Transitioning to Raw

[eef]

Hi guys!
I've been considering transitioning my fuzzbutt to raw food for some time but been having trouble finding the meat affordably - I'm currently a mature student and I simply don't have time to have a job whilst studying my course. I don't even afford meat for myself that regularly!

The fuzzbutt has always been fed on kibble, but I've tried to keep it to better quality kibble (based on your forums recommendations, although the best I can usually afford is vitalin) and supplemented with egg, goosefat, and whole chicks from the pet shop down the road.

I started the goosefat when his brother was ill, as neither of them liked any version of duk soup I'd tried them on. Though his brother passed a year ago now, he still gets a teaspoon of it beaten into a whole egg once every now and then as a special treat.

He won't really eat red meats, but doesn't mind chicken and poultry; so I've always been a little restricted.

I recently found a site in the UK that sells raw food with a delivery price that isn't totally prohibitive, and have bought a couple of bits, as well as a big variety pack (hopefully I'll have space in the freezer!)

The specific foods I ordered are coarsely minced chicken or turkey, 80% meat, 10% organ, 10% bone.
This, from what I've read lurking your forums, is pretty much the proper balance?

It being minced already isn't a problem is it?
He will crunch through a chick skull and all, but isn't interested in a smashed up chicken wing, so this seemed the ideal choice (and maybe he'll get more interested in wings and such after a while?)

ETA: Also, an adult male will need roughly 85g a day?

He's sick, and we are awaiting the vets getting back to us but I believe it's adrenal disease (he's happy and energetic but itchy, thinning fur, and a loss of strength in his rear legs, also a dry thirsty boy so he has a bowl as well as a bottle to drink from).

I'm hoping better food will help him heal faster when the vet is ready for him! Until then I just want him to be happy and healthy.

[abbeytheferret6]

Hello, so glad you joined the forum

I was reading thru my old switching thread and did find (An ideal commercial grind would be approximately in the ratio of the prey model, or 80:10:10.)
Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/16051/abbeytheferret6s-switching-thread-abbylee22#ixzz4DHB877IF

He will crunch through a chick skull and all, but isn't interested in a smashed up chicken wing, so this seemed the ideal choice (and maybe he'll get more interested in wings and such after a while?)

Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/21195/transitioning-raw#ixzz4DHECWSQp

Maybe some mentors will give you some suggestions as how to get him to eat bone to help keep his teeth clean. So does he eat the chicken head? we do not have access to whole chickens like that---everything is pretty much gutted unless you order something online-- a lot of the goody is gone:/

The drumette part of wing might be a little too dense---but the mid section and tip is edible. U can cut the drumette off. I do this to the midsection of wing .

[abbeytheferret6]

  After removing drumette, I cut the midsection with scissors between those two little bones.

[raynebc]

10% of the diet should be heart or otherwise a muscle that is high in taurine. Try contacting that grind's manufacturer or vendor to see if they can provide information about this. If they can't provide this info, you may want to add hearts or taurine supplement.

[eef]

They're week old chicks, meant for large snakes I think. I thought the feathers would be good for them too so I got the older chicks.

I've tried cutting up chicken wings and he won't have them.
I can get carcasses including heart and lung and neck; and he won't have offal.

But I hope minced in with the rest (as it is in the stuff I've ordered - coming from Wales!) it'll be okay. I plan to gradually shift over from kibble to the grind and chicks and then start offering wingtips and then try offal again (chicken heart, lungs, kidney).

[abbeytheferret6]

To get mine to eat organs, I had to blend them up in blender to make a soupie. I then finger fed them with them sitting in my lap. Once they have eaten several licks, they may go ahead and eat out of saucer. I have to get one of mine started like this most of the time.

U can store  the blended organs in ice cube tray ---and after it is frozen, put cubes in a freezer baggie.

[eef]

Well, as I mentioned, our wee carpet shark will not take a traditional soupie.
However, I've had success with the old egg-and-food-mashed-into-a-horrible-looking-paste kind of soupie.

In fact, he's doing pretty well and the current meal in his cage (he stays in there to eat and sleep and is loose the rest of the time unless he poops on the carpet, which is a time out offence) is a first and probably overly optimistic attempt at a non-soupie meal.

Whilst he will eat the food off a fork, he really doesn't seem to want to eat from the bowl*.

Additionally, if he comes across any longer/meatier bits - and by longer/meatier I mean he can't just slurp it down with minimal chewing - he will wander into a corner and chew it with his head in the air for a little while before dropping it and ignoring it. Should I be worried about this behaviour**, and if so, do you have any advice for sorting it out, or is this just a patience situation?
ETA: Come to think of it I probably just need to go back to the soupie stage for a bit longer.

*He's never been fond of having his chin wet and will spend ages wriggling along scooting his chin across the floor to dry it - which is why we call him a carpet shark.

**Aside from the obvious: making sure he is eating enough, and keeping the area clean and safe!


ETA: In other news, as expected, he won't eat any red meats but will devour poultry, and appears to have decided fish isn't the devil, so I'm thinking I'll keep him on the ground chicken or turkey carcasses for a while and slowly introduce red meat as a percentage. Also, as he cleared the bowl including all the more sizeable bits of bone with our version of a soupie a few meals back, I have cleared his kibble stash out completely and haven't given him it overnight since then, which is why I was worried about the finickyness of eating. However, I've just realised that moving away from soup has probably just happened too quickly, so I'm gonna moisten this meal up and see how he do.

ETA2: I thought I'd try a little hot water instead of egg this time, and finally he is eating from the bowl without egg!