Post by beth on May 19, 2021 16:35:20 GMT -5
Hi, all! I've encountered an odd situation that according to everything I've read about frankenprey, should not be happening.
I have 6 ferrets right now, all eating frankenprey following HFF "menus" and guidelines. I made the transition about two years ago, under the guidance of my vet care team. My primary mentor recommended that I reach out to you, because three of the ferrets are struggling with their weight.
The three who are "healthy weight" all came from different, independent rehoming situations.
The three who are struggling came from the same household. The owner surrendered five total. One of whom died in surgery due to extreme neglect and bladder stones (DIP Vanilla), another came in with cardiomyopathy, insulinoma, lymphoma, transient diabetes, and chronic URIs - we spent a young fortune providing supportive care and giving him the best end-of-life possible (DIP Wall-E), and I have the three surviving ferrets in my care.
All were borderline underweight when I brought them in, and had been fed a variety of trash (ranging from Meow Mix to Fruit Loops to Orijen kibble), and so I quickly transitioned them to the same frankenprey diet I use for all of my noodles. That being said, these three are now struggling with their weight and overeating. My understanding is that raw-fed ferrets rarely have weight problems, and based on the conditions they arrived in, my vet and I suspect that they did not have consistent access to food in their previous home, and that this may be related to behavior moreso than diet. They act relentlessly hungry, will eat until it's gone rather than self moderating - one of them will even urinate while eating rather than stop and go to the litter box if I don't make sure he's had some time awake before I offer meals. He has had labwork done, been perscribed antibiotics for elevated liver values, and will have his labs rechecked and a urinalysis on Monday to ensure we're not missing anything, but at this time, it seems unlikely that that he's truly incontinent, particularly because it's only associated with eating directly after waking up.
We're out of ideas for how to balance their ravenous appetites and possible trauma with feeding them healthy quantities, and, as I said, my mentor recommended that I reach out for assistance here. I don't want to further traumatize them or give them the feeling of scarcity by restricting too much, but I don't want them to be obese because obviously that isn't healthy either. Do you have any thoughts?
Best, Elizabeth
I have 6 ferrets right now, all eating frankenprey following HFF "menus" and guidelines. I made the transition about two years ago, under the guidance of my vet care team. My primary mentor recommended that I reach out to you, because three of the ferrets are struggling with their weight.
The three who are "healthy weight" all came from different, independent rehoming situations.
The three who are struggling came from the same household. The owner surrendered five total. One of whom died in surgery due to extreme neglect and bladder stones (DIP Vanilla), another came in with cardiomyopathy, insulinoma, lymphoma, transient diabetes, and chronic URIs - we spent a young fortune providing supportive care and giving him the best end-of-life possible (DIP Wall-E), and I have the three surviving ferrets in my care.
All were borderline underweight when I brought them in, and had been fed a variety of trash (ranging from Meow Mix to Fruit Loops to Orijen kibble), and so I quickly transitioned them to the same frankenprey diet I use for all of my noodles. That being said, these three are now struggling with their weight and overeating. My understanding is that raw-fed ferrets rarely have weight problems, and based on the conditions they arrived in, my vet and I suspect that they did not have consistent access to food in their previous home, and that this may be related to behavior moreso than diet. They act relentlessly hungry, will eat until it's gone rather than self moderating - one of them will even urinate while eating rather than stop and go to the litter box if I don't make sure he's had some time awake before I offer meals. He has had labwork done, been perscribed antibiotics for elevated liver values, and will have his labs rechecked and a urinalysis on Monday to ensure we're not missing anything, but at this time, it seems unlikely that that he's truly incontinent, particularly because it's only associated with eating directly after waking up.
We're out of ideas for how to balance their ravenous appetites and possible trauma with feeding them healthy quantities, and, as I said, my mentor recommended that I reach out for assistance here. I don't want to further traumatize them or give them the feeling of scarcity by restricting too much, but I don't want them to be obese because obviously that isn't healthy either. Do you have any thoughts?
Best, Elizabeth
