making the SWITCH!

[ashes]

Hello everyone! im new and i have 2 beautiful female ferrets. Their names are Nymphadora and Neara. They are both 3 years old but i have had them for almost 4 months now and was given them by a friend from a rescue. to be honest i have been afraid to post pictures on facebook because they are small for being 3 years old and people can be so mean. but they have ate cat kibble their entire life up until a couple weeks i finally have them eating wysong 90. but i want so bad for them to eat a healthy raw diet. i had almost given up hope but then someone told me about holistic ferret form and the mentor program. i hope its a game changer! i love my ferrets so much and want to give them a long lasting health loving life!  

this is Neara


this is Nymphadora

[lee]

Hello and welcome. Your friend done good telling you about this forum, t will help you loads with the switch. All of my nine ferrets are on raw, but it's easier in the uk because most of them are read on it. But your right it's so much better for them. Don't worry about there size, Jill's are small and some are even smaller, I've got 4 Jill's and they are all small, even more so when there beside the jobs.  
Your ferrets look ok to me. Hope you enjoy the forum and find it as helpful and interesting and sometimes funny as we all do 

[LindaM]

Hey there, welcome to the forum! People can always be mean, sometimes it's as simple as them just being poorly educated. Don't let it get you down! I have a female, she's full grown and she's a tiny mite! Some ferrets are what we call a whippet build, they tend to be on the smaller and leaner side compared to others who might have a bulldog build, which is bigger and stocky.

You made a great choice in joining the forum and deciding on getting your girls switched to a natural, raw diet.
I suggest to start going through the links contained in the one I will link below. It will get you started on learning about a balanced raw diet for your girls.
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17480/intro-raw-newbies-read

[Sherry]

Hi and welcome Coming from someone who owned 3 girls who never went over 650 grams- your girls are perfect
Best bet- read and sign the mentoring program, then start a thread of your own in diet transitions while waiting!

[ashes]

UPDATE

i went out and bought all the stuff for the soup and made some last night only i didn't blend it because it was so late. but i chopped everything really fine so it wasn't really a soup i didn't watch them eat i was finishing up our own dinner. but i did notice it looked like they nosed around in it so early this morning i made the soup expect with out the hearts (we had fried liver and hearts for supper)i put some in bowl to hand feed and the rest in egg holders and put them in the freezer. i got Nym out to trim nails and try and get him to like the taste except i didn't have to try he was quite excited about it and ate 2 spoon fulls before wanting down to play. so next was Neara's turn she didn't really want to eat it though but i managed to get a couple bites in before letting her down i cleaned out their cage and placed what was left in the bowl in their cage and placed them back in. i finished up clean up the mess they made with their toys and go back to check on the soup........ IT WAS ALL GONE!!! I'm so happy for Nym and i hope Neara isn't far behind. getting another out to thaw to room temp. 

[ashes]

today i will be trying to get Neara to eat the soupie on her own. Nym loves it. im going to have to buy some bigger molds lol. i want to start a blog on here but im not sure how to yet or where i would start it. i have started to write down there weight and all the info even printed out some tracking sheets so i can write things through out the day and wont forget anything 

[Sherry]

That's why we have THIS board holisticferret60.proboards.com/board/66/diet-transitions
It's for tracking self switches

[mermaidsirena]

Sounds like you are off to a great start! Good luck!!

[olenka]

Congrats! It took you only 1 day to make them eating soup! It was much longer for my fuzz butts

[LindaM]

How are you and your girls doing with the switch, ashes? Is Neara willing to eat the soup by herself yet? Any progress moving Nym onward to minced or slivers?

[ohreli]

Welcome to the forum! I'm also new to the forum as well.

Seems like you're progressing smoothly too!

[ashes]

Hello its been a couple days since i've posted updates. neara is eating the soup by her self =) i wanted to see what they would do with a chicken leg. but it wasn't much lol. not there yet. neara licked it and nym drug it to her tent and hid it under the mat. i pulled it out so they wouldn't forget it. nym seem more interested in live pray lately like watching my rats. should i get a pinky to try or is it to early to try??

[ashes]

i have a new camera coming Thursday so i will be able to take pictures and videos and upload them more easily

[LindaM]

Some people do try live feeding with their ferrets, there are things to keep in mind though. Some animals can harm your ferret trying to defend their lives, eg. a rat could seriously hurt your ferret in a live-hunt and is best served pre-culled. Not all ferrets are good hunters, some will play with their prey or just totally bungle the kill, which means you need to step in and finish the job for them.

You can offer pinkies to ferrets, but keep in mind that baby animals are snacks/treats only, they do not count as a meal at all. But they can be a gateway to offering Whole Prey. Prey the size of rats and upward should be gutted though, or your ferrets will make an ungodly mess of bloody art using the entrails flung all over the place.

If they are eating soupie by themselves without you needing to entice them, then you can go ahead and add a few slivers in with the soup, and as they get used to eating them, increase until you are giving just slivers. You can increase the size as you go along as well. This chart can be helpful:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/4341/standardized-sizing-etc-meats

You can still try to get them to eat a whole thing, I would try a chicken wing above a chicken leg though, softer bones for beginners. You can tie it to a stick like a cat chaser toy and see if it will interest them in biting and chewing on it during play with it.

[LindaM]

Hey ashes! How is the switch going for you guys? Any new progress, any stumbling blocks?