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Post by punkchica on Nov 27, 2011 16:44:51 GMT -5
I recently started mixing some ferret wet food 4 in 1 chicken dinner in Chloe's kibble, and she seems to really like it, should I continue this behaviour until I switch her on a raw diet?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2011 17:19:12 GMT -5
You mean the 8 in 1 canned food? That stuff is super expensive for a tiny can and does not have proper nutrients. So I would skip using that now and progress to raw soup.
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Post by punkchica on Nov 27, 2011 17:37:36 GMT -5
yah but shes not even on a raw diet yet so Id have to buy the ferret soup stuff, plus I already have two cans left and I don't really know what to do with them, so I figured Id finish them
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Post by Heather on Nov 27, 2011 17:52:44 GMT -5
Try adding some finely chopped chicken (raw) and see if it goes over (tiny slivers about the tip of your fingernail or some ground chicken). It can't hurt. No, the canned may not have the proper nutrients but nor does human baby food and we use it to switch. You make use of what you can to get the job done. If your ferrets like the stuff then use it to do the switch. My 12 yr old kibble addicted cat wouldn't eat any moist cat food that I presented him with....then out of frustration I gave him some of the most ghastly canned food I could find..frisky feast of something like that He loved it. So I used that to make the switch. It took another 6 months to get him to eat just raw and another year before he'd eat another type of protein but for the next 10 yrs he ate raw. He wouldn't have survived 6 months according to the diagnosis (he was having renal failure). You do what you have to, if it takes the stuff in a can, so be it. I'm sure it's hugely expensive and you may want to try and get them to switch to a soupy but go for it....I would ;D ciao
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Post by punkchica on Nov 27, 2011 18:10:43 GMT -5
Thanks yeah Ill try that next time
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2011 18:41:25 GMT -5
OMG I just read the ingredients for the first time in years and its worse than before! They put in CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA FLAVOR on top of 3 different chemical preservatives! I didn't even know that b4 I posted. In short term it won't kill her but its for sure not something you want to keep feeding when you run out. Heres the ingredient panel (for educational purposes). www.ferret.com/item/8-in-1-canned-ferret-chicken-dinner/650147/
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Post by punkchica on Nov 27, 2011 20:08:56 GMT -5
urg that doesn't sound too great, thanks for the information, I am learning so much since I joined the forum! I'm very grateful for all the advise
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Post by Sherry on Nov 27, 2011 20:18:38 GMT -5
Don't feel too bad- as Heather said, you use what you need to in order to get them to accept the raw. I had to use Totally Ferret kibble done in a soup to switch mine. It took 6 weeks just to get one off the soup
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2011 20:52:19 GMT -5
Yea it'll be ok for now but seriously 8 in 1, chocolate, vanilla and actually 4 different preservatives. Pet food companies are so....
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Post by Heather on Nov 27, 2011 21:00:57 GMT -5
Manufacturers sell what they can sell...it's all about the bottom line Take a look at what is in dog and cat foods these days. Think about the "vegetarian food for the carnivore" Don't ask for ethics there are none. They sell what people ask for, not what is good for the pet. Very few people bother to research, trusting that the manufacturers with their research teams and trials know what is good for the pet population. Many people also believe that what is good for a human is good for the animals as they're just little furry people....think about it. As far as using this stuff to switch, I have no problem with it, as long as it doesn't get incorporated into the furkids diet in the long run . ciao
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Post by bailey on Nov 27, 2011 23:18:00 GMT -5
This just reminded me of a chat I had with a coworker the other week. He was telling me about this new dog food he had that had chunks of meat in it [cooked] and TONS of veggies and other crap. He was very excited about it, and I told him dogs aren't really meant to eat that stuff...he got very defensive and said "yeah but they CAN eat it"...well yeah but what's the point?...I just dropped it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2011 23:31:27 GMT -5
Don't feel bad about it, it's for the greater good. We watched a youtube video the other day of a ferrets last meal before euthanasia, it was sweet potatoes. It brought up the conversation for us that while we wouldn't feed 'bad' food, if it was their favorite you can bet your donuts they would get it in a situation like that.
Feeding what you can to get them to switch is pretty darn similar. I had to give Loki his kibble back over night because he went on a hunger strike. Do I like it? No, but in the end it will be worth it.
~Kelli
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Post by Heather on Nov 27, 2011 23:49:33 GMT -5
Hmmm, the last meal.....Loki got Coco puffs (his previous owner had fed him this, possibly one of the main causes for his renal failure but he loved them so...so for his last meal he got some coco puff...who am I to deny him that ) ciao
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Post by Sherry on Nov 28, 2011 0:57:40 GMT -5
And Sinnead finally got that taste of Bailey's Cream that she'd always been so hot for. She fought, climbed, chittered, dangled from arms trying to get one taste from a glass of Bailey's. So I got one of those mini bottles and gave her a taste from my finger of it on her last day Otherwise she had a puree soup that she adored.
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Post by Thérèse on Nov 28, 2011 6:13:13 GMT -5
You know it is actually the last meal no need to worry about the future that actually got my guys switched over to a natural diet.
My Studdidoo crashed one night, and my immediate thought was insulinoma. I took him to the emergency vet (and this is why I don't trust the emergency vet and fear having to use them). She did tests, including a bg test and also took xrays. Diagnosis he had stomach cancer and would not survive surgery. Options, I could have him put to sleep then and there or I could take him home with some pain meds and just wait. i asked how long, 2 days, said in a manner that indicated that was the very longest he would live. Because he was my home boy, who liked nothing better than being at home, we got the pain meds and headed home.
As longevity was not an issue I figured he could eat whatever, no need to worry about balance. I still believed the pet food companies that their food contained everything he needed. I did know that straight raw meat was not enough.
Anyway over the next couple of days, he only wanted things like the raw mince stuff I got for the cat, as a bonus on top of her other food and this baby food that I had got for if they were sick (that the company stopped and I can't get now).
I had kept my regular vet up to date on what had happened and when in 2 days, rather than being dead he was back to his regular self I took him in saying I didn't think it was stomach cancer. I took in the xray. He pointed out various organs, while looking at it. He pointed out his spleen, which is what the emergency vet had said was stomach cancer and shouldn't be there. Anyway he also told me that if a bg is done at the wrong time, the levels can have rebounded and you get a false reading. He thought it sounded like insulinoma and did another bg. His levels were very low and insulinoma was confirmed.
I researched what I could and over the coming months kept adding more and more raw & natural things to their diets, and he had no more crashes. I wanted to find someone who had had the surgery done but found no-one. In the end we went ahead with the surgery. He was good for 2 months after that but then suddenly went downhill having seizures etc. Although we tried to help him, I had him put to sleep the next day. I know many thought that I should have kept fighting and that it only required finding the correct balance of meds but only I saw what he went through that day and I know he wanted to stop fighting.
I had held off on introducing the frozen feeder mice into their diet because I thought I would be squeamish about it, having had a pet mouse as a child but those seizures are something I never want to experience again. So I tried them and they loved them and I found them far less icky than the giblets and other meats etc, cause they are self contained, no icky bits to touch.
I think when Studdidoo was ill, the kibble made him feel worse and so I just gave him raw stuff to make him happy and that was the start of everyone getting fed the raw natural diet they do today (being mice, giblets, soupies, steaky mince, wings and hearts when I can, but main part is mice). Both Rocket and Zoltan have never been fed processed food since I have had them and Diablo was switched not long after I got him (which was about 3m before Studdidoo died).
So sometimes a last meal can be just the right thing!
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