|
Post by Heather on Sept 30, 2011 22:50:10 GMT -5
Name: Michelle Palmer HF Forum Username: Michelleapalmer
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets? As I was doing research on the best kibble to feed my new ferret, I ran across some topics on raw/whole prey and decided it would be something I would try to introduce to my new little man!
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. Ideally I'd like to get him onto whole prey, frozen-thawed. However, if we need to hang out at a frankenprey stage for a while, that would be okay too. I just want to get him eating raw!
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet? I've had ferrets before and realize just how important their diet is to their long term health. Cost was a big issue in the past, but now that my new ferret is an only ferret, so there is absolutely no reason not to feed him the best possible diet that I can.
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? Yes! Life is always busy but this is a priority!
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? 1 Ferret, male, about 2 years old. No health problems! I've had him for about 2 weeks. His name is Slinky. He seems to be in good shape.
6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc). The shelter sent me home with a kibble mix that has a lot in it: 8in1, Totally ferret (active, baby, Turkey/venison), Marshalls... reading off the list she gave me. I've added Evo ferret to the mix, as I was hoping to get him onto that (before I discovered raw/whole prey!). The shelter also had him on a soup that he eats before bed. It consists of: 3 C of Totally Ferret (performance foods) 1 can chicken broth water a good squirt of ferretone 3-5 jars of chicken baby food 1 small jar of BEECHNUT Chiquita baby food banana (not Gerber) or 1/3 of a ripe banana.
That's her recipe... I've got about a dozen frozen cubes of it left and I'm not sure that I will be continuing with that exact recipe. However, I have added pureed raw chicken to it and he took to it well. I was just experimenting, but now I could really use some guidance!
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened? Sort of, not really. I bought raw chicken breasts and tried adding kibble sized chunks to his soup, and he ate around them. I pureed the chicken before adding it and he ate it! I realize raw + kibble in the same sitting isn't ideal, so in the meantime I am going to attempt giving the raw soup (the one mentioned in the newbie thread) and will see how that goes! I've put a call in to my local co-op and they're collecting chicken livers and hearts for me, and I've got some eggshells drying. Excited to get started!
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share? He's a cute little rescue -- his previous owners let him out like he was a cat and he wandered through a neighbor's doggie door! He lived at the shelter for a while and never really got along with anyone... so now he's a spoiled little "only" ferret. I'm looking forward to being able to say, "No! He EATS rodents!" when people ask if ferrets are related to rats. Hah!
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer? I'm a student, so I am on the computer a lot and will check the boards often!
10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible). His funny sleeping position:
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (Hurricanekatt) 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
|
|
|
Post by katt on Sept 30, 2011 23:32:56 GMT -5
Name: Katt HF Screen Name: hurricanekatt
Location: Anchorage, Alaska Skpye name: hurricane.katt – I am on Skpye a lot so feel free to pop in and chat, or ask questions you want a quick answer to.
About Me: I just graduated in May 2011 with my Bachelor of Science in Biology. I’ll be taking a year off to enjoy myself, work on my application, and hopefully do some volunteer work in Africa before applying for Medical School for the 2010 school year. I love animals and kids and I am hoping to go into a medical field where I can work with kids - possibly pediatric cardiology or oncology, or perhaps general peds, or even family medicine. I really won’t know until I get there and try things out for myself – there’s so much you can do!
My favorite color is..... Green My favorite food is.... Salmon! Yum! My favorite holiday is... Christmas My favorite hobby is... studying. Just kidding. I do love to read though. I like to do different types of art including drawing and painting. I recently started making dream catchers too. I enjoy horseback riding, playing with my critters, and enjoying time with my boyfriend. And the critters of course! Oh, and I am a bit of a forum junkie. Hehe I am on too many forums to count for a variety of things. Mostly animals.
I like to listen to... Almost anything. I like all genres of music (though I do have my favorites – like Rock, and less preferred – like rap/hip hop). My music is pretty diverse. There is no genre I dislike, just specific songs. haha
I collect... pets. Actually, I do collect foreign money. I used to collect stuffed rabbits and model horses and any number of other things too, but with how much I move and the limited storage in my old apartment, I had to slim down. I kept my favorites of course!
Something about me you might be suprised to know... Um…I don’t know that I am that surprising of a person.
I became a mentor because... I really like helping people (hence the whole wanting to be a doctor thing ) and animals. I am a strong supporter of a natural diet and probably bore most people that I meet to death ranting about raw diet and why it is the best way to go…this way I can rant to someone who actually cares!
About My Ferrets: Koda – male, Real Canadian, I got him when he was about 8 weeks old when I bought him in December 2009, Sable. I gave him raw the second he came home and he immediately ripped into it and started hissing to keep me away from his tasty prize! Neither of us has ever looked back. He is a real trouble maker and is pretty well known around the forums as such. He is my first ferret and he has forced me to learn and learn FAST! He has managed to eat several foreign objects, and is constantly finding new trouble to get into (his nose has a rubber detector in it). He had to have an emergency blockage surgery, which (we believe) ended up being the catalyst that resulted in his IBD. He loves digging the carpet up, or more recently chewing it, has a very serious oral fixation (if his mouth can stretch wide enough for his teeth to touch it – he will chew it), he will rearrange the room to reach things, has learned how to levitate, and is an all around little monster. He is also very strongly bonded to my boyfriend and I, and can be a huge love bug. When the endless energy is finally burned off, he will curl up in our laps, give us kisses, and fall asleep. As you can tell, I have this problem where I can’t stop talking about him or taking pictures of him… He has IBD which we struggled to get control of (and finally succeeded!) with diet. Recently he started showing signs of juvenile adrenal disease and is currently getting Lupron shots while we wait for Des to arrive off of backorder.
Kneai: male, Silber/Black Roan Mitt. I brought Kenai home towards the end of November 2010 when he was about 7-8 weeks old. He is also eating 100% raw diet, whole prey, franken prey, meaty bones you name it! He was a tiny little bag of bones when I brought him home, but he eats like a pig and grows like a weed! He is now huge and rolly-polly! definitely a little porker - he can barely make it out of his rice box because he is so bottom heavy. lmao He finally started shedding some fur and a little winter weight and is slimming up, but he is still a clumsy critter. haha He loves, LOVES toys and is a loveable, goofy little guy and has been helping to keep Koda company and burn off each others energy! He's definitely a little spaz - I thought Koda was until I got Kenai! He's a bit of a simpleton. He has trouble finding the potty box a lot, and he doesn’t learn very fast. He also is much less physically adept at things – he has trouble climbing and getting into/onto/out of things. He is sloooowly figuring out how to control his floppy body, but he definitely has some developmental delays. But, we love him just the same.
About My Natural Feeding Experience: I've been feeding raw since December 2009 when I brought Koda home. Thanks to this forum, I was ready for a fuzzball to come home with my freezer stocked with meats! I gave him a raw chicken wing his first night home and that was the end of that! He is fed frankenprey, f/t roents, and live prey. Unfortunately, his diet is somewhat restricted because of his IBD, but we've finally got a bit of variety back in. I have been reading and learning since before I brought Koda home and learned a lot from the people here on the forum. I am always on the forum, and various websites trying to learn more about ferrets in general, and especially raw diet. My boys are healthy, energetic, have super soft fur, and smell so good that people regularly comment, asking me what perfume or spray I sprayed them (esp Koda) with! I love telling them: Thanks to a raw diet - he just smells that good naturally! When Kenai first came home he had been eating Marshall's kibble and his poops were HUGE and smelled...awful doesn't even come close to describing it! Now he smells much better and his scraggly coat has been replaced by a luxurious pile of fur.
Type of Mentor: In Training! I feed frankenprey, raw meats, bone-in meats, ground meats, frozen/thawed rodents, live prey, and recently added (for treats and supplemental) freeze dried raw and commercially ground raw. I have never fed kibble so I can’t help with picking a good kibble…
My Specialty: Trouble makers! Especially only ferrets, and kits. I focus on full switches to raw – no more kibble!
|
|
|
Post by katt on Sept 30, 2011 23:39:32 GMT -5
I'm excited to work with you! Let's start out with a full run down of your current feeding schedule. How often do you feed, do you free range feed or give set meal times, etc etc. The more variety the better. Also this is really important - do Not feed him any more banana or banana baby food. Ferrets should not have any type of fruit, they are high in sugar and can (significantly) contribute to insulinoma. The only plant matter that should be in their diet at all is a very small amount of fiber - usually canned pumpkin, squash baby food, cooked and blended squash, or frozen and blended iceberg lettuce. These are low in sugar but even still are always fed in very small amounts - no more than 1 tsp per ferret per day. They serve as roughage. The rest of the diet should consist of 100% animal proteins. Also at any point please ask questions as they come up. There's a lot of bad info out there and no one will fault you for having wrong info. And there is no such thing as a stupid question! It's a learning process and I'm here to help. I'm excited to get started!
|
|
|
Post by michelleapalmer on Oct 1, 2011 18:15:00 GMT -5
Yay! Thanks for taking me on! Honestly, when she (the shelter) gave me that recipe for his "soup" I was a little stunned. I thought maybe she knew something I didn't about ferrets and bananas. I just took the cubes and went on my merry way! Yikes.... no more of that stuff! I guess the good news is that we know that he'll eat things with a soupy consistency! He's a free feeder at the moment. All he eats is is the kibble mix that I mentioned in my first post -- it's 50% Evo Ferret and the other half is the mix from the shelter, with a squirt of ferretone. I use a small bowl so that it doesn't sit out for too long and just refill it when it's looking low. I put an N-bone in there earlier today and he's not interested in it all. So... he's all kibble at this point! Also... still waiting on my order of chicken hearts from my butcher, so I haven't attempted raw soup just yet. Livers are easy (and soooo cheap!) to get, but I don't know when I'll be getting those chicken hearts. Where do we go from here?
|
|
|
Post by katt on Oct 2, 2011 3:29:55 GMT -5
Haha yeah sadly a lot of people think they know what they are doing...and don't. Esp if the shelter is not a ferret-specific shelter, I'd take anything with a grain of salt. Definitely no bananas. Now where to go from here, do you have access to: boneless skinless chicken breasts good blender canned pumpkin (NOT the pie filling, only ingredients=pumpkin and water) OR squash baby food If so take some chicken and blend it up (raw) with about a teaspoon of pumpkin. Make it as thick or as thin as you need to by adding more water. Use your finger to put a little dab in his mouth while holding him in your lap in a gentle scruff (Scruff N Stuff) so he can taste it, and see if he'll eat it from your hand. Then try to drizzle a little over his kibble - like gravy. Don't be discouraged if he doesn't like it right away. You can experiment with flavoring it with oil, baby food, and a little bit of kibble as well if needed. Let me know how he reacts (and you can try feeding him a little chunk of raw chicken too, never hurts to skip ahead a step), and we'll go from there.
|
|
|
Post by michelleapalmer on Oct 3, 2011 1:28:06 GMT -5
I made the chicken+pumpkin soup today, and added some ferretone to it... he's been good about licking it off my finger. I'd say he ate about 3 tablespoons today. Woop! I'm going to put some on his kibble and see if he makes any progress overnight. I didn't try the piece of raw chicken but I will give it a shot tomorrow... hoping he'll be hungrier and more motivated! Just curious... should I expect any changes in his energy levels? Any other things to watch for?
|
|
|
Post by katt on Oct 3, 2011 5:01:09 GMT -5
Yay! Good boy! Keep hand feeding him and see if you can get him to eat it out of a spoon, then a bowl. As soon as he will eat it on his own you can remove kibble entirely. Let me know how he does with what you left in his bowl overnight. As for things to look for...where to start?! ;D You will probably see a change in energy but it will be a few weeks. At first he's going to eat a LOT more than usual in an attempt to make up for lost nutrients. Not to mention it's season hang right now so he'll be eating to put on weight too. After a bit he'll slow down quite a bit. Also you will probably find that his poops are going to look rather strange for the next several weeks, and will be very soft. This is normal. His GI tract has to adjust to the new diet, and for right now he's not getting bone (the pumpkin will help). So don't be surprised. If you see him straining a lot, he has bad diarrhea, he has prolapse, lethargy, anything like that then there is cause for concern. Otherwise weird soft poop = normal for now. Also his coat will become vey soft and shiny. You'll probably notice it most on his next major shed. His smell will decrease within a few weeks as will the volume of poop. Urine will increase because he's going to be better hydrated. When we get to bones you'll typicsy see his teeth become much cleaner. Keep it up with the soup and let me know how he does. He's already doing great - some ferrets put up a fuss at even tasting it initially.
|
|
|
Post by michelleapalmer on Oct 3, 2011 14:23:09 GMT -5
No luck on the kibble with the soup on top... but in his defense, it looked more like frosting on a cake so maybe he didn't know his beloved kibble was under there. I hand fed him a little more this morning and then put him in his cage with the bowl of soup in hopes he'd get his face in the bowl and eat it up... but no luck, he just went to sleep. I will hand feed him more before I leave for the afternoon and will leave him some kibble with a little less (and thinner!) gravy on it. I will report back later this evening!
|
|
|
Post by katt on Oct 3, 2011 15:25:53 GMT -5
Sounds good. And no big surprises there. Keep doing what you're doing and he'll pick up on it. You guys are already off to a good start!
|
|
|
Post by michelleapalmer on Oct 3, 2011 18:06:41 GMT -5
I forgot to mention: He's really only eating it when I scruff him, otherwise he runs away. I don't know if that makes a difference at this point. At least he's not squirming and spitting it out!
|
|
|
Post by katt on Oct 4, 2011 15:33:22 GMT -5
I thought I replied to this last night, but I guess not. That's okay at this stage. Just continue to be persistent and consistent! Keep up the good work. Any progress this morning?
|
|
|
Post by michelleapalmer on Oct 5, 2011 15:04:47 GMT -5
He's not touching the kibble when there's gravy on it. Honestly, I almost started questioning the switch because I felt like he just wasn't eating outside of his scruff and stuff sessions with me. So I left him some regular kibble last night to hold him over a bit. I think it was more for my guilt than his hunger! But then earlier today I started hand feeding him the soup, and lo and behold, he started eating it straight out his dish. So that's where we are! It was on the sofa so who knows if he'll do it in his cage... we'll see! I'm going to do the same thing later this evening and then transfer him back to his cage to see if he keeps up with it on his own. I've removed kibble for now. Yay!
|
|
|
Post by katt on Oct 6, 2011 16:05:29 GMT -5
Sorry for the late reply. Yesterday was a bt of a whirlwind. He's not touching the kibble when there's gravy on it.No worries. You have jsut barely begun, this isn't abnormal at this stage. We'll get him there and there are many tricks we can try. Honestly, I almost started questioning the switch because I felt like he just wasn't eating outside of his scruff and stuff sessions with me. Again, this is very very normal at this point in the switch. You guys have just started. Switching their diet can take a long time and requires persistence and a lot of patience. It is unfortunate, but ferrets impring on their food so to try to get them to eat anything new (in many cases even a new kibble) can be an ordeal. They can be stubborn little buggers. Slinky is doing well, a lot of ferrets would stil be gagging and throwing fits and refusing to eat it even in a scruff right now! So don't get discourgaged. So I left him some regular kibble last night to hold him over a bit. I think it was more for my guilt than his hunger! That is fine. Have you ever had his blood glucose tested by chance? If he is insulinoma free and all around healthy, then it is okay to withold meals for 6-12 hours before feeding raw to add a little hunger to motivate them. BUT we caution against this with newer ferrets because skiping a meal could unmask insulinoma that you weren't yet aware was there bc it was just in beginning stages. If you have any doubt whatsoever, NO withlding meals (so leaving kibble in the cage is okay). But then earlier today I started hand feeding him the soup, and lo and behold, he started eating it straight out his dish.Yaay! Good boy! Keep it up! So that's where we are! It was on the sofa so who knows if he'll do it in his cage... we'll see! I'm going to do the same thing later this evening and then transfer him back to his cage to see if he keeps up with it on his own. I've removed kibble for now. Yay!If he is eating it, he should eat it in the cage as well. Though they can be funny about things sometimes. As long as he continues eating the soup, then you can officially count him kibble free! Let me know how he is doing with the osup today and we'll move onto the next step based on his current status. Also can you describe the soup he is currently eating. What is in it besides chicken (oil, ferretone, pumpkin etc), and how thick is it? Is it pretty thin, or more of a pudding consistency, or basically pureed meat?
|
|
|
Post by michelleapalmer on Oct 6, 2011 18:47:37 GMT -5
I guess he's one of the funny ones; he's just not touching the soup when it's in the cage. It's almost as if he sniffs it and it doesn't register as food; but once I get him to taste it, he jumps right in. I'm going to just start the same feeding process in his cage this time rather than on the sofa. I've never had his blood glucose tested, but I don't have any suspicions at this point. I'll research it and observe him more just to be sure -- for the time being he'll have access to food all the time; he's got kibble during the day while I am gone, and then I pull it and give him soup in the afternoon/evening and leave it overnight. The soup has more of a pudding consistency. It's just chicken, pumpkin, water, and a squirt of ferretone. I will have the evening feeding report later! Thanks again for all your help.
|
|
|
Post by katt on Oct 6, 2011 19:52:16 GMT -5
That's what I'm here for! Let me know how cage feeding goes. Silly fuzz!
|
|