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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2014 11:37:30 GMT -5
Hello good ferret people!
For a couple of weeks ago i posted a thread about that Sheldon wouldn't eat etc. The pumpkin remedy was very effective but nothing odd came out. Well i was expecting some rubber stuffs. The day before yesterday Sheldon stopped eating again, of course no eating means no pooping. No good. So i took him to the vet today.
They took x ray on him, nothing found. They took contrast X ray, still nothing. They even took a blood sample, the result came back with nothing abnormal... So, i really dont know whats wrong with Sheldon... The vet said it might be the food changing that makes him a little anorexic. God sucks so hard.......
Anyway.. Good to know that Sheldon is a healthy but picky fuzz. We will be back at the vet tomorrow to take another X ray, they want to make sure the whole X ray liquid actually came out....Sheldon will not allowed to eat anything before this....Feel guilty to see his little face right now...
F.I.Y i know that BARF is highly recommended in this forum, but just of pure curiosity, is there any dry kibbles that you guys might suggest? I feed Sheldon a mix of Orijen and Acana grassland. He loves Orijen but kinda dislike Acana.. Wonder if there is something better than these..
Mighty thanks
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Post by racheld on Nov 20, 2014 12:48:09 GMT -5
Most of the folks on this forum don't recommend kibble at all. Ferrets and other obligate carnivores are adapted to get most of their water intake from what they're eating, and kibble doesn't have any. They don't have much of a drive to drink so feeding kibble is hard on the kidneys. That being said, before I switched Remus to raw I had him on Wellness Core Kitten, which he seemed to like. (Also, just a nitpicky thing, the raw diet recommended for ferrets is PMR, prey model raw. BARF is more for dogs and incorporates cooked veggies.  ) I am glad that nothing appears to be physically wrong with Sheldon so far, but it's unfortunate that you've had to go through so many tests! Sign of a dedicated ferrent, though. Has he been acting odd at all other than not wanting to eat? Tooth grinding, sleeping more, etc? Remus has a long history of mouth ulcers, which when they get bad can cause him to not want to eat (understandably!). When he does poop, what color is it/what does it look like? Really dark poop can indicate stomach ulcers, which again could cause them to go off their food. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2014 15:19:10 GMT -5
I'm glad that Sheldon checked out fine at the vet. Most vets have had very little schooling on the ferret diet. Studies are funded by Pet Food companies and the vets can sell kibble at their office and turn a nice extra profit. Often a vet can scare a new ferrent, if they are opinionated enough and make the ferrent want to return to kibble or stay on kibble and not go raw. I don't think the vets want anything but the best for the ferrets, but experience with pet parents who aren't educated and those studies combined with a little extra profit, combine to form a vet's opinion of feeding raw. As for kibble, in the past the Forum found the Wysong Epigen 90 to be the best quality kibble. Then Wysong underwent a formula change and ferrents were reporting cases of diarrhea. I'm not sure where Wysong is at, formula wise now. I don't feed kibble. Wysong Archetypal 1 is FDR and expensive, but I haven't heard any complaints about it. Forever Young ferret food was recommended to me by a vet, who is against raw feeding. It's actually a pretty good kibble product. One thing to think about, if you are going to feed kibble. Because of formula changes and product recalls, ferrents who feed kibble will mix two or three kibbles together. That way if something changes in their kibble, then our finicky ferrets are already use to another one or two kibble products. The More Dooks kibble chart offers alot of good info. Here is the link: moredooks.herobo.com/ |
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Post by raynebc on Nov 20, 2014 16:01:39 GMT -5
Wysong has been selling a "Digestive support" Epigen 90 formula that is similar to the original and reportedly is well accepted by ferrets that had trouble with the new Epigen formula. I threw away all the kibble I had except for one unopened bag of D.S. Epigen (in case of some kind of unforeseen emergency) when I moved recently. It was probably $30-$40 worth of kibble, but they're doing well on slivers and ground meat, mixed with FDR.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2014 18:15:54 GMT -5
Yep, I've read the food chart for like a thousand times. Could not find Wysong or Instinct in Europe... Orijen and Acana are the best I could find... So annoying.. Really want to try out the 62% protein Wysong.
I know that raw is the best for ferret, especially whole prey... But it's illegal in my area to give whole prey as a food resource to animals... 50% of Sheldon's diet is raw meat and biprodcts ( bones organs etc) Super expensive to feed raw here...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2014 18:57:34 GMT -5
How about Freeze dried raw? Is that an option in your part of the world?
However, it's expensive also.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 11:45:34 GMT -5
I'm glad that Sheldon checked out fine at the vet. Most vets have had very little schooling on the ferret diet. Studies are funded by Pet Food companies and the vets can sell kibble at their office and turn a nice extra profit. Often a vet can scare a new ferrent, if they are opinionated enough and make the ferrent want to return to kibble or stay on kibble and not go raw. I don't think the vets want anything but the best for the ferrets, but experience with pet parents who aren't educated and those studies combined with a little extra profit, combine to form a vet's opinion of feeding raw. As for kibble, in the past the Forum found the Wysong Epigen 90 to be the best quality kibble. Then Wysong underwent a formula change and ferrents were reporting cases of diarrhea. I'm not sure where Wysong is at, formula wise now. I don't feed kibble. Wysong Archetypal 1 is FDR and expensive, but I haven't heard any complaints about it. Forever Young ferret food was recommended to me by a vet, who is against raw feeding. It's actually a pretty good kibble product. One thing to think about, if you are going to feed kibble. Because of formula changes and product recalls, ferrents who feed kibble will mix two or three kibbles together. That way if something changes in their kibble, then our finicky ferrets are already use to another one or two kibble products. The More Dooks kibble chart offers alot of good info. Here is the link: moredooks.herobo.com/ |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 11:58:51 GMT -5
Wysong has been selling a "Digestive support" Epigen 90 formula that is similar to the original and reportedly is well accepted by ferrets that had trouble with the new Epigen formula. I threw away all the kibble I had except for one unopened bag of D.S. Epigen (in case of some kind of unforeseen emergency) when I moved recently. It was probably $30-$40 worth of kibble, but they're doing well on slivers and ground meat, mixed with FDR. |
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Post by raynebc on Apr 15, 2015 13:11:50 GMT -5
Wysong is still denying the problems they caused. The problems might get better once you've removed the Marshall's from their diet, but there's no guarantee. And their stool can be abnormal any time their diet is changing.
Since you're on this forum, you should take this opportunity to consider a raw meat diet. It takes time and effort, but you'll never have to worry about secret changes from pet food companies again. You could try the raw soup recipe (posted all over the forum) as a starting point and see if they will eat it. If you want to try that, make sure to remove their dry food for 2 hours or so before trying to feed them wet raw food to avoid digestion problems. Also expect them to refuse to eat it at first, you may have to use a finger to dab some of it on their gums, tongue or nose to get them to try it. If they still refuse, you may have to scruff them and put a little bit in their mouth, ie. when they yawn.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 19:14:08 GMT -5
Wysong is still denying the problems they caused. The problems might get better once you've removed the Marshall's from their diet, but there's no guarantee. And their stool can be abnormal any time their diet is changing. Since you're on this forum, you should take this opportunity to consider a raw meat diet. It takes time and effort, but you'll never have to worry about secret changes from pet food companies again. You could try the raw soup recipe (posted all over the forum) as a starting point and see if they will eat it. If you want to try that, make sure to remove their dry food for 2 hours or so before trying to feed them wet raw food to avoid digestion problems. Also expect them to refuse to eat it at first, you may have to use a finger to dab some of it on their gums, tongue or nose to get them to try it. If they still refuse, you may have to scruff them and put a little bit in their mouth, ie. when they yawn. |
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Post by raynebc on Apr 16, 2015 20:46:41 GMT -5
Did you have any further questions?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 20:48:34 GMT -5
They were originally on Marshall's without any problems. It wasn't until the Epigen was introduced that they developed diarrhea. At this point, I have been trying to get them to eat the Orijen. Wo is it hard to get them to try anything. I am not familiar with raw diets, but it makes sense. I will read up on it. I was given a sample of Chick Chick Chicken by Stella & Chewy's. Know anything about it? Does it qualify for a raw diet if it is freeze dried?
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Post by raynebc on Apr 17, 2015 2:06:02 GMT -5
Marshalls would have raised them on their own brand of food, so changing that to a diet richer in meat protein would disrupt their tummies. On top of that was the problem with one or more ingredients from Wysong's formula change. Orijen is one of the top kibbles, but it still has some of the flaws all kibble does.
Stella and Chewy's is a popular brand of FDR (freeze dried raw) food, what this forum would call a "commercial raw" diet. It's almost as good as frankenprey or whole/live prey, but it doesn't have large enough pieces of bone to clean their teeth. Otherwise their feline-variety FDR is nutritionally balanced and suitable for ferrets if you can get them to eat it re-hydrated. I use a nugget or two to make a broth that I mix with my ferrets' meals because they like it so much.
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