Switch food

[Sander]

Hello, how can I switch a 2-month-old ferret recently get from the store from kibble to ground raw? Or can I feed him directly with ground raw food?

Thank you

[Corvidophile]

Check out the articles here on the main site: holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/making-the-switch/

A young ferret should be especially easy, and ground food is generally accepted well. You can go ahead and offer it a few hours after they have last eaten a dry kibble, as the two can cause bloating/gas/diarrhea if fed together sometimes. You can also add water to kibble, turn it into mush with a fork, and mix that with grinds starting at a high percentage of kibble and gradually adding more and more grinds each subsequent meal. If the kibble is sufficiently hydrated it doesn’t seem to cause as much gastro distress when mixed with raw.

[Sander]

So actually it's not needed mix them little by little if the ferret accept the raw ground food well? Won't the abrupt change cause any stomach problems so I can avoid to buy the kibble when I pick up the ferret next week?

[silentdook]

Personally, I don't try any food changes for at least a week or two so that any stress symptoms or funky poops can be addressed with the comfort in knowing "it's not the food switch." I know it's easy to be anxious to get them on better food, but in change, going slowly is healthier. If it's a young kit, there is still plenty of time to change food. If all is well after the first quarantine week, I start offering the new food after removing the kibble for 3 hours. Hunger is a fine motivator for trying something new, but I don't force it.

IMO, an abrupt food change on top of the many changes in being in a new home can be a bit too much stress for a new kit. Familiar food is a comfort in a strange new world. They may refuse a change at first, and then you have to run out and get the familiar kibble anyway.

[Corvidophile]

Many ferrets switch successfully right away, but they’ll have weird poop at first. Raw is much wetter (unless they’re a baby Marshall’s, in which case they’ll have been raised on wet Marshall’s kibble) so it passes through much wetter too- diarrhea results until the intestines learn to soak up the excess fluid. I agree with Silentdook that it’s a good idea to keep them on whatever food they came with until they’re settled.

[Sander]

Thanks very much to both 😊 then I'll buy the kibble they're eating so I'll be able to identify any problem ensuring that it's not due to the change in food.

They are not Marshall ferrets (they have a black H tattooed, Hagen? An employee told me they're Canadian), but they're being fed wet kibble.

[silentdook]

You were told correct, Hagen is a Canadian mill.

[ferrell]

nice! yeah, slow and steady is usually the way to go with food changes.