Advice on weight loss!

[chiara]

Hello,

I haven't posted in a while! Hope everyone has been well.

For context, my 2 girls both raw fed 80/10//10 grinds with varied protein sources. Both 24/7 free roam and large garden for playing too.

Lola is 2 years old and was handed into my vets at around 4 months old, she was underweight and had lots of fleas and ticks. She isn't neutered but has the implant. She is quite a lazy ferret, slow in her movements, but does love to play, she's just never been as crazy as my other girl. At her heaviest she was 1.3kg! She just put weight on so fast, she was on 50 grams a day but maintaining her weight, she is now on 30 grams a day and was down to 920 grams, so I have kept her on 30 grams for last few months and I just weighed her this morning and she has increased to 970 grams! she is still a chunky girl compared to my other but I wouldn't say she is overweight, just not so lean so I would like her to lose a little more.

My other girl daisy is a rescue, around a year old. Is neutered and has the implant. She is very hyper, always running around, hardly sleeps if you are around. She is 650 grams, I wouldn't say she is underweight. She is getting 50 grams a day and maintaining.

This is just so confusing, my girl Lola is getting sooo much less than daisy, but isn't losing anymore weight, I don't want to drop her food anymore?? Seems like she is hardly getting any. I encourage her to run around and exercise and she is active. Yet daisy is getting sooo much more than Lola and is a tiny little thing. Am I doing the right thing? Am I feeding Lola too little? Or am I missing something?

Thanks for getting this far!

Daisy for reference photos.app.goo.gl/N5cxVpnqfZ2tvdJ89

Lola for reference photos.app.goo.gl/i7SBM9Xe3xhTypyB6

[silentdook]

Both of your ferrets look perfectly healthy to me, and that's not a heavy weight at all for an adult female. If anything, Daisy is quite light.

[chiara]

Hello thanks for your reply.

That's good to know, she just feels a bit chunky. Do you think though with Lola that 30 grams a day of food is not a lot at all for her size? Yet she is maintaining/putting weight on, it's around 3% of her body weight

[silentdook]

30 grams seems like a very small amount of food for a large female. My smallest girl would eat 60-80 a day easily, and was eager for the next meal. It almost sounds like Lola has put on what would be winter weight here (USA). 10% of body weight as a seasonal fluctuation is normal, and depending on light exposure, some go reversed and gain in summer, lose in winter!

[chiara]

Yes that's why I'm confused because I know she should need more food. Well this isn't a new thing she was also this weight in winter time and I have been trying to manage it and she also had been having about the same amount for the last 9 months or so. The fact is as well she is not only maintaining with 30 grams a day she has put on 50 grams in the last couple of months. She is a healthy girl, active, beautiful coat, I just also feel like she should need more food, but if I gave her more food she would get heavier and she already has a podgy tummy.

[silentdook]

Please stop restricting her food. She may be "lazy" because she doesn't have enough intake for energy. She is not overweight by any means. It's normal for unneutered ferrets to weigh more and be larger than neutered ones.

[chiara]

I've had her since she was a kit, she is lazy in comparison to my other ferret, they have different personalities, she just isn't as crazy, I didn't say she was lethargic, she still plays every day and loves to explore.

If I am thinking correctly, if I am giving her the same amount of food every day, and she is still putting on weight, then she must not be in a calorie deficit, so I don't think I'm restricting her food. When I used to give her more so she had good left on her plate, she got up to 1.3kg, at that point she had a lot of extra fat on her, she was overweight.