Bella and Clyde starting the switch

[Deleted]

5 year old girl and 6 year old boy. Starting the switch as soon as I get to the market.

I'm reading the soupies threads and have a question on the bone meal powder.

It's at Vitamin Shoppe and here is the link:

www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/kal-bone-meal-powder-8-oz-powder/ka-1050#.U1A_l1drzTo

Ok choice?

[Deleted]

What most of us use, is dried eggshell powder. Take eggshells and let them dry for a day or two. Then using a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle, pulverize these and store them in a tupperware type container.

I don't see any Mentors online at the moment. When one of the Mentors come online, they should answer the bone meal powder question for you.

[Deleted]

I just looked at the ingredients, I thought it said contains Wheat and Corn. It says Does Not contain. (giggle)

[fretki]

yes, human grade pure bone meal powder is fine... or as poncesmom said home made egg shell powder works as well!

and congrats for the intention to switch them to raw, I have older ferrets only and you really buy them lifetime and quality of life by switching them, even if switching can be a process where you need a lot of persistence (no matter the ferrets age).

[Deleted]

Thanks poncesmom for the reply.
I am making eggs tomorrow for breakfast I guess so I can get some eggshells
to dry out.

Thanks fretki. I appreciate the support. It shouldn't have taken me so long to jump on this
but I can't look back, only forward.Buying lifetime and quality of life is all you can ask for
in this world.

[fretki]

the only thing that matters is that you took the decision and that your doing the preparation for switching, you can't turn back time, I guess we all went through this...

I firmly believe some of my ferrets wouldn't be here anymore if I would have continued kibble as the previous owners... and there is an advantage of raw I really appreciate: they recover far better after surgeries than on kibble, this can be terribly important with growing age

[Deleted]

After a long day, I realized everyone was already asleep and I hadn't made my raw soup puree yet. Dying to give it a bit of a go, with migraine fully in tow, I just said, let me dice up some of this chicken thigh and throw it in some baby food before bed.
Before:

After:

[Deleted]

Since they ate it fairly easily, I decided to give them some more. With the chicken bits slightly larger this time, out of sheer laziness I admit.
Before

After

[Deleted]

That's a good start right? I know it was mostly because of the baby food that they ate but still. I was surprised the meat bits were mostly gone.

[Heather]

Congratulations....sounds like a good start to me
ciao

[Thérèse]

That's a very good start, especially considering their ages

[Deleted]

Thanks! I made my first raw soup yesterday and they shared a cube. Bella ate more and all on her own. Clyde didn't eat quite as much and only if spoon fed. I know it's a long process but I'm happy it's going as well as it is.

How long before I'm doing the raw do I need to take out the kibble? And then after they eat, how long until I can put the kibble back in?

[fretki]

That's a good start! :thumbsup:

I only keep 2-3 hours in between, especially in the beginnig of a switch... but that's my personal time distance, I don't know if there's an official recommendation

[Deleted]

Thanks! :banana:

I'm going to start with one meal a day of soup for the next week and then see if I can up it to 2 the next week. This is the best-est forum on the whole internet! It's exciting to be making progress and if it wasn't for the helpful answers and comments, I'd be a wreck. At least I know I'm not doing it wrong yet. :thankyou:

[fretki]

You're welcome

If they already ate pieces of meat in the other soup, I would also sneak in very few very tiny pieces in this soup and see if they eat them...