Favorite commercial raw?

[elliottsmama]

I'm not ready to go to whole food yet, but would like to move towards raw.  What is the best/favorite commercial raw?  Do I need to get two different kinds, or three?  I know I need to rotate foods to avoid pickiness.  Should that be brand or flavor within the same brand? 

Thanks!

[LindaM]

Do you mean the commercial grind frozen raw? I've found that my babies easily accept Stella & Chewys Frozen and Freeze-dried (I rehydrate the FDR), and NV Instinct Frozen Rawbites and Freeze-dried (FDR mostly as treats, sometimes rehydrated). You should do a variety for them, yes. Mine will eat rabbit, chicken, duck, beef, lamb, turkey, etc.

[Lily]

I highly recommend offering your ferrets a variety of meat.

I've fed Bold Raw for a few years, until realizing it wasn't the best quality of meat and ripping me off financially. I currently feed Raw Performance and Congo. They get beef, chicken, turkey, duck, and sometimes rabbit if they feel like eating it.

[elliottsmama]

I ordered a variety of high quality kibble while I figure it out. He was on Marshall at the store so I've kept him on there while I transition. I feel too uneducated about raw to start right away. I'm intimidated and worried I'll mess up and make him sick or something. Ideally I would like to do a combination of freeze dried and frankenprey, but do not see myself ever feeding him whole prey. I just feel too lost at the moment to know exactly where to start. So I figure the high quality kibble is good in the next couple weeks while I figure it out.

He's not even 8wks yet so I feel like I have at least a couple weeks to help him imprint on the raw. Or is it bad to transition him to new kibble and then transition him from raw? I like the idea of freeze dried for convenience when we go out of town, but also allowing him to have real meat.

[LindaM]

Just remember to rehydrate the freeze-dried with some hot water, if you don't your ferret can get dehydrated.

My ferrets are on a partial premium blend of kibble and partial raw. They'll usually get their raw in the early morning, and early evening. I will usually take the kibble bowls away for a few hours when I put raw out, as they can get a bacterial overgrowth inside if they eat both the raw and kibble very close to each other, other than that there is always kibble available to anyone who might be hungry.

And you need to remember to brush your ferret's teeth regularly when you kibble feed.

And as for the transition, it's all up to you. Since he's young, he will probably take to the raw pretty easy compared to ferrets who have already passed the imprinting stage. If you're having troubles, well, you can't let your ferret starve, and they WILL starve themselves if you give only a food they don't see as food yet, so then let him have the kibble. As long as you ordered kibbles from the green or blue marked (preferably all, or mostly green) kibbles from this kibble chart: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ugt4k4JPUw8X-WDsxbbOIBUqIKkTubrkpyba4YsUeEg it should be okay.

Using both FDR (rehydrated) and frankenprey works pretty well (I doubt I'll be able to do the whole prey myself too). On the odd day my ferrets seem iffy about really eating their raw or if they ever feel ill and refuse to eat, I know they will enjoy a soupie made from some crushed up and rehydrated FDR. I've also used the frozen raw grinds and mashed them up with some warm water to make a soupie, it also helps when your ferret is picky to get him to eat that and then slowly transition to him eating it as normal versus a soup form.

[Lily]

Typically for commercial raw, it's already balanced for you so you don't have to worry much about portions! Just make sure you offer a variety of meat, as each meat benefits ferrets in different ways. For example, duck is higher in fat compared to chicken.

As for preparing any kind of meat, just make sure you follow proper handling protocol and you will be fine. I'm very picky with how my meat is handled. I will portion out the meat, freeze into small bags, and thaw it out in the fridge. I will not keep it in my fridge, completely thawed, longer than 3 days. As for leaving out the meat, I know some people leave it out for 24 hours, but I personally don't feel comfortable doing that. I throw out any uneaten meat within 6 hours, max. However, usually if I am home and they don't eat it right away when I feed them, I'll try to encourage them or put it back in the fridge for later.

Commercial raw is a great way to start in my opinion. Diet is already balanced and portioned out for you, so all you have to do is handle the meat appropriately and feed... As well as feed a variety of different meat! Just remember for any grind/minced meat, your ferret will need some teeth brushing or mine have needed it at least.

[Deleted]

I have a question to add to this I'm wondering if the frozen raw Instinct brand is ok I don't believe I've seen a cat version of this it's only dog but I know General dog products are not sufficient

[LindaM]

@saphirelock Both cat and dog versions of NV Instinct Rawbites are fine, as well as Stella & Chewys. Some of the meats will be branded for dog only, like most of the beef and lamb ones, but they can still be given to your ferret. I suggest to start with the trial bags those are usually $3.99-4.99, so you can try a variety of them.