Rattatat's Switching Thread/Sherry

[Heather]

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1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?

I was trying to find a natural remade for fleas on ferrets and on the sites they said that raw mean was better and i had heard of that for dags and cats from someone.

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.

Well.. I Would really love to just have raw meals ready for them to thaw and eat every day and work up to incorporating in frozen or live mice- but if i leave for a day or something, id love to be able to give them kibble and have them eat it. so i guess I'm trying to say is that i want to feed them raw and whole pray and the occasional live.... but still be able to give them kibble if I'm not there to give them those....
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?

To Improve mind and body for my girls and enshur that they donotg develop the common illnesses that occur later on in life of the House ferrets in North Amarica, due to poor diets and ect... and they seem to have more fun with it..


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?

Absolutely, i don't have anything like that and just want them to be 100% and happy

5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight? How long have you had each ferret for?
I have two female, sable, Tia and Sage. They are both 2 years old, bonded but not blood sisters. I have had them both for just under a year... if i were to judge their current weight it would be under, Iv taken Tia to the vet and she said that they both have different body types- one boomerang(sleek sporty) and one cubbyer(pet able teddy)

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)

I Do not give them supplements and the only treat they ever take or i give them from the pet store for ferrets is ferratone- but its just for cutting their nails and stuff. the Only kibble they get is Evo The Ancestral Diet. Should i buy diffrent types of kibble for them and mix it or something?? i would really appreciate any advice on kibbles, proper ratios for mixes, how much and how often??

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?

Yes! I Did,And I succeeded in getting them to eat it-BUT after awhile they would only eat off my fingers( or were vary hard to get them to eat from the bowl) also I had No idea or preparations and How much for what days, and proper proteins and calcium with organs- i gave up because i felt i was doing them more harm then good.... so i stopped but now they have lost weight and love the raw better( but the kibble is a absolutely square meal. . . . right??) but This Is why I'm Doing this to Get The PROPER Information on weekly menus and dinner plan and what to look for if u have given them too much liver or too little calcium.... PLEASE Help Me- what do u feed your ferrets every week? do u switch to a different menu every week and alternate between two different week menus?? if u know what i mean?

I Was Just too not shur and when i looked for More information on the other sites they were on no help for people wanting menus- only tips did they have

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
They sleep allot more now that iv stopped the raw and lost weight- they Have Fleas and i live in the basement of a house on Vancouver Island B.C Canada, I'm 16 and had two male ferrets before this, I have dealt with other hurdles relating to the ferrets so i know that i can Manage this with the proper counseling

9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?

Everyday, I have a Small laptop my grandma lets me use 24/7 if i so desired- they also have a wireless computer in their room

10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).

I Will Give you a picture of them after your first reply-- its just that i don't have access to a camera ATM but tomorrow i can get one and ill load the picture when we talk next?? or i can do it sooner if that would be better??

Thank You So So Much with this help i can finally give them the proper diet, I Genuinely mean this- You Are Wonderful P.S This Site Is Alot Easyer to use and grate too see up and running


Hi and welcome to the mentoring program . In a little while your mentor (Sherry) 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

[Sherry]

Hello there! I'm Sherrylynne, and I'll be your mentor for their switch
First, a little about me. I'm 54, 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 9 ferrets. Boris and Vincent(rip) came first, two brothers, a sable and albino. Then Sinnead(rip). I got her when she was 4. 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(DIP) and Athena(DIP), 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.
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. And now- we've added Mr. Frodo, who essentially switched himself second day he was here
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
We have now adopted 4 more ferrets from the local rescue, bringing our numbers back up to 9 again 7m old Cody as well as a bonded trio of 2yr old males, Judge, Indie, and Odin.
All are also now fully raw fed
Okay, to start you said you'd been trying them with raw, which they seemed to like. What can you tell me about that?
And don't worry- we'll get your fuzz onto a well balanced raw diet

[rattatat]

ok Im Ready, What was your menue like??

I have money and the time that ill need to make all of it up. (they were eating raw before so switching them wouldint be hard)
I just need to know the doos and donts for eating raw and what you said about giving kibble and raw to close together.

my grandperent and mom and i were thinking thatif you give them a little bit of everything each day would that be good??
or it it ok if i give them calcium and mussle everyday and give them organs 4 days out of the week??

Im SSSOOO confused!! Can you please give me your menue-moddified for 2 ,2year old femail ferrets- i really would work up to whole pray- maybe live in the future

Iv read the threds and i cant make sence of them,,,,

Is it actually better for them to not give them organs every day or is it better to just give them a little of everything each day and if so what would the Safe ratios be?

[Sherry]

I can do one better- here's MY switching thread if you want ;D
holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newbiearchive&action=display&thread=1422
I think the menu is on the second last page.
What I'll do as well is walk you through the entire process step by step. If anything isn't clear, don't hesitate to ask!
Since they've had raw before, let's start with some chicken bits. Get a thigh and dice some up into tiny pieces no bigger than the crescent on your pinkie nail. Remove the kibble about two hours before offering this. If they don't take it on their own, pop a piece in their mouths.
If THAT fails, we'll start with the soup.
What I need before we get far are their weights and the pictures. That way I can help you track them.

[rattatat]

lol This is Grate thanks , ill start on that imideintly, i was haveing alot of troubles loging in, but since iv fixed it i can reply more frequently. I do have one question already at the moment though- what kind of scale do you use to waigh them? the bathroom scale dustint really pick up on them. as for the soup vs chunks, ill get some tomorrow to see what they would like, before i go to work. ill message back asap

[rattatat]

I found the menu you were tslking about, but it dus not have the ratios and how do you give them just neaks one day wouldint that be to much and hard to pite ?? i tryed once and they did not go for it and there was hardly any meat on the bones.

MONDAY: Pork chunks/turkey chunks/beef chunks, whichever comes to hand from the bag
TUESDAY: Turkey necks/duck necks
WEDNESDAY: Pork chunks/turkey chunks/beef chunks
THURSDAY: Fowl(cornish hen/duck/quail(whichever comes to hand)
FRIDAY: Rabbit
SATURDAY: Meat chunks(am), organ meats(liver/water/heavy cream, about a tbsp, pureed to soup), large hopper mice(1 each)
SUNDAY: Fowl(corn. hen/duck/quail)


on saterday, Is that Actual crame your talking aout?? and what about calcium on the days with just meat chunks, also i had bauth a rabbit once for them and it was just mucule- what types are good for fat?? because they need alot of fat and a bit of calcium each day right??

[Sherry]

Once your's really start eating the raw, they'll crunch through all the bones I listed on there, no problem ;D
And yes, that's heavy cream(as in whipping cream, full fat). It's 1/2tsp per ferret as a lure to get them eating their liver/organs. I had to hand feed a liver soup for a year, stubborn beggars that they were ;D
And what we are going to be aiming for is 8-9 meals of consumable bone a week, and the rest made of liver/organ for one, heart for one to two more, and muscle for the others.
Yes, they need a higher fat diet- that's where chicken skin etc comes in, as well as meats like lamb, duck, goose. But they don't necessarily need bone every day, although you can do that. It's going to depend on the individual ferret. I've got one who needs 9-10 bone meals a week, and one who only eats about 7 with no problems at all. You 'll learn what YOUR ferret needs as time goes on

[Sherry]

Oh- almost forgot Just get a kitchen scale that weighs up to about 5lbs

[rattatat]

Sweet, thank you for the tip. Also i have just got a duck brest (with skinn but no bone) and im making the duck soup with 2 hald chicken harts, 8 ounces of duck with skin and im about to cheak and see again what the amount of eggshell would be. Im also not working tommorw so im going to get the scale and poast some pictures with their weghits

[Sherry]

For 8oz of meat, it'll be 1/2 tsp eggshell powder
And the pics and weights will be appreciated!

[rattatat]

I did what you said with the eggshell, and iv gotten the scale,

Teia (skinner,solid marking snout) is lb 2 . 12oz / 1267 g

Sage (chubber, speckeled marking snout) is lb 2 . 10 oz / 1225 g

they both had 2 ice cube sized duck soup cubes each , they Devouerd them all , i have 3 more of them dethawing atm for them, they hevent gotten it each day, moastly just as a healthy meal/treat, for now, so im wondering what is the next step?

[Sherry]

First, I need to know exactly where we are aiming with the diet switch. Are they going to be eating mainly raw with a supplement of kibble, or the other way around?
Also, how often will the supplemental meals be fed?
In your application you said you want them to recognize kibble "just in case". Even giving them as a treat will do that.
Also, if the bulk if the diet is going to be raw I need you updating me at least every other day

[rattatat]

[rattatat]

Tiea is on the left and Sage is on the right,

I would really like to make Raw the main diet, to have it so that i can put meat down that they will eat, like eating whole cunks of meat and bones and eat all organs they need without blending it up , also working up to having whole dethawed frozen mice or live,, ,

, , I can get meat from the bucher, like rabbit,chornesh gain hen,pig,lamb or raw pet food meat mixes, so far iv only used chicken harts and livers for organs,

with the kibble id like to be able to give them kibble for a day or 2 if i wont be there to feed them. What would the next step be??

I have a few questions ,What do you mean by supplement ?
also i have frozen turkey livers in the frezzer,Is it good for them in high doses??, i dont want to poison them like you can with liver i could blend it up or mash it, they really like it mushed??

[rattatat]

For the up date today on the food, they each had 1 1/2 of the duck soup cubes when they woke up from their nap (they woke up at the same time) iv taken thier kibble away and will be giving it back in a hour, so they dont have kibble and raw too close together.