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Post by Heather on Mar 6, 2011 0:14:04 GMT -5
Name: Emily HF Forum Username:Whipple
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?On the old HF board. I switched my previous 4 ferrets.
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. I want to fully switch to a raw diet, including as much frozen-thawed as I can get, and some live.
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet? I`ve seen the effects before and I wouln`t feed anything else as long as I have the choice. 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? Yup
5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?
I have 1 ferret, Vixen. She`s....under a year. I suspect only a few months old. As far as I can tell she is very healthy and a good weight.
6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
She`s on soup right now. In it I have chicken, beef, pork, kibble, egg, and bone.
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
Not this ferret, but I have been successful with my previous 4 ferrets.
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
Vixen does not know she`s a ferret (I might be wrong, but I could just as well be right)
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
1-2 times a week
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (Sunnyberra) 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
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2011 1:04:53 GMT -5
Hi, I'm Annie (known on here as sunny or sunnyberra ), and I'll be helping you switch your guys to a raw/natural diet. I'm a new mentor, so we're going to have more experienced mentors dropping in and checking on us from time to time, as well. I'm 24, and a graduate student in school psychology/clinical psychology here in the wonderful state of Virginia. I've been a proud ferrent for a little over 5 years, now, and have been feeding raw to my fuzzies for three of those years. I currently have four ferrets: Pixie, who's a bit over 5 years, now; and then the other three are all two: Yogi, Sian, and Hiko. I first decided to switch after doing a bit of independent research after Pixie and her brother, Yew, turned two. That was the age I was dreading as a new ferrent - it seemed so scary, as I read more and more about the illnesses that seemed to start cropping up around that age. I decided then to do everything I could to lessen my guys' risk. One of those things was getting them off of kibble and onto a more natural diet. There are quite a few methods used for switching. For my guys, I decided to disallow kibble. Instead, I offered kibble coated boneless chicken chunks and I would supplement feed meals of baby food every few hours after the initial fasting period (Yew also got soup, made from pureed chicken meat, baby food and olive oil, because he liked it, whereas Pixie didn't). After a bit of hair pulling, they were both switched completely by the end of a week, and they never looked back. Sadly, Yew's since passed away, and I eventually introduced Yogi (first) and Sian (second) as kits, and both were eating meat chunks the same night I got them. Hiko is my newest, a two year old rescue who had been used to eating sugary treats (gummi bears) and sugary kibble. I treated him the same as the others - gave him kibble-dusted meat chunks, and he started eating them that first night. By his second evening with me, he was completely on raw. By the end of the week, he was eating bone-in. Now, he's a proud raw-eating pro, who occasionally enjoys a frozen/thawed quail or two. I see you've already had experience switching, so that's great (as is your Vixen being what *I* consider still a kit, at under one year *g*). Right now, how is the soup made? I see what you've included which is awesome, but are there any chunks or is it just liquid/mush? And how is she doing on it? Liking it or kind of hesitant? I'm really excited and looking forward to helping you and Vixen get her on a great new diet!
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Post by whipple on Mar 10, 2011 23:03:45 GMT -5
Hey! Nice to meet you. I don't get on a computer often, so hopefully I can keep you updated. Anyhow, Vixen is now onto a chunkier soup. It's thick to begin with, and I cut up pork chunks and mixed them in. She eats her cubes still frozen, so she likely barely notices the chunks anyhow, lol. Last night I actually got her to eat some cut up chicken necks. I had to leave just those in her cage all night, she seems resistant to anything that is not soup and not frozen, lol. My biggest issue at the moment is finding a variety of food, especially organs such as heart and gizzards, although liver is easy. Starting Monday probably I'm going to be giving her a commercial ground chicken (whole chicken, nothing else) once a day along with chunks of other protiens such as beef, pork, ect. With my previous ferrets I had to cut into the meat, so I'll do the same for her. But she's starting to realize that what I give her really is food and slowly becoming less resistant.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2011 20:49:13 GMT -5
That's really awesome! Most often (and especially with the healthy, younger guys), it's simply a matter of giving them the food and letting them be. They're usually not so stubborn as not to cave within a reasonable time!
The key thing, I think, is introducing a range (even if it's only a chunk or two) as quickly as possible. Ferts love clamming up and pushing their ferrents beyond sanity with their actions. Keeping in mind ...
Variety can often be problem, and being as you're in another country, I really don't know what's around. I know I had issues with it, as well, and that's why I do commercial raw (hare-today). It's not that I couldn't find the variety (more than 3 protein sources and organs and the like), but I didn't like the quality (esp. feeding raw). Online can be more expensive (and I tend to go WAY overboard anyway), but something to look into, as well, if you get desperate!
Just keep an eagle eye out in the groceries, since they sometimes put out specialty meats and the like, as well as any butcher's, of course. You never know the deals you can find!
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Post by whipple on Mar 11, 2011 21:47:15 GMT -5
Exactly! I'm having the hardest time finding variety, which is why I want to get on whole prey asap so that I can have the variety, since finding feeder breeders is so easy around here.
Until then I try to grocery store hop. I also work in a grocery store so I'm going to see if the meat people can get some other things ordered, since they currently have little variety.
Her soup is big on variety, I have beef, chicken, pork, kibble, and I think I have something else in the new soup.
So I was wondering about the squash thing. What is that about? I never fed my ferrets any sort of veggie or fruit before.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2011 0:07:20 GMT -5
Squash (and pure raw canned pumpkin) is used as a bit of fiber in raw/frankenprey diets, seeing as how on a prey diet carnivores WOULD be exposed to some undigestibles in the guts. In my case, I also use it ("it" = pumpkin, I've never personally used squash, although many do) as a tummy soother (can help loose stools AND constipation, and it seems to alleviate gastro pain when Pixie has IBD episodes) and as a blockage preventative/passer (it's helped my guys pass hairballs, earbuds and the like). As for the soups, just as a reminder - since she's doing so well, make sure that as you add chunks (and increase the size of them, as well) that you decrease the amount of kibble as well
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Post by whipple on Mar 20, 2011 21:57:45 GMT -5
So we've come a huge way since I was on last! She ate a mouse! I got her a live one and she killed it and ate it! Even the tail, which none of my other ferrets would touch! I am so pleased. Now she would rather eat her mice than her chunks of meat Brat I had a question and now I forget, ugh. I'll think of it soon enough.
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Post by whipple on Apr 1, 2011 22:16:17 GMT -5
Hey, so I've added a baby as you likely know. But anyhow, both are totally on raw and whole prey! Siren totally taught Vixen a thing or two about eating lol. Its so funny cuz Vixen loves the mouse butt and Siren always eats the head first. They both eat the tails which I've never seen a ferret do. So I'm going to be trying different whole prey besides mice, such as rabbit, rat, hamster, guinea pig and so on. I plan on sticking with mostly whole prey as much as I can afford and the rest will be a varied diet of raw meats such as chicken, beef, pork, ect. I also use processed whole meats, like from Carvivora, which is the whole critter ground up. Its not easy for me to find organs and such, so I try to feed this and whole prey alot more. So yeah, thats my update
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2011 23:50:20 GMT -5
First, just let me say I am so sorry for not responding. I've been checking the thread and still somehow missed your posts Second, congrats on the baby and congrats on your little hunter! It's great that your guys are already on raw and whole prey - sometimes we just get lucky and they're absolutely great switches! Definitely keep me updated on how the girls do with added variety
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Post by whipple on Apr 3, 2011 10:09:19 GMT -5
Alright, so my menu: Sunday: Mice They typically eat one a meal than go to sleep so 4 adult mice total Monday: Pork Tuesday: Chicken and fish Wednesday: Organ day I tend to substitute this day with mice and feed only liver. I cannot seem to find flipping hearts and gizzards from any animal but going to try some more shops in chinatown Thursday: Beef Friday: Chicken with some extra chicken necks and/or backs as treats Saturday: Pork (I think pork and mice is their favorite) So thats my current menu from my insanely stocked freezer. I feed different cuts of meat, try to get the most variety. I also feed commercial meats, so on some days the will get buffalo (which my roomate has a hard time believing is natural ferret food, but I told her I can see a ferret taking one down and dragging it home), they also get the odd rabbit or emu. They also get eggs once in a while but never more than once a week. I haven't had vixen long but I'm trying to open her and Vixen upto everything and everything so they doesn't get picky. My boyfriend also feeds raw part-time so I steal his patties to try them on different things. So there's my basic menu, but I mess around with it ALOT. I can't wait till I give them a whole quail. I will dub it "The Day the Feathers Flew"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2011 21:57:54 GMT -5
Okay, so you've got variety down, that's great! Now, we only need bone-in and meat meals specified, so if you could go back and say which meals are bone and which ones aren't, that'd be perfect! (generally ferts should get 8/9 bone-in meals, 6/5 bone-less, with 1 boneless meal being organ, and 2 boneless meals being either hearts are dark, taurine rich meats. Of course, these amounts will vary according to ferret, so as you go along you can always adjust to what your guys really need)
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Post by whipple on Apr 9, 2011 23:12:45 GMT -5
Most of my chicken meals are bone in, and of course the mice are bone in. The processed meals also have bone. I fine that if I feed lots of bone in meats, they just don't eat any bone when they've had enough, so I feed more than I probably need too lol. I don't feed them beef or pork bones though, so those meals are sans bone unless processed. I go with one meal a week being organ, and I do try to get at least one day a week being mice. I've finally found a store that has beef, pork and chicken hearts But I also have some processed beef offal on hand. I try to keep away from too much processed, its really expensive but its nice to have on hand till I have a reliable source for everything else. Tonight they had chicken and fish since I ran out of pork (gotta check the freezer more often ) and tomorrow is mouse day!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2011 20:39:25 GMT -5
Okay, so taking what you said and putting it in menu format, I got this:
Sunday: Mice (bone in) Monday: Pork (boneless) Tuesday: Chicken/fish (bone in) Wednesday Organ (do you feed a bone in meal this day as well, when you do get organ?) Thursday: beef (boneless) Friday: chicken (bone in) Saturday: Pork (boneless)
Does that look about right? If you feed an extra bone in meal on organ day, that'll put you at 7 bone in, and 6 boneless, which is technically a bit low for bone. However, ferrets ARE individual in their needs, and calcium can be supplemented in on a boneless meal (via eggshell or bone powder).
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Post by whipple on Apr 10, 2011 20:50:48 GMT -5
They tend to ignore bones often so I don't feel like they're missing anything. But I can give them chicken necks or something with bone on pork and beef days. Also, they are going to be getting more bone in as their mouse days will be going up to about 4 days a week once my order comes in. On anyday with pork or beef they also sometimes get commercial which includes bone. And on organ day they get egg with shell. 1 each. I'll try to give more bone in meals. I'm going to the store tonight so I'll grab bony meals. Is there anything else? I appreciate it, this stuff never came up before with previous ferrets, but then again, we used to feed raisins to them Learn more everyday
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Post by whipple on Apr 10, 2011 20:56:42 GMT -5
K, so this is my revised, more prey menu Sunday: Mice Monday: Bone-in chicken Tuesday: Pork morning, bone in fish evening Wednesday: Organs and eggs(1 egg each and at least half liver) Thursday: Mice Friday: Bone-in chicken and beef Saturday: Mice Sound ok? This will be after my mouse order comes in, after that my mice should have started breeding.
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