Hi My name is Kate, and I'm addicted to ferrets.

[charmantpapillon]

So hey I'm Kate. And Beast is my only ferret so far i look forward to ferret math though. I want to give him the best and kibble to raw to whole possibly live (im not squemish) seems like its the best for them. But i have NO idea where to start or what meats to use. If someone could gimme a hand Beast and I would really appreciate it.

[buzzonesbirdie]

HI and welcome to the group.

Most of us start with chicken. I started with making a soup for them from blended together chicken, water, olive oil, and to start some kibble added in.

Once you have beast eating that you can start making it less soupy and more chunky.

Others have used other ways to switched and they should be by to let you know

[Forum Administrator]

on wanting to feed your furbaby a better diet!

There are many ways to make the transition to a natural diet. You just have to find the method that works best for you and your fuzzy. We can help you find the right method Take a look around the nutrition section, and check out other memembers posts. Fell free to ask questions in the newbie questions section, and when you are ready to make the switch you can post a thread where you make updates/inquiries on the switch.

I look forward to working with you, and if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!

[charmantpapillon]

Giuli - you're the one from forums.ferret.com that had the site up and i clicked and got interested and decided it would be a great idea to work with the baby on his food. the kibble i feed him is Marshall brand but he feels under weight to me =\ does any one have a BETTER kibble reccomendation for me? because i DONT think marshalls percentages are quite what my baby needs while hes still growing

[Forum Administrator]

Giuli - you're the one from forums.ferret.com that had the site up and i clicked and got interested and decided it would be a great idea to work with the baby on his food

You'll see alot of familar faces. Many of our members come from ferret.com Im glad you found us.

The kibble i feed him is Marshall brand but he feels under weight to me =\ does any one have a BETTER kibble reccomendation for me? because i DONT think marshalls percentages are quite what my baby needs while hes still growing

I cant really recommend a kibble to you because I dont believe that ANY kibble can give your baby what he needs while he is growing. In my opinion a natural diet is what your baby needs. I would just work with getting him onto this diet. He is so young he really shouldnt give you much trouble

[charmantpapillon]

I just ran to my home and picked up some frozen chicken breasts for him. (i'm house sitting for a neighbor.) after they thaw out i'll try giving him some =D

[meli]

Congrats on wanting to switch! Its a remarkable difference once you start feeding them raw! My two guys no longer smell like kibble and they just have so much energy.

[charmantpapillon]

Im excited =) nothing but the best for my spoiled brat =) But everyone loves him. his name may be beast. but I havnet met one person yet who looked at hima nd went EW. I had one of my guy friends tell me over the internet that ferrets were nasty and smelled bad and when i explained to him what you had to do to keep them from smelling bad.. he said "well some people dont have that mouch time" i started yelling at him that if you dont have the proper time for a pet dont get it. because cage cleaning is a part of caring for a pet and if you dont have the time to do it properly you CANNOT properly take care of a pet. His words ade me SO mad because people go out and Impulse buy cute pets without researching or preparing properly and then the animal has to suffer. It makes me so mad when an animal is mistreated by lack of knowlege. It makes me angriar then when a person purposely neglegts an animal. =\ because you should know better than to get a 5 yrold a pet ferret and expect them to do al the work. then its the animal that suffers and if i dont post this now im gonna start talking like a sailor so.. sorry for the rant but FERRETS ARE PEOPLE TOO

[weloveourweasels]

The kibble i currently feed my bunch is The Ferret Store™ Superior Choice Original Ferret Diet sold at www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=17342+17351+17212&pcatid=17212

The have a "natural diet" but I don't trust it since it has fruits and vegis in it which ferrets cannot digest. The one I do feed isn't EXCELENT because it has brown rice in it but it is IMO better than Marshall's. Ultimately when looking for kibble you want one with no Corn, No by products, no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. And for me I want no fish since it wouldn't be on a polecat's menu in the wild and some people think is causes offensive odors. I was contemplating feeding mine Zupreem but it has wheat AND wheat flour plus is has beet pulp which is a sweetner to entice ferrets to like it. Ferrets don't need sugar. Another I was considering was Natural Gold. It sounded great to me until I read the pork protein concentrate part. I don't eat pork myself and a polecat wouldn't in the wild either. Another I considered was Inovva EVO for ferrets but it has herring meal in it and lots of reviews i read say it makes their poop more stinky. and it has fruits and vegis in it which they cannot digest. Plus all 3 of those are pretty expensive foods. So even though kibble isn't what nature intended they eat I feel OK about giving them the food I feed because it is better than some. One that I do think is better than the food I feed now Wysong Nurture with Free-Range Pheasant. It DOES have ground brown rice like the food I feed now which is second on the ingredients list (not a very good thing means a lot of the food is brown rice) and UNLIKE the food I feed now it has ground oat groats. It also has artichokes and coconut which I'm not sure the purpose of other than this food IS made for cats, kittens, dogs, puppies who would benifit from it I guess. I feel like all those ingreditents are far enough down the list to not be AS bad. I got a free sample (you can too) and they sent me several bags of dog, cat, and both ferret foods. My loki is the only one who will eat it. She likes it as a treat. Just go to the contact us tab and tell the, how many pets you have an what kind and they will genorously send ziplock baggies filled with various samples. Got here quick too.

www.wysong.net/

But in addition to all that info about kibble I do plan in the future to have them all eating raw. I am 1/3 the way there with my 11 week old kit Mr. Bean. I cannot currently afford to feed them all raw in my situation. But I will be able to afford it sometime soon. He barely eats any kibble mush at all and prefers raw. He knows what is best for him. Anyways with your jouney and on choosing a more natural life diet for you baby.

[charmantpapillon]

So everyone, I have chicken breasts (boneless) and chicken wings to feed to him and will be starting beast on them Today =) Also the cage i ordered from ferret.com on sunday wasnt supposed to be here for 7-12 days. and it'll be here tommorrow =DDD thats 4 days not seven =x *dances*

[Heather]

Hi and Welcome Kate and Beast
It can be so frustrating talking to people about not buying pets on impulse but truthfully...it more like talking to a wall. My guys are in the public eye a lot and I use them to try and teach people about care, feeding and the amount of time. I also find that sometimes, if you talk to the parents of young people who want ferrets and you stress the amount of work involved and that ferrets are not really cage animals and they have to change their litter boxes or they won't use them and they smell if their bedding isn't changed, then sometimes you will actually prevent a furchild from going to the wrong home.
Good luck with your new adventure (that's what raw feeding is, an adventure) Your little Beast will teach you so much about what he's all about. The changes you will see in him once he starts eating what he's actually supposed to eat you will be amazed. He will thank you for it to. I find them less destructive, less prone to hard biting (not those little play nips, you have to teach him about gentle play). You've got plush coats and fert kisses to look forward to (and a furbaby that doesn't smell like that bag of kibble)
Good luck
ciao

[pear2apple]

If you still want a kibble during your switch or even after (because you can leave it out always) I feed Evo Ferret and Evo Small Red Meat Bites. Both are the top kibbles out there! I also feed a commercial raw diet, I just keep the kibble out always. And use that for when I am out of town because Apple will not eat his raw when he is at my boyfriend's house.

[nwheather]

Welcome! This is the best place to find out about raw/whole prey feeding!
I keep kibble on hand too. I use Evo cat (pretty much same as ferret, but less expensive), I also mix in Evo small bite red meat & small bite chicken. I had Natures Variety Raw Instinct chicken, but I am now trying the rabbit formula added, we'll see how they like it. I also give some raw, & 4 out of 7 of mine eat whole prey (mice) as well.
Feel free to as questions & post lots of pictures! =)

[jennifer5799]

Hi and