Warmfuzzies Switching Thread

[warmfuzzys]

Name: Sarah
HF Forum Username: warmfuzzys

1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?

Ferret Owners Group on FB....Miamiferrets1 & Sherry

2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your ferret(s) to.

Not whole prey. I'm thinking of starting them with the freeze dried raw kibble, because as of now they are on kibble and I want to make the transition easy. I'm not really sure because I'm not experienced with raw diets. Suggestions are always appreciated!

3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?

To improve the health of my two, and prevent them from ailments.

4. Do you understand that switching your ferret to a natural diet can be a lengthy, arduous process?

I am willing to make the commitment. I will be going to school, but just Part Time and that's not for another month and a half.

5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight? How long have you had each ferret for?

I have two ferrets. A DEW who is 1 year 10 months of age, and a sable shelter rescue approximately 6 months of age. They are BOTH healthy as far as I know. The sable female (Tabby) is a much better eater than Troubles, my DEW. He only weighs about 2 lbs. Not sure of Tabby's weight but she's pretty filled out

6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets?

Primary Food- EVO and gradually reducing Tabby off the kibble that she was being fed at the shelter which includes 8 in 1, totally ferret, and marshalls. I mix all 4 together and every day add less of the 3 Tabby was fed at the shelter.

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past?

not yet

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?

Troubles holds up to his name, he's very energetic, never sits still or wants to be held. He always gave me lots of kisses but now that Tabby is with us he's more interested in her. Tabby is very gentle and sweet. She's a dollbaby!

I am in school for veterinary technology, I'm 30 years old...I do have a few other pets, a canary (raises curiosity from the ferts), and a couple geckos. my cat is being taken care of by my grandmother. Her name is Chloe and she has hyperthyroidism, but she takes meds and is 16 years old !!
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?

10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).

You can see my ferrets in my siggy, I am not on the computer that has all my pics in it, but both Mr. T and Ms. T are there

Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=switch&action=display&thread=61#ixzz1VCiJVRam

[Sherry]

Hello there! I'm Sherrylynne, and I'll be your mentor for their switch
First, a little about me. I'm 51, and have my own housecleaning business here in Calgary Alberta. I have 4 cats, ranging in age from 6yrs, to 17(only one would eat raw, unfortunately :. I also have 8 ferrets. Boris and Vincent came first, two brothers, a sable and albino. Then Sinnead(rip). I got her when she was 4. She passed at almost the age of 8, had adrenal for 3 years, treated with lupron for 2 of those.
After that came my first deaf ferret, Lucrezia. A marked DEW. Then two foster ferrets, whom we fell in love with and adopted- Zeus and Athena, both two years old at that time. Also both adrenal, and on lupron.
After that, a little abused ferret we called Willow. She was the worst fear biter I've had, although now she's becoming a sweetie . Then, Emily. 1 month younger than Willow, and those two have bonded strongly. She's the only one Willow wasn't terrified of.Suki is the last one, I swear! She was a little 8 month old darling the pet store was having a hard time selling, so were getting ready to send her back!
While transitioning the first four, Boris was my hold out. EVERYTHING I gave him was poison, in his mind . Worst little drama queen I've seen yet . Twisting to get away, gagging, retching- he did all of it! Then one day- he ate it! Every single piece on the plate ! Those four haven't looked back.
The next two for transitioning were the fosters. Until we adopted them, I could only supplement with raw. So in order not to cause unnecessary tummy upsets(mixing kibble and raw too closely can cause some problems- more about that later), I'd give them raw one day, and kibble on a different day. So, by the time we adopted, they had no problem with 100% raw diet.
With Willow, I brought her home, and she flatly refused to eat the totally ferret kibble, so I went back to the pet store and got her a small bag of the crap they were feeding them there, and brought it home. I tried to give her some, but she just upset the dish. So- I tried her with some chicken breast. She ate it up! Hasn't had kibble since . Emily came to us as a raw fed ferret, so no issues there. Suki was another kibble head, but caging her in the daytime with Miss Emily showed her how to eat raw. And now- we've added Mr. Frodo, who essentially switched himself second day he was here ;D
That's me and mine in a nutshell

The reason I started looking a raw feeding was something my vet said to me. I was, at the time, giving them small pieces of fruit for treats. She told me that was VERY bad for them, and in fact, some studies have started to link early feeding of sugars with insulinoma later in life. So- I started thinking. Kibbles are full of carbs. It's all those grains/veg/fruits in them. Those are converted to sugars by the body. To me then, sugar= potential insulinoma.
So, I started checking out various diets. I had no idea what an obligate carnivore was at the time. I found out! Not much wonder there was soooo much poop in the box! I may as well have been tossing my money in there. They can't process anything that's not meat based! So I feed meat
Their fur is softer, their energy levels are amazing- no mad rushes then crashing. Even my three year old's teeth are amazing. No plaque whatsoever Healing is faster, and if they do get ill, they have more reserves to rely on than when they were just kibble fed!
And there is a LOT LESS POOP!!!! Yay!
I'm looking forward to helping your little ones get on a much healthier diet, and having fun while we're at it ;D

[warmfuzzys]

Hi Sherylynn...I'm Sarah. I'm 30, am a vet tech studentn in my 2nd year, and I live with my boyfriend in Pennsylvania. We have the two ferrets (Troubles who was the first, got him at Petco, he's deaf..and still young, he's a nipper but that has changed a LOT since we introduced Tabby two weeks ago) Troubles will be two in October.
Tabby they said was anywhere from 6 months to one year, by how they looked at her teeth somehow? She's tiny, tiny paws, tiny little face...but a big 'ol belly. She was being fed a mix of EVO, Marshalls, Totally Ferret, and 8 in 1 Ultimate..She eats waaay more than Troubles, then again I have switched them completely to EVO now (Trooubles was already on EVO) and Ive noticed she's eating and yes, pooping much less.

Troubles is on the thin side which worries me, I notice somedays he only eats less than 1/4 c. EVO kibble a day.. Haven't yet seen how much Tabby is going for but I know only half the kibble was there that I filled their bowl with and usually, when I had the mix she was on in it)....it was gone in a day. She really loved that stuff but I've been told evo is one of the best.

I never thought about a raw diet until reading all the good experience those like you have had, with the cleaner teeth, shinier fur, and more energy....so it made me think it must mean something good is going on inside them as well.

I'm not sure I want to go 100 % raw just yet. I havent decided because I'm not that educated on the topic. I took an animal nitrition class and one of the lectures was on feeding raw vs commercial wet/dry food. The teacher never specified what she was for or against ( ) but a lot of the students protested against raw. I also had someone from a feed store who sells a mass of raw food for dogs and cats say that ferrets do need some grain to help solidify what they are eating. Or something like that. She said they need it to digest things properly. I dont know maybe you have some insight to that this is just what I was told.

I have already added soup to their diet for the heck of it. i used egg (no shell), chicken(no bone), and kibble with some ferretone and a little ferretvite for taste. I want them to learn to like this so if they do end up sick, there's something they are already used to which may be easier for them to eat. eventually I'll add the bone and egg shell. at first it was difficult getting them to eat it at all, specially Mr. T. But they are both starting to enjoy it quicker than I had thought. It took a couple tries and some scruffing but they now lick it off my fingers in small quantities. after about a teaspoon or two they begin to squirm around and act like it's "poison"

I want them to have the soupie as a backup plan in case they do get sick. But I also want them to live a longer life. Troubles is a Marshall ferret, and I worry about the effetcs of the descenting and early neutering. I don't really know from here what to do but I have lots of chicken, some heart, and some liver in the freezer in case I want to try it out.

I'm a newb at this so I do have a question or two... when you say "raw diet" do you mean raw as in un cooked straight from the butcher raw? or raw as in quality meats that are cooked and either fed that way or in a soup? or could it mean either or? How do you feel about what the lady at the pet shop told me about them absolutely having to have some grain in their diet? And do you ever worry about bacteria, if by raw you mean uncooked? Okay maybe 5 questions, lol

[Sherry]

Hey- ask away! That's what I'm here for
Ok, let's get some of these myths cleared up! First, ferrets are what is called an "obligate carnivore". That means they can NOT digest anything not meat based. I pattern my meals for them on something we call "frankenprey" ;D It's simply fully raw meat/bone/organ patterned after what they'd get from whole prey. I do feed frozen/thawed mice, rats, etc.- but you do NOT need to do that at all.
You can give a fully rounded diet from what you'd by from the butcher or grocery store.
To start with, since you really have no experience with much beyond the idea of raw feeding, here's some links for you to read. It should help clear things up a bit in your OWN mind:
First- what's in most pet foods:
c205900.r0.cf1.rackcdn.com/PetFoodReport_05-07.pdf
This one is mainly about dogs- but is equally applicable to all carnivores, especially our cats and ferrets!
www.rawfed.com/myths/
Here is one on what grains can do to our fuzz:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=insulinoma&action=display&thread=49
Lastly, a vet report:
www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=479

A lot of reading, I know. But I found it really helped me when I was first looking at raw diets as well.
Now- on to the good stuff You've got them taking a soupie, and that's fantastic! They really do need something to fall back on. Mine alternate between getting a cooked soup(straight up chicken/turkey with eggshell), and a full raw version. That one is about 8oz of raw chicken meat, a couple hearts, a liver, and 1/2 tsp eggshell powder. I puree it with enough water to make a soup and feed it that way.
With your fuzz, you can make the raw soup and freeze it in ice cube trays, then baggie the cubes once frozen. Thaw one at a time for now, and start by blending a wee bit in with their existing soup. It may take a bit for them to accept this new taste, but if you persist with dabbing it on their noses/lips/gums they'll start taking it from your finger at first, then a spoon, and finally from the dish itself.
Try taking out the kibble for 3-4 hours to build up a bit of an appetite first. I found that always helped.
Let me know first what you think of the reading material, and secondly how the new soupies work
Also, try to keep in mind that it's the pet food companies who not only sponsor a number of vet students, but they are also the ones who teach the 8 hours of nutrition study they do.
Here's a thread that's been started here that you may find interesting as well
holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=talk&action=display&thread=3434