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Post by sereena on Jan 20, 2011 13:35:19 GMT -5
I am getting more and more discouraged. I just finished writing this, went to review it and the page when blank then when back click and have to do it all over again!  Lola came to us Dec 20th on Marshell`s food and said tobe born Oct 1, 2010. She is our first ferret. We are tring to switch her to raw or at the very least cooked meat. She does like to eat the cat and kitten fod with her momma cat and kittens. She has chewed a little bit on a whole turkey back and breat I had deboned with her kitties. But if I give her, I try something new each day, raw pork, beef or a sardine she will not look at it. I`ve stuffed all of these with her Marshell`s and kitten cow even..nothing she wont even eat or taste it. I did cut a raw shrimp (prawn) up for her and she did eat some of that as I found pieces in her poop. I`ve given her Friskies wet chicken in gravy with chicken pieces and she has eaten a bit of that as again, I found some chicken pieces in her poop. I have signed up for a mentor and have heard nothing back, I know they are busy so am hoping other may give at least a bit of advise. I don`t want Lola to starve unless it is normal to do that to get her to eat something else. I have tried giving her Feretvite and high calorie supplement which ferrets are supposed to love but she gets upset if I try to put in her mouth or on her nse and if I put a dab on her toes or tummy she rubs it off on the rug. She wont eat with the cats if I put the sardine juice on the food. Please someone help. I know it can take a while to get them to change but just what do you do? I`ve gotten ferret books, looked on the internet, gotten ferrets for dumbies second addition but you don`t get a lot of information. Both Marshell`s and the pet store are very much against feeding anything but Marshells or the other food they have at the pet store. So that is a waste of time and they have said even if she dies due to switching her off ferret (Marshells) tough luck, to bad, so sad.. the pet store does say theyhave great kitten food that would be okay for her..but I want her on raw or at least cooked meat. I feel like givng in and just letting her eat her Marshells and kitten food. |
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Post by jacksmomma on Jan 20, 2011 13:49:12 GMT -5
I understand your frustrations but you have only had Lola a few weeks. In that time she has had some stress to overcome. Think about how stressful moving is for you and then multiply that by like 100. You at least understand why you are moving, Lola does not. You know that switching to raw is much healthier for Lola - that's step 1. Just take it slow, be patient and give Lola a chance to get on the same page. You said she likes turkey breast. that's awesome. Have you used a blender to make a turkey-paste? Once she eats that, you can slowly sneak other proteins into the paste eventually cutting back on the turkey and giving only the new protein. It's a process that takes time, but is worth it. My two are strictly on raw and have been for a few months and even just this weekend I had to do this trick. i bought bison for them and they would NOT touch it. So i mixed it with some familiar meats and eventually they would try. You just have to outsmart them (FYI easier said than done). Keep your head up. Lola will come around and you will see the benefits
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Post by sereena on Jan 20, 2011 14:16:35 GMT -5
Thank you, I don`t know if she really liked the turkey breast bone or not..just seen her nibble a bit with the cats then off bounding away. Wev` had her for 4 weeks, she just came into the pet store about a week or so earlier. So yes, lots of stress. But she seems to be happy. The whole house is "baby proofed..or ferret proofed." Lots of toys to play with as well as having two "kittens" which are learning to be ferrets..everyone climbs under the bed sheets and everyone now grabs socks and run..even the old momma cat (10 years old 11 in May) thinks boots and the in soles are something fun. Leg jumping and chasing us back and forth down the hall is great fun..for all. She doesn`t like raw or cooked paste of chicken, turkey or beef, home made or bought (baby food), smooth or chunky. I just put some raw egg yoke on her nose and mouth while she was sleeping and it just made her get up, take a small poop, drink some water, and she just looked at her kibble that was ontop of the scrabbled raw yoke. She went back to sleep. Should I try putting some raw yoke on her toes to lick off?? This is her and her favorite "toy"..LOL. she only goes for his toes in the morning. : ) Attachments:
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Post by Heather on Jan 20, 2011 14:30:36 GMT -5
Ferrets are often a difficult switch, they view new textures and flavours with distain and downright distrust  . I have found through the years that creating one new flavour and texture at a time is often the easiest method of getting them to accept and trust new foods. It's a strange concept that a creature so into finding new and exciting stimulation is a creature that cannot for it's life attend to it's own nutritional needs   . Raw soupy is my favourite switching tool and one that I've had the most success with. You can try to get them to eat a raw soup immediately. You will need a blender/food processor, and the following raw items: 8 oz raw chicken thigh meat (including skin and fat) 1/2 tsp of crushed eggshell powder (take a raw eggshell. Rinse it out. Let it dry. Crush to powder) 1 raw chicken heart 1/2 raw chicken liver Water or broth(use more to make it soupier, less to make it thicker) Blend ingredients together. Some prefer it at room temp. Try putting a dollop of "soup" onto your ferret's nose and they probably will lick it off. I use my finger. Sometimes this takes a little bit trying to convince them that you're not trying to poison them I find within a very short time they're licking this off my finger. When I see that they're willing to eat freely off my finger then I use a small spoon to try and get them to eat from that. Try to get them eating the soupy on their own. It might pique their interest. Most ferrets will willingly eat the food once they actually TASTE it, so the only struggle you *should* encounter is them not wanting to taste it. Don't be surprised if your furbabies' initial reaction is to gag, spit and look at you like, what are you trying to poison me with But don't let them get away with it The hardest part is to insist and be consistent. Please also be aware that after years of kibbles they aren't aware that what you're offering them is indeed food. Once they willingly eat from your finger and spoon, work to try and get them eating this out of a dish or plate. **It doesn't have to be chicken, any protein source can be used. I just use chicken because it's easy to get, mild tasting and something that a ferret might consider to be easily eaten by them if they were "wild" Good luck with your little one Keep us updated to your progress ciao |
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Post by katt on Jan 20, 2011 14:49:59 GMT -5
Hey! Don't give up! While you wait for a mentor, read through some of the threads in the mentor forum and you will get some better ideas on how to switch. I can help you out a bit here too - I
ll try to remember to check in on this thread - and others will pop in with some good advice as well. DO NOT give up! I know it is frustrating, but it can take months to switch a ferret. And in all honesty, by offering a different meat every time, you won't make much progress.
Start out with some soupies. Go to the store and get some raw chicken meat (boneless and skinless - so boneless breasts or tenders work well), some meat baby food (nothing in the ingredients but meat, meat gravy, and if you can't find that then meat and squash or sweet potato - chicken is best but turkey works as well). Also look for some canned pumpkin (only pumpkin and water in the ingredients) and make sure that you have a blender. Start with making a soup in the blender by mixing in kibble, baby food, and a teeeny bit of raw chicken, baby food, and some water. The pumpkin you will want to add in if you are not using meat and squash or meat and sweet potato baby food. If the bbfood had sweet potato or squash in it leave the pumpkin out. If not, then put in a teaspoon or two of pumpkin. Get your baby to taste the soupies. You may need to let her lick it off of your fingers several times a day until she does it willingly, then spoon feed, etc until she will eat it out of the bowl. When she will start to taste the soup, drizzle it over her kibble like gravy. Slowly start to increase the amount of soup, and decrease the kibble until he is only eating soup.
Then, you can start to slowly decrease the amount of kibble in the soup, and increase the amount of raw meat, and thickening the soup by adding less water, until she is essentially eating pureed raw.
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Post by katt on Jan 20, 2011 14:51:59 GMT -5
Everyone posted while I was typing!  |
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 20, 2011 19:02:39 GMT -5
We'll get Lola there, never fear on that |
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taratee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 255
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Post by taratee on Jan 21, 2011 12:07:57 GMT -5
it is quite a slow process keep in mind that girls are much much smaller then boys so she may just be a whippet ferret, heathers soup (though smelly) is a home run it just takes some time. the way that i got my little brats to eat it is i sat in the middle of the floor while they were running around and every time one passed me i picked them up put them in a towel (you definitely want to do this at the beginning lots of spitting and horrible looks and such) and made them eat half the spoons worth of soup. keep in mind that if you dont feel super confident leaving her on the kibble until you get a mentor is a possibility it shouldnt hurt her, and it took me two weeks to get a mentor so just hang in there. if you have questions we can answer them to the best of our ability, the HF also has a skype chat room where you can get immediate answers if youre very worried about something, theres a thread somewhere but if you add me (tara.tee) ill add you to the group chat. i know that almost all the time im on, and sherry does a good job of being on a lot too
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Post by sereena on Jan 21, 2011 18:36:08 GMT -5
:)Thank you everyone who replied : ) If I wasn`t outside doing chores I was inside reading, searching and thinking..hmm. How can I do this with the ways I`m used to. I figured my own sneaking ways : ) Now Lola has no problem in trying any other type of kibble stuff. I was able to find and get a neighbour (he lives 10 miles away) to pick a bottle up of Ferritone. Oh does that stuff smell good. If it`s okay for my animals (it`s just oils really) I even had to see how it tasted! LOL. Smells and tastes the same. Guaranteed if YOU think it tastes bad so will your animals..depending of course what it is. There are things my dogs and cats will eat I don`t even want to smell let alone taste! Lola was a bit iffy when she smelt it so I held her like I would a baby pig... they doesn`t squeal, they don`t get hurt and it kind of immobilizes them. Put a bit on her teeth with my finger. She sneezed..which is a Lola thing when she doesn`t like something. Well neighbour thought some yummy high protein kitties treats would be nice for her and the kitties. Gave her one of those. Yeah she liked it! I put a few more in a bowl that I wetted down so to make the "yummies" stick to the bowl and she would have to "work" at getting it licked up the side of the bowl and into her mouth. This now her 2nd "treat." Lola is going for another even stickier stick to the bowl treat and I put a bit of Ferritone, maybe 1/16th of a teaspoon down the bowl side and on the "yummies." Lola went nuts licking it up..she got the taste "on her own." She didn`t get the 3rd treat but she licked my finger and eye dropper! I figured, although a huge difference, why not "trick" her into thinking she is doing it all on her accord..like I do with training the horses. Always best to be relaxed, not worry and don`t stress and praise when they do something right. LOL. Later I put a few drops on her kitten food along with a chicken wing. (oh the kitties and momma cat got to finish licking the bowl.) She didn`t, of course due to the amount, finish her kitten chow but she was licking her chicken wing and carrying it around. Later she was carrying it around again. In the morning she still had a bit of her kitty food and just the very tippy top of her wing was missing! YAHOO! So I let the kitties and Lola finish off the food in my room. No more 24/7 food out..okay at night it is full : ) bad habits are hard to break. At 10am I scared a chicken wing ( the top part of the wing not the lower joints closest to the breast bone) and rubbed a few drops in and under the skin and just squished the wing meat to suck up the Ferritone. No kitty food in Lola`s cage.... She sniffed, licked and took off with the wing to the other side of the cage and was nibbing. I came back in to check on her half an hour later and it was half gone and she was looking at me from her sleeper-thingie, stretched, yawn and flipped on her back and went back to sleep. Lunch time she was playing with our boots, pounced on the snow that came in on them, taking insoles out of the boots (she is so good..she pulls them out and drags them over the heat resistor..okay she doesn`t do it to be nice but she can`t drag them under the cupboard..it just makes it sound cuter to say she`s helping.)  3:00 nap time and feed time. As the momma cat was able to lay claim to the other half eaten wing, Lola got a new one. No Ferritone, no kibbles and half the wing gone and she`s sleeping : ) YAHOO! Just thought I`d share.. I`m so happy : ) oh yeah finished my video of Lola as "JAWS"... www.facebook.com/v/487133239537 |
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Post by Heather on Jan 21, 2011 22:58:13 GMT -5
Congratulations....you do what you have to, to trick them into eating what you want them to. Once you get her familiar with the chicken wings, and chicken as a protein, then it's time to teach her that other proteins are good for her too. Minimum of 3 different types The more you teach her to like the better she is and the healthier her diet One day a week she needs to have some organ meats and 4 days of boned meats with some straight meat days mixed in there. ciao |
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 21, 2011 23:31:55 GMT -5
Sounds like she's doing well Like Heather said- give her a bit of time to get used to the wings. The fact she's eating bone already is fantastic! |
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Post by sereena on Jan 23, 2011 1:30:03 GMT -5
Thanks for everyones support and advise : ) :)Lola and I appreciate it!
I think Lola caught a mousie yesterday afternoon..haven`t heard it last night or today!
We are bringing in a load of round bales from one field tomorrow so I am going to try to see if I can find any pinkies (yeah they baby year round!) or juvi.
They are the short tailed "field mice" and not the long tailed mice that carry the hamta virus.
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