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Post by chiara on Oct 21, 2021 15:28:19 GMT -5
Hello, I have just rescued a little ferret and she is currently on kibble. I am thinking of transitioning to raw I understand I have to do this slowly. I am just wondering if I feed this food only www.rawpetsupplies.co.uk/shop/Reggies-Chicken-&-Lamb-80-10-10-500g-p310220501 is this everything she needs? After reading lots of stuff raw feeding meal prep sound quite confusing to a new person, feeding this pre made meal seems nice and simple, but is this enough for her nutrition? Thanks for any advice you guys have, it's much appreciated π
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Post by lumboo on Oct 21, 2021 16:21:45 GMT -5
I feed my two boys with the ferret made mixes supplied by raw pet supplies, including that one. They are based on an 80/10/10 mix
The only thing I'd say is to get lots of different protein types to mix it up a bit and to ensure a range of different meats are being offered each week. That way, you'll be able to gauge what is liked and disliked
It also won't be an issue if one protein is out of stock because there will be others available
Start slowly and add a bit of kibble to the food to help things along. As things progress you can cut out the kibble completely
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Post by Charlie on Oct 21, 2021 21:16:50 GMT -5
How old is your ferret? Young ferrets are easier to transition to raw then older ferrets. Some people start with a soupie. Since my ferret was young, I always offered him small pieces and he actually liked them so I skipped the soupie stage.
As lumboo, suggested you will want to have a variety of different proteins. If you have between 3 and 5 different sources (eg. chicken, rabbit, beef, turkey, pork, quail, etc) That way if you can't get one source you have options. It's also good to have more options too in case they have an allergy to one.
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Post by eclipso on Oct 25, 2021 7:45:27 GMT -5
Well, this is what I got: The ratio of bone, meat, and organs is perfect, and it has 2 meat sources. 2 is not bad, but you'd need more and you can get that from healthy treats or weekends with different meals like pork or rabbit. Also this Typical analysis: Protein 15% / Fat 14% / Moisture 65% / Fibre 0.5% / Ash 5% The fiber is low (great), the moisture is good, but then the protein and fat are just at 15%. Ferrets need at least 30% protein and 20% fat. The ideal is 40% and ~25%. I tried looking for other products with more protein and fat, but all of the natural grinds are below 20% in everything, so maybe it's that they need to eat double, but I'm not sure. I think it's good, especially compared to other grinds and types of food. You did your research The only thing to change is to feed more variety of meat. You can do this through treats, different weekend meals, or something. Thanks!
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Post by chiara on Oct 31, 2021 16:02:31 GMT -5
Thanks for your replies! I realise I have been looking in the wrong area (new to the forum) and thought no one had responded yet. Since I posted I had ordered a few things from raw pet supplies. Lola was handed in to my vet practice as a stray and after falling in love with her have rehome her myself. I think to guess she is around 6 months old. I started giving her some plain raw chicken which she ate with no issues, I fed that along with kibble for 3 days, my raw order arrived on Friday and I ordered the chicken and salmon complete, the beef and lamb complete, and the duck and lamb complete. I fed the chicken and lamb on Friday and Saturday, Lola began eating straight away, she is munching away at the bone peices and everything, very happy with how easy it has been! Today I have gave her beef and lamb, again eating well. I think I will do 2-3 days of each mix and see how we go. I also ordered a bag of hearts and livers, I was thinking weekly I will give a portion of each? Just to make sure I am hitting the 10% of heart and 5% liver.
I see what you are saying with the protein content, hmm I wonder how many grams they are taking there percentages over. Should I add more of just a plain meat to add more protein? Or should be fine?
Her poops haven't been too bad at all, a little bit grainy but I have read this is normal when transitioning! Also have seen bone peices in her stool, think this is OK too?
I have just ordered some salmon oil so will supplement that weekly too.
Thanks so much again, looking forward to being apart of the forum π
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Post by chiara on Nov 1, 2021 4:36:06 GMT -5
So this morning after feeding the beef and turkey Lola has vomited, only a small amount, no diarrhoea. This is her first time with red meat. Shall I keep going with this protein? Or if she has been sick once should I stop instantly and take this as a sign beef/turkey may not agree with her? I have a beef and salmon mix too, so I can try that and if she is sick assume it is beef as she was fine with the chicken and salmon mix. What do you guys think? Stop giving it or try another day?
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Post by Corvidophile on Nov 1, 2021 7:22:27 GMT -5
Try another day and see if it happens again, sometimes they vomit just because a hair gets caught in their throat or something. Sounds like things are going good so far.
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Post by chiara on Nov 2, 2021 8:47:20 GMT -5
Hello again, just checking in, the odd poos are still quite seedy, is this normal for 6 days in? I understand from looking at the stool chart that this means fats aren't being absorbed, do I have to add anything in to compensate for this? Thanks!
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Post by Charlie on Nov 2, 2021 19:50:59 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum!! Congrats on your new ferret!!
Do you know how much fat is in the foods you bought? Sounds like it's undigested fat still in the poops.
I find when I give whole prey, like mice, to my ferret his poops are well formed.
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Post by chiara on Nov 3, 2021 2:47:48 GMT -5
Hey and thank you! The one I'm feeding at the moment (chicken and salmon) has... Typical analysis: Protein 13% / Fat 9% / Moisture 76% / Fibre 0.8% / Ash 2% I'm confused because these are 80 10 10 grinds, and I can't find any protein source that has at least 40 percent protein and high fat, so I don't know what's up with that! So not a lot of fat in this one? But still grainy, we transitioned 6 days ago now. She's really bright, coat feels lovely. I'm quite confused with the protein and fat content in these grinds and if this means these are bad ones π
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Post by Charlie on Nov 4, 2021 20:08:50 GMT -5
Could it be bits of the bone from the grinds instead of undigested fat that make it look seedy? I don't feed grinds so I'm not sure what it looks like.. I wasn't able to see your picture either.
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hali
New member
Posts: 3
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Post by hali on Nov 30, 2021 4:52:55 GMT -5
Hello, I have just rescued a little ferret and she is currently on kibble. I am thinking of transitioning to raw I understand I have to do this slowly. I am just wondering if I feed this food only www.rawpetsupplies.co.uk/shop/Reggies-Chicken-&-Lamb-80-10-10-500g-p310220501 is this everything she needs? After reading lots of stuff raw feeding meal prep sound quite confusing to a new person, feeding this pre made meal seems nice and simple, but is this enough for her nutrition? Thanks for any advice you guys have, it's much appreciated π Hello, same as you earlier I have rescued a ferret and now I am having four of them, now for me these are everything, ferrets are obligate carnivores, which means they must eat meat. Raw meat is the best option, including whole prey. Ferrets can also eat kitten food, as it has a high meat protein content, baby food that's high in meat protein, and dried ferret food, that's high in meat protein.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 30, 2021 21:15:52 GMT -5
Hello, I have just rescued a little ferret and she is currently on kibble. I am thinking of transitioning to raw I understand I have to do this slowly. I am just wondering if I feed this food only www.rawpetsupplies.co.uk/shop/Reggies-Chicken-&-Lamb-80-10-10-500g-p310220501 is this everything she needs? After reading lots of stuff raw feeding meal prep sound quite confusing to a new person, feeding this pre made meal seems nice and simple, but is this enough for her nutrition? Thanks for any advice you guys have, it's much appreciated π Hello, same as you earlier I have rescued a ferret and now I am having four of them, now for me these are everything, ferrets are obligate carnivores, which means they must eat meat. Raw meat is the best option, including whole prey. Ferrets can also eat kitten food, as it has a high meat protein content, baby food that's high in meat protein, and dried ferret food, that's high in meat protein. You have your hands full with 4 ferrets!!! Baby food is actually cooked so if you want to feed raw, that might not be a good option. Some people will use baby food when their ferrets are sick and they need to get something into them to maintain weight.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Dec 1, 2021 7:57:32 GMT -5
Baby food as Charlie mentioned is used for sick ferrets. It does not have the fat nor the taurine necessary for a ferret to live on. Taurine is very, very important found in hearts and organs and more in the dark muscle meat than white meat
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Dec 1, 2021 9:19:24 GMT -5
Posted to me by my mentor at the time when transitioning.
One thing you must remember is that with ferrets and their food, we have to speak in generalities - feeding raw is not an exact science. Our goal in feeding raw is to replicate as closely as possible what a ferret would eat in the wild with the correct balance of meat, organs, and bones, but how can we determine EXACTLY what that balance is? Because the difference in bone mass and the size of organs even between two animals of the same size and the same species can vary tremendously, we cannot set a DEFINITE ratio for our prey model and say βThis is it; this is the exact amount of meat/organ/bone my ferret must have to be healthy.β Even if every single prey specimen were identical in proportions, who is to say that every single wild ferret would eat every part in exactly the right amount, especially with larger prey that cannot be consumed by a single ferret in one meal. So we get as close as we can to βnaturalβ by using a prey model that has been used for decades, a rough average of many species of prey animals - 80% meat, 10% organ, 10% bone. This prey model was originally geared toward dogs and cats who generally do not need as much bone in their diets as ferrets, which is why we say ferrets need 10-15% bone, depending on their poops.
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