mixture of raw chicken and their kibble. I added a little water, as I usually do, to help make a meat mush.

My old babies, Mia, Marcellus and Vincent loved it as usual! As soon as I put it in their bowls their little noses lead them to the bottom level and they ate like piggies.

My new babies, Bradley and Gwen, were a little less excited. They kind of played with it- picking out the kibble and just sniffing the meat every once in a while. I did get Gwen to take a nibble of a chicken chunk after putting some ferratone on it, so that was good!

I should be getting a call back today from our local butcher about making a deal for the scraps, organs, etc. Keep our figures crossed he's nice about it

Hope you had a great weekend!

[acampbell89]

Update::

My butcher says they don't even get their chickens and other animals with their organs (guess they're not really a butcher then... )

I'm just going to keep buying them raw stuff as I need it.

Question- how long should I keep raw food in their bowls. I ready another thread that mentioned no more than 24hrs?

Nobody seems to be eating anything today
My new guys are certainly not appreciating the raw food I keep putting in their bowl! Ferratone didn't even get them to nibble on it today. I guess this is what you meant by requiring "patients"

[mustelidmusk]

hi!
Sorry I've been offline for a couple of days - traveling can make it tough to get to theinternet.

Regarding how long to leave raw food out....I leave my raw food out no more than 12 hours. Once the food starts to dry out and develop a drier crust on the outside (you'll see discoloration at the edges of the food), most ferrets won't touch it anyway.They have to be really hungry to eat food that is drying out, especially when they're first starting the switch.

You may have better luck with your new kids if you soak kibble over night in a bunch of waterand then mix this with a small amount of finely raw food (a small food processor is isdeal for this). Some ferrets prefer soup.

Other ferrets may eat raw if you crush up kibble and coat small pieces of raw meat if you coat it with kibble crumbs. I recommend that place a couple tidbits of meat coat meat on a small plate - place them apart from each other such that they are not touching and its very easy for the ferrets to pick up a single bite of food.

Another thing that helps ferts get used to eating raw food is place and small amout of raw meat in their mouths daily. They have taste buds for protien, so repeatedly putting a couple pieces of meat in their mouths daily will help them realize that they can eat this "strange food". You need to be consistent with this.

Some ferrets will accept meat flavored water - so youp can try mixing a small amount of meat juice in a small bowl of water. You'll also want to ptovide ffresh water as well.

I've found that the dark chicken meat is one of the easier meats to get ferrets to eat. The dark meat is more strongly flavored with fats. It also contains more taurine. ANother thing you'll want to to is cut back on the amount of kibble that's fed . Over the course of several days, you'll want to try to determine how much kibble they're eating per day - then provide a little less than what they normally eat. If they're no a little hungry, there's no incentive to change!

Start giving one of more of the above techniques a try and let me know how each ferret is reacting to each thing you try.

Good luck!
-jennifer

[acampbell89]

Oh my goodness! We're doing so wonderfully!

Last night I jumped around the apt with joy as I watched Mia, Marcellus AND Vincent all nibbling on their kibble AND chicken chunks!! It's the first time I've seen them all go for the chicken as soon as I put it in the bowl...and the first time I've seen all 3 fuzzies eating the raw meat



Bradley and Gwen are no longer going to be switching to raw right now though- if you read my post in the General Discussion Forum, you'll learn why. Their new Mommy isn't ready for that commitment yet but promises one day she'll come here to learn more about it

I'm so happy it's going so well!