Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 1:03:12 GMT -5
I've decided to finally hop in here, get active, and make a thread! I said I was going to ages ago, but never got myself together enough to do so. Now, though, I am giving it a go.
My two ferrets started getting raw as a supplement to their kibble probably late summer last year. They were on Orijen and happily took to their raw snacks. I made sure to pull their kibble bowl for a few hours before and after, etc. It evolved to leaving the kibble bowl in overnight after their dinner and pulling it before breakfast, so they could have their raw breakfast and dinner. They got the kibble during the day and at night when it would be a long in-between. In January, we made the transition fully to kibble-free. I'd already seen that we could go 7-8 hours without anything, so I wasn't worried (there was an evening where I accidentally forgot to replace the kibble bowl, and woke up at 7am panicking). My ferrets eagerly dug into every raw meal, and Wendy would avoid the kibble and wait for her raw if given the opportunity, she'd wake up in the morning and wait for her breakfast and lay there next to the kibble bowl as I (slowly, in her opinion) prepped breakfast. However, one day I noticed her start to eat from the kibble bowl, and then avoid the raw. But a few hours later, back to the kibble. This pattern went on for about a week despite my attempts to correct it. She'd eat her kibble, end up pushing herself into a situation where her glucose was too low, and go for the kibble again to get that quick fix of the carb boost. Finally, after seeing what she was doing and the effect it was having on her, I knew I had to do something and every few hours would give her some raw food and spoon-feed it to her. Once I knew she'd eat it if I catered to her, I pulled the kibble cold-turkey. No, I certainly wouldn't recommend doing it, but in her case I had no other options, she was just creating a huge problem for herself. It was successful, but I believe it was only because I know her so well and was able to pay attention to every little detail. Since then they have not been given any kibble at all. We do 3-4 meals a day, and the meals right before I leave the house or go to bed are a bit extra food to carry them through.
My two ferrets are Peter and Wendy. They are both 4.5-5 years old. We were lucky to get some of their history from when they were very young. They came from Petco, but were returned and adopted out and returned multiple times. We are their 3rd or 4th owners, and they were 2/2.5 when we got them. They'd probably never eaten anything but Marshalls until we got them, and even when we first had them I was still learning so they ate Marshalls (I only went through maybe 1.5 bags until I smartened up and looked at the ingredients!), but then I switched them to a better quality kibble once I started learning about their nutritional needs. They got bandit treats too, until I learned better. Hey, we all start somewhere, right? We've had them since May 2013 and they are my first ferrets- I couldn't have asked for a better pair for a first time owner like myself.
Peter is what was probably a silver blaze, he's mostly white now and his grey markings depend on the season.. He usually has a "jacket" though, and a silver helmet
He's deaf and proud of it! He is bouncy, and fresh, and loves to give kisses. He enjoys his crochet eggs and spends hours torturing them in his rice bin! He's the type of ferret who thinks everything that happens is the BEST THING EVER! He loves all things fish, and will do anything for you if that's on the menu! He is on his second deslorelin implant (in Oct this year) and while I did it purely as a prophylactic tool, I'm glad I DID do it for him (I wasn't going to at the time). He apparently was early adrenal as it was masking insulinoma- he was diagnosed 3 weeks after his implant, following a seizure. We started him on prednisolone and knock on wood he's been doing well. He was eating one big meal and a small snack per day, which was probably fine before but now he's been doing good about eating at least twice a day. Even if it is a few spoonfuls at the second meal, at least its something to help regulate him.
Wendy is my beautiful chocolate girlie, though she's half-bald at this point. Still beautiful, though! She's a pampered princess and she knows it. She knows how to get exactly what she wants, and has played us ALL! She had my mom convinced that she didn't eat on her own- my mom watched them for us one weekend and was sitting with her spoon-feeding her 4 meals a day for 3 days!!! I laughed so hard at that. While she has days where she needs prompting, she's usually the first one with her nose in the bowl at meal time! She was once a petite, tiny girl, but prednisolone has been hard on her. She was diagnosed with insulinoma last year, in April of 2014- at the same time, her doctor became highly suspicious of lymphoma. We've not done in-depth diagnostics on her for it as we were starting pred anyway, but her doctor is 98% sure she does have that as well. She has the classic hairloss of adrenal, but really no other symptoms. She is also on her second implant (in Oct 2015)- I can't tell if she's growing hair or not, but as long as it is controlling things on the inside then I'm okay with it! She loves stashing socks, and playing in tubes, but sadly the weight gain from her pred has made it very hard for her to do those things. She cannot fit in the tubes we currently have due to her belly
She's always up for a game of "chase the kougar" though, and tries hard to catch her. She's the boss in this house and she knows it. She's one heck of a fighter, don't let her size and ailments fool you- I am amazed every day at the determination this girl shows, in everything she does. It's kept her alive, so far, so you have to admire it. She almost always eats well, unless her belly is acting up. She tries everything she is offered, but unlike her brother she HATES fish with a passion. She cannot have salmon as it doesn't agree with her belly, but her absolute favorite food is duck.
Current weights:
Peter: 0.95 kg
Wendy: 1.29 kg (ugh)
Current Meds:
Peter: Prednisolone (5mg/ml) 0.2mL BID
Wendy: Prednisolone (5mg/ml) 0.25mL BID, Carafate (50mg/ml) 0.5mL TID-QID, Amoxicillin (50mg/ml) 0.2mL SID long term but increased to BID x 7-14 days as needed for flareups
Most recent blood glucose reading (Friday, Nov 6th 2015)
Peter: 87
Wendy: 89
My primary goal here is to get them off of commercial raw formulas (we use Nature's Variety and Stella and Chewy's) and onto a home-made raw diet. This commercial diet is expensive, and I never did like the idea of commercially processed foods- sure it's raw, but you can still hide stuff in it...
My other goals are to keep them both as healthy as possible and help control their insulinoma through their diet as best as possible (hey, Wendy only increased her dose at the beginning of this year to her current dose!), and to try to get some of the weight off of Wendy as it is affecting her ability to get around. That is a lot of weight for a tiny frame to be carrying around with her, and I think that's going to shorten her lifespan more than her actual disease will.
Neither ferret is picky, and I'm very lucky that both will happily at least take a lick or two of anything I offer them. They are, however, texture-picky and that is what is causing trouble. They like their food soupy. Sometimes they will eat one or two chunks, sometimes they will not. It isn't consistent, and I want it to be. I'd like them to be chewing on bones, so they can get healthier and cleaner teeth and gums!
My two ferrets started getting raw as a supplement to their kibble probably late summer last year. They were on Orijen and happily took to their raw snacks. I made sure to pull their kibble bowl for a few hours before and after, etc. It evolved to leaving the kibble bowl in overnight after their dinner and pulling it before breakfast, so they could have their raw breakfast and dinner. They got the kibble during the day and at night when it would be a long in-between. In January, we made the transition fully to kibble-free. I'd already seen that we could go 7-8 hours without anything, so I wasn't worried (there was an evening where I accidentally forgot to replace the kibble bowl, and woke up at 7am panicking). My ferrets eagerly dug into every raw meal, and Wendy would avoid the kibble and wait for her raw if given the opportunity, she'd wake up in the morning and wait for her breakfast and lay there next to the kibble bowl as I (slowly, in her opinion) prepped breakfast. However, one day I noticed her start to eat from the kibble bowl, and then avoid the raw. But a few hours later, back to the kibble. This pattern went on for about a week despite my attempts to correct it. She'd eat her kibble, end up pushing herself into a situation where her glucose was too low, and go for the kibble again to get that quick fix of the carb boost. Finally, after seeing what she was doing and the effect it was having on her, I knew I had to do something and every few hours would give her some raw food and spoon-feed it to her. Once I knew she'd eat it if I catered to her, I pulled the kibble cold-turkey. No, I certainly wouldn't recommend doing it, but in her case I had no other options, she was just creating a huge problem for herself. It was successful, but I believe it was only because I know her so well and was able to pay attention to every little detail. Since then they have not been given any kibble at all. We do 3-4 meals a day, and the meals right before I leave the house or go to bed are a bit extra food to carry them through.
My two ferrets are Peter and Wendy. They are both 4.5-5 years old. We were lucky to get some of their history from when they were very young. They came from Petco, but were returned and adopted out and returned multiple times. We are their 3rd or 4th owners, and they were 2/2.5 when we got them. They'd probably never eaten anything but Marshalls until we got them, and even when we first had them I was still learning so they ate Marshalls (I only went through maybe 1.5 bags until I smartened up and looked at the ingredients!), but then I switched them to a better quality kibble once I started learning about their nutritional needs. They got bandit treats too, until I learned better. Hey, we all start somewhere, right? We've had them since May 2013 and they are my first ferrets- I couldn't have asked for a better pair for a first time owner like myself.
Peter is what was probably a silver blaze, he's mostly white now and his grey markings depend on the season.. He usually has a "jacket" though, and a silver helmet
He's deaf and proud of it! He is bouncy, and fresh, and loves to give kisses. He enjoys his crochet eggs and spends hours torturing them in his rice bin! He's the type of ferret who thinks everything that happens is the BEST THING EVER! He loves all things fish, and will do anything for you if that's on the menu! He is on his second deslorelin implant (in Oct this year) and while I did it purely as a prophylactic tool, I'm glad I DID do it for him (I wasn't going to at the time). He apparently was early adrenal as it was masking insulinoma- he was diagnosed 3 weeks after his implant, following a seizure. We started him on prednisolone and knock on wood he's been doing well. He was eating one big meal and a small snack per day, which was probably fine before but now he's been doing good about eating at least twice a day. Even if it is a few spoonfuls at the second meal, at least its something to help regulate him. Wendy is my beautiful chocolate girlie, though she's half-bald at this point. Still beautiful, though! She's a pampered princess and she knows it. She knows how to get exactly what she wants, and has played us ALL! She had my mom convinced that she didn't eat on her own- my mom watched them for us one weekend and was sitting with her spoon-feeding her 4 meals a day for 3 days!!! I laughed so hard at that. While she has days where she needs prompting, she's usually the first one with her nose in the bowl at meal time! She was once a petite, tiny girl, but prednisolone has been hard on her. She was diagnosed with insulinoma last year, in April of 2014- at the same time, her doctor became highly suspicious of lymphoma. We've not done in-depth diagnostics on her for it as we were starting pred anyway, but her doctor is 98% sure she does have that as well. She has the classic hairloss of adrenal, but really no other symptoms. She is also on her second implant (in Oct 2015)- I can't tell if she's growing hair or not, but as long as it is controlling things on the inside then I'm okay with it! She loves stashing socks, and playing in tubes, but sadly the weight gain from her pred has made it very hard for her to do those things. She cannot fit in the tubes we currently have due to her belly
She's always up for a game of "chase the kougar" though, and tries hard to catch her. She's the boss in this house and she knows it. She's one heck of a fighter, don't let her size and ailments fool you- I am amazed every day at the determination this girl shows, in everything she does. It's kept her alive, so far, so you have to admire it. She almost always eats well, unless her belly is acting up. She tries everything she is offered, but unlike her brother she HATES fish with a passion. She cannot have salmon as it doesn't agree with her belly, but her absolute favorite food is duck. Current weights:
Peter: 0.95 kg
Wendy: 1.29 kg (ugh)
Current Meds:
Peter: Prednisolone (5mg/ml) 0.2mL BID
Wendy: Prednisolone (5mg/ml) 0.25mL BID, Carafate (50mg/ml) 0.5mL TID-QID, Amoxicillin (50mg/ml) 0.2mL SID long term but increased to BID x 7-14 days as needed for flareups
Most recent blood glucose reading (Friday, Nov 6th 2015)
Peter: 87
Wendy: 89
My primary goal here is to get them off of commercial raw formulas (we use Nature's Variety and Stella and Chewy's) and onto a home-made raw diet. This commercial diet is expensive, and I never did like the idea of commercially processed foods- sure it's raw, but you can still hide stuff in it...
My other goals are to keep them both as healthy as possible and help control their insulinoma through their diet as best as possible (hey, Wendy only increased her dose at the beginning of this year to her current dose!), and to try to get some of the weight off of Wendy as it is affecting her ability to get around. That is a lot of weight for a tiny frame to be carrying around with her, and I think that's going to shorten her lifespan more than her actual disease will.
Neither ferret is picky, and I'm very lucky that both will happily at least take a lick or two of anything I offer them. They are, however, texture-picky and that is what is causing trouble. They like their food soupy. Sometimes they will eat one or two chunks, sometimes they will not. It isn't consistent, and I want it to be. I'd like them to be chewing on bones, so they can get healthier and cleaner teeth and gums!
