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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 9:28:34 GMT -5
I just adopted another female ferret the person who had her before me was feeding her a pet store brand of kibble with no ingredients listed on it at all. I gave her a taste of chicken wing to see how she would like it (shes only between 3-5 months so I figured I’d just throw some meat in there and see what happened like I did with my other ferret at her age who was the easiest to transition like 2 weeks and she was fully eating raw) she chewed at it a bit but I noticed she didn’t really eat any of it, and I left it in for a while to see if maybe she would just get hungry and eat what she had but no luck she ate nothing until I gave back her kibble. this morning I gave them both egg and she didn’t really get it until I gave her some off my finger then she took a few licks out of the plate and went off to play while My Other ferret finished the entire thing lol. now that my first ferret is on a fully raw diet, do you think she will kind of show my new girl that this is food or should I start her slower? I don’t want to house them together until she is off kibble cause I don’t want my raw fed ferret eating that. Thanks for any advice!
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Post by Charlie on Oct 16, 2018 10:30:52 GMT -5
You may have to persuade her to eat more by feeding her with you finger and offering her pieces. My ferret took to raw food very quickly too, just like your first ferret.
Could she be older then what the girl told you?
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Post by Heather on Oct 16, 2018 11:42:05 GMT -5
Try doing some hand feeding. You just need to kick start the process. A little one on one never hurts ciao
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 11:48:19 GMT -5
Charlie She could be older, she came from a friend of mine and she got her from a pet store and you know how they come with Marshalls pamphlets giving their birthday? well the guy just handed us a pamphlet and said "cant find hers but she's from around the same time" so he could have just been saying whatever to us.. her teeth are pretty white tho so def under a year... she soooo skinny tho I can feel her ribs, I really want to get her off of this unbranded no ingredients listed kibble. (she's the lighter one my darker one is my chonkster)
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 11:50:33 GMT -5
Heather whats a good beginner food that most of them like? my jonbenet (the darker one I've had for a few months) LOVES hearts like goes crazy on heart nights and she's picky about liver
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Post by crazylady on Oct 16, 2018 13:05:36 GMT -5
Hi try a little ground beef ( they dont have to chew they just have to swallow lol ) add in a little oil if she likes oil if she is the type that will possibly lap at a plate make it sloppy for the first week ( add in an egg yolk or a little goats milk blended tog ) slowly make it firmer so she ends up having to put it in her mouth and chew you dont have to stick to a diet of ground beef try ground chicken any meat can be chopped up small add in liver and heart to create a different taste ( mine get a different meat every day but mine eat whole prey ) also leave a feed for her in her cage last thing at night ( a lot of ferrets eat from dusk to dawn ) once her hunger begins nudging her she wont starve herself she will eat I have seen so many decide nope not eating that I leave it over night next morning its gone lol ferrets are cute they know they can pull on heart strings and get what they want lol Bev
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 13:14:20 GMT -5
Thank you! ill try the tonight!!
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Post by Charlie on Oct 16, 2018 15:08:34 GMT -5
Yes, I have heard about Marshall ferrets getting any certificate because obviously the people at the pet store don't keep them organized. Lol. Lots of people will start with a soup when they are switching their ferrets to raw. Like you with Jonbenet, I never had to do that with with mine. Your new little girl is a cutie too! I love pictures of ferrets!
My sister got a little kit and she took to small pieces of meat right away as well. I think my sister's ferret is completely on raw now too!
When out playing try offering her some really tiny pieces of raw meat too! Like a bit of beef. If I make the pieces tiny enough, my ferret will eat it right there. If the pieces are too big then he will run off and try to hide it. I get Charlie to stand up his hind legs to get his treat and even roll over. Lol. Sometimes I take either ground beef, turkey or duck grind and make tiny little meat balls and give as treats.
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 16:12:08 GMT -5
I called up the pet store to see if I could get some ingredients to her kibble and they don't even know!! is it okay for me to just take her off that entirely and put in the raw foods , I have plenty of beef cubes I can cut up small as well or make into a little soupie as well as lamb and chicken breasts or will she actually stave herself rather then eat it?
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Post by Charlie on Oct 16, 2018 16:41:36 GMT -5
Wow, that's terrible that the pet store couldn't help. What some people have done too is add a bit of kibble into the soup to get them started to eating the raw and mushing up. You can also keep feeding her food by hand like Heather suggested. You can try taking the kibble away completely for a day and see if she will eat the raw food. Is she in with Jonbenet or in her own cage?
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 16:50:05 GMT -5
Charlie she's in her own cage as of right now, jonbenet is super playful with her when they're free roaming or if they're both in the new girls cage, but she gets kind of aggressive when I put them both in jonbenets cage, so for now they've been sleeping separate.
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Post by Heather on Oct 16, 2018 17:45:29 GMT -5
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 17:53:03 GMT -5
Thank you Heather. I guess having an easy baby to transition first was both a blessing and a cruse!
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Post by Heather on Oct 16, 2018 18:08:48 GMT -5
I don't think she will be particularly difficult if she's the age they say she is ciao
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Post by vikkayf on Oct 16, 2018 18:18:42 GMT -5
I hope so! I'm gonna try to get some good pics of her teeth tonight when I get home from work just to try and make sure!
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