Dewey and Betty's switch to RAW

[Deleted]

Hey there! So I've been using this site to help with my kids transition to raw but definitely could use some help sometimes so I decided to finally create an account!

So I've got two kids, Dewey Finn and Betty White, they're both males (oops, sorry Betty), healthy, and a little over two years old. I don't have a scale that I can use to weigh them yet but will definitely invest in one later this week so I can eventually sign up for the official mentoring program. I rescued my kids when they were about a year old, according to the previous owner, and up until then they were eating Marshal's ferret food. For the last year they've been eating Evo cat chicken and turkey formula but I've always been really inclined to switch them to raw.

Okay so I've been on my raw transition for a month now and was having really good luck following the recipe I found on here. Last night I was feeling particularly lazy and didn't feel like making the soup and figured it could be time to try little slivers of meat. Well Betty has never been a picky eater so after a scruff and stuff she realized "huh, this is food" and went to town and ate all the pieces I was hand feeding her with no problem. Dewey on the other hand does not believe the pieces of chicken are food. It's really frustrating because I don't want him going hungry but I don't know how to give him that extra push and I don't want to slow down Betty's transition. This morning I put in a bowl of thinly sliced bits of thigh (no bigger than my pinky) and after a little coaxing her to the bowl Betty dug in and I even had to prep a second bowl! However the problem I'm having is with Dewey. I put the food bowl in and he went nuts knowing it was breakfast time. Once he saw the bowl though he was unimpressed to say the least. I show him the chicken closely and he turns his head. I put some in his mouth and he spits it out. However he can obviously smell it and recognizes it but he keeps running around the cage to the different levels trying to find his soup. I thought seeing Betty eat would encourage him to try it but no such luck.

 

I'm mainly looking for advice others have had with transitioning picky eaters. Do I go back to serving soups with the chunks in it? The problem I had with that though was they were eating the soup but leaving the chicken slivers alone. I'm not sure how to get my guys to the next step any advice is welcome!!

[raynebc]

Soup with tiny chunks is a pretty typical transition stage, but lots of people mention their ferrets will just lick the soup off the chunks if they're stubborn. The smaller the pieces of meat are, the tougher it will be for them to be so picky. I've had luck with briefly scruffing and then holding a small chunk of a new meat in the ferret's mouth until he/she he chomps on it or holds it with teeth.

[Deleted]

Yeah Dewey will only eat the little chunks if I scruff him and he makes a huge fuss about it. I decided to go back to the soup but I think I've actually finally perfected my recipe because it's a lot thicker than it's ever been. I put some tiny meat slivers in with it but the only one who was eating the chunks was Betty. Dewey will be eating and stop suddenly to spit out a chunk he found. :/ I am hoping though that the thicker soup will help with the transition of my picky eater.

[raynebc]

Thick soup is a step in the right direction, just sneak some tiny chunks in sometime in the near future and see if he still refuses them.