Commercial Raw Nuggets : Teeth? Eating kibble as well?

[Deleted]

I finally got my Bunny onto commercial raw thanks to this board! He has gained a large mount of (healthy) weight and his vet is very please with his progress. 

However, I am concerned about his teeth. At first, it seemed like his teeth were cleaner but I've noticed his canines getting worse. I'm assuming because he only eats the nuggets not whole bone? I've been leaving out kibble to see if it would help with his teeth and my findings were inconclusive. His vet says it is probably the most natural progression of things as he is of unknown age (I've had him for four years, so he's at least four!).

I'm attempting to out-stubborn him to maybe a frakenprey diet eventually but he won't even eat the commercial nuggets without them being soupy-fied. Is there anyway to help his teeth besides actually bone? He refuses to eat anything besides his kibble and the commercial raw (soup version). I even got him a toothbrush but he won't stay still long enough for me to brush them. 

As previously stated, I also leave out his kibble for him. He eats Wysong Epigen 90. Besides the issue with his teeth, he sometimes gets into the mood where the only thing he will eat is Kibble. He won't even lick his raw food during this time and will starve himself for the entire day until I give in. I understand that it's kind of a no-no but his condition with the liver cancer, possible adrenal, and random bouts of gastristasis really worries me so I give in. 

However, I read an article on here about the adverse reaction of having him consume kibble and raw so close together in time? I think it was along the lines of super bacterial surge in his gut... Am I harming him more than I am helping? 

Thank you for reading! Any advice is appreciated. 

[Sherry]

Kibble will actually make his teeth worse. And eating both too close together can cause bacterial overgrowth in the gut needing antibiotics.
If he isn't crunching up actual bones he will need his teeth brushed at least once a week.

[flamecat]

Possible adrenal and liver cancer, as far as I know, are not contraindications to complete RAW diet. Actually, if adrenal is diagnosed, I would consider switching him to complete balanced RAW since insulinoma usually goes hand by hand with the adrenal.
Kibble really is not good for teeth (there's a nice article on this matter by Bob C, you can google it).
If he doesn't want to eat bones for now, you should try giving him cartilages first, "softer" bones of prey like quail. Muscle meat is also good at cleaning dental plaque. You can also try to give your ferret small mice/rats if it is not contrary to your moral principles.

[Deleted]

Congrats on getting Bunny onto commercial raw. I won't lie, I almost had a heartattack before I realised that Bunny was a name and you didn't transition an actual bunny onto raw hahahaha. Love the name though.


I am not quite sure I understand what you mean by nugget. Are you saying he's eating chopped up small pieces of bone, or are they nuggets of muscle meat or ground commercial raw nuggets? (I assume you mean the last one I said.)  Commercial raw, grinds, basically any diet lacking in actual fleshy bone in meats will not help much for the teeth. Muscle meat alone will not help much for dental plaque or tartar build up. Gizzards may help to some degree as they are very chewy, however nothing cleans teeth like real bone in meats or wholeprey items. I do recommend you try and get some bones in his diet for sure and eventually cut out the kibble so that you can have him entirely on a balanced raw diet for his health. Feeding bone in meats is so much easier in the long run than it is to brush ferret teeth. 

Unfortunately, it is not ideal to feed raw and kibble at the same time.  There has been some anecdotal cases to show that it may contribute to bacterial overgrowth in the gut of the ferret, possibly because the two cause stress on the gastrointestinal tract. It is recommended to have some time in between feeding raw and kibble.