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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 12:56:33 GMT -5
So my picky boy is nibbling on fdr but i could only find dog fdr. Is that ok? Still got cat kibble in there which he prefers
Also how do we make the leap from fdr to fresh meat?
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Post by racheld on Nov 7, 2014 12:58:38 GMT -5
I would check the nutrition info to make sure taurine is included. If it is I think you're alright. Is the fdr rehydrated or dry? If it's dry start rehydrating it and then mix in baby slivers of raw.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 13:47:37 GMT -5
I get dog treats for my boys because they are 100% meat. There are some nice options out there which are also organ meat.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 14:26:43 GMT -5
I would check the nutrition info to make sure taurine is included. If it is I think you're alright. Is the fdr rehydrated or dry? If it's dry start rehydrating it and then mix in baby slivers of raw. Its dry. No idea about the taurine. Its primal if that helps at all
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Post by racheld on Nov 7, 2014 14:42:13 GMT -5
I can't check right now, but it should say in the nutrient breakdown on the side of the bag. If it doesn't have taurine you will need to find something that does, or purchase a taurine supplement at a vitamin store. That's a nutrient which is vital to ferrets but they don't produce it themselves. As far as introducing meat I would start rehydrating the food and then start mixing in slivers like I said before. I would start that soon because ferrets are made to get most of their moisture from what they eat, and don't have very much of a drive to drink water.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 17:59:36 GMT -5
Dog FDR will contain more starches, fruits and veggies than the Feline formulas. Taurine is necessary for ferrets and they even need a higher amount than cats.
The Ingredient list for Primal FDR Chicken includes: Chicken, Chicken Necks, Chicken Gizzards, Organic Kale, Organic Carrots, Organic Yams, Chicken Livers, Organic Broccoli, Organic Apples, Cranberries, Blueberries, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Carbonate, Sodium Selenite), Organic Parsley, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Salmon Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder, Dried Organic Kelp, Alfalfa, Natural Vitamin E, Mixed Tocopherols (natural preservative).
Too many fruits and veggies and no Taurine. You're better off with a good quality ferret kibble than this FDR.
I would look for a Feline formula like Stella and Chewy's duck,duck,goose and tummy ticklin turkey. You will have to order that online, unless you can find a local holistic pet store.
To Transition your little Slylet to raw meat, start with a soupie recipe. 8oz of raw chicken thigh 1-2 chicken hearts 1/2 chicken liver and 1/2tsp of dried eggshell powder.
You blend this up and add some warm water. In the beginning, thinner is better. The soupie is balanced and will be a good start. Sit on the floor with him on your lap. Lower a spoon into the soupie and offer it to him. If he refuses, you take your finger and dab some on his mouth. He will have to lick it off. If he tries to jump down, gently pick him up and try again. You may have to do this for a few times until he is use to the idea that this soup is food.
That's stage one. At Stage two, you start making the soup thicker. After you have Slylet eating the soupie, and eating it a little thicker, than you can add some very tiny slices of chicken. Make them about the size of your fingernail crescent. The idea is to get him use to the small pieces and then increase the size of the meat, while you decrease the amount of the soup.
This does take some time and patience. It's not that they are being brats, they simply don't recognize this as food. With patience and coaxing, they will eat. You are also building a nice bond at the same time and you will find that you get more snuggles.
How is Haehl doing?
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Post by raynebc on Nov 7, 2014 18:02:38 GMT -5
Primal's website lists "N/A" for all of their canine FDR formulas. You'll probably want to mix in some hearts or some taurine powder until you can get a cat formula or switch to soup/frankenprey/etc.
Edit: Ninja'd.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 20:34:52 GMT -5
Dog FDR will contain more starches, fruits and veggies than the Feline formulas. Taurine is necessary for ferrets and they even need a higher amount than cats. The Ingredient list for Primal FDR Chicken includes: Chicken, Chicken Necks, Chicken Gizzards, Organic Kale, Organic Carrots, Organic Yams, Chicken Livers, Organic Broccoli, Organic Apples, Cranberries, Blueberries, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Carbonate, Sodium Selenite), Organic Parsley, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Salmon Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Quinoa Sprout Powder, Dried Organic Kelp, Alfalfa, Natural Vitamin E, Mixed Tocopherols (natural preservative). Too many fruits and veggies and no Taurine. You're better off with a good quality ferret kibble than this FDR. I would look for a Feline formula like Stella and Chewy's duck,duck,goose and tummy ticklin turkey. You will have to order that online, unless you can find a local holistic pet store. To Transition your little Slylet to raw meat, start with a soupie recipe. 8oz of raw chicken thigh 1-2 chicken hearts 1/2 chicken liver and 1/2tsp of dried eggshell powder. You blend this up and add some warm water. In the beginning, thinner is better. The soupie is balanced and will be a good start. Sit on the floor with him on your lap. Lower a spoon into the soupie and offer it to him. If he refuses, you take your finger and dab some on his mouth. He will have to lick it off. If he tries to jump down, gently pick him up and try again. You may have to do this for a few times until he is use to the idea that this soup is food. That's stage one. At Stage two, you start making the soup thicker. After you have Slylet eating the soupie, and eating it a little thicker, than you can add some very tiny slices of chicken. Make them about the size of your fingernail crescent. The idea is to get him use to the small pieces and then increase the size of the meat, while you decrease the amount of the soup. This does take some time and patience. It's not that they are being brats, they simply don't recognize this as food. With patience and coaxing, they will eat. You are also building a nice bond at the same time and you will find that you get more snuggles. How is Haehl doing? He hates soups. Im having trouble finding cat fdr. Raw is still pretty new to my area so the only fdr i can find is at a mom and pop place and its primal. I may be able to get them to start stocking better stuff though. Think its ok if i let them finish this bag? Today they are going nuts for it. Even haehl is stuffing her face and she has recently just lost her appitite And thank you for asking about her. She is getting to the point where im starting to look into euthing her. We havent given up yet though. As long as she still acts happy we are going to keep trying to figure out whats wrong. Ive been spending as much time as i can with her and i swear we are closer than we have been this past year. Finally at a point where she likes me more than my dog lol.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2014 12:08:08 GMT -5
I'm so glad that Haehl is eating. That's important. When my Ponce got so sick, I thought about putting him to sleep and just didn't have the heart to do it. He passed away in my arms and it was a peaceful passing and he knew he was Loved. We tried everything to help, but he was almost seven and had Lymphoma and Insulinoma. Don't give up on her, keep posting and maybe someone will figure out something.
What exactly is wrong with Haehl? Have you crossed off the main diseases like Adrenal, Insulinoma, Lymphoma or even a blockage. What about IBD?
Not everyone will agree with me, but if she is eating then let her finish the bag. You will need to order the FDR from a pet site or Amazon. Even my holistic pet store only carries the canine versions of Stella and Chewy's. Just remember that a ferret is more like a cat than a dog, so look for the feline versions. Taurine is absolutely necessary for them. You should be able to find some taurine powder in a pet store and you can mix that up with some warm water and pour it over the FDR.
Slylet will have to be taught that soup is a food. Each new food will require coaxing and persuasion. It's pretty rare to find any ferret except for babies who will take to a new food right away. With soup, you can make a batch of it, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then pop one out and let it defrost and add some warm water. Give him some every day or a couple of times a day, until he gets the idea that this is really food.
Ferrets in the States lived on a Prairie Dog diet. When the Prairie Dogs started dying out, so did the Ferrets. They were unable to recognize other sources of food. I think it was around 1988 or so, scientists found one small colony of ferrets still living and were able to begin to rebuild their populations. The Black Footed ferret is now doing well and they are working to rerelease them into the wild. You can find several ferret cams (the National Zoo and the Phoenix Zoo) and it's very interesting to see the babies and watch the wild ferrets.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2014 20:09:22 GMT -5
I'm so glad that Haehl is eating. That's important. When my Ponce got so sick, I thought about putting him to sleep and just didn't have the heart to do it. He passed away in my arms and it was a peaceful passing and he knew he was Loved. We tried everything to help, but he was almost seven and had Lymphoma and Insulinoma. Don't give up on her, keep posting and maybe someone will figure out something. What exactly is wrong with Haehl? Have you crossed off the main diseases like Adrenal, Insulinoma, Lymphoma or even a blockage. What about IBD? Not everyone will agree with me, but if she is eating then let her finish the bag. You will need to order the FDR from a pet site or Amazon. Even my holistic pet store only carries the canine versions of Stella and Chewy's. Just remember that a ferret is more like a cat than a dog, so look for the feline versions. Taurine is absolutely necessary for them. You should be able to find some taurine powder in a pet store and you can mix that up with some warm water and pour it over the FDR. Slylet will have to be taught that soup is a food. Each new food will require coaxing and persuasion. It's pretty rare to find any ferret except for babies who will take to a new food right away. With soup, you can make a batch of it, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Then pop one out and let it defrost and add some warm water. Give him some every day or a couple of times a day, until he gets the idea that this is really food. Ferrets in the States lived on a Prairie Dog diet. When the Prairie Dogs started dying out, so did the Ferrets. They were unable to recognize other sources of food. I think it was around 1988 or so, scientists found one small colony of ferrets still living and were able to begin to rebuild their populations. The Black Footed ferret is now doing well and they are working to rerelease them into the wild. You can find several ferret cams (the National Zoo and the Phoenix Zoo) and it's very interesting to see the babies and watch the wild ferrets. All we have done is bloodwork and xrays and thise looked good. She is mostly just walking drunk constantly and not eating. Her fur still looks good and thick but thats it. Once my discount kicks in im going to try to talk a vet i work with if she can just treat haehl for insulinoma just so something is being done. Heather suggested it and i figure why not. Cant make her much worse. I really dont want to let her go. I love my little biter and i miss being attacked. I havent been chomped in a month and its her favorite way to play She is so thin now. She has always been thing but now i can feel all of her bones and feel her little heartbeat. Im just so happy to see her get excited over food. In fact all my animals are begging for it. Even my picky old man cat wants some amd he hates new foods. All my mammals come running when i open the bag lol. I will start my search for taurine. How much should i give them?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2014 12:28:18 GMT -5
Taurine should be 500mg per ferret per day. Taurine comes in little capsules, that pull apart and can be mixed in with food. The NOW brand is a good product. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/15089/information-taurineThe drunken walking sounds alot like Insulinoma. Have you seen Haehl stare into space? It's sort of like they zone out. That was the first symptom that I saw with Ponce. Then came the stumbling and drunken walking. He also had green urine towards the end. The thing about Insulinoma is that if she has it and she is eating carbs, then she will have an issue with keeping her Blood Glucose stable and that will lead to a crash. If you see her crash or see a seizure, you will want to put a little karo syrup on her lips. Karo works faster than honey. Here is a good link to Insulinoma: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/2702/insulinoma-overviewWhen you did her bloodwork, was it a fasting bloodwork?
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Post by gfountain on Nov 9, 2014 12:47:14 GMT -5
You can also get just powdered taurine. 500 mg = 1/8 tsp
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2014 17:33:09 GMT -5
Taurine should be 500mg per ferret per day. Taurine comes in little capsules, that pull apart and can be mixed in with food. The NOW brand is a good product. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/15089/information-taurineThe drunken walking sounds alot like Insulinoma. Have you seen Haehl stare into space? It's sort of like they zone out. That was the first symptom that I saw with Ponce. Then came the stumbling and drunken walking. He also had green urine towards the end. The thing about Insulinoma is that if she has it and she is eating carbs, then she will have an issue with keeping her Blood Glucose stable and that will lead to a crash. If you see her crash or see a seizure, you will want to put a little karo syrup on her lips. Karo works faster than honey. Here is a good link to Insulinoma: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/2702/insulinoma-overviewWhen you did her bloodwork, was it a fasting bloodwork? Lol everyone always asks if she fasted. She did She sometimes stares off but we think its more because she is frustrated since she only does it after having trouble doing something
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2014 15:36:11 GMT -5
Just an update. Got them on wet fdr food amd they love it even more now! Thinking of trying to mix some pmr in just to see what happens. Whatever they dont eat can go to my cats
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Post by racheld on Nov 10, 2014 17:20:35 GMT -5
I'm glad they're taking to rehydrated FDR well! Definitely try mixing in tiny slivers of PMR or a bit of soupie.
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