Trying raw... again.

[lessthansign3]

HI everyone New forum, huh?

Okay, so this is my third time contemplating going raw. The first time, I was doing a pretty good job switching my two over. My boy, Dukat, really likes his meaties. My girl, Kira, was okay with the soupies and really liked the frozen cubes of meat that I made, but she was getting SO skinny. She's already pretty petite, and it was December, so I really didn't like how thin she was. Plus, we were moving come January, so I decided when we moved to switch them back to the kibbles.

About a month ago, I decided I'd try raw again. I had a "duck carcass" in my freezer from the co-op, so I chopped it up and threw it in the food processor along with some chicken liver and beef heart. There were a few little bones that ended up in there, but I figured they'd be okay with that. I hadn't actually given them the soupies I'd made - all I did was let them lick the rubber spatula I'd used to scrape out the food processor with, and a few minutes later Dukat started freaking out! He threw the remaining kibbles out of the bowl and vomited. I took him out of the cage to check on him, and he wiggled out of my hands and started running all over the room. He vomited again behind a desk, and once I grabbed him I scruffed him, looked down his mouth to see if anything was caught, and when I didn't see anything I let him down. I unattached their bowl from the cage, and I emptied whatever was left in their water bottle into it. He drank some water... and then he was fine. I really have *no* clue what his problem was. One minute, he was fine. The next, he's puking and flipping out. Kira, who also licked the spatula, had no problems.

Needless to say, this scared me away from raw feeding again. I still really want to feed raw. I know it would be better for them. Still, you can't blame me for being afraid after that experience... I had no idea what was happening to my poor boy and I love him so much And when Kira was getting so thin, it was very worrisome, too. I'm going to pick up some Stella and Chewey's now that I have a coupon to give that a try, but that's not something I can feed on a regular basis as it's very expensive. If I'm going to feed raw, it has to be actual raw. Also, I really can't handle prey - I've considered it, but I'm also mom to 7 rats, 4 guinea pigs, 2 bunnies, 2, chinchillas, a hedgehog, and a hamster, so I obviously have a bit of a soft spot for soft furry things Maybe someday I can bring myself to feed whole quail or baby chicks, something less rodentlike, but you know

Does anyone have any idea what happened to cause these two problems? What was I doing wrong? In the meantime, they've got a great mix of Totally Ferret, Evo, Zupreem, and Felidae Grain Free, and they seem to be doing just fine. Kira is two years old, Dukat is one and a half, and both are in excellent health. I just want them to stay that way, and I know that a raw diet would go a long way with that

[Deleted]

it depends on the ferret, but i've heard that kibble and raw foods have different digestive rates, and can cause upset stomach's if eaten together. so it's possible he just had an upset stomach.

i went through this with the one i just got about a month ago. he was eating fine the first day, and then when i gave him hearts, he was throwing up, and it freaked me out too, but since it was a change in diet i didn't really freak out too much.

[Sherry]

It's possible he ate it too fast as well. Or, he could have had a bit of bone stick in his throat for a moment, scaring him. They'll try to throw up to dislodge it. Try again with a plain puree, no bone, or anything else, see how he does.

[lessthansign3]

Thanks for the suggestions We tried a bit again last night. I bought some ground venison and chicken from Woody's Pet Deli (http://woodyspetdeli.com - they have just two stores here in the Twin Cities, but they're awesome!) and while Kira seemed to really like the venison, Dukat was almost afraid to try it. It's like the exact opposite of what they were back in December - Dukat was the one who took the meats enthusiastically, while Kira was far more skeptical. I think the throwing up incident scared him a bit, so it could take awhile to get him back to where he was as far as taking the meat goes.

[miamiferret2]

stick to one kind of meat for now. maybe he had a reaction to one of the meats because you combined them. if you keep combining them you won't know what is causing issues.

[miamiferret2]

if you must feed a kibble mix, then only leave it out at night and leave them the raw during the day or vice versa. also, i would look into mixing orijen (grain free) petcurean Go! in with the EVO. serengeti cat is also decent. but, i would put water in the kibbles. do not feed them dry. it really messes up their stomach! if you wet the kibbles then you don't have to take it away when you feed raw because it won't interfere with digestion of the raw food.
i would imagine that you'd have to change the kibble out every 8 hours if you wet it though.

i don't know anything about felidae but TF has grain. i would stay away from that unless you are using the TF baby formula (which has FLOUR fyi) but apparently has higher protein, higher fat and lower carbs. i think it is 8 or 12 % carbs. as opposed to their regular formula which has over 20% in carbs. as for zupreem, someone correct me if i am wrong but i think the 2nd ingredient in in zupreem is sweet potatoes. that is pretty high up on the list of ingredients!

[lessthansign3]

I'll try wetting the kibbles. I've got the meaties in overnight because they're usually out during the day and I'd rather they not get used to stashing meat underneath our furniture Once they graduate to larger "chunks", I can hook it into their cage to at least prevent the stashing, but while it's in hamburgerish form... lol well, Kira has a spot underneath my boyfriend's desk where she LOVES to bring the kibbles with her and that's where she was heading with a tiny piece of meat last night

As for their kibble mix, they have Zupreem's grain free version and the Felidae is their grain-free one as well. We feed Felidae to our cats (they get dry in the morning and canned at night - someday they may go raw, but we'll focus on the ferrets first), so I actually add more Felidae than I do of the others because I buy such big bags of it. I am a big fan of their food, actually - it isn't *quite* as high in protein as EVO, but it's up there (39% or 40% if I recall) and it's far more affordable. And, well, they haven't been bought out by Procter & Gamble yet

I know on this board everyone's going to have different opinions when it comes to kibble, but as far as ferret foods go, I think Totally Ferret is a pretty good one and it comes highly recommended by veteran ferrents and rescuers who aren't raw feeders. They're also an incredibly ethical company (they recently stopped supplying to Petco and Petsmart to protest their selling animals in stores) that supplies a LOT of food to a number of ferret rescues. So... I figure if I am going to buy kibble, would I rather my dollars go to EVO and thus, P&G, or to TF and Performance Foods, where I know they'll use that money to continue improving their product *and* helping ferret rescues? Plus, I LOVE that they have a turkey, lamb, and venison formula for those ferrets with a sensitivity to chicken - I actually started with this food because it happened to be on sale, not because my ferrets have a problem with chicken, but I really liked it. I mean, what other company is actually going to THINK of such a product?! They obviously own and love ferrets, and I appreciate that. So, yeah, the TF formula isn't perfect, but as far as kibbles go it's considered to be among the best (EVO being the top) and the company behind it really does care about the weasels.

...But yeah, I'm still going raw with mine but there will always be times when kibbles with be a necessary thing. Vacations, stubborn new ferrets who take awhile to switch, that sort of thing.

And I think we'll be sticking to chicken for awhile just to help their little tummies adjust. Besides, I bought 5 lbs of ground chicken (bones, organs, and all - it's very finely ground, though, so I'm not too worried about the bones) from Woody's, so I have plenty of it They both like it, especially when there's a dribble of ferretone involved.