Nevet's Diet Transition for 2 Ferrets

[Deleted]

@nevets
This will be your unofficial thread for switching your two ferrets over to a Natural Diet. The Mentors will watch over this thread and offer advice and support as you make the transition.
Have you signed up for a Mentor yet?
In the meantime, once you get a chance please post us some information about each ferret:
Name
Age and gender
Health or any Health related issues such as Insulinoma or Adrenal
What you are currently feeding including treats.
Then please post a picture of each including a picture of them dangling and one from the top.
That allows us to get a feel for their weight and see if it looks like a healthy weight.

Depending on the age of your ferrets, we will start off with a soupie recipe.
If they are young, under the age of six months or so then please let us know that.
8 ounces of raw chicken thigh meat only.
1 ounce of chicken heart
1/2 ounce of chicken liver
and 1/3 tsp of dried eggshell powder.
Save your eggshells up and let them dry out for a day or two. Then grind them into a fine powder and store it in a plastic container in a dry place. This will hold well for quite a long time.
You can use a magic bullet, a blender or food processor. Alot of us use a clean coffee grinder that is for this purpose only.

Once you have all the ingredients, you will blend this up into a thick paste.
You can then put the paste into ice cube trays and freeze them until you are ready to use the soupie.
When you are ready to serve, thin the paste out with some warm water into a rather thin soupie.

Now you have soupie and it's time to begin introducing them to their new food.
They key here is patience and persistence on your part. If they are already imprinted on their food then they will not recognize this new food as food. It's up to you to reassure them and coax them into learning to accept this soupie.
We can talk about that more later once you've added your information and have all of the ingredients.

In the meantime, you're off to a start. We will be happy to keep watch over this thread and post as much as you like. No question is dumb so don't be afraid to ask anything. We all have to start somewhere.

[Deleted]

I don't know how to post pictures

[gfountain]

You'll have to use an external hosting site. Directions should be in this thread. Welcome to the forum!
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/47/post-pictures-videos?page=3

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2016 13:12:33 GMT -5 @nevets said:

I don't know how to post pictures

There are two ways you can upload photos, there's an upload image button which is next to the setting button when you're creating a thread and there is another picture symbol which is next to a send mail symbol and is pretty small compared to the other which you can use when you reply or creating thread, that option uses a link to upload your photos.

[Deleted]

Kodo and Podo just had an egg and loved it! Feeding them a raw diet will hopefully be easy.

[Deleted]

Good Morning!

Cookie and Riley are both adorable. They are so young and it's so much fun to have babies.
We want them to get off to a good start and babies are simply Tummies with Teeth. They will eat alot now and for the coming months as they grow.

They were taken from their fur mom pretty young and you are their mom now. It will be very helpful and reassuring to them if you sit with them and coax them to eat. Patience and Persistence is the key here. Most importantly, spend meal times with them and make it fun while you watch to make sure Cookie is eating enough.

Females are smaller then males and Wiley is a whole week older then Cookie, so expect her to be smaller. She is female though and will quickly teach Wiley just who is the boss.

Please allow me a few small notes to help.
First, ditch the Ferrtone vitamin drops. They have cancer causing agents called BHA/BHT and Ferretone is not a good product. Instead buy some human grade fish oil like the Grizzly Salmon oil and use that instead. Salmon oil from wild salmon not farm raised salmon is much better and it is full of the important Fatty Omega Acids that Ferrets need.

Second, cooking ferrets receive their nutrients from raw food. Unlike humans who digest cooked food better, raw food is more easily digested then cooked food with ferrets. Vital nutrients are cooked out of the food and so you don't need to cook food for ferrets.

Third, you can simply get rid of the kibble. Baby Ferrets have not imprinted on any food yet and will happily eat what you give them. Since they are so young and would normally expect their fur mom to help them then sit with them while they eat and you can use a spoon to coax them.
If the kibble is dry then it might just be too hard for little Cookie to eat at her age.

Follow the soupie recipe that I mentioned above and at night you can put some wing tips in with them to munch on and a plate of raw soupie.
Raw soupie is safe for easily 6-8 hours and even longer in cool weather.

Ferrets have a fast digestive track that eliminates food after 3-4 hous so bacteria does not really have time to incubate.
I always leave food out for mine and babies especially should have access to food at all times.

I'm tagging Heather and crazylady to help. They are breeders and will offer terrific advice to help with your babies.

Why don't we build you your own thread to post your questions on and that will make it easier to keep track of your two little ones and their progress. I can do that for you or you can do that and I will move this post to your own thread.

Have fun with your babies, they need alot of attention and stimulation. They will be full of energy and need alot of time with you to play and build your bond.
We need alot of baby pictures, pretty please. Everyone simply loves to see baby pictures and we can never have enough.

[Heather]

Ah, baby ferrets....little furry tummies with teeth. Bottomless pits that can manufacture more poop than an adult ferret in a week {sigh}
If you want to transition to raw...do it now. It's so simple. They just need to be shown it's food. Take a look at some available bone in meats...chicken, rabbit, quail are usually the easiest to introduce to baby ferrets. Bone in meat is absolutely necessary for raw fed babies, because their food is absorbed and pushed out so quickly and they grow so fast (take pics daily because they change that fast)they need huge amounts of calcium and micronutrients. Do as poncemom suggested, create your own thread or apply for a mentor (the assisted switch will be simple and they can teach you how to properly balance your little ones' diets)
ciao

[Deleted]

Thanks! I will start a new thread in this forum and would appreciate if someone moves this introduction I made over there. <3

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2016 16:09:03 GMT -5 @wendymcd333 said:

Thanks! I will start a new thread in this forum and would appreciate if someone moves this introduction I made over there. <3

I'll be glad to move this post over to your thread.
All done now and you can post to your own thread now.
:wave3:

[Deleted]

My ferret is a 12 week old female. I tried offering her a small pinky nail sized piece of chicken, she sniffed it and ignored it. She was being fed marshalls, which I know is horrible but I got that for her transition to raw. So I put it in her food to get the scent of the maeshalls on it and she ignored it. I put it in her food bowl twice, and both times she picked it out and left it in her cage. I know younger ferrets are easier to switch, im making soup today as soon as the chicken defrosts. I hope she takes to it because I was hoping I wouldnt even have to open the bag of kibble. I want to get her off that asap

[Deleted]

Oh and for the soup, I shouldnt put any organs besides liver? I have beef kidney on hand.

[Deleted]

Mar 6, 2016 14:19:24 GMT -5 @cody said:

My ferret is a 12 week old female. I tried offering her a small pinky nail sized piece of chicken, she sniffed it and ignored it. She was being fed marshalls, which I know is horrible but I got that for her transition to raw. So I put it in her food to get the scent of the maeshalls on it and she ignored it. I put it in her food bowl twice, and both times she picked it out and left it in her cage. I know younger ferrets are easier to switch, im making soup today as soon as the chicken defrosts. I hope she takes to it because I was hoping I wouldnt even have to open the bag of kibble. I want to get her off that asap

Congratulations on your new little girl.
Younger ferrets are easier to switch. She's a baby though and needs some help and reassurance. Put her on your lap and wiggle the chicken sliver in front of her. You can also dip it in some warm water and see if that entices her.
The soupie recipe is carefully balanced.
You'll want to make up a batch and this is the recipe. 
8 ounces of raw chicken thigh meat
1-2 chicken hearts (for Taurine and very important)
1/2 chicken liver (for Iron and Vitamin A)
1/2 tsp of dried eggshell powder. (for Calcium)
Save up your eggshells and then grind them into a fine powder.

Then you mix all this together in a blender or food processor. Once it's made you can freeze it in ice cube trays and save it until you're ready to serve. Then add some warm water to make a thinner soup and you have soupie.

Then sit with her on your lap. Dab a little on her mouth and have a small spoon ready. Offer her some from the spoon. 
The key is working with her and reassuring her. She's quite young and should still be with her Mother but they remove them so young. 
Make meal times fun and pleasant and play with her before or after. 
It will be harder to convince her if you simply put a plate in the cage and leave her to figure out what to do with it.

You'll want to understand what you're feeding and why. I'll link a page with some information for new ferrents and take a look through this.

holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17480/intro-raw-newbies-read

You should have your own switching thread so we know where to look for you. Would you like to build one or would you like me to do it for you?

[Deleted]

Ok I put it umder smokeys switch to raw