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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2016 9:23:05 GMT -5
Hi everyone  I have one female ferret about 6 months old. When i got her, she was on Marshals ferret Kibble.. I started switching her to raw. I did the soupy and quickly transitioned her to a full raw diet. I based my weekly menu off of the example menu under the natural diet board. I am pregnant and couldn't handle the hearts and such .. it literally made me sick. I wanted to give her the next best thing, and read that people prefer Orijen if going the kibble route. My girl has been SO itchy. She falls out of her hammock to itch herself from a dead sleep. I am not able to do a full raw diet, but I want to give her the best that I am able without throwing off the balanced kibble diet. I will list below the first two lines of ingredients in the Orijen Red feed: Boneless wild boar, boneless lamb, boneless beef, beef liver, boneless pork, whole herring, pork liver, beef meal, lamb meal, herring meal, salmon meal, pollock meal, lamb fat, green lentils, chickpeas, red lentils, bison, whole egg, yellow peas, beef tripe I know that the lentils and chickpeas are reason for concern.. Also so many boneless ingredients early on.. Can someone give me some advice. I am not able to provide a full raw diet at this time as my stomach can not tolerate it (still) at 7 months pregnant. Is there another kibble I could offer that others have had good luck with? Could I offer her some raw chicken wings or thighs with her kibble diet to up the fat content to possibly alleviate some of her itching? Any advice will be highly appreciated Jess |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2016 10:19:35 GMT -5
I would do freeze dried raw instead of kibble. Much healthier. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2016 11:57:39 GMT -5
Is there a freeze dried raw that you would prefer?
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Post by Sherry on Aug 28, 2016 12:01:54 GMT -5
Stella and Cheweys is good. FDR is very expensive though. Is there anyone who could handle the hearts etc for you until you get past this stage? If not, then if you can get commercial frozen raw it would be even better(and less expensive) than FDR.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2016 23:03:45 GMT -5
At 6months old, if you've been switching her from kibble to raw to kibble again I think rather than any particular food it might just be the changes making her so itchy. It could also be unrelated to diet such as her growing out fur etc. and in any case to do a full food-allergy 'test' generally you take them off of something for 6months to see if the problems can be alleviated so I wouldn't immediately assume its the Orijen-red that is the cause, especially since it sounds like she's still getting the Marshall's out of her system.
If you're concerned you can try their other two formulas and see if that helps at all. I usually rotate all 3 formulas to prevent food sensitivities or pickiness. Rolo is 6.5yrs old and he has always eaten Orijen since I got him (as a baby) along with pre made raw food. I'll be honest there aren't many other kibbles I would ever suggest feeding, but if you REALLY want off of Orijen, petcurean's Go! can be a good choice and I have fed that in a pinch when Orijen had their kitchen fire, as well as certain Nature's Variety Instinct formulas - but beware not all their meat is sourced from North America so do your research if you go with a NV kibble.
As for FDR... I'm not knocking it per say, but unless you want a VERY smelly ferret I wouldn't feed Stella&Chewy's FDR. Not to mention their problems with recalls etc... I would definitely just be safe and steer clear of them. You can try other brands as a short term solution during your pregnancy, but I would definitely vouch for pre-made raw over FDR anyday,
Also, I know there are different opinions on this than mine, but as I've always fed Rolo kibble in cage 24/7 with a large PMR meal every night & occasional meaty bones I see no reason not to add things here and there to supplement a kibble diet.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 11:59:24 GMT -5
Henrika, Rolo is so handsome! And a clear photo is so rare  I had her on an all raw diet for a bit and the itching did lessen. I don't think I could withstand making an all raw diet again.. my freezer is small and it was so time consuming for me.. along with the nausea OI!! I would prefer to feed raw, but the time it takes up and the space is just too much for me... especially once I have a newborn. If you feed raw, could you list your daily meal plan?? That was something else confusing for me.. I know there is a mentor program on here, but I don't have the time for a check in 3 times a week :/ Thank you! Jess |
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Post by raynebc on Aug 29, 2016 14:24:16 GMT -5
The menu will come down to what you can get locally and what you're willing to buy online. I spend an average of 2.5 - 3.5 hours per week prepping ferret meals, but others are a lot more efficient than I am. As an example, here's what I feed:
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2016 13:04:26 GMT -5
Henrika, Rolo is so handsome! And a clear photo is so rare I had her on an all raw diet for a bit and the itching did lessen. I don't think I could withstand making an all raw diet again.. my freezer is small and it was so time consuming for me.. along with the nausea OI!! I would prefer to feed raw, but the time it takes up and the space is just too much for me... especially once I have a newborn. If you feed raw, could you list your daily meal plan?? That was something else confusing for me.. I know there is a mentor program on here, but I don't have the time for a check in 3 times a week :/ Thank you! Jess Thanks! That was from quite a few years ago now, I'm glad we got some good pictures since we've been having trouble maintaining a nice tail since his adrenal diagnosis and now he's having a weird skin issue, and we're struggling to find a new vet to diagnose it for us. I only do pre made raw - so there is no meal planning for me, but I know there are many others on the forum who can help with that. PMR is supposed to be a balanced, complete diet so we don't worry too much. The only thing I do is rotate the meat sources - our last brand had duck/turkey/chicken/beef/salmon/rabbit so I'd buy a new protein each time, barring the beef and salmon as his kibbles were generally the red meat orijen or the 6-fish orijen, as we only occasionally bought the cat&kitten formula. Rolo always did fine on that one, but I feed the same food to my cats and one of my cats doesn't do well with too much chicken. He eats at least an oz. of pre made raw food per day, sometimes more if I have a late start as then I'll also feed him breakfast. I just defrost what I need for that meal and feed with a little extra water to make up for eating kibble the rest of the day - better for his kidneys etc. I try to buy the pre made formulas that come as extruded small chunks rather than medallions because they defrost in minutes and then there is no planning required for me. I also will put a squirt of his (salmon currently) oil on his raw food every so often as an extra treat. He knows when he's getting dinner as its part of his routine. I don't even take kibble out of his cage he knows to wait for his dinner, and when I put it on his food shelf he will race over immediately to eat as soon as I put out for him. As for cost, I'm sure PMR is far more expensive than making it yourself, but I find the convenience well worth it. |
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