The diet transition of Vanille and Zoé

[aline]

You cannot imagine how much I love Vanille and Zoé, my 5,5 months old female kits. We went through ECE and a worm. Now that they are in good health, I try to organise the switch

Today, I have to say that it is not going too bad, except that... they only have one raw protein source: chicken. They have been eating the soup from a teaspoon for about a week now. Zoé even takes some from the plate and goes away with a small bite... that she won’t usually eat. But she eats from a teaspoon.

This is already a big victory. Oh of course, they still eat Carnivore Care. But they don’t eat kibble any longer. I am proud of them. Very...

[LindaM]

Hey Aline! Poor girls sounds like you three have been through the ringer already. When starting the raw switch, they'll be on a single protein for a bit, that's not a problem, as long as your final diet doesn't end up with one protein, haha. We suggest the 3-4 different protein minimum because of how the levels of nutrients vary in proteins, and because some proteins can be problematic to some ferrets. Offering a wide variety allows you to cover all the bases. But for now, you can stick with the one protein and get them to eat it consistently.

Will they eat the soup by themselves from the bowl at all, or only take a mouthful and leave with it like Zoé's being doing?

And yes, big pat on the back for joining the land of no more kibble! Since these girls are still kits and food is very important for them to grow big and strong, are you feeding them their meals with the spoon at every meal then or do they get the CC offered to them in a bowl?

[aline]

Hi LindaM,

Good questions. Vanille and Zoé do not react in the same way:
1) Zoé is the one who can take some meat from the plate, and then eat it or more often hide it. However, when I feed Vanille, she likes coming on me,
2) Vanille waits for being picked up to eat. I don’t really hold her. She holds by herself.

When I give them Carnivore Care, it is before going to bed: they eat it by themselves as it is very appealing to them. In the morning, I can. It is that they have eaten it all. When they didn’t eat, when they were sick, I gave it to them. I think Vanille likes it.

When I’m home, they like following me everywhere (I’m pretty sure that don’t remember what a cage is).

As to the sources of proteins, I want them to eat what is best for them. Everyday, on our FB forum, I read that ferrets are no longer with us. I know I need to be patient. This battle is not won yet, but yes, it is a good start.

Over the last two days, I have noticed much progress interns of quantities eaten. I am proud of these two sisters. I’ld like them to start eating more diversified sources.

[aline]

I am so happy to see Vanille and Zoé eat their soup: isn’t it great? Zoé eats from the plate for a little bit, from the spoon and in my arms. Vanille especially eats in my arms and a bit from the spoon. They eat with appetite. I am so proud of them. I added pictures on the FB forum.

However, I found soft stools yesterday, with what looked like egg shells little squares. I’ll ask their vet what to do. They had their worm treatment last month and the stool analysis has shown that there had no parasite.

However, the same analysis showed that one of them, probably Zoé, has blood in her stools. I give them probiotics.

They are fully supervised. They play, are happy and live in full freedom, like to interact with us, so I hope it is nothing wrong.

[aline]

I realise that my girls do not eat when they are on their own. But, as soon as someone is with them to feed them , usually my mum when I work or me, they eat.

[aline]

I went to the supermarket and bought chicken breast, heart and lever, a bit of duck and of rabbit. I’ll mix a bit of the last two meats with chicken.

[aline]

Yesterday, I spent the day at a dog show in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It had snowed and the way back to Belgium was tough. As I was tired when I arrived home, I gave Vanille and Zoé their soup but did not give it to them with a teaspoon, and left them to it.

This morning, I saw that they had not touched it. They were hungry. Zoé told me in a hundred ways that she wanted to eat now and was climbing on me every two seconds to check on what I was doing.

She made me laugh. She was speaking to me making little sounds. Vanille was as hungry, but left Zoé do the talking.

It was a good test though that showed what? Why did not they eat in their own?

[aline]

Following another piece of advice I left a spoon in the plate: it works.

I have prepared about 20 bags of meat (4 chicken hearts, 7g of chicken liver and chicken alone or chicken plus another type of meat, be it beef, veal or duck). I cannot fine anything like the pancreas, ...

They will receive one bag every two days + egg shell. Otherwise, every other day, she will receive deep frozen commercial ground meat, that is human grade. I have selected a large panel of meat types.

Is it good? I’ll continue with the soup until they have tasted every meat type and until they eat on their own. Is it also OK?

[Sherry]

Sorry we dropped this! As they are at present eating soup, is it puree or does it have texture? Are you adding grinds to it, or slivers?