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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 22:17:16 GMT -5
I've been switching my ferret Tiberius, whom is about 2.5 years old, to a raw diet. Using one of the guides from this site, I've been mixing his kibble with raw chicken over about a week. As of today, he will eat ground chicken if I mix it with ferretone but won't touch it normally. I'm really concerned about the future of feeding him raw. He is very stubborn and I'm worried he won't get the nutrition he will need if he refuses organs and bones. He's been going back and forth between readily eating ground chicken and out right refusing it. How long can he go without eating other things? I'm worried I shouldn't just relent and let him kibble.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 22:28:25 GMT -5
Ferrets over the age of 6 months or so are usually much harder to convince for raw. But its possible. For me, My 6month old was easiest but my 9 month old was very hard and needed alot of time and dedication to coax her fully. I personally wouldn't recommend mixing kibble with raw. Also ferretone has BHT or BHA and Parabens which are linked with cancer so its best to change that to salmon oil or even duck fat.
Have you tried starting from the soupie stage?
My Haru was also very stubborn, but I still got her on a complete diet in about a month and a half with the help from the mentoring program.
You should look into doing it. ^^
The journey for the switch can be frustrating sometimes, but the whole point of it is to help the ferrets we love to have a long healthy life naturally. Along the way we find ways that suit our ferrets. My ferrets don't like organs, but I puree them now and have the hearts as chunks. That suited me fine but some ferrets can eat organ as it is and they don't necessarily need pureeing. ^^
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 22:29:39 GMT -5
If he is eating the chicken, I would take out the kibble for a few hours and give him raw. If he has a choice he will probably eat the kibble, as some Said to me they are like 2 year Olds.
Also what work out well for me, I made a powder of my kibble and dusted everything he ate for a few days as a way to convert him over.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 22:53:00 GMT -5
He ate the ground chicken last night fine but he wont touch it tonight. I was following a guide I got off of this website, actually lol. I'm just concerned because he is refusing to eat it now, and I don't want him to go without food, but also don't wanna backtrack the progress.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 23:13:57 GMT -5
My babies don't really like ground food unless its a soupie texture (added water). Try really small pieces. Just slivers, no bigger than your pinkie nail.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 23:16:04 GMT -5
Originally I was doing it to follow the guide, which said to mash the kibble up and mix in ground meat and then slowly taper off the kibble. Which seemed to be working, but now it suddenly isn't for no reason.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 23:23:50 GMT -5
He ate the ground chicken last night fine but he wont touch it tonight. I was following a guide I got off of this website, actually lol. I'm just concerned because he is refusing to eat it now, and I don't want him to go without food, but also don't wanna backtrack the progress. The guide to mix kibble with chicken mince/ground of holistic ferrets? Its also natural for them to try and then refuse when starting a switch. Just keep being persistent with him. ^^ |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2015 23:27:30 GMT -5
Your baby is probably waiting out for the kibble. Have you taken a look at the raw diet for newbies section? holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17480/intro-raw-newbies-read They have a fantastic soupie recipe that is just 8 oz chicken thigh, 1 oz liver, 1 oz heart, all raw. My babies took a bit to be really sure of the food, but with some coaxing with a spoon, they were soon very willing to slurp it up, be careful when you first add slices to it though, the fuzzies like to drag them out of the soup and it gets pretty messy. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 9:39:48 GMT -5
I can give that a try. We are going out of town for 2 days and I'm a little concerned because my house sitter won't be able to watch to see if he's eating. Should I go back to kibble for the weekend maybe?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 10:27:19 GMT -5
I can give that a try. We are going out of town for 2 days and I'm a little concerned because my house sitter won't be able to watch to see if he's eating. Should I go back to kibble for the weekend maybe? I don't really like saying that but I would wait until you get home. You need to keep an eye on him during a switch and if your petsitter can't, then he will be better off and less stressed. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 11:49:38 GMT -5
Just let him have the kibble until you have time to fully concentrate on the switch. After that you can work on taking away kibble completely. Tiberius (I love that name BTW) needs to understand that he can't just wait it out, or throw a tantrum to get his kibble. And if he is eating grinds, I wouldn't recommend going back a step to the soup. What you do want to do, is blend 1oz (30grams) liver, and 1oz heart, and 1/2tsp of eggshell powder (or bonemeal) per 8oz (240grams) of the grinds, so he still gets enough of his nutrients. If he is having too much trouble with the grinds and feeding time is stressing him out,then just add some warm water to them, or an egg (but don't go over 1 egg per week, and 2 during shedding season). And try again. With the switch it is an interesting process, because for most of it the ferret will be weirded out/ reluctant to eat. If he is eating his grinds but not consistently, you keep giving him the grinds until he starts eating them well. As soon as that happens start adding slivers (which will make him struggle again) until he eats those well, then chunks, then bones etc. So you keep him on the edge of his comfort zone. That's why we need the owner to be committed to making the transition, the ferret really doesn't understand what's going on except that you are forcing him to eat these strange unusual substances. So it's up to the owner to teach the ferret that meat is yummy. haha I remember switching mine, and Zack was struggling not to eat, and I was covered in soup, the walls were covered in soup, the couch was covered in soup. And I was sitting there with Zack on my lap making "yum, yum, delicious!" commentary while feeding the ferret raw mush.  So firm, but gentle  don't give in to his tantrums. Are you sure it was a mentor who recommended putting grinds in his kibble? Because we usually don't recommend that. They digest at different rates, which increases the risk of a bacterial overgrowth. Try giving a couple of hours between kibble and meat. Or take the kibble away. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2015 16:21:57 GMT -5
It may have been a different holistic ferret website and I simply assumed they were related. It has me soaking the kibble and then grinding the soft kibble and meat together into a mush, then slowly removing the kibble until he eats just the raw grind, then slowly increasing the size.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2015 16:29:24 GMT -5
That's a very slow and methodical way to do it, I'd think you'd only have to do that if the ferret were refusing to even try the soupie.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2015 16:35:10 GMT -5
I'm getting a lot of different suggestions lol, not sure which to try. I might try blending the organs into the grind and trying that.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 21:32:20 GMT -5
He has completely back tracked and is now refusing his grinds. He went over a day and a half without food before I relented and gave him some kibble because he was getting lethargic. This is honestly stressing me out a lot and I'm wondering if it's worth it.
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