Several Questions

[Jessi]

    So I've had a couple of things over the last few weeks that I've considered posting about so I'm just going to mishmash it.

     My youngest just turned 2 and the other two are 3ish. I just want to add that at this point I don't feel comfortable trying to go full raw, but I thought I could start encouraging raw type treats and if they really take to it possibly switch over in the future.  I wanted to know what types of meats would be best to offer. The local store have a fair chicken selection and my Mum is getting some pigs butchered soon so I'm about to have easy access to pork.  Anything else besides fish or calf liver starts getting expensive/hard to find.  I'm also offering raw egg because I read it helps in shedding season and my boys look like angora's right now.

    My next concern is about some things they're already eating.  My little Shiro won't touch anything but his kibble but his brother has a thing for cat and dog food. He's teaching my baby Zulu to eat it to and I'm somewhat concerned that this might cause digestive upset. I do try to keep it out of their reach mostly but  my pets spaces overlap some. My last diet question is that my baby Zulu thinks anything he sees going into my mouth should also go in his (except what I want him to eat).  Is it safe that I sometimes let him try something to prove that he wont like it? It's usually drinks or sweet stuff he goes after, like strawberry milkshake. I literally can't have him in the room if I have a milkshake.

My last question is that my boy Hoshi sometimes attacks the cats and I'm afraid I'll have to get rid of him if he hurts one of them.  Are their any tricks to getting him to leave them alone?  He seems to have calmed down about my dog naturally. I should probably ad that he's 3 and I've only had him about 6 months.

Sorry for the long post. ~Thanks 

  

[Charlie]

Try offering a variety of meats. When I first started switching my ferret at 3 months, I would cut off a little pieces of meat from the meat I was about to cook for myself. If it was chicken that night, I would cut off a bit and offer it, the next night might be beef, etc. He took to it quickly so switching my ferret was easy. The younger they are the easier it may be. The imprint on their food so the younger the better.

Your ferrets eating the dog and cat food would depend on what the ingredients are in the dog or cat food they are eating. There are some higher quality cat foods that ferrets can eat. I wouldn't recommend letting your ferrets eat people food (shakes, drinks, sweet stuff). That will, in the long run, cause insulinoma which is one disease ferrets can get by eating carbohydrates, which broken down into it's simplest form is sugars.

It's instinct that ferrets chase or attack the cats. It's their hunting instincts. Ferrets will hunt rabbits and cats are around the same size so it would make sense they would chase the cats. Make sure that the cats have something that they can jump up onto to get away from the ferrets. Or even better, if the ferrets are in a room then don't allow the cats in there and keep them separated so that no accidents happen. Don't take chances because not all pets will always get along, even with the dog. Just once, the dog could turn and hurt the ferret.

[unclejoe]

Hi there. ferrets should not have any sweets AND DAIRY CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS AS WELL. We avoid corn as much as possible, and dog food does not contain taurine which ferrets and kats need.

[abbeytheferret6]

Jessi can you access this link?
holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/
I do not know if members only can access, but there is a lot of great info on how to feed your ferret. This is what we read when learning about raw.

Below is some suggestions---however ferrets need bone for calcium, and they just can't eat meat without it all the time. So, how to do this correctly is important. I know at the beginning of switching there is a little give and take as far as following the menu---because we are trying to get them use to raw.

I copied this info from the part talking about Variety 
list of food suggestions:
chicken
turkey
pork
beef (also veal)
bison (buffalo)
rabbit
duck
lamb
goat
fish (mackerel, salmon, halibut, etc – also, fish oil is very good for them)
pheasant
quail
venison and other game meats
rodents (mice, rats, african soft furred rats, guinea pigs, etc)
cornish game hen
moose
caribou
kangaroo
goose
emu
heart (is a muscle meat but vital for taurine)
liver and other organs
tongue (a muscle meat; beef tongue specifically is extremely high in taurine)
brain (VERY nutritious organ meat – high in omega fats, taurine, and other nutrients)

lung (great source of iron and Vitamin B, feed as a minimal part of “other organs” Read More)
gizzards (a muscle meat – great for cleaning teeth)
chicken feet (good bone source, best fed with a boneless meat to avoid constipation from too much bone without meat to balance it – i.e. for a bone-in meal you could feed pork chunks with chicken feet)
necks (also a good bone source, may need to be smashed up)
ribs (pork ribs are NOT edible for most ferrets. If your ferret does not eat the bone, it does not count towards their bone content)
Fatty Meats: In general, fattier cuts of meat are preferred. Look around for some pork side, pork belly (not stomach, but the meat), or uncured bacon. It is all essentially the same thing – very fatty pieces of pork. Duck is also high in fat. In some places duck is seasonal, but many Asian markets carry it year round. Also, the thigh meat of poultry tends to be much fattier than breasts. Their natural diet should be pretty high in fat naturally, so unless you have a significantly overweight ferret or are feeding heavily fatty meats as their primary diet, you shouldn’t have to worry about them being too fattening. If anything, they make up for the leanness of chicken.

Shopping for Meat:
Read more in Shopping for Raw

See Raw and Whole Prey Providers

Check Asian markets, Halal meat markets (African markets), other ethnic markets, and butchers. You can always ask if anyone can save scraps or special order for you.
Look around too for a pet store that carries commercially ground raw meats. These are a GREAT way to add variety as they often have proteins that you won’t find in the store, and they usually have organ, heart, and bones ground into them (but not always so be sure to check).
Also if you have trouble finding anything, there are other routes you can take. There are online raw and whole prey providers where you can order commercially ground organ meat patties, balanced grinds, assorted meat parts, freeze dried meats, whole prey, and other products. As a last resort, there are supplements that can help fill in the gaps temporarily. We recommend visiting the forum to ask for help if you are having trouble sourcing organs.

[abbeytheferret6]

As mentioned---absolutely no sugar or dairy products.

[eclipso]

There are online websites for reptiles that have frozen mice, chicks, quail, and other meats. I know one called Perfect Prey and there's another one for raw meats called Hare Today if you don't want to feed whole prey. They have a lot of different organs, ground meats, raw meats with the bone, and a lot of animal variety. I hope this helps. I do suggest keeping the cat and ferret apart if the ferret is aggressive to it. Here are the links to the websites:

hare-today.com

perfectprey.com

[lyles]

A perfect example was my recent additions, one 3 months and another 3-4wks.
The baby immediately started eating the same raw dietary plan as my 7yo.
The 3 month old would readily eat raw serloin pieces and chicken (though it was clear the beef was his favorite) for 1-2 weeks before I removed the kibble entirely. He tried to go on hunger strike for a day but eventually got hungry enough to eat what was served and now they all are eating the same.

Never had any experience in switching an adult ferret though.