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Post by Heather on Feb 8, 2014 23:46:14 GMT -5
Name: Amanda Guidroz HF Forum Username: degozgrl
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets? Bon Temps Ferret Rescue
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 start out on frankenprey. I am not opposed to feeding whole prey in the future =)
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet? I want my babies to be as healthy as possible and to live long and happy lives!
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? absolutely!!!! I have already started the soupie stage and I understand that it can take a long time to switch but I know it's worth it.
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? 4 Clyde: 2year old male. He currently weighs 3lbs4oz and I have had him for 1 year Bonnie: 2 year old female. Weighs 2lbs and I have had her for 1 year( she and Clyde were adopted together) Fred: 1 year old male. Weighs 3lbs and I have had him for 3 weeks. Daisy:8 months old female. Weighs 2lbs 1 oz and I have had her for 4 months. None have any known health issues =) 6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc) soupie, wysong epigen 90 and Dr. Foster and Smith kibble. No treats 7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened? not until now 8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share? I am new to owning ferrets. When I adopted Bonnie and Clyde, I had never in my life owned one. I researched for days prior to taking them in and have not stopped researching since! I love them as if they were my skin kids and they are very important to me. I cannot put into words what the thought of losing them would do to me and I will always put their best interests above what is easiest for me. 9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer? daily
10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
11. Have you met the requirements for this program? Do you have your scale, a place to access meats, hearts, livers, etc? yes, if not by my butcher then I am willing to travel or order online
We have made some changes to the mentoring program to better help you, your ferrets, and your mentor! Here they are:
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program (wave) . In a little while your mentor (Fretki) 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 :boing: . Your mentor is here to help you on this journey. ciao
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Post by fretki on Feb 9, 2014 6:02:59 GMT -5
Hello! My name is Yvonne, I go by Fretki on this forum, I'm here to assist your transition to raw, I'm looking foreward to this journey If you want to read a bit about me, here you find some info: holisticferret60.proboards.com/post/198363/threadplease if you want to know whatever else, just ask Since it has been a while that you asked for a mentor, could you please update me on your current feeding situation? We will first take a bit of time to make sure I have an accurate understanding of your current situation and then we will decide how to move on,ok?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 23:41:33 GMT -5
Let me start by saying thanks for taking your time and helping me out! Here is a little info about my babies:
Bonnie and Clyde were rescued together and as best we can estimate are around 2 years old. They both eat soupie without problem and eat slivers about 50% of the time. Sometimes they just push them around to make me think they ate some =( Bonnie is 2lbs 1oz and Clyde is 3lbs 8oz
Daisy is the baby of the bunch and weighs only 1 lb 9oz She will also eat soupie without problem and will eat slivers if I feed her in my lap. Left to eat on the floor, she will just lick the soupie off the slivers and leave them.
Fred is my 1 year old and my star pupil! He is eating muscle meats and bone in meats BUT we are fighting over the organs. I have to make the organs into a soup before he'll touch them. His diet consists of chicken, CGH, lamb, and turkey. He weighs in at 3lbs 5oz.
They are all in good health and I plan on keeping it that way =) I am so grateful for any advice you can offer to get my other 3 to step into the next phase. Thanks you again for your help and time. I look forward to making this journey together!
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Post by fretki on Feb 11, 2014 8:46:48 GMT -5
You're welcome! Looks like you already did a great job and are progressing in the transition :goodjob: Are they all on soup (and more) or do they still have access to kibble? Do you feed raw twice a day or more (or less)? Is the soup the chicken based recipe or did you had to replace with other meats/organs? No worry, I guess organs to ferrets, are like spinach to kids, you have to kind of grow into it, we will work on that What kind of organs do you have available? What kind of meats in general? Is the goal still frankenprey (and maybe whole prey here and there)? Do you have a freezer? Do you know how much each of your ferrets is eating per meal for the moment? One more thing, if I would forget it later on, I prefer to mention it now: as long as they are on soup and small pieces, please check their teeth regularly and if they only eat soup please brush their teeth every second day. Cool! Having a star pupil helps to maintain motivation, Fred will probably also pull the others to try new things Do you have a bonded group, are all 4 getting along with each other? I hope you don't mind if I note the weights of your 4 here in gramms: Bonnie 2lbs 1oz = 935gr Clyde is 3lbs 8oz = 1589gr Daisy 1 lb 9oz = 708gr Fred 3lbs 5oz =1502gr Is it ok for you to keep track of their weights and post it once a week? Could you please also post a photo of each now at the beginning? holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/4342Sorry, this got a bit lengthy, but be prepared more questions will come :beer:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2014 12:11:37 GMT -5
okay, I am going to attempt to answer all these! They are all on soupie now(for about a week) with no kibble. And I use the chicken recipe but I use duck liver instead of chicken liver and I have used calf liver as well. I do not have a freezer but am in the process of getting them their own little fridge so I can get more organized with their food. Since I can't get the 3 to eat anything substantial then they get 3 small servings of soup and slivers a day. Mainly bc I am up so early and go to bed so late that it is a long period of time for only 2 feedings( I thought). Fred is only getting his in the morning and before bed and he is totally satisfied with that bc to he would much rather have his meat than soupie. My goal is frenkenprey bc that is the easiest for me to obtain here. I live in a very small town and I have to drive an hour away for a lot of their food but I have also ordered from Hare Today. I have been reading where they need them brushed regularly and I will start brushing them more often like you said. Can I still use the brush bc I saw where some people said q-tips are better. All four do get along great. I have only had Fred for a couple months and Clyde my other male went into a depression after he got here and didn't want to socialize but he has began to come around. They sleep together and play although Fred is a bit of a bully. They are never any skirmishes anymore. They will even all eat from the same plate now. I wasn't sure how to convert the weights bc I am awful at math but if it is better for you in grams then I can just use an app =) I can post every week about their weights and I will try to post pics for you. I have to figure out how to do that! I think I will try to download the app bc I have the pics on my phone and that might be the easiest solution. I don't mind the questions bc they are going to help give you a better idea of how to help!
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Post by fretki on Feb 12, 2014 4:53:28 GMT -5
thank you for your reply! coool! no kibble :thumbsup: oh you have access to duck liver, I envy you over here duck organs are very hard to get, and Cornish Game Hen is inexistent, we don't have this bird here. ok, so we will work on getting to frankenprey for all of them, I would suggest, that we will work on two levels: we will take the 3 soupie eaters from soup and slivers to chunks to bone in meat and large pieces ...and besides we'll work on Fred who is already on an advanced level, ok? Chances are high that if you praise Fred for beeing such a star pupil, the others will follow and at least try a bit of his food; preparing two different servings per meal takes more preparation time, but you already seem to do it? Very important: Do you know how much food they eat? Do you weigh the portions you give to them? If not, please do this soon and post it. For the moment it doesn't matter who ate how much but at least knowing how much of what you feed would be great I use q-tips, never used a brush, but use whatever works best for you; and I guess I'm very cautious, when it comes to tooth care, I take in older ferrets and they normally have bad teeth from years of kibble, so a month on soup without brushing can be fatal; yours are young and they should handle a few weeks of soft food without getting into trouble, but please check their teeth regularly, better safe than sorry No worry, you don't have to convert, I can do it, I just post it so I don't have to do it over and over again, reading lbs and oz just don't tell me much, sorry! We will also talk about their feeding situation, where do you feed, do they have a feeding den or an allowed stash point for food. And of course what goes into a ferret should also come out, so we'll also check their poop regularly. And please if you have questions, simply ask, I am here for!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 12:34:58 GMT -5
okay, I am going to attempt to send you the pics of my fur kids. I am holding them funny so you can see their body sizes. This is Clyde
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 12:36:41 GMT -5
This is Daisy(10 month old)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 12:38:27 GMT -5
This is Fred my 1yr old
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 12:40:22 GMT -5
And this is Bonnie. She is Clyde's sister and they are 2yr. old
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 13:02:50 GMT -5
sorry for all the posts but I couldn't get them all in one together. I don't mind at all making different meals since Fred's aren't really that hard. He has even started taking his muscle meats whole and I don't have to cut them up.
Right now, I put an ounce of slivers on 2 plates and top them with about 2tbs of soup as gravy. Clyde will eat one plate by himself and the girls share the other. They get this 3 times a day. They have been leaving some of the slivers lately and I feel like they are going backwards! Bonnie has shown interest in some of Fred's food but she has yet to actually try it. Last night I just gave them a plate of slivers with a tiny bit of soup and they did at least eat a couple bites.
Fred gets an ounce of meat in the morning unless it is a chicken wingette. Then I just give him the whole wing. He usually eats on it through out the day and there's usually only a crumb or 2 left if any. Then he gets his evening meal. He won't eat the hearts so I have been giving him thigh meat and also coating some of his stuff in soup bc I know that the taurine is very important. BTW do gizzards count as organs?
I will try to keep a very accurate account of their food intake. Also, Fred's poop is kinda loose right now but I though that was normal since he went to meats from soup in one meal and that was just 4 days ago. If it persists, should I worry? also, I have noticed since the no kibble that they will pee but not always poop and their poops are smaller than they were before.....
Also, I do not have a feeding den. I have a hallway that all the doors can be closed to and it doesn't have windows. I put their food in there and at night in their room with the lights out. Fred is a stasher but he has one drawer(his sleeping drawer) that he stashes it in. I go around the house morning and night and search the whole house for any stashes. They have free roam of the most of the house but when I feed them I close them up in 2 rooms and don't let them back out til they are finished.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 21:38:46 GMT -5
okay, I decided to get down and really watch them eat tonight so I could maybe determine why they won't eat the slivers all the time. What I noticed was that they ate them even after the soup was gone BUT the bigger ones they had problems chewing them. Not that they couldn't but it took them a few tries to get them in their mouths and then once they had them in there they kept sticking their tongues out almost as if they had peanut butter stuck to the roofs of their mouths. Once I noticed this I took the only one who hadn't eaten yet (the baby) and gave her smaller slivers with just one tbs of soup and she ate the whole plate! I then went back and sliced the other plate up smaller(with no added soup) and my boy Clyde came and finished them off =) I think I may have jumped sizes before they were ready? sorry for bombarding you with posts =) I hope if you are reading this in the morning that you have had at least 2 cups of coffee!
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Post by fretki on Feb 13, 2014 13:38:13 GMT -5
no worry for all the posts, it's your switching thread, got to use it sorry for not answering earlier, even with a lot of coffee it was a terribly busy day.. first: thank you, you already did a lot of work in this short time! thank you for the pictures and all the info about their food intake, that's great! and by the way: your ferrets are really cute, although they don't look amused beeing shot in this position? I love ferret photos, so feel free to post as much as you want I'll first answer your questions: yes in the transition time strange poops are rather normal, also raw fed ferrets have different poop than kibble fed ferrets, have a look at the poop chart to be prepared (I know it's gross, but it helps to have an idea): holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/2469/poop-chart...and of course you're welcome to post your ferret's poop photos, if you are worried about something, that's fine with me ...and yes it is normal that they will poop less and they will pee more. With raw food, they take much more moisture in as with kibble, so they will also drink less and pee more. And they can "use"/digest more out of raw food, so they will "waste" less and poop gets smaller. Does Fred have loose stool all the time or is it different after eating different things? Is it better when he eats soup or really small pieces? Does he behave differently, has he lost energy? Does his poop look like one on the poop chart? No, gizzards don't count as organ, they count as muscle meat: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/13628/defines-nutritional-organ-meatYou don't need to have a feeding den, but some ferrets like to have a bit more privacy whilst eating, so even giving them a carton/box to eat inside, may help to relax and eat new things... I cut a whole in a carton and put a small tray in it, so they can also stash there, if the carton gets too dirty I toss it and make a new one, and the trays are made for the dishwasher, so it is easy to clean Yay! (dance) You really did a very valuable observation, I guess they have to build up their jaw strength for chewing raw food, so starting with very small pieces is essential, I start with the size of a pea, you can mix different sizes if you feel like they can handle a bit bigger as well. And I would try to mix small pieces of heart in as well. You can also use the soup recipe to make "pea salad", just cut every ingredient into small pieces, sprinkle the eggshell powder on it, mix well and serve like this, and see what will happen. My ferrets sorted all the liver out at the beginning so I cut all into small pieces except the liver, I made soup out of liver+eggshell and mixed it with the pieces... Liver and other organs have a strong smell and taste, they have to get used to it Do you use treats? Do they have a favorite oil?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2014 17:37:17 GMT -5
okay, Fred's poops all fall within the normal category! It's just that they looked so different from the kibble poops that I was making sure he didn't need a vet visit. He poops a little better when he has eaten chicken of any kind. It's usually after lamb or beef that he has some funny looking poops.
I gave them all their own plate with half an ounce of chicken slivers and just a drizzle of soupie today and at both feedings they cleaned their plates. I guess it was jus the size that was causing problems. I think they're trying to build up jaw strength like you said.
I tried giving Fred a chicken heart but he said NO WAY =) He will still eat soup so I gave him just a little with his chicken wing since the soup has hearts and liver. He has now decided though, that he no longer likes CGH and turns his nose up at it =( He loves lamb chops though...
I think I will try the organ soup idea until he gets used to them. At this point I am seeing improvement with all of them but it is so minimal. I think the goal for these 4 is going to be being more stubborn than them!
Oh and I don't do treats bc I can't find anything that was safe for them. I haven't gotten hem on oil yet bc I tried the olive oil and they didn't care for it. I was going to try salmon oil but the only one I could find wasn't 100%, it had other stuff in it. And on the topic of salmon oil, I am assuming that if we can give them the oil then we can feed them the actual fish? My boy Clyde gets real nosey when I make myself tuna and I thought that he might like some salmon
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2014 10:45:57 GMT -5
oh! I have to brag on my baby girl Daisy! This morning when I fed everyone she kinda shunned the soupie to begin with and I just figured it was bc I woke her up and she just wasn't fully awake yet. SO I went ahead and fed Fred(today is lamb chops) and he of course took it to his drawer to eat it. He didn't eat the whole chop and next thing I know, Daisy had climbed into the drawer and pulled out his lamb chop and was attempting to eat it! She spent a good 10 minutes kinda gnawing on it and didn't really get much to eat off of it but she has NEVER attempted to try any of his food before! I was thrilled =) she eventually went back and ate some slivers but I still consider this a small victory. Bonnie has been sniffing his food as well and while she will lick it, she never attempts to actually bite it. I think that maybe Fred will be the key. I have been praising him like you suggested when he takes his meals.
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