Trixie's Switching Thread/Sherrylynne

[Heather]

Name:
HF Forum Username:
Trixie

1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
On everythingfert.proboards.com

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.
For now, I'd like to do a partial switch until I get a steady job and don't have to rely on others. Mostly raw/cooked with just a supplement of kibble though.

3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?
I've heard a lot of good about it and now that two are getting on in age I think it would do a lot to extend their healthy life and keep worry out of mind.

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?
I understand completely.

5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?
4 ferrets. Gin(4/5/6 Maybe, not sure)- Age, moles bu nothing serious. Showing some signs of adrenal, but she normally goes through a late winter sheddin, so we're waiting to see if the little hair loss lasts.
Tonic(3/4)- A little underweight, but find otherwise.
Jack(2)-Healthy
Hennessy(5)- Had an enlarged spleen, has since been removed. Healthy otherwise, if maybe a little chunky.

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
8-in-1 Unltrablend Kibble with daily Ferretone and occasional meat treats

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
Yes, Hennessy took right to soup, Tonic took to meat and Jack would occasionally, but Gin had no interest. Tonic later became a bit more hardheaded about it.

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
They are very very stubborn, Gin especially, though she is the one I'd most like to get eating raw.

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

10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
The best ones I have are in my sig. It's impossible to get a decent picture of them, they never sit still!


Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (sherrylynne) 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

[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 6yrs, to 17(only one would eat raw, unfortunately :. I also have 9 ferrets. Boris and Vincent came first, two brothers, a sable and albino. Then Sinnead. I got her when she was 2. She's now 5, and adrenal. She's on lupron, and I've decided against surgery for her.
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 at that time. Also both adrenal, and on lupron.
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.Suki is the last one, I swear! She was a little 8 month old darling the pet store was having a hard time selling, so were getting ready to send her back!
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. Suki was another kibble head, but caging her in the daytime with Miss Emily showed her how to eat raw.
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

[trixie]

So sorry I haven't checked this yet! I just got home yesterday from two weeks in Iowa reconnecting with my dad, but now that I'm back home I'm ready to get on this!

You sound like you had your hands quite full with all the fuzzies and a lot like me when I first got ferrets too. We've already gotten some meaty dog treats that Hennessy and Jack have taken to. They were the only treats we could find with meat as the first ingredient and not a ton of sugars/cars. We tried chicken wet cat food with Gin yesterday, figuring if she didn't eat it at least our cat, Chauncy, would. She didn't eat it :/ Boris and her sound exactly alike.
How long did it take for Boris to actually eat a bit of meat and what did you start him on?

[sherrylynne]

6 weeks I started him with soup. They were used to a cooked version of duck soup, so we just used that as the intro.
Do you give any kind of baby food, soup, anything? If not, then we'll start with some pureed raw, and work up from there.
Puree a couple of chicken thighs(skin, fat, everything but the bone). Puree in a couple chicken hearts and a liver, add about 1/2 tsp powdered eggshell. You can freeze the leftover(and there will a good bit) in ice cube trays, then just baggie them.
To puree the eggshell, I just picked up a cheap coffee grinder to do it with. When you have eggs, rinse and dry the shells for a day or so. Make sure they're totally dried out, otherwise it's a bit of a pain cleaning the grinder You can also use a mortar and pestle to do it, but frankly, I'm too blasted lazy
Try leaving their kibble out of the cage for at least 3-4 hours before picking your chosen ferret and dabbing a bit on the end of their nose so they have to lick it off. What we are trying to do here is get them to start tasting it.
You will quite likely get spitting, retching, gagging, twisting, etc. Just ignore it, since they are all little drama queens at heart Do this dabbing frequently during their out of cage play time. They can get the kibble back when they go back in their cages.
Have fun and let me know how it goes

[trixie]

Is it alright to leave the egg out for now? I'm allergic to eggs so we don't have them in the house and they don't get used too much even when we have them. However, in a few weeks I should be able to get some fresh eggs from a friend who raises free range chickens. Something about eggs right from the chicken doesn't bother me, but store bought makes me so sick.

[sherrylynne]

Oh, not a problem! I'll bet it's what the chickens are fed that's triggering the allergy for you, if the farm fresh ones don't bother you. It can be the same thing with ferrets. They can have some real problems tolerating store bought chicken, but do fine with organically grown, free range ones.
The reason for the eggshell is for the calcium(they have to have a fair bit of calcium in their diets), but they'll be fine for a couple/three weeks without it
Just thought of something. I know others on here have bought powdered eggshell online fairly cheaply. Not sure of the site, though.

[trixie]

Tomorrow the ferrets have a vet appointment so we're going to stop at the store and get some chicken bits for the ferrets and get them started. Hopefully Gin comes back without an adrenal diagnoses and I can get her started with everyone else.

[sherrylynne]

Oh, you can start her anyway. Adrenal isn't a problem for that, and it could even help her somewhat. Raw fed ferrets have far more reserves to draw on than kibble fed ones. I've got 3 adrenal ferrets right now.
But here's hoping she comes back clear
Let me know how they take to it!

[trixie]

Sorry I haven't updated, everything has ind of happened all at once here.
Gin does have adrenal, but we caught it very early on so we are able to wait until February when we'll be able to have all the money for her surgery together at once.

I'm going to try them all on the chicken mix tomorrow night when I get back from work. I really wanted to do it today but it just isn't possible :/

[sherrylynne]

Aww, I'm sorry your baby girl has adrenal! Sinnead's had it for about 2 years now, and is fairly well controlled with her lupron
Anyway- by all means, try the chicken with them tomorrow! Let me know how it goes

[trixie]

They did great! I tricked them a little by giving them some ferretone my finger tip and then getting some of the chicken on my finger. Everyone ate a fair bit and Gin didn't give me nearly as much trouble as I was expecting. She fought me a little more tonight, but still ate a decent amount, even though most of it was shoved in her mouth.

[sherrylynne]

Hey, that's still a really major step Keep going with that for a couple of days, and then thicken it a little bit. Let's say for sake of argument, you put in a 1/4 cup of liquid when making the soup, just add about a tbsp less. That way, it's not too fast for them, and they really have to stop and think "Is this different somehow?" "Nah!"
What we are going for right now, is to slowly work them up to eating the chicken at the basic consistency of mushy ground meat.

[trixie]

Another good night. Sorry I've been slow with updating, I have an internship and we're really busy with setting up events right now.

I've been thickening it a tiny bit every night and they keep taking it. It isn't very much, but maybe a little over a teaspoon each.

Jack and Tonic have really taken to licking bones too!

[sherrylynne]

That's great! If they are taking it really well, you can likely go a bit faster. If they balk at it, just add a touch more water til they take it willingly, do that for a couple days, then reduce the amount again. Once they are eating basically ground meat mush, it's time to add slivers of the real thing

[trixie]

I'm sad to say I've been slacking a bit ^^''

I started a new job and my internship has been crazy. I'm really trying to get in the habit of letting the ferrets out right when I get home for two hours, taking out the food and then waiting a bit before giving them some raw. I think I need to make a new batch though. Hopefully I can hit the store tonight/tomorrow