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Post by Heather on May 14, 2011 21:34:49 GMT -5
Name:sheila s HF Forum Username:sheilaamistone1974
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets? from my vet and the internet.
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 them to eat live prey and some raw meat. no kibble unless they will be out with me longer than 3 hours. 3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet? i have been informed that they are not to have grain,fruit or veggies. i have also read that ferret in other countries are living longer and it is thought to have to do with there all meat diet.
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? yes. i have already taken the first few steps. i started out 2 wks ago with a new 1yr old ferret. just got 4 month old one. went from only kibble to today no kibble just ground frozen rodents and water made into a soup.
5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight? spaz is a 1yr old spayed female with no health problems which was turned over to my petco manager and she gave her to me. ghost is a 4 month old albino spayed female which i bought from my work who is very underweight due to having to many ferrets in the store cage. vet says other than her weight, she is also healthy. 6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)the only treat they have been given is ferritone. they get that to tempt them in trying new food and ghost also gets it when she uses the litterbox in their cage (spaz dosnt have potty issues in the cage). as far as food, 2 days of food consists of a soup blended in the grinder of water, one frozen medium rat, small handful of frozen pinkie mice and a small handful of raw chicken chunks. when available, as a bedtime snack, spaz gets a hopper gerbil that i breed for my snakes and ghost ate her first pinkie gerbil the other day. that is the only live rodent they have been willing to eat at this time.
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened? no this is the first time.
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share? i am willing to do what ever it takes to get them on live rodents. i have also bought a bunch of breeding mice so they will have safe rodents to eat. 9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer? all the time. my phone is set up for this site and so is my home computer. 10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program on our new forum. In a little while your mentor (sherrylynne) 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 Sherry on May 15, 2011 0:21:02 GMT -5
Hello there! I'm Sherrylynne, and I'll be your mentor for their switch First, a little about me. I'm 51, and have my own housecleaning business here in Calgary Alberta. I have 4 cats, ranging in age from 6yrs, to 17(only one would eat raw, unfortunately ). I also have 8 ferrets. Boris and Vincent came first, two brothers, a sable and albino. Then Sinnead(rip). I got her when she was 2. She passed at almost the age of 8, had adrenal for 3 years, treated with lupron for 2 of those. After that came my first deaf ferret, Lucrezia. A marked DEW. Then two foster ferrets, whom we fell in love with and adopted- Zeus and Athena, both two years old at that time. Also both adrenal, and on lupron. After that, a little abused ferret we called Willow. She was the worst fear biter I've had, although now she's becoming a sweetie . Then, Emily. 1 month younger than Willow, and those two have bonded strongly. She's the only one Willow wasn't terrified of.Suki is the last one, I swear! She was a little 8 month old darling the pet store was having a hard time selling, so were getting ready to send her back! While transitioning the first four, Boris was my hold out. EVERYTHING I gave him was poison, in his mind . Worst little drama queen I've seen yet . Twisting to get away, gagging, retching- he did all of it! Then one day- he ate it! Every single piece on the plate ! Those four haven't looked back. Although Boris would still be a kibble head if I let him. The next two for transitioning were the fosters. Until we adopted them, I could only supplement with raw. So in order not to cause unnecessary tummy upsets(mixing kibble and raw too closely can cause some problems- more about that later), I'd give them raw one day, and kibble on a different day. So, by the time we adopted, they had no problem with 100% raw diet. With Willow, I brought her home, and she flatly refused to eat the totally ferret kibble, so I went back to the pet store and got her a small bag of the crap they were feeding them there, and brought it home. I tried to give her some, but she just upset the dish. So- I tried her with some chicken breast. She ate it up! Hasn't had kibble since . Emily came to us as a raw fed ferret, so no issues there. Suki was another kibble head, but caging her in the daytime with Miss Emily showed her how to eat raw. That's me and mine in a nutshell The reason I started looking a raw feeding was something my vet said to me. I was, at the time, giving them small pieces of fruit for treats. She told me that was VERY bad for them, and in fact, some studies have started to link early feeding of sugars with insulinoma later in life. So- I started thinking. Kibbles are full of carbs. It's all those grains/veg/fruits in them. Those are converted to sugars by the body. To me then, sugar= potential insulinoma. So, I started checking out various diets. I had no idea what an obligate carnivore was at the time. I found out! Not much wonder there was soooo much poop in the box! I may as well have been tossing my money in there. They can't process anything that's not meat based! So I feed meat Their fur is softer, their energy levels are amazing- no mad rushes then crashing. Even my three year old's teeth are amazing. No plaque whatsoever Healing is faster, and if they do get ill, they have more reserves to rely on than when they were just kibble fed! And there is a LOT LESS POOP!!!! Yay! I'm looking forward to helping your little ones get on a much healthier diet, and having fun while we're at it ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2011 4:44:17 GMT -5
hi. nice to meet you. now to meet my family. i am Sheila. i am 36 and a dog groomer for petco. my husband is a long haul truck driver. we have 4 dogs, (80# 3yr old pit bull who LOVES our new family members, 60# 1 1/2 yr old standard poodle who is to bouncy due to her age so she only gets to ferret visit through her kennel bars, 14# 10 yr old min poodle who has started playing again since ferrets came, and a 4# 2 yr old service dog toy poodle), a 7 month old indoor pot belly pig who is not quite sure how to play with the ferrets, a 8 month old 13#cat who loves the ferrets, 4 ball pythons, one corn snake and now 3 ferrets. ok so now how i ended up with ferrets... my toy poodle used to be best friends with our cat who we got at 4 wks. well the cat got to be to big and strong for Paris (toy poodle). i had to glue her skin closed 2x due to cat playing to hard (poodle skin is very thin). then one day somebody dropped off a 1yr old ferret almost 3 wks ago to petco. (petco takes in small animals and re-homes them. my store manager asked my if i wanted to adopt her. so i spent my lunch break with the ferret and decided my toy poodle would LOVE her. so i brought her home. the only problem was, after one wk, our cat wouldn't let Paris play with the ferret(spaz). the cat wanted spaz all to herself. so i decided to buy another ferret (ghost) so our cat wouldn't be a ferret hog. so play times were going great. did i need another ferret? heck no! but 8wk old chompers came home with me from work when he was put in a cage (not very big) with 8 full grown ferrets who were not giving him enough food. so thats how our ferrets came to our family. as far as feeding... when spaz came home she got cat food that night so i could call the vet the next morning. there were to many ferret food choices. so i got on the Internet the night she came home and every body was talking about raw/whole prey being the healthiest. so the next morning i called there soon to be vet, (she has taken care of all my small animals/rodents in the past). she told me to pick up some kibble and she agreed and told me that raw/whole prey feeding would be the best but she had no personal experience on how to switch them over. (hey, at least she was honest). so i got off the phone and back on the Internet i went. so to start i bought some chicken. would she try it?? nope. i put a chunk in her mouth and she spit it out. so then i used my imagination. took some kibble, water and chicken in the blender then added some ferret tone. finally got her to eat that. then i started decreasing water and kibble and increasing chicken. eventually got the 2 girls on no kibble and just ground meat/prey. back tracked when brought boy home. couldn't get anything in him until i added the ground kibble. i made enough to last me until tonight so tomorrow i will try not adding kibble. only concern is that he is so under weight i want to make sure he eats. spaz will kill and eat gerbil pups. she will kill mice of any age and rat pinkies/fuzzes but will not eat them even though they are part of there soup. ghost the other day ate a pinkie gerbil and a pinkie mouse but nothing bigger. chompers, well haven't tried them with him yet since i have only had him since Thursday evening. i don't want to go to fast with him with him being so skinny i want to make sure he eats. so now i am pretty lost for the next step. if i leave any small chunks they will eat everything and leave the chunks. also i see everybody picks certain days for cirten foods. is that a must? or can they be given all in the same day for an example, once they are eating solid food, in there bowl put prey and raw meat (of coarse 3 different meats/prey and of different ages). and until i get them on whole prey(not ground), since they arnt eating whole bones yet, (only ground), to brush there teeth, what kind of tooth paste do i buy for them? cat, dog, or something else?
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Post by Sherry on May 15, 2011 10:46:45 GMT -5
Ok ;D I'd really not worry too much about brushing their teeth, since it's not going to take more than about 6-8 weeks max to get them on whole bone. Or all prey, if that's your preference. I prefer to mix RMB's and muscle meats with prey, just to give more variety to the diet. The reason for trying for such diversity is to make sure all of their bases are covered nutritionally. Call it "overkill" But I figure, better safe than sorry. In the wild, weasels will not only kill and eat mammals, but also birds, eggs(when it's nesting season), insects, worms, frogs, roadkill, or whatever is left behind from other carnivores. They aren't just hunters, but also scavengers. So, let's get your little ones going on their new diet For all of them, definitely leave the kibble out of the soup now. You may wind up hand feeding for a while to make sure they get enough into them, but they will pick it up fine on their own. If they are willingly eating enough of the soup, start adding less and less water every couple of days til it's the consistency of wet ground meat. At each step, you may have to start with the hand feeding again, because it's "different" ;D We can start working in small bits of meat then, including pinkies, etc. Let me know how they do with it!
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2011 21:55:15 GMT -5
well tonight is interesting. for dinner/breakfast (breakfast in fridge) i ground up something new. they have 1 sm rat, 1/2 Cornish hen, and 1 egg. lets see how they deal with this. and for a 3rd prey they each received a gerbil pup. 1st time for the baby. he took it (no, sorry, YANKED) it from my hand, killed it and ate it. i am a little curious though, i had to remove the girls (at least until u tell me different), for there safety. they were a little to interested in what he had instead of there gerbil pup. he was hissing and growling at them. i removed them for 2 reasons. #1 because i wanted him to know that he CAN and i WANT him to eat this. and #2 i didn't want anyone getting hurt from a possible fight. though I'm not sure if i made the right decision with how interested the girls were with HIS food. i wounder if that will make the girls want to try more live food if i keep them in together. what do you think?
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Post by Sherry on May 16, 2011 0:01:47 GMT -5
Oh, definitely leave them in there! Yes, they will fight over the food, but it never amounts to more than chase, tackle, tug of war, and some hissing, barking, and screaming at each other ;D Sorry- I love watching mine have their food fights ;D And yes, it will most certainly peak the girl's interest. And quite likely let them know this is good stuff to eat. Only thing- wait til the poor gerbil is dead first Tug of war with a living animal- not a good thing! Not only that, but they may start eating it from the wrong end while still alive as well. The idea is to have a fast, clean kill to minimize suffering.
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Post by Sherry on May 16, 2011 0:02:24 GMT -5
Oh- and when you hand over something they REALLY REALLY like- watch your fingers ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2011 0:33:26 GMT -5
I don't think he has ANY problem with a clean kill which is funny since he is a Marshall's ferret and I know Petco only feeds kibble. so I know this was his first one. ?? what makes such a big difference as far as some are in a hurry for live prey and others not. for example: Marshall ferrets are raised on kibble. my girl who is 4-5 months old is having to watch big sister on what to do with a gerbil, yet little brother who is 8-9 wks had no problem killing and eating the gerbil. both ferrets are Marshall farm kids.
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Post by Sherry on May 16, 2011 9:34:46 GMT -5
It usually comes down to instinct. Out of my 9, I know one was fed live as a kit, very quick clean kills- and she's the one you would least expect ;D She is the very sweetest, AND slowest(mentally) ferret I've met. Ferrets, for the most part, are ideal little killing machines because of that instinct. However, you do get the odd one who simply doesn't have a clue, and frequently those ones never do quite "get" it. As long as you've got one or two who are adept at "doing the deed", you'll have no problems with culling at least ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2011 9:44:17 GMT -5
well dinner did NOT go over well. baby ate, younger girl was at the dish a couple of times and spaz the oldest sniffed at it and walked away. this morning I put fresh in again, same food, loaded each ferret up on ferritone for the nutrition and gave them EACH some by hand and went to work. guess I'll see when I get home from work
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Post by Sherry on May 16, 2011 9:47:28 GMT -5
I'm sorry it didn't go as well as you'd hoped! But it will be back and forth for a while. Some days, you are quite possibly going to wonder why on earth you even decided to start this whole process- but stick with it. Your fuzz will thank you later on with better health, fur, skin, recovery time, etc. Even if they aren't thanking you right now ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2011 19:34:05 GMT -5
well today after work, i went to a petstore who sells live fuzzy mice. got home to see they only ate 1/2 of there breakfast. gave each kid a fuzzy mouse. the girls only wanted to play with there mouse while the boy took his, killed it than ate 3/4 of it. then next thing i knew was that he had stollen one of the girls mice, killed it and ate it. meanwhile, the older girl ate the other 1/4 of the first mouse. of corse ghost (ferret#3) couldnt care less. so with dinner i also put in a whole chicken wing. as you can see, our little boy could not resist trying it. he has now hid it in his bed.
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Post by Sherry on May 16, 2011 22:04:36 GMT -5
Well, looks like you've got one hunter anyway ;D Maybe once he gets a bit more practice under his belt, put one of the girls with him and two mice, see if she picks it up. But that's great that two of them are eating mice already With the other, you may wind up having to chop up a couple of pinkies, and put it in her meat.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 9:02:54 GMT -5
well, they emptied there bowl during the night. this it that chicken wing i put in the cage last night. chompers, (boy), worked on it all night. i know it was him cause he kept waking me up eating. so i decided to give him his own bowl. today he gets 2 pinkie f/t mice, Cornish hen leg, chicken wing, and all natural turkey burger. the girls on the other hand get 1/2 Cornish hen (minus one leg), one lg f/t mouse, Sm handful f/t pinkie mice and water in blender to make soup. then i added enough turkey burger (3/4 pound) to make it the consistency of oatmeal. i put most of it in the fridge. when the pet store opens i will go get 3 rat pups for them to try to work on.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 13:23:57 GMT -5
well it started raining so I did not go get eat pups since I don't drive. spaz is being very sneaky. I was spying on her just to find she was trying to eat the Cornish hen leg. maybe I will just put enough thick soup for one to see if spaz will eat with brother. ghost still not interested
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