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Post by Heather on May 30, 2011 23:41:25 GMT -5
Here is my sign up post. I hope I filled in all the questioned descriptive enough. I would really love to start getting more help with this, thank you!
Name: Emmi HF Forum Username: tablefor3ferrets
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets? My mother was researching information about ferrets and came across feeding them naturally, she then mentioned it to me and I thought it would be a splendid idea to start them on it.
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 would like to fully switch all three of my ferrets to a whole prey diet. That is my ultimate goal, if we don't reach it then having them just being fed raw meat is great too.
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet? My motto is "Quality of Life." I want to give my ferrets the best life I can provide, especially my boy Wolfie who was diagnosed with Insulinoma a few months ago. Knowing that any day may be his last I want to be able to look back and feel like I tried my hardest to keep him as happy and healthy as possible.
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 switching your ferret(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as committed. 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? I fully understand the concepts of switching my ferrets to their new diet, I'll be fully committed to them. I am some summer classes soon but I will still be living at home at the same time, so it won't conflict with their schedule.
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 three ferrets: Wolfie- 4 year old neutered Marshall's male, suffers from Insulinoma, and is a little underweight Stella- 4 year old spayed Marshall's female, currently healthy, and is a fine weight Nala- 2 year old spayed Canadian bred female, currently healthy, and is a fine weight as well
6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc) I've started my ferrets on raw soup and have begun adding slivers of raw meat to it. And as of now I do not give any treats, but I do put olive oil in their meals (if that counts) as a supplement.
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? No
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share? I have recently turned nineteen and will be attending college classes through the summer then will head down to a community college in the fall and work towards my veterinary degree, at the same time I will still be living at home. Wolfie suffered a pretty big seizure the other day and almost thought we were going to lose him, nothing was working until the very end of the episode he finally came through. Now he has been kind of quiet and tired afterwards but is doing better, and I'm keeping a close eye on him. I give him Prednisone three times a day now, we upped the dose after the incident and he has not had the surgery, I would like to know if more people have done it or not and see what their opinion was.
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer? I have a private computer with seven day a week access.
10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible) Nala is left, Stella is in the middle, and Wolfie is on the right
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (Hurricanekatt) 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 katt on May 31, 2011 15:15:29 GMT -5
Hello! Sorry for the delayed reply. I'm in the middle of a move and I think my roommate took the wireless thing to the new house even though Internet doesn't switch over till Wed... *facepalm* lol So for a few days I'm on my phone but I'm still here! I'll try to post my introduction here in a bit but I'm super excited to be mentoring you and your fuzz. This will be my first insulinomic fuzz so it will be a learning experience for me too in that regard, but I know the raw diet will really help. I like to start out with a full detailed run-down of your current feeding plan. Everything you are feeding, how often you feed, whether you do meals or free range feed, etc.
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Post by katt on May 31, 2011 15:20:46 GMT -5
Hi! Here's just a little about me... Name: Katt HF Screen Name: HurricaneKatt Location: Anchorage, Alaska About Me: My favorite hobby is... studying. Just kidding. I like to do different types of art including drawing and painting. I recently started making dream catchers too. I enjoy horseback riding, playing with my critters, and enjoying time with my boyfriend. And the critters of course! I am a premed student in Alaska graduating May 1(weew! SO close! lol) with a Biology degree. I’ll be taking a year off to enjoy myself, work on my application, and visit Africa before applying for Medical School in the next round. I became a mentor because...I really like helping people (hence the whole wanting to be a doctor thing ) and animals. I am a strong supporter of a natural diet and probably bore most people that I meet to death ranting about raw diet and why it is the best way to go…this way I can rant to someone who actually cares! About My Ferrets: Koda – male, Real Canadian, just over a year old (he was about 8 weeks old when I bought him in December 2009), Sable. I gave him raw the second he came home and neither of us has ever looked back. He is a real trouble maker and is pretty well known around the forums as such. He is my first, and so far only, ferret and though I have not had him long he has forced me to learn and learn FAST! He has managed to eat several rubber objects (had to have surgery!), and is constantly finding new trouble to get into. Loves digging the carpet up, has a very serious oral fixation (if his mouth can stretch wide enough for his teeth to touch it – he will chew it), will rearrange the room to reach things, has learned how to levitate, and is an all around little monster. He is also very strongly bonded to my boyfriend and I, and can be a huge love bug. When the endless energy is finally burned off, he will curl up in our laps, give us kisses, and fall asleep. As you can tell, I have this problem where I can’t stop talking about him or taking pictures of him… We recently discovered that he has IBD and I am actually working with Mustelidmusk on adjusting his diet to keep his belly aches under control. Right now it is still hit and miss. Kneai: I brought Kenai home towards the end of November. He is also eating 100% raw diet, whole prey, franken prey, meaty bones you name it! He was a tiny little bag of bones when I brought him home, but he eats like a pig and grows like a weed! He is now huge and rolly-polly! definitely a little porker - he can barely make it out of his rice box because he is so bottom heavy. lmao He is a silver mitt/black roan mitt. haha He loves, LOVES toys and is a loveable, goofy little guy and has been helping to keep Koda company and burn off each others energy! He's definitely a little spaz - I though Koda was until I got Kenai! He's a bit of a simpelton, but we love him just the same. About My Natural Feeding Experience: I've been feeding raw since December 2009 when I brought Koda home. Thanks to this forum, I was ready for a fuzzball to come home with my freezer stocked with meats! I gave him a raw chicken wing his first night home and that was the end of that! He is fed frankenprey, f/t roents, and live prey. Unfortunately, his diet is somewhat restricted because of his IBD, but we've finally got a bit of variety back in. I have been reading and learning since before I brought Koda home and learned a lot from the people here on the forum. I am always on the forum, and various websites trying to learn more about ferrets in general, and especially raw diet. My boys are healthy, energetic, have super soft fur, and smell so good that people regularly comment, asking me what perfume or spray I sprayed them (esp Koda) with! I love telling them: Thanks to a raw diet - he just smells that good naturally! When Kenai first came home he had been eating Marshall's kibble and his poop smelled...awful doesn't even come close to describing it! Now he smells much better and his scraggly coat has been replaced by a luxurious pile of fur. Type of Mentor: In Training! I feed frankenprey, raw meats, bone-in meats, ground meats, frozen/thawed rodents, live prey, and recently added (for treats and supplemental) freeze dried raw. I have never fed kibble so I can’t help a ton there on picking a good kibble… but hopefully we can get rid of it entirely anyways. My Specialty: Trouble makers! Especially only ferrets, and kits.
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Post by katt on May 31, 2011 15:26:02 GMT -5
PS that's my standard intro I'll have to update it when I can use a computer I've actually graduated now with a degree in Biology and I'm taking a year off before Med school. Now on to the switch! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 10:54:09 GMT -5
Hi Katt! I am so excited to start, this is going to be so helpful You sound like a very interesting person too, congratulations on graduating college, that is a great accomplishment And your ferrets sound absolutely adorable, I love hearing everybody else's ferret personalities, it is quite humorous Anyways, let's get down to it! Here is what my ferrets get to eat. They usually get ground up pork, beef, and chicken, I also add some turkey in on some days. Once a week I add about a teaspoon of chicken liver for some more nutrients. I also add eggshells for extra calcium and a little water/chicken stock to soften it up. I feed them this three times a day. I will also be feeding some ground up Cornish Hen pretty soon too, so they can expand their palate.
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Post by katt on Jun 1, 2011 11:10:13 GMT -5
Since they are already eating ground meat, the switch should be pretty quick and easy. In theory. lol The first thing we want to do is start getting them interested in chunks. Any meat they already eat should be easy, but chicken IME tends to be easiest to start with because it's so mild. Get some boneless skinless chicken (breasts or tenders work very well) and cut off a few tiny pieces. Offer them by hand and see what they think. If they take it then offer them bigger pieces and see what they think. If you find that they will eat the chunks, go ahead and give them a meal of them. If you have troubles getting them to take it (the texture sometimes freaks them out) try to scruff and stuff a few pieces and start mixing small chunks onto the ground meals. Let's start there and see how they do.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 11:44:25 GMT -5
Alright, sounds good, I'll start there and see how it goes.
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Post by katt on Jun 1, 2011 12:05:21 GMT -5
Ok let me know! And please ask any and all questions you can think of as we go - that's what I'm here for!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2011 20:07:00 GMT -5
Okay, here is how it went today. At breakfast I only fed them their ground meat (I didn't have any chicken breast in the house at the moment) with added eggshell and softened with water, they ate okay, they didn't seem excited to eat it, they seem to have been losing their enthusiasm to it. At lunch/late snack, they barely ate any, I basically have a plateful still, then I went back and tried to give them some thin chicken slices. Stella and Nala didn't even bother, they sniffed it but wouldn't even take a lick. Wolfie on the other hand eventually took it from my finger, ran off, licked on it a couple times then left it alone. At dinner time I mixed some thin slices of chicken in with their ground meat, I also added only a little of extra virgin olive oil to help them eat it more; Nala did well with eating the little slices, Wolfie ate about one or two, and Stella barely ate anything, she was more inclined on playing What do you think would entice them more? Also, is room temperature the best to feed them at?
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Post by katt on Jun 2, 2011 4:23:54 GMT -5
Okay, here is how it went today. At breakfast I only fed them their ground meat (I didn't have any chicken breast in the house at the moment) with added eggshell and softened with water, they ate okay, they didn't seem excited to eat it, they seem to have been losing their enthusiasm to itIt may be due to the lack of variety in flavors and/or textures. Also were the yon kibble before? Usually when you go from kibble -> raw (in any form) they will eat a LOT more to get the extra nutrition they have been missing, then will slow down later. Depending on how long they have been eating ground they may be at the slowing down point too. Or perhaps they were just not hungry. At lunch/late snack, they barely ate any, I basically have a plateful still, then I went back and tried to give them some thin chicken slices. Stella and Nala didn't even bother, they sniffed it but wouldn't even take a lick.Try again but do it before you feed them so they are nice and hungry. Do you take their food out in between meals, or leave it in the cage for them to snack on? Wolfie on the other hand eventually took it from my finger, ran off, licked on it a couple times then left it aloneHey it's a step in the right direction, at least he showed interest. At dinner time I mixed some thin slices of chicken in with their ground meat, I also added only a little of extra virgin olive oil to help them eat it more; Nala did well with eating the little slices, Wolfie ate about one or two, and Stella barely ate anything, she was more inclined on playing lol Why would she eat when she could be playing? Keep mixing the small chunks into every meal (try all of the meats you feed to get them used to the texture). Start tiny, then gradually start increasing the sizes of the chunks gradually. What do you think would entice them more? Also, is room temperature the best to feed them at? Hunger. How long is Wolfie okay without food? Often if you skip a meal they are much more eager to try new things the next meal. It does not hurt them and is actually very good for them to miss meals here and there (mimics natural diet in the wild - I will have to find the Bob Church link for you). I would worry about sending Wolfie into a crash though if you waited too long. Can you perhaps take him out for one of the meals and give him his own snack? Usually you'd want to feed 1-2 times a day. But with Insulinoma things run a bit differently. I assume that is part of why you feed 3 times a day? Sorry for the delayed reply again. I have internet again as of today (yaaay) so now I am back for good. *nods* Yaaay for being moved in...now to unpack....
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2011 12:10:18 GMT -5
Were they on kibble before? They have all been on kibble for the majority of their lives, but now they've been off of it 100% for about a month. Do you take their food out in between meals, or leave it in the cage for them to snack on? Yes, I give them about 45 minutes to an hour to eat their meal and then I take it away, their cage is small (I will be getting a FN 142 soon though! *gets excited*) and hard to clean so I usually just take them out of their cage, but maybe I should keep their food in the cage, maybe? I'll at least try and see what happens. How long is Wolfie okay without food? Can you perhaps take him out for one of the meals and give him his own snack? I think missing his midday snack would be risky to miss. Giving just Wolfie a snack sounds like a perfect idea, he is usually the one who eats the most at lunch time anyway, so, I'll definitely do that. Usually you'd want to feed 1-2 times a day. But with Insulinoma things run a bit differently. I assume that is part of why you feed 3 times a day?Yeah, I'm trying to keep Wolfie up on his protein, I'll keep feeding him a snack in mid day and have the girls down to two meals a day, that is a great idea. --------- Also here is how breakfast went. At first they only had a little bit then went off to play, but then Wolfie and Nala came back and actually ate some of the meat slices!! I think Stella also had at least one too! I was so happy, they took a step forward today.
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Post by katt on Jun 2, 2011 13:08:46 GMT -5
They have all been on kibble for the majority of their lives, but now they've been off of it 100% for about a month.Ok, for a month then, part of what you are seeing is most likely them slowing down a bit like I mentioned before. They might start to pig out a bit more when we get more bones and chunks and whole organs etc in there, but probably not as much as after switching off of kibble. Yes, I give them about 45 minutes to an hour to eat their meal and then I take it away, their cage is small (I will be getting a FN 142 soon though! *gets excited*) and hard to clean so I usually just take them out of their cage, but maybe I should keep their food in the cage, maybe? I'll at least try and see what happens.Give it a try. I personally feed 1-2 times a day (breakfast and dinner) but I leave the food in the cage so they have access to food almost 24/7. I know most people who feed raw (but not all) do this (or something similar) as well. Raw meat stays good logner than you may think. Soupies lasts usually 5-8 hours, raw ground meat is good for about 8-12 hours, chunks of meat 12-24, bone-in whole meats and chunks 18-48, and whole prey lasts about 48 hours (if they haven't eaten it all by then lol). You will find that you become really good at telling if meat is good or bad. lol It tends to dry out before it actually goes bad, and you will know - it smells. I never used to be able to tell if meat was good/bad before feeding raw. Now I know all too well how to tell. Also, feeding this way could be really good for Wolfie. I would try it and watch him if you can. He may still need to be taken out for snacks, but he may just self regulate. The girls will definitely self regulate. I can definitely understand wanting to take it out if you have a small cage - more room for snuggle spots. But once you get your FN (yaaay!) you will have plenty of room! I think missing his midday snack would be risky to miss. Giving just Wolfie a snack sounds like a perfect idea, he is usually the one who eats the most at lunch time anyway, so, I'll definitely do that. Yeah, I'm trying to keep Wolfie up on his protein, I'll keep feeding him a snack in mid day and have the girls down to two meals a day, that is a great idea. Perfect! Let me know how they all do, and see above in regards to Wolfie. --------- Also here is how breakfast went. At first they only had a little bit then went off to play, but then Wolfie and Nala came back and actually ate some of the meat slices!! I think Stella also had at least one too! I was so happy, they took a step forward today.Yaay! Good job! Keep mixing the chunks into the ground, and as they comfortably eat each size, gradually increase them. Also, try to increase the ration of chunk:ground meat so that you are mixing in less and less ground, more and more chunks.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2011 17:59:03 GMT -5
Okay, everything sounds great. Also, Wolfie did very well on his midday snack, I fed him in his cage, and he even ate a few little chicken slices, he was such a good boy! I also had a quick question. I have started feeding them some liver once a week with a teaspoon of it. Sherry said that they should get 1oz of liver a week, but, I didn't know how to measure an ounce out, do you have any suggestions? Also is 1oz suggested per ferret?
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Post by katt on Jun 2, 2011 19:07:32 GMT -5
Okay, everything sounds great. Also, Wolfie did very well on his midday snack, I fed him in his cage, and he even ate a few little chicken slices, he was such a good boy! I also had a quick question. I have started feeding them some liver once a week with a teaspoon of it. Sherry said that they should get 1oz of liver a week, but, I didn't know how to measure an ounce out, do you have any suggestions? Also is 1oz suggested per ferret? 1 oz per week is an estimate. Overall the diet should consist of: 10-15% bone, 10% organ (half of which should be liver), and 75-80% muscle meats (including hearts and gizzards). Typically that amounts to 1-2 (usually 1 is enough) organ meals a week. I wouldn't bother trying to weigh out exactly one ounce. lol I promise they WILL be on a balanced diet with the proper amount of organ when we are finished. In fact it is required for graduation from the Mentoring program. In the meanwhile, it won't hurt them to be a little unbalanced. If you do want to weigh it out, I recommend a small kitchen scale. Many of them will weigh in grams and ounces, but you can always use an online converter if not. And yes it would be per ferret, but again 1oz is really just an estimate. Every ferret eats different amounts and has slightly different dietary/metabolic needs (just like people!). If you have 2 ferrets, and one eats 4 ounces a day, and one eats 2, and you give them each 1 ounce of liver a week, then either one is getting more than 10% liver, or one is getting less. In the end it is not going to be exact down to the ounce regardless, but just as an example. Typically like I mentioned, one organ meal a week (consisting of at least half liver, plus some other organs in the other half if you can find them) is typically the "standard." There are several ways of setting up menus though, so it doesn't have to be done that way. Did I answer your question well enough, or did I just ramble too much...? And Go Wolfie!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2011 0:00:25 GMT -5
You may have rambled but it was helpful rambling Thanks! It did answer my question. Wolfie, Stella, and Nala all did well at dinner time. I fed them the slices (cornish hen meat, nice texture) first and they were all kind of like "fine, if this is all I can have, I'll eat it" haha! But Nala did the best out of all of them. Stella is the one who is actually lagging in the process surprisingly. I am also going to the store tomorrow and try to find some organ meat, and I want to buy heart but I can't find it any where! Do you know anything that could substitute for heart and do you have suggestions for what kind of organ I should get? Anyway, besides that, they seem to be making progress.
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