Amybarbe's Switching Thread/Sherry

[Heather]

Name: Amy
HF Forum Username: amybarbe

1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
I knew that ferrets are carnivores and raw meat is their natural diet were they able to live in the wild.

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 believe I would like them to be fully on frozen/raw store bought diet (not live), but it would depend on what this entails. Atleast would like them to start eating some kind of meat since they won't even do that. I've tried cooked chicken and turkey, I don't feel comfortable just giving them a raw piece of meat since they're not accustomed to it. My little girl Trixie is a very small ferret and never played for very long, just goes to sleep and she's only turning 2. I'm hoping to get some weight on her and just make her healtier.

3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?

I like the effects it has on their over all well being. From their coat to health.

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?

I understand, which is why I've decided to ask the help of this forum. I work full time and spend the evenings with my fuzzies, and pretty well the whole weekend. But if this isn't going to be enough time to do a proper switch atleast I could maybe get them on partial natural diet.
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?
Trixie- 2 years old December 5
Female
No known Health problems
Underweight (not extremely unhealthy underweight, but I would like to beef her up. The vet wasn't concerned for her weight, just that she's possibly a runt)

Gizmo- year and a half
Male
We believe he's deaf or hard of hearing
Decent weight

I've had both since they were 7-8 weeks old.

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
Ultimate 8 in 1
Zupreem
Pure Bites freeze dried chicken and beef cat treats
Ferretone


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

Tried giving them cooked chicken and turkey, no interest at all. They have their noses on sweets.

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?

I work full time Monday to Friday during the day. I try to spend my entire evening with them. There aren't many occassions where we don't have them out in a day but they obviously still get fed and water and cleaned and treats because I feel guilty. There's really no other events going on my only concerns are what the process is, like how many times a day will they need to be fed and figuring out costs.

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

10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
On a work computer- but I have posted pictures of them in Ferret Owners FB page.

Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (Jackie) 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. Also note there may have been some changes in the application and how you should post so please review these before proceeding. If you have any questions feel free to either ask your mentor or any of the admins. 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

[Deleted]

I have lots of photos of my fuzzies if you could use more clearer ones.

[Deleted]

I just read your bio Jackie and your specialty is perfect! They are 1 1/2 and 2 almost, Gizmo is deaf and really hard to get his attention to smell anything (even treats) and Trixie is a sugar baby. Her knows goes right for sweets but nothing new in food.

[Deleted]

Hello

Here's a little about me

Name: Jackie
HF User Name: Jackie
Location: West Coast of Florida
About Me: Hello! I'm Jackie I am 19 and a senior in college, working on my B.A. in Chemistry/Biology I am in the process of writing my senior thesis, which I am really nervous/excited/anxious to do!

My goal in life is to become a neonatologist (sick baby doctor). After I graduate I am taking a year off to get myself together before I start med school (hopefully) in 2013.

My favorite color is..... pink
My favorite food is.... Pizza
My favorite holiday is... My birthday
My favorite hobby is... Couponing. I am an avid couponer :-D I started to try to save some money, and now I am completely hooked!
I like to listen to...all music. I love music from all genres, rap, rock, hip-hop, pop, country. I don't discriminate

I became a mentor because... I am really passionate about feeding raw and have seen first hand the benefits it has. If I can personally help someone give their fuzzy a better diet, then I am more than happy


About My Ferrets: I have three beautiful female ferrets.

Pixie: Is my soul ferrets, my sidekick, my partner in crime. I got her at 8 weeks old and we've been inseparable since. She is 3 years old now. Pixie is super spoiled, and switching her to raw was the hardest. But, she eats whole chunks like a pro now and is as healthy as can be! She had a blockage scare when she was 1, but she thankfully passed on it her own. Pixie follows me everywhere, licking my toes, ankles and socks. I <3 her.

Trixie: One day, Pixie had escaped. She had somehow gotten out of the house. I searched for her for all day and into the night. No luck. I made posters and prayed that she would be found alive and okay. I was so heartbroken I cannot even explain it. I thought she was gone forever. To help me overcome the grief I was feeling, my boyfriend brought me to the pet store to pick out a ferret. I didn't really want to even look at another ferret, but he told me that when we DO find Pixie, she needed a friend so she doesn't want to escape so much. So I picked out a beautiful little champagne girl, who I named Trixie. Pixie was found the next day and even since then, they've been the best of buddies. Trixie is now almost 3 and is spunky and hilarious. She is beautiful, fluffy, and such a character. She is extremely docile and enjoys being held and petted. Trixie was not the easiest switch, but definitely easier than Pixie

Dixie: She is my latest addition. I saw her at the store and she was the most adorable thing ever with her dark little nose and endearing personality. She is CRAZY! She is about 1 year old and is just as insane as the first day I brought her home. She acts like she is on crack or something She is constantly moving, moving, moving! She was the easiest to switch to raw and took to it instantly. She has no manners, climbs all over people and their face She is the instigator of the group. While Pixie would prefer to play with me and Trixie would prefer to stash socks and eggs, Dixie gets the party started and I love her for that.

About My Natural Feeding Experience: I started feeding raw over 2 years ago. I first started with freeze dried raw. My girls took to it instantly. I saw SO much improvement in my two (Pixie and Trixie at the time) that I never looked back. After feeding that for approx. 6 months, I realized that it was killing my pocketbook. I decided I wanted to try to incorporate whole meats from the grocery store to cut costs. Pixie was very stubborn to accept chunks because she absolutely LOVES soup. But it seemed like one day she just started eating chunks, and we were switched!

Type of mentor: Freeze-dried Raw, Commercial Raw, & Frankenprey

Specialty: Younger fuzzies and stubborn fuzz butts

[Deleted]

I actually need to update that as I've added another fuzzy to my business!!

I'm so excited to start working with you on this switch.

Nov 4, 2012 20:04:10 GMT -5 Heather said:

I work full time Monday to Friday during the day. I try to spend my entire evening with them. There aren't many occassions where we don't have them out in a day but they obviously still get fed and water and cleaned and treats because I feel guilty. There's really no other events going on my only concerns are what the process is, like how many times a day will they need to be fed and figuring out costs.

Just to answer this question, most prefer a twice a day feeding schedule. Basically, you feed them in the morning, and give them enough food to last until the next feeding. Replace with fresh meat and again, leave enough to last through the night.

As for costs, your cheapest option is going to be a "frankenprey", or raw meaty bone (RMB) diet style. That is basically using meats available at the grocery store, adding variety and different cuts and types of meat (organs, etc) to balance the menu. As far as convenience goes, frozen raw (commercial raw diets) are the most convenient and least time consuming option, but they cost a significantly amount more. And last is a whole prey diet, which consists of entire animals (mice, rabbits, rats, quail, etc). This is the most expensive option, but is the easiest to balance and is also pretty convenient.

So do you have a blender or some type of food processor? The best way to start a switch is to make some kind of soup, either all raw, half raw half kibble, or all kibble and work our way to all raw.

[Deleted]

I have a blender, and was about to call grocery stores to find chicken hearts and and liver (if you have any more suggestions) to start them on a soup. They love a kibble soup when they're out during playtime, so I will first try just a meat soup(I doubt that will take right away but I'll try). If not, it will be part kibble part raw.

[Deleted]

Ok I called a grocery store by my work, they carry chicken heart and liver, but they're frozen. Is this alright?

[Deleted]

Here is the recipe for a balanced soup

8oz chicken meat
1-2 chicken hearts
1 liver
1/4 tsp powdered eggshell
Enough water to make a soupy texture

Puree all of the above together, freeze in ice cube trays, baggie cubes after frozen.

Frozen organs are fine. Just thaw them up, take what you need. I would then re-package them into portion sized amount and refreeze. What I do with liver (because its hard to measure) is blended up all the liver, and then freeze that into ice cube trays as well.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask! Definitely give the meat only soup a shot first.

Ways to get a ferret to try raw soup:
Use a spoon
Add oil/ferretone on top
Finger feed them (gentle stick your finger inside their mouth to have them taste it)
Add pumpkin
Sprinkle kibble powder on top

[Deleted]

Ok I've contacted some grocery stores about chicken liver and hearts and they come frozen.

[Deleted]

Sorry didn't get to finish that. My question is it's ok to freeze and refreeze hearts and liver? The chicken I can get thawed obviously.

[Deleted]

It is okay to freeze and refreeze. Obviously you want to try and minimize the amount of times you do this, but 2-4 times isn't going to do any harm. Once you get it thawed I would repackage the hearts and liver into small portions so you can just take out what you need instead of thawing out the whole package.

Also, word of caution: If your store sells packages of Gizzards + hearts, you will likely NOT get that many hearts. So definitely look for packages of all hearts if possible.

Just incase you've never seen a gizzard or a chicken heart:

Gizzard


Heart

[Deleted]

Ok that's great, I actually had no idea what I was looking for. So are gizzards good to add to the soup as well with hearts and liver? I will stop and get that on my way home then and let you know how this evenings soupies go (if the thaw quick enough).

[Deleted]

Gizzards are a great addition, but they are very tough and can be hard on poor blenders. If you are going to add them to soup, I recommend cutting them up very small.

They count as meat just like chicken thigh meat or breast meat.

[Deleted]

Alright sounds good I'll see what they have. As for the chicken meat (say with no gizzards in the soup), does the chicken matter? Skin or not? Thighs, breasts? Lol I'm sorry just haven't got a clue what they need most out of the meats, I hardly eat it myself.

[Deleted]

Honestly, any meat is fine. Some might like the blandness of breast. Thigh and other dark chicken meat is more nutritious and some do prefer that as it has more flavor. Skin is fine, but again can be tricky for blenders. Either cut it up small or possible freeze it until they are eating chunks. Skin is very good for fuzzies. Lots of fat