Fireangel's Switching Thread / Acodlin

[Heather]

Name: Heather
HF Forum Username:FireAngel
Please confirm that you are 18 years of age or older:
Double that !!
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
Here of course!

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.
Whole prey is my end game. (Frozen/thawed)

3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?
To have happy, healthy darlings!
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 switching your ferret(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as committed. 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?
Yes!

5. How many ferrets do you currently have?
2
What are their names?
Sir and Missy
Ages? They are both 4 months
Genders? Male and female
Do they have any health problems? Nope!
Are they overweight? Underweight? I believe they are neither.
How long have you had each ferret for? 3 weeks

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc) Do they already eat some form of soup?
Missy is eating soup at the moment and Sir is soup and pieces of chicken thigh and for treats right now is only Browns natural chicken strips. I had been giving Sir a small piece of freeze dried liver every other day before the soup switch but he has not gotten it since and Missy never would touch it.

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
When I had ferrets in the past I was a bad ferrent and did not educate myself very well so never tried to switch them. Many years have gone by and I hope to not fail these guys!

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
I'm a nurse a mom of two (18 and 14) a wife and a daughter. My mom had a stroke in July and I go there first thing every morning to get her out of bed then I go to work and then back to her house to get her back into bed. She does have an aid that comes from 10-8 daily while I work and I typically only work 4 days a week. But on those days I am gone from 8am to 10pm. Don't worry though, the little ones are not lost without me! My husband and kids let them out and play with them during the day and then when I get home at 10ish they come out for playtime with me for another hour.

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).
I will add pictures as soon as it lets me!

11. Have you met the requirements for this program? Are you at least 18 years of age? Do you have your scale, a place to access meats, hearts, livers, etc?
Yes

Link to my unofficial thread
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17937/sir-missys-switch

Hi and welcome to the mentoring program . In a little while your mentor (Acodlin) 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

[FireAngel]

Oh wow, this was quick. I thought I would be waiting a few weeks for an official mentor. Yay for not having to wait!

[acodlin]

Yay I'm amanda and I'll be your mentor. I'm super excited to be working with you. Has anything changed or progressed with their diet so far?

[FireAngel]

Yes they are doing great. Would you like me to retype everything or have you checked out their unofficial switching thread yet? I am happy to recap everything for you here if you want, but not until late tonight or even tomorrow sometime. Work is calling me now. Very nice to meet to you!

[FireAngel]

Ill try to do a short recap now;
4/12/15 is the first day I started them with the soup recipe from this forum. Their weights as of 4/13/15 were. Sir 1.5 lbs and Missy 2 lbs. These are the pics I was able to get of them. If I took them wrong just let me know and I will get better ones
Sir




Missy






Currently they are on ground lamb with the heart and liver sliced really, really tiny much tinier then the pics posted in my other thread. My plan is to try beef with them starting Monday evening and chicken wings chopped with a. Cleaver sometime mid week this coming week. I am avoiding using ferretone as much as possible and have only had to do it a couple of times. They have not had any kibble since the first day of the switch so the 12th was the last of their kilbble. I still have. I idea what to do with the rest of it! maybe I'll just keep it sealed for an extreme emergency. Also giving them gizzard slices.

[FireAngel]

So I have not actually been home since Friday at 3pm and they started on lamb last night. Hubby said they ate a bit of it over night about 1.5 oz out of 5. He gave them the same for breakfast this morning and when I got home at 6:30 tonight I saw Sir eating from the bowl and I was happy until hubby said he added kibble to it! I just about flipped. Turns out though he only put the kibble in the bowl a little while before that and they had eaten all of the lamb before that. He thought he was doing good by not letting them be out of food. I sort of frantically told him no bad ferrent! Lol I explained that he could have just given them the portion I had set up for their dinner tonight and to never give them kibble again. I took the kibble away and gave them their dinner (which was still mostly frozen btw).

[acodlin]

Wow that is great progress!! Sorry if I'm a little slow to respond. I am a nurse also and right now I work every Saturday Sunday and Monday night 12 hour shifts so I respond from my phone on those days.

You might try getting a Cornish game hen and cut the wings and legs off and see if they will just go for them. They are young enough that they should take to it really quick.

[FireAngel]

Apr 19, 2015 23:12:53 GMT -5 acodlin said:

Wow that is great progress!! Sorry if I'm a little slow to respond. I am a nurse also and right now I work every Saturday Sunday and Monday night 12 hour shifts so I respond from my phone on those days

Totally understandable, that "quick" recap actually took me 4 hours to write yesterday lol. How dare those patients think they need me more then my ferrets! Sleep well today. It's raining and dreary where I am right now. Those are always the best days to sleep. 
I was going to get chicken wings this week and chop them up with the cleaver but if you think I should go for the CGH I'm all for it. I'm not sure if I will get to shopping today or not until Friday but I will add it to my list. They got the last of the lamb this morning so I will be making up beef for them today for the next few days. I am thinking of cutting down on how much I put out at night for them, they seem to have only eaten less than 2 oz of the 5 they have had the last 2 nights. I know they were tired last night, we had them playing a couple of hours a few times yesterday and by the end of the night they were acting like overtired toddlers, nipping at any bare skin they saw on me. That is not completely unusual behavior for Missy (she has gotten much better though) but Sir is my good boy! Lol normally a little yip or 2 and they will stop but last night I was getting pretty loud with the yips and they kept going so I just picked them up and put them in their cage for the night. 

[FireAngel]

This is what I just ordered from hare today because I just found out I can't get any other organ meats from my butcher other then liver. (headwall)

[FireAngel]

They ate 2oz of the lamb today and I did have to add ferretone to it. I think hubby was fibbing a bit yesterday when he said they had eaten everything before he gave them the kibble and I think they ate more of it then I thought they had. My daughter said she noticed they smelled more last night and today they they have in the past few days, we think it was the bit of evilness he gave them! Lol I only put out 2 oz tonight which thanks to ferretone is half gone. I will be looking into a better "crack" for them but I bought 2 bottles before I realized the evilness in that too! I have been using it sparenily so it may take me a bit to use it all up, or at least most of it. I made up some beef mixture for them tonight and they will have the last of the lamb mixed with a bit of the beef tomorrow morning. I'll put out 5 oz again and see how it goes.
On a side note I've been putting off trying to clip their nails and tonight Missy got one of hers caught in my sweater so I bit the bullet and used the crack and was amazed at how easy it was to clip them. I swear when I had Lucky and Punky years ago even the ferretone did not help me clip their nails. Hence my hesitation this time.

[acodlin]

Some days they might eat a little more or a little less. I like what you ordered but you might try some chicken necks next time too. Deck necks are thicker and you will have to mash them up pretty good for them to eat them.

During the transition I would weigh them once a week. I'm someone who goes by their overall weight and poops to determine if everything is going well. You want their stools to be formed and solid, still semi soft. You may also find with organs that beef organs are strong tasting and they might not like them. Pork kidney and hearts, chicken hearts and livers go over much better with my kids. You could also try to offer them small mice or pinkies. Most pet shops carry them.

[FireAngel]

I only ordered the duck necks because they were out of chicken necks, yes I was thinking I would have to smash them for them. I figured I would probably have to smash any bone up a bit though right now anyway as they have not had any yet.
This is my order from rodent pro. Ordered from here because it is much cheaper.


Their poops have been small and soft. Yesterday Sir did have a bright green one but then it was brown again the next time. No crazy smells for either of them and their activity levels are great. I'll weigh them tonight.
The only heart I have is beef heart and they seem to have no issues with it. The liver is chicken and the gizzards are chicken also. This morning I put out 5oz of lamb and beef mixture. I am currently using the soup ratios so each meal has muscle and organ in it. They do not appear to be eating around the organs. I do swap out one oz of whatever meat I am using as the base for an oz of gizzards. So instead of 8oz of beef in the mix it is 7 and 1 of gizzards.

[FireAngel]

Decided to see what they did with an egg this morning. Missy is pretty sure it is poison and even though I have gotten her to lick a bit from my fingers will not touch it from the plate. Sir however likes it enough to try and stash the plate and tip it over in the process. So glad my floors are linoleum! Lol he ate most of it including what got on the floor.

[FireAngel]

Weights Sir 1.5 and Missy 2lbs

[acodlin]

You can try to mix egg into grinds and soupie to see if they will eat it that way. Eggs can give them funky mustard yellow poops so beware lol