seiah
New member
Posts: 3
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Post by seiah on May 13, 2019 11:12:42 GMT -5
Health advice needed please
1.5 year old male ferret (marshalls) Bu
Backstory: As of last Saturday May 5th, Bu was refusing to eat his kibble and drink water. Naturally we did the blockage protocol. He was passing normal poops without any issues after the protocol. Sunday he started eating soup (his kibble ground up with a coffee grinder and mixed with water)
Bu went to the vet on Monday and had imagery , bloodwork and a full examination. His imagery showed no blockages and healthy organs. His blood panel showed he was fighting a infection and had inflammation. Bu was started on a antibiotic, nausea medicine and a anti inflammatory.
As of right now he is his normal self, playful and happy except one thing. He will not eat dry kibble, or drink water on his own still. Right now he is getting his daily water intake and kibble through his soupy.
I intend to begin grinding his kibble less fine and gradually ween him to full sized kibble soaked.
My major concern is getting him successfully eating his kibble and drinking water outside a soup. Have any of you had this issue? If so what was your solution. I just called my vet to follow up, he is currently in surgery so I am waiting for a return call.
Side note: he is maintaining his normal weight, he is hydrated and poops look normal
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Post by unclejoe on May 13, 2019 17:01:20 GMT -5
why are you grinding his kibble? what's the advantage of soaked kibble? you could use the opportunity to introduce some ground meat into his diet in soup form to replace some of the kibble. That's how we started getting ours off Marshall's, and they took to it quickly. Ground meat (ours are stuck on turkey) has a lot of moisture.
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seiah
New member
Posts: 3
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Post by seiah on May 13, 2019 20:59:25 GMT -5
why are you grinding his kibble? what's the advantage of soaked kibble? you could use the opportunity to introduce some ground meat into his diet in soup form to replace some of the kibble. That's how we started getting ours off Marshall's, and they took to it quickly. Ground meat (ours are stuck on turkey) has a lot of moisture. Let me explain why my ferrets are not on raw as of right now. We live in a remote town in Alaska, let me emphasis on that. We do not have to available options for a proper mixture to go raw. Not to mention consistent shipments in town. Being remote in a small landlocked (only way in and out is by sea and plane , a 4 hour minimum flight) town it limits many options for us in terms of food and a variety of food. I cannot do raw due to these inconsistencies. This is not a choice for us for atleast 1 more year. I am stationed here and will be moving next May and able to go raw then. I am very pro raw, its not a option right now. He is NOT on Marshalls food and never will be. He is on turkey and duck wellness core. The reason I'm grinding it and making it a soup is because that's the only way he will eat it since he got sick. I understand this is a holistic forum and I understand everyone advocates raw, but please understand our circumstances. I am reaching out for advice on how to get him back to solid food when he is turning it down since he got sick. As a update my vet notified me that he will be reaching out to other vets as he feels he has IBD but still stumped as to why he is being picky.
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Post by libbylooper on May 13, 2019 21:10:21 GMT -5
why are you grinding his kibble? what's the advantage of soaked kibble? you could use the opportunity to introduce some ground meat into his diet in soup form to replace some of the kibble. That's how we started getting ours off Marshall's, and they took to it quickly. Ground meat (ours are stuck on turkey) has a lot of moisture. Well, that's an awfully condescending thing for you to say to a person asking for help. She seems to have found a solution to get her boy to eat, and you're patronizing her. Rude.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on May 14, 2019 8:35:07 GMT -5
I do not think he had all the details(remote town and all) and I think it was an excellent idea and would be an opportune time to get his ferret on a raw diet. Soupies are how the forum recommends starting ferrets(except babies and those special few) on a raw diet.
I think that would be a great idea. My first male would knock his bowl of kibble against his water bowl and it would splash water in it---I would hear it clang and change it.-It took a few times for me to realize he wanted water in his food because kibbles r so dry. That is how he preferred eating kibble, so I let him do it after that. Even a couple of my raw eaters like a little water in their saucer of raw meat.
Of course once you do that, you will need to throw it out and give fresh kibble for the next meal as it kind of gets rubbery and may harbor bacteria.
Also after having surgery, it might be a good idea to have him on soft food for a little bit--but I will let others give opinion on that. Do tell us know how he is doing.
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Post by Heather on May 14, 2019 10:40:06 GMT -5
[/quote]Well, that's an awfully condescending thing for you to say to a person asking for help. She seems to have found a solution to get her boy to eat, and you're patronizing her. Rude.[/quote] First off...it's not rude. This is a raw feeding site, we do not support kibble, that's simple. On the forum, some kibble discussion is allowed on the FaceBook page it's forbidden. There was no other information provided, so the logical question is why? Now that all information is available we can deal with this appropriately. I do not feed kibble at all, have not done in over 30 yrs. I do understand your reasoning regarding supply, so my suggestion is to get back to your dry unadulterated kibble as soon as possible in whatever method you need to do to get your ferret to comply. I strongly suggest though until you do to brush your ferret's teeth daily as the ground and moistened kibble will become cement on your ferret's teeth, causing serious damage. ciao
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Post by unclejoe on May 14, 2019 21:08:01 GMT -5
I really only wanted to know why the ferrent is grinding the kibble. Soaking kibble long enough to get it mushy takes time. And they may not like mushy kibble. I've tried it without success. I've seen Marshall ferrets in pens at pet stores with big bowls of wetted Marshall ferret food that was dried into concrete. I use ground kibble to flavor raw, because they are familiar with the flavor. It's not the main ingredient in the soups. It is far more important to get the fuzz to eat anything that has nutritional value than to starve them if they refuse to switch or feed them crap ferret food. I expected an answer from the ferrent, from which point we could have a discussion and offer advice. I've been at this for over a decade and have adopted ferrets that were fed crap and got insulinoma before their 3rd birthdays. The members and staff here, with hundreds of years of combined experience, are all about feeding raw, but sometimes it's difficult or impossible. seiah You are the ferrent and we are glad that you have found us. You do what you think is best as you are able. We have had members and guests from all over the world and we know the challenges of caring for our little fursnakes. Please feel free to ask anything and we will do our best to help.
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