Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 28, 2015 15:30:52 GMT -5
Hello
My name is Shawna & I have been in love with ferrets since I was 9 when The Beastmaster came out in 1982 (now you know how old I am). However it wasn't until 2006 that I got my first ferret, followed by 9 more within a 1-2 year window. I was dubbed 'The Freaky Ferret Chick' and was very proud of that fact.
The 6 boys & 4 girls were all Mazuris fed. I did periodically tried to see if they were interested in meat raw or cooked & they nibbled or turned their collective noses up. When I was down to the last of my 10 in June of 2012, I became the privileged human of Dex & Zim who I adopted through Craigslist. Dex is now approximately 4 & Zim 3.
In July '13 I broke up with my boyfriend & had to move back home. My cat Fizzgig & the boys couldn't come with me but my ex was kind enough to take care of them for me. I wasn't until August last year (2014) that I was finally at least able to take the boys. (I had moved).
I noticed some lumps on both sides of Zim's jaw. But they were tiny & I didn't think much of it til again in October. They were slightly bigger & he acquired a few more lumps & an enlarged spleen.
Instead of taking him to my usual vet, I took him to the same vet my roommate goes to for her dog. She claimed that they do specialize in ferrets. Well I came back with a $319 vet bill with an answer of "We don't know." A few months later in January this year, I take him to my vet but mainly because he had a cold.
$110 - visit, clavamox & prednisolone Diagnosis: possibly Lymphoma possibly infection. I believe its a mix of both. He is still on the prednisolone & will most likely be for the rest of his life. But there are not more lumps & even some of them are gone & has a normal sized spleen again.
I just recently discovered that Mazuris changed their formula so I have been giving them both Mazuris & Nature's Variety Instinct Duck & Turkey Cat food maybe for about a month now.
I have also periodically been giving them pieces of chicken breast (2in x 1in), gizzard, heart. Zim eating a little bit more of it than Dex. But not all that interested.
Last night I turned it into a soup... a rather thick soup with a smidge of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in it. They devoured it. I did it again this morning with great success again.
I know I need to either get into storage to find my mortar & pestle so that I can start grinding egg shells, as well as my food scale or go off & buy some bone meal & buy yet another scale.
I have no idea how much they weigh except by holding them and thinking... "yep you feel a little heavier than usual & you look a bit more hefty.. or nope I gotta fatten you up."
I also want to haunt the local Asian Markets for some variety of meats & organs. Maybe I can find a local butcher. Still working on that here in Everett, WA.
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 28, 2015 15:53:53 GMT -5
I've never really been on a forum let alone posted anything so this is all very new to me & I haven't a clue on what I' doing. I know that for me to even qualify to submit an application for the mentoring program it says that I need so many posts so. Here I am posting & voicing my thoughts.
I don't know if I can ever bring myself to feed my boys live prey or even whole frozen prey, mainly because I used to have rats as pets & I can't see my boys munching down on a little mouse. I can't even bring myself to kill a spider (which scare the pants of me).
My current goal is the frankenprey diet.
From there? We'll see. I'm not completely against a frozen whole prey mousey-type diet but I'm also ... hmmm what's the word....
I hope that sums up how I feel about live or whole. It's a long time coming but I'm also thinking of their well-being & may just need to get over the heebie jeebies
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Post by Celene on Mar 28, 2015 16:14:41 GMT -5
Welcome, welcome! Forums can be really confusing to navigate sometimes. If you're ever looking for specific information on here, the easiest way is to google "holistic ferret ___search term___".. Or you can just ask Here is a link to a whole bunch of information and recommended reading for new raw feeders. If you haven't seen it already, this is the "official" soup recipe: 8oz raw chicken thigh (raw) 1 oz raw chicken liver (or other raw liver) 1-2 raw chicken hearts (approximately 1 oz) or 1 oz other raw heart ½ to ¾ tsp bone meal or crushed egg shell (air-dry egg shell then crush with mortar and pestle or in a clean coffee grinder) Weigh out your meat and organs. Add bone meal or egg shell. Add water until about the consistency of thick cream (no thinner!!). Blending up in a food processor is the easiest. The above recipe is nutritionally balanced for ferrets and is a good stepping stone to frankenprey.
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 28, 2015 16:22:31 GMT -5
Without an actual food scale available to me at the moment, I believe I got it right then.. with the exception of the bone meal/egg shells & white meat instead of dark (at least for now).. I need to go out and get some bone meal until I find my mortar & pestle
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Post by Celene on Mar 28, 2015 17:13:11 GMT -5
Sounds like you're off to a great start! The eggshell is very important for calcium. Other ways of grinding it are putting it into a coffee grinder/food processor or putting the eggshells in a bag and smashing with a hammer or something hard. The smaller the pieces the better, but anything is better than nothing!
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Post by Desiree on Mar 28, 2015 17:13:43 GMT -5
I used both bone meal and egg shell and I found bone meal to just be easier overall. Mixing better, they can't eat around it and you don't have to prep it. Prepping took up so much time for me that being able to not prep something was nice. Of course, this was after I had already bough a mortar and pestle. Lymphoma is fairly manageable. My girl is on pred too (insulinoma) so I feel you there. It's alright. The forum is a little confusing. here is where you sign up for a mentor, the only requirement is to have at least 15 posts. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/61/sign-mentoring-program
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 28, 2015 23:34:00 GMT -5
I now have a food scale which I actually used to weigh them which was a small challenge... until I dipped my finger in EVOO. I also have NOW Bone Meal Powder
Here are there weights:
Dexter: 2lb 11oz or 1232g Zim: 2lb 6 1/2 oz or 1112g
YAY to Zim!!!
So about a month ago (give or take), my vet had me weaning Zim off the Prednisolone. His normal dose was .4ml 2x a day. She wanted me to take him to .3ml for 1 week followed by .2ml the next week after. Well, I forgot to take him down to the .2ml. On Wednesday of that week 2, I gave him the .3ml in the morning & then remembered during the course of the day that he was supposed to already be on .2ml. So I gave him that dose for his evening dose.
Low and behold the next day, while I'm working (I work from home as a customer service/call center for a cruise line 98% of the time. My desk is right next to their cage so I get to stick my hand in their cage & 'pets me woozles while I be talking'.) I noticed a complete & total lack of energy. I had an appointment with my vet on Saturday so I just monitored him. He was more energetic Friday then back to crashed Saturday.
My vet had me go back to the previous dose of .4ml & she wanted me to give him a dook soup that included chicken baby food, ferret food, Carnivore Care, a/d critical care dog/cat food, Ferretvite High Calerie Supplement & water 3x daily minimum for next 5 days. He had also very drastically lost a lot of weight during the 2 week period of prednisolone weaning.
He gained a little bit of weight when I brought him back 2 weeks after. This is also when I talked to my vet about their diet change to the duck & turkey cat food as well as a desire to supplement them with a raw diet as well. She suggested this site for more info on a raw diet.
Its now been 3 or 4 weeks since the last vet visit.
He went from, I think, 1096 to 1112.
Just to confirm by the way.... I can't have them on both kibble & raw, right? That's a no? or a yes?
Time to give them dinner... (and Zim's evening med)
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Post by katt on Mar 28, 2015 23:52:42 GMT -5
It is not advisable to feed a mixed kibble and raw diet. If fed too close together it can cause digestive upset and potentially increased risk of bacterial infections. If you want to do a mixed diet, you have to be sure to separate meals by at least 2 hours. Many people who do mixed diets do this by doing a day on/day off schedule alternating kibble and raw days. Another thing to consider, is every time they eat kibble or anything containing carbs/plant materials, their pancreas is made to secrete insulin to attempt to control their BG. In an animal that is not designed for carb intake, this puts strain on their pancreas and can contribute strongly to risk of developing or worsening insulinoma and may also contribute to more drastic BG swings. :/ If you are going to go through introducing them to raw though, what is your reasoning for wanting to continue to offer kibble? If there is a specific concern we may be able to help.
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Post by katt on Mar 28, 2015 23:59:44 GMT -5
My vet had me go back to the previous dose of .4ml & she wanted me to give him a dook soup that included chicken baby food, ferret food, Carnivore Care, Ferretvite High Calerie Supplement & water 3x daily minimum for next 5 days. He had also very drastically lost a lot of weight during the 2 week period of prednisolone weaning. I just caught this... Please, PLEASE whatever you do, do NOT give your ferrets Ferretvite - Especially a ferret with insulinoma. That stuff is absolutely loaded with sugar and will only cause further damage to their pancreas. I would very seriously look into getting another vet - are there any other vets in your area that will see ferrets? Even if you can find a vet who is less experienced in ferrets but willing to research and learn that is infinitely better than a vet so stuck in their ways they are recommending antiquated advice that will harm your ferrets. Where are you located? Perhaps one of our members can recommend a vet near you, or maybe you can find something on our vet list... holisticferret60.proboards.com/board/61/find-vetholisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/13638/vet-country-state
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 29, 2015 0:02:41 GMT -5
I was originally thinking it would just be another supplement like Ferretvite/Nutrical. Then it changed to "I don't want to waste the kibble". Now its... nuh uh no way.. don't want to put strain on my boys' bodies, I'll give the friggin' kibble to my ex for my kittymroww! Dagnabit! Sigh to the money lost
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Post by katt on Mar 29, 2015 0:09:24 GMT -5
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 29, 2015 0:09:59 GMT -5
To hurricanekatt: Zim actually doesn't have Insulinoma. She believes its Lymphoma. But the lumps have not been biopsied so she is not certain. He was tested for Insulinoma & is perfectly healthy in that department. He is also no longer on it and hasn't been for weeks now.
Are you certain about the Ferretvite? I know about the Ferretone not being good & just tossed that in the garbage without a second glance.
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Mar 29, 2015 0:26:29 GMT -5
So I think there has been some confusion that I would like to set straight....
Zim DOES NOT have Insulinoma. Was tested negative for it.... YAY
He has LYMPHOMA (not confirmed). Any help with that would be very much appreciated.
He is also not being weaned from his medication any longer.
My vet by the way is Holly Carter, Evergreen Avian & Exotics in Kirkland, WA.
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Post by katt on Mar 29, 2015 0:29:49 GMT -5
To hurricanekatt: Zim actually doesn't have Insulinoma. She believes its Lymphoma. But the lumps have not been biopsied so she is not certain. He was tested for Insulinoma & is perfectly healthy in that department. He is also no longer on it and hasn't been for weeks now. Are you certain about the Ferretvite? I know about the Ferretone not being good & just tossed that in the garage without a second glance. Yes I am absolutely certain. For years I thought they were the same thing and used Vite. FerreTone has preservatives that are linked to cancer, but Vite is loaded with sugars.
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