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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2015 18:33:00 GMT -5
Ok so I have been provided with an AMAZING opportunity that I think a lot of you would enjoy helping with. I am currently in school and today we were given our science fair assignment, the best part being that we are allowed to do pretty much anything. Of course being a crazy ferret lady I chose to do "The effects of kibble on a ferrets health." I do however need visual evidence. If you have ANY photos that show the difference between a raw fed ferret and a kibble fed ferret, and you don't mind me using your photos In a project PLEASE share them here. I do need to know a few things when you post this however Ferrets name ferrets age what kibble they were fed how long they've been off of kibble THANKS SO MUCH  (I am aware that there's another thread asking for similar things, but it's easier to say that anyone who posts pictures is ok with me using them vs asking everyone individually in the other thread  ) |
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Post by Klarissa on Nov 24, 2015 18:59:04 GMT -5
Harleigh - 3/4 yo Fed Walmart dog food On raw 3 weeks  Fredzia - 3 yo Fed Kaytee kibble On raw 3 months  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2015 4:44:09 GMT -5
My ferrets have just moved onto prey/raw so there isn't much change in look at the moment but I can give you data on their weight changes as they transition. Obviously some of the guys are also adding their winter weight so it's not all down to change in diet but I can specify which ferrets had their winter weight on already and those that are just adding it. It may be better to look at it more from this angle as pictures are subjective and therefore not really what science is about (you would need to identify certain things you're looking at in the ferret and have a way to grade them, before and after photos would be the best option since it documents the transition. If you could give us your initial hypothesis that you want to look at then it will help with the data that is provided eg. Feeding a raw diet instead of a kibble diet to a ferret will improve the ferrets coat, skin and teeth. I will demonstrate this by comparing photographs of kibble and raw fed ferrets at various points through their change in diet ... It might also be a good idea to explore how a bad raw fed diet can be detrimental to a ferrets health eg only feeding one protein source of bone in meals with no muscle, organ or heart ... The important part of science isn't necessarily being able to prove the hypothesis (in fact proving it wrong or inconclusive is an equally valid result) but how you go about the study so you need to recognise the limitations of the data, possible external factors you can't control (such as seasonal weight/coat changes) and have a well laid out method for how the data is analysed. I'm not a scientist just a bit of a science geek so I take this stuff seriously (and occasionally get things wrong)  |
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Post by msav on Nov 25, 2015 9:49:23 GMT -5
Epigen/origen/Evo Kibble fed for 4 1/2 years of his 6 year life (6 years old in these pictures) On raw for 1 1/2 Years before he passed here is koufos teeth prior to root canal    Marshalls fed at pet store / raw fed since 8 weeks old (3 1/2 years old in these pictures) here is Bleu   |
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Post by Sherry on Nov 25, 2015 12:30:22 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2015 19:11:38 GMT -5
Thanks guys so much! Yeah I definitely appreciate any actual data, forgot to mention that. I completely agree with everything you mentioned Rocko, and your hypothesis pretty much summed it up. I figured that one of the control variables would be that the raw diet was balanced, but I definitely wouldn't mind showing examples of improperly raw fed ferrets, it all depends on what evidence I can gather for it. Of course I do have quite a few months before the final product is actually due  thanks for the help! Also thanks sherry, the only reason I didn't go there originally is because I wasn't sure how many people would be ok with me using their photos, but I'll definitely go through it! |
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Post by msav on Nov 25, 2015 21:44:32 GMT -5
some good data would be comparison of say a 3 year old raw fed ferret and compare it to a 3 year old kibble fed.
this would give you info on how much damage kibble actually does to teeth.
most of the data here would be ferrets converted. Of course there are some here that have fed their babies raw from the start.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2015 1:13:26 GMT -5
I was thinking about this while I was walking the guys yesterday, for the pictures I guess you'd need a set of photos of different health ferrets identifying why they are unhealthy from 1 - very unhealthy to 10 healthy and have people rate the photos they are given in a blind test (with the average result used) so they just see the ferret without any knowledge of it's diet and plot the results on a scatter graph showing length of time on raw and health rating. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CWHOSYzOI0v5FxPzwNBWe-_z3ApcHg6ezI18Ld4KV5k/edit?usp=sharing is a quick example of how I would present the data, This is quite a fun project, it almost makes me wish I was still at school so I could have made the right choices about what I was going to study  |
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Post by msav on Nov 26, 2015 8:20:00 GMT -5
rocko
that data could probably be gained from a thread on here for aging ferrets by their teeth.
Members that wanted an estimate of how old their ferret was posted a photo of their ferrets teeth. Members would then guesstimate how old they were based on the photos.
I am not sure where that thread went but it is on here somewhere.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 26, 2015 11:22:17 GMT -5
In Ferret Talk. It is stickied.
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Post by msav on Nov 26, 2015 14:56:25 GMT -5
Here is Taz. Marshalls fed at pet store / raw fed since 8 weeks old (3 1/2 years old in these pictures)  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2015 9:26:51 GMT -5
Thanks so much guys! I'm really excited to be working on this project |
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