raw diet-ferret getting fat

[Deleted]

Hi,

my little guys are on raw diet for year and some months, tyes eat chicken and turkey meat, heart, liver, lung, beef ham, heart and liver, egs. in few past months they got fatter by almost 300 gr each, for about almost a month they are on diet, I have cut thery meals on 2/3 and they got lighter  by 100 grams but now again getting fater that wouldn't be a problem if they would look ok and be active as before not gettin so much stuffed beneath the coat, but they do


do you have some advice for me what to do?

boy is now 1650 and a girl is 1290 gr.

Boy looks much better than girl, she got he belly hanging between her legs and I'm worried.

Boy eats around 70 gr of meat and girl 20-40gr  per meal depends if it something she likes or not. They don't eat bones, just don't want to and ignore them

thank you all

[Deleted]

Hello! Your cat and ferrets are so cute! Do you have any photos that show off their chubbiness? I believe 2-5 lbs is normal for a male and 1-2 for a female. So, 1290 gr = 2.8 lbs, so it sounds like your girl might be on the chubby side, but the male seems normal. If I am wrong someone please correct me!

Also, is it winter where you live? Ferrets will fatten up for the winter.

What do you use to substitute for the lack of eating bone?

[Heather]

Have you checked your dietary balance? Ferrets should never have treated meats (beef ham) and I don't see any bone in meats. How much are they getting per meal and how often are they fed? Pictures might also help if we can see just how much overweight they are. A menu might help as well
ciao

[Deleted]

20-40g of meat for the girl is less than my girls eat so I can't see why yours is so heavy (mine are all in the 800-900g range) How much out of cage time do your ferrets get ?

[Sherry]

Winter is also here. They gain up to 40% of their body weight seasonally. And they NEED bone in their diet or they will become very sick from dietary deficiencies.
In fact the entire diet MUST be balanced between meat, bone, and organs. If it is not then you need to a) work on getting them eating bones. b) give them some sort of commercial raw, either frozen or freeze dried. Or c) put them back on kibble.