Ran out of kibble, time to switch?

[motherofgryffindor]

I am out of Griffindor and Lunas kibble, I was wondering if I should buy chicken, hearts and liver tomorrow or should I get kibble and have it around if they don't take to the soupie.

Bottom line is I want to switch them but untill Friday I only have money for one or the other and I don't want them to get hungry and get unhealthy from not eating, so should I wait to get raw food when I have kibble back up or is it "keep trying they will eat when they get hungry" logic.

[Sherry]

I know many rescues get ferrets in with none of their own food so have to do hard switches. Those are very time consuming but do work. For raw do the soup, but you have to dedicate a good part of the day to it. From doing "grab and dab"(grab ferret every 5-10 minutes, dab soup on nose, and release. Repeat) After an hour or so of this offer from finger first while on lap, then from spoon. If you can get a couple ounces a day into them you are good. Put in a bit of soup on a flat dish when they go back in cage.
If you DON'T have that kind of time- get the kibble.

[motherofgryffindor]

I have plenty of time, and i tried making a small soupie for them with chicken and I tried what you said but Griffindor just isn't having it and its been a few hours now of trying. thankfully my hubby picked up some kibble for them on his lunch break so I'm just gunna do that.

[LindaM]

I agree with Sherry. Having kibble around, can make a switch easier (gives you more time to work with them to get them on the raw and not starve themselves), but it can also make it harder too if you let it. There's a rather fine line. So keep up with the Grab'n'Dab sessions, be persistent and patient with it, but don't stop with it or go very long without trying some more, because at that stage your ferrets can learn to just "hold out" for their kibble. Which can make it a lot harder for you.

Once your ferrets will eat willingly (without you needing to intervene with something such as spoon feeding or starting with a finger) from the soup, you can safely remove all kibble entirely, as they will see the soup as food by then.

Good luck and let us know how they do with the soup over the next few days!