Xreinvention's Switching Thread/Sherry

[Heather]

Name:
Tasha Angelia

HF Forum Username:
xReinvention

1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
When I worked at a Pet Store a few years back I had heard about it, but had never realized how popular and important it is. I realized all of this when I started doing research before getting my ferret.

2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your ferret(s) to. Be sure to include if you are interested in feeding whole prey (live or frozen-thawed) and if you are wanting to FULLY switch to a natural diet or PARTIALLY. If you are unsure what kind of diet you want to put your ferrets on, please express that and we can help you find the best type of natural diet for your ferret.
I'm not entirely sure which type. Definitely not whole prey, just because I live in an apartment right now I don't want to mess with all of that until I have my own house. I'd like to a whole raw diet with meats from grocery stores and such. Probably some freeze dried in case.

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

The benefits for the ferret of course. I want her to be as healthy as possible.

4. Do you understand that switching your ferret to a natural diet can be a lengthy, arduous process? Its not an overnight switch. It can be a commitment of several weeks or even months. Your HF Mentor will be more then happy to assist you in switchng your ferret(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as commited. If you aren't willing to tough out a potentially lengthy switching process, or if you have major life changes approaching (baby on the way, moving, starting school, getting married/divorced, etc) then it might be a better idea to wait on switching your ferret's diet until you have more time. Are you willing to make the commitment?
I definitely understand and have plenty of time to work with the ferret.

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 will be obtaining a female ferret (not sure the age yet) sometime this week/weekend. (I wanted to sign up now, so I'd be ready when she came home.)


6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
The store that I am getting the ferret from feeds a mix of Marshalls food and Zupreem. (They get ferrets from Marshalls and ferrets that owners have "abandoned.") The ferret will come with a bag of one of the two. I have purchased some of the "N-Bones" as treats, some pumpkin, and some squash baby food as well. But obviously, I'll be ready to buy whatever I should get as soon as I get her.

7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?

8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
A little bit about myself... I'm twenty one years old and engaged. I was born and raised in Nebraska but last year my fiance and I moved to North Dakota. He is a Land Surveyor and gone at least 12 hours a day for 6 days a week. I work at home doing Data Inputting for a few different car dealerships around the US. I only work about 3 - 4 hours a day so I have plenty of time to do nothing. I've wanted to own a ferret ever since working at Pet Store my senior year of high school and fostering some while they awaited homes, so I decided now was a great time. I'm looking at going back to college in January or August of next year for Web Page Design.

I'll tell you all about my ferret as soon as I bring her home.

9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
I work online so I'm almost always on the computer until 5PM Mountain time Everyday.

10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
Will do as soon as I bring her home and have some pictures.

I know I signed up before having a ferret, but I really just wanted to make sure I started off well once getting her. I already know most people start with soupys and I've seen some recipes floating around here that I'm going to make up before bringing her home to start with, but I don't know much after that. :] Thanks for this opportunity.


Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (sherry) will introduce herself and you can get started on a new adventure in natural ferret care and diets. Please remember to post regularly (daily or as per arranged with your mentor) so that your mentor can assist you move along safely in this adventure. If you experience computer difficulties or are going to be away, please notify your mentor and most of all relax and have fun . Your mentor is here to help you on this journey.
ciao

[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
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

[xreinvention]

Hello Sherry! Thanks so much for becoming my mentor I'm excited to work with you to get my ferret and any future ferrets eating a healthy diet!
Just wanted to give you a heads up, I have to go back home to my moms until Saturday while she moves into a new place. I will have limited internet until then, but will be back to start the process on Saturday.

[Sherry]

Alright- why don't we file this until then, and make a nice fresh start at that time

[xreinvention]

Alright! Should I re-signup then or just post in here again when I'm back?

Sorry about this, it was pretty last minute. (as in, I found out yesterday and am leaving for there today. )

[Sherry]

The thread will be here when you get back

[xreinvention]

Hey Sherry!

I'm back from my moms and me and the fuzz had a great time with her.

I ended up getting a male instead of a female like I had expected.

I went to the store and spent an hour there the first day trying to get to know the ferrets better.
Then I went back a second day and spent another hour and had fallen in love with the little boy. Took him home on Tuesday.

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/qKOoN.jpg">
That's him on our trip home, I will get better ones soon - but he hasn't sit still long enough for me to get a decent picture.

Anywho, I tried a little bit of the soupy on Wednesday and Thursday - but he wasn't interested at all. I had also bought some food from Stella and Chewys - so that if I had to go somewhere and leave him here my roommate would be able to feed him - and he wasn't interested at all. Today I didn't try - just because we were on the road mostly.

I'll be back to trying tomorrow. (I've been using the basic soupy recipe you have posted up, for the raw soup.)

He is also quite the biter, , latches on and throws his head side to side. Seems to want to chew on EVERYTHING in his cage as well.... He's had a few different time outs after latching to my hand/arm. Definitely will be working on that and litter training.

anyways - Sorry I wrote a book, I figured I should update you.

[Sherry]

Hey- I certainly don't mind a book ;D At least I have an idea what's happening
With the biting, definitely 3 min. time outs in an empty carrier! He thinks he can bite and shake you to make you go away and let him be, little monster
With the soupies, just keep trying it for now. You can also remove the kibbles for about 3 hours prior to feeding him. It can help if he's worked up an appetite. But for right now, no more than 3 hrs, since he's just a baby

[xreinvention]

Tried taking away the kibble this morning when I woke up - went and ran some errands and came back about 2 - 2 1/2 hours and tried to give him some more soupy but he still wasn't interested. I also tried to stick some on his nose so that he would lick it off (I've seen people in the forums suggest that) but he didn't lick it off. Just walked around with it on his nose for a while before he wiped it off on the floor Finally gave him some kibble and he went to town with the kibble.
I mixed a little bit of one of the freeze dried patties with a little bit of his current food to see if he'll eat it - so we'll see how that goes.

I've been putting him his carrier when he bites - when he's in there he obsessively just bites the bars on the door though. Once he does come out from the carrier he doesn't just wait until someone is holding him to bite, he goes for your fingers / toes (we're now wearing shoes, the toes hurt!) and tries to bite. But compared to last night - he isn't biting AS much.

[Sherry]

All right. We are obviously going to have to take a different tack with this stubborn little sod ;D
What I'd like you to do is start with moistening some of his kibble, and offer him that instead of the fully dry one. If he takes that, in a day or so, moisten it a bit more. You want to get it to the point of making a soupie with the kibble. Then we can start putting the raw puree into it.
In the interim, you can try rubbing a bit on his gums/teeth, instead of his nose, so he HAS to taste it.
Another idea you may want to try to see if it works. Cut some of the meat up into bits the same size as the kibble, and offer him that. Some actually do skip right over the soup stage.

[xreinvention]

I'll definitely try the little pieces of chicken tomorrow - in with his kibble.
Tomorrow I'll moisten his food as well. I thought about trying to rub it on his gums / teeth as well - but if you get your hand ANYWHERE relatively close to his face - he bites.

[Sherry]

Oh, what a brat! Ok, do you know how to scruff properly? Use your entire hand to hold the scruff, all four fingers against the base of the thumb, with his scruff in between. When you do, he should go limp and yawn. At that point, dab some on his tongue/gums.
If he doesn't go limp, readjust your hold. Let me know how he does with that.
And try the chunks by themselves first. You can always mix it in with the kibble afterwards if you need to. You can also crumble the kibble, and coat the chicken bits with it, sort of like breading.

[xreinvention]

I've scruffed ferrets before and they went limp but he just doesn't Hah. I don't *think* I'm doing it wrong, but I could. When he latches on I kind of have to sit there until he lets go, it's definitely painful. However - after being completely overwhelmed by the biting yesterday I sat down and read some threads on here about biting and took when I read into consideration and now I don't feel as overwhelmed by it, thankfully. Today he came out and ate (more about in a minute) and only bit me twice. He went into an empty carrier for 3 minutes both times and then didn't bite me after that. He tried for a few playful nips but never actually bit me the rest of the time out. So I feel pretty good about it now, even though I know it could still take a while haha.

Anyway - I offered him some cut up chicken and he didn't eat it so I crushed up some of his Marshals Kibble and sprinkled it on top and he at all of it! I got some good pictures I'll have to post up later tonight / tomorrow. I'm going to try again in about a half hour (it was about 2 hours ago that he ate the chicken) and hope he eats it again.

After that should I leave the kibble in his cage for the rest of the night?

[Sherry]

It sounds like he's got a wee bit of a temper, and no bite inhibition yet. Just keep doing what you are doing for the biting. He already seems to recognize biting = boredom, so it shouldn't take too long(hopefully)

Sept 18, 2011 18:16:33 GMT -5 @xreinvention said:

Anyway - I offered him some cut up chicken and he didn't eat it so I crushed up some of his Marshals Kibble and sprinkled it on top and he at all of it!

That is FANTASTIC!!! We've got our "in" with him Keep him going with that for two or three days, give him as much of it as he will eat. You can leave the kibble covered bits in the cage for 4-6 hours, no problem.
Then, start reducing the amount of kibble crumbs on it slowly. Example, if you are adding a tsp of crumbs, reduce it by maybe 1/5, etc.
As for the kibble in the cage, try to get him eating enough 3 times a day at least, including last thing at night. After he's eaten his fill, then put the kibble back in overnight. Hopefully, he'll just continue to eat from the raw and basically ignore the kibble!

[xreinvention]

Alright, I'll definitely keep it up for a few days. I fed him again last night and he didn't eat as much those times - but he did still eat. I left some kibble in the cage and I don't think that he touched it too much. Will try for some more chunks in a few hours.

About how much should I be trying to get him to eat each of the 3 times? I want to cut up a bunch of the chicken now and kind of separate it so I don't want all of the extra chicken while it's sitting in the fridge.