|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2011 17:16:53 GMT -5
Just started switching my ferret over to the raw diet this week after opening my eyes to the horrors of kibble. I can't destroy the health of my pet anymore. Been 4 or 5 days and this morning I got her to eat the cooked pureed chicken (using baby food at the moment) without kibble added or much water. Still won't go to it on her own and is very reluctant to begin eating, but when she starts, she'll eat for a good long time by herself before running away and genuinely seems to enjoy the food. I've taken to using a dropper of olive oil to entice her to the food without actually forcing her and it seems to be going really well.
The main question I have at the moment is, when she starts eating it and enjoying it on her own, do I skip cooked chunks and go straight to a raw soup, then start adding raw chunks? Seems easier and the better way to go.
Also, during the switch, she isn't eating much kibble anymore. I've been feeding her about half a baby jar of chicken baby food in the morning and then half at dinner time, whilst giving her a bit of kibble through the day to munch on. No kibble at night. My second question is, is about a baby jar enough per day right now? Works out to about 100 grams.
Third question is as I've been switching her this week, she's been a lot more sleepy. Still active, getting a good 2-3 hours of decent activity per day, but she's definitely been more docile. I don't think its anything to worry about, because she's now switching from fake, crappy gruel torture kibble to real, yummy food. I imagine when she gets used to it she'll start to balance out.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 5, 2011 17:30:19 GMT -5
Congrats  That's how I switched mine- cooked soup  Take about 8oz of raw chicken, a couple hearts, a liver, approx 1/2 tsp eggshell powder, puree it, and mix a wee bit in with the present soup. Offer it that way. Since it's different, you may wind up either dabbing some on her nose, or offering it with a spoon while on your lap, but she should start to take to it pretty quickly. Then over the course of the next few days, week slowing increase the amount of raw puree while decreasing the cooked til it's all raw. As for the kibble, since she's got it in there to nibble on if she's hungry during the day, she'll be fine. As long as she's healthy! If she's showing any signs of possible insulinoma, don't leave it out longer than a couple hours. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2011 21:04:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. Do you think I should wait till she goes to it on her own before making anymore changes? I suppose its best to keep up the progress and start adding the raw within the next couple days. She likes the cooked, so I don't see any reason not to continue.
I was a bit worried about insulinoma but I don't think its that. She's only about 8 months, and after fasting her through a couple nights recently, she doesn't seem to be lacking in energy in the morning. No other signs except some tiredness in the middle of the day or so. She's been difficult to get excited though as well. Doesn't wanna play with me or my roommate nearly as much. Started about the time I began to switch her, but just in general I suppose she's not as excitable as she used to. I've been attributing it to a familiarity of her new life and boredom (I got her about 3 and a half months ago). I'm going to add a second ferret in the new year so I think things will be a lot better then.
I'll book an appointment with the vet for a check up. I haven't yet and have been meaning to.
One thing that concerns me is the fact that freezing raw destroys the taurine in it. Its hard for me not to conclude that it destroys a lot of the other stuff in it as well. Do you know if its been shown that there are no problems on an only raw freezed diet? When I can I plan to give some whole prey, and a portion of her diet will likely be cooked. Mainly though, it'll be freezed. I do plan to work her into a decent diet percentage of fresh raw though too. About how long will that last in the fridge if I keep it concealed?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2011 21:16:14 GMT -5
That is a good idea! i wish i had the money to put my ferrets on good foods:( right now they are on the expensive high protein 8-1 food and that is bad enough. It is more of a "mother does not want ferrets on raw" type of thing. I have already gotten Two on Raw egg, but that is as far as it goes for raw foods with my mother being so stubborn! Good luck! eventually i can get a job that will actually hire me and i can buy my OWN ferret raw food!
|
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Oct 5, 2011 21:40:16 GMT -5
IMO when i took the kibble away my ferret acted more lethargic for a little while. Its like carb withdrawal. Have you ever tried an atkins diet? You feel very sluggish. Her body needs to learn to use fat & protein for energy now that carbs are out of the picture. Give it time & stick with it! Take "before and after" pics. You wont believe the change.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 5, 2011 22:39:02 GMT -5
Sorry- forgot to address that! It's perfectly normal  Some become exceedingly energetic within a couple of days, others become very sleepy for a few days. Either passes quickly to a normal, sustained energy level. And yes, freezing can destroy nutrients- but it happens over time. Freezer burn is the worst. But, in a deep freeze, meat can last for months with little degradation. I try to buy in bulk, and just keep rotating the meats in and out. I've had no problems with nutritional deficiencies in 4 years Freeze dried is different in how it's preserved. It's done fairly quickly, and you don't get any more damage to the meats than you would with freezing. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2011 10:04:31 GMT -5
Okay, that's a relief. Carb withdrawl makes sense. My worries were put to rest last night. I took her out about the time she's sleepy, to go roam around outside on a leash. She walked and ran constantly for about 45 minutes. I thought it might be a bit of depression, because I took her out about the same time I began switching her on Saturday, for the first time in a long time and she loved it. I was neglecting her her outside time because I didn't realize how important it is for them. I'll be taking her out a lot more now, even though we're into the rainy and colder seasons now.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 6, 2011 13:46:14 GMT -5
She'll let you know if she doesn't want to be out for long. She'll either go back to the door, refuse to walk, or she'll climb you to get into your jacket ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2011 1:19:26 GMT -5
I decided to skip the raw soup and dive right into cooked soup with raw (organic) chunks. She needed them about the size of rice and mashed, but she ate a good 15 grams of it, with about 35 grams baby food. She also seems not to be wanting any kibble at all. Won't be long now, I can just keep making the chunks bigger. Thanks for the help.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 7, 2011 9:58:41 GMT -5
That's fantastic!!!! Make sure to keep posting her progress here, so if you do run into a roadblock with her, we'll know what you've done to date, and be in a position to help |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2011 16:20:36 GMT -5
After reading something recently on the forum about dens and working with the ferrets behavior, I made one for her. She seems to like eating in it a lot more, as expected. More reluctant to be eating mashed up raw chunks now, but is eating them. The more liquidy it is the more willing. Today I'm going to buy a magic bullet blender and make a balanced raw soup that I'll give her in addition to the tiny raw chicken breast chunks. About how much pumpkin should I add to your previous recipe? Will that recipe fill up about an ice cube trays worth?
She seems to be bounding back now in energy. Very playful recently, and her poops are very pleasantly small.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 8, 2011 16:29:32 GMT -5
Great about the feeding den! For the pumpkin, I wind up adding it at feeding time, 1/2 tsp per ferret per day. And keep pushing her a bit with the soup/meat. They usually prefer soupies to meat because they don't have to chew it!
To be honest- I'm nor sure how much it makes, as I feed nine.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2011 20:51:32 GMT -5
Bought some organic chicken hearts, livers, and ground today. About a pound of each. I filled one tray of ground, another of liver and the third with just heart. Looks like the cube trays hold about a pound of soup if its fairly thick. Mixed egg shell into all of it.
Just fed her some of the ground + liver + heart mix and she wouldn't eat any until I mixed some of the cooked baby food into it. I suppose for now I'll just cook up some chicken and puree it into the raw.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 8, 2011 22:33:00 GMT -5
It's early days yet. Use whatever lure is needed to keep her eating! We can worry about decreasing the cooked over time One way to do it is to start thinning the cooked with water every two or three days. Slowly though on how much water you mix in. You want to decrease the cooked by tiny amounts so she gets used to the watered down taste of it without balking. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2011 17:31:51 GMT -5
I've phased out cooked meats, and she's only eating the raw ground, liver and hearts now with crushed egg shell mixed in. Still reluctant to start eating, but today we made fantastic progress and it was a lot easier than usual. I fed her this morning and she ate almost all of it in 2 go's (about 2 ice cubes worth) and then finished the rest a few hours later in pretty much one go. I find if its fairly watered down, she'll eat it very readily and for long stretches.
I'm gonna keep her on this mix, mostly giving her ground, with some liver and heart cubes mixed in every few days. I'm sure in a couple of days I'll be able to get her to eat decent sized chunks.
I cut up some breasts into chunks and froze them and its like one big chicken sheet now. To get the chunks off I run hot water over a little section and then pull it off. For my next batch I think I'll just stuff ice cube trays with the chunks.
|
|
