Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2011 12:53:00 GMT -5
To start, I'll try and summarize. I have a bad tendency to ramble.
I have three female ferrets; two are seniors and one is still a kit. I have been trying to raw feed for over a month now with spotty success. At this point I am getting extremely frustrated and thinking about quitting. Let me explain why, ferret by ferret. I hope someone can help.
First is Mimosa. I've had her 6 years, and she wasn't a kit when I got her from the pet store so I think she is almost 7 now. She'd been fed strictly Marshalls until this past December when I switched to EVO. She was VERY resistant to switch, and I had to keep mixing it with Marshalls for a couple of weeks. When I put down only EVO, she waited about a day to really start eating it.
As for the raw, I started feeding it in January. I should note that she has gained at least 5 ounces since I changed her diet, and she does feel "meatier." But, she has been VERY inconsistent. Sometimes she scarfs, other times she turns it down flat. Not even scruff and stuff works on her sometimes. At first she'd eat only chicken, now she turns down anything but purreed pork. Sometimes she won't even eat that. Today I was trying to feed her chicken that she used to love and she REFUSED no matter what. She will even eat PAPER or ANYTHING ELSE she can find so I know she's hungry! But she wont eat the meat unless she feels "in the mood" for it. I had been leaving out small amounts of dry, and sometimes it would sit there a few days before a ferret would eat it. Other times it would be gone in an hour. Yesterday I didn't put any dry out, but still they barely picked at their raw dinner so they should have been hungry this morning. To my surprise she refused her raw breakfast. I put out EVO and she devoured it. ?!?!?!??!?! NOW WHAT!?
My second ferret is Mabel. She is about the same age. I rescued her in November from the SPCA. She had been in cedar bedding, was fed cheap cat food. She is badly adrenal and inconclusively insulinomic, and is rapidly losing hair. My vet and I are still going back and forth on the best way to treat her. She is the whole reason I started raw; my vet recommended it as a treatment for the insulinoma. Since I have had her she has gained maybe two ounces. Mabel is by far the MOST inconsistent eater. I am scared to pull the dry all together because of her, and because of that I am having a really difficult transition. Today she also flatly refused the chicken, although yesterday she ate the pork with vigor. The day before she wouldn't eat much either. So this morning after my first unsuccessful feeding attempt I let her be for a bit, and was going to try feeding her again in about an hour when I heard some crunching. Come to find she had somehow gotten ahold of a Mentos from my purse and was chewing on that. I almost started crying! I took it away from her and offered her the raw. She still refused. So I let her go to try again later. Then I heard some licking. I turned and saw that my hubby had left a cupcake wrapper on the desk and she had gotten ahold of that!! I took it from her and started crying. Why on earth if she was so hungry would she eat that instead of the raw food? Is she TRYING to kill herself eating those sweets?! I gave up and gave her dry, and she started trembling and scarfed it down. I'm telling you right now, my heart is absolutely breaking.
Midna is my youngest ferret, she is still a kit. I rescued her from the SPCA too, and they were giving her FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. NO I AM NOT KIDDING. She has been most receptive to the raw. She was a bit resistant at first but eats it pretty consistently. She will eat 4 tablespoons at a time some days and has gained about 10 ounces. Midna will at times resist eating it and will still sometimes eat the dry, but strongly prefers raw.
This transition is taking forever and is so very difficult. They will amost NEVER eat without a spoon in their faces. I usually have to scruff and stuff to get them started at every meal. My recipes follow those that are on this site, and I've tried different protien sources and consistencies. I've tried giving the whole pieces of chicken, different chunk sizes, etc. I end up throwing alot of meat away when they refuse to eat. Mabel has lost MORE hair and isn't gaining any more weight. She hates being handled these days and just seems sickly overall. It makes me want to cry. My vet wanted to wait and check her glucose again a few weeks after the last time before prescribing anything and she doesn't seem to be happy. I feel bad putting them through this. It's like they really hate this food. I'm trying to see a light at the end but I still don't know if its worth it. I hope someone can help, and I'm sorry if I rambled. I wanted to give enough information to get the right kind of help.
Feeling totally discouraged.
I have three female ferrets; two are seniors and one is still a kit. I have been trying to raw feed for over a month now with spotty success. At this point I am getting extremely frustrated and thinking about quitting. Let me explain why, ferret by ferret. I hope someone can help.
First is Mimosa. I've had her 6 years, and she wasn't a kit when I got her from the pet store so I think she is almost 7 now. She'd been fed strictly Marshalls until this past December when I switched to EVO. She was VERY resistant to switch, and I had to keep mixing it with Marshalls for a couple of weeks. When I put down only EVO, she waited about a day to really start eating it.
As for the raw, I started feeding it in January. I should note that she has gained at least 5 ounces since I changed her diet, and she does feel "meatier." But, she has been VERY inconsistent. Sometimes she scarfs, other times she turns it down flat. Not even scruff and stuff works on her sometimes. At first she'd eat only chicken, now she turns down anything but purreed pork. Sometimes she won't even eat that. Today I was trying to feed her chicken that she used to love and she REFUSED no matter what. She will even eat PAPER or ANYTHING ELSE she can find so I know she's hungry! But she wont eat the meat unless she feels "in the mood" for it. I had been leaving out small amounts of dry, and sometimes it would sit there a few days before a ferret would eat it. Other times it would be gone in an hour. Yesterday I didn't put any dry out, but still they barely picked at their raw dinner so they should have been hungry this morning. To my surprise she refused her raw breakfast. I put out EVO and she devoured it. ?!?!?!??!?! NOW WHAT!?
My second ferret is Mabel. She is about the same age. I rescued her in November from the SPCA. She had been in cedar bedding, was fed cheap cat food. She is badly adrenal and inconclusively insulinomic, and is rapidly losing hair. My vet and I are still going back and forth on the best way to treat her. She is the whole reason I started raw; my vet recommended it as a treatment for the insulinoma. Since I have had her she has gained maybe two ounces. Mabel is by far the MOST inconsistent eater. I am scared to pull the dry all together because of her, and because of that I am having a really difficult transition. Today she also flatly refused the chicken, although yesterday she ate the pork with vigor. The day before she wouldn't eat much either. So this morning after my first unsuccessful feeding attempt I let her be for a bit, and was going to try feeding her again in about an hour when I heard some crunching. Come to find she had somehow gotten ahold of a Mentos from my purse and was chewing on that. I almost started crying! I took it away from her and offered her the raw. She still refused. So I let her go to try again later. Then I heard some licking. I turned and saw that my hubby had left a cupcake wrapper on the desk and she had gotten ahold of that!! I took it from her and started crying. Why on earth if she was so hungry would she eat that instead of the raw food? Is she TRYING to kill herself eating those sweets?! I gave up and gave her dry, and she started trembling and scarfed it down. I'm telling you right now, my heart is absolutely breaking.
Midna is my youngest ferret, she is still a kit. I rescued her from the SPCA too, and they were giving her FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. NO I AM NOT KIDDING. She has been most receptive to the raw. She was a bit resistant at first but eats it pretty consistently. She will eat 4 tablespoons at a time some days and has gained about 10 ounces. Midna will at times resist eating it and will still sometimes eat the dry, but strongly prefers raw.
This transition is taking forever and is so very difficult. They will amost NEVER eat without a spoon in their faces. I usually have to scruff and stuff to get them started at every meal. My recipes follow those that are on this site, and I've tried different protien sources and consistencies. I've tried giving the whole pieces of chicken, different chunk sizes, etc. I end up throwing alot of meat away when they refuse to eat. Mabel has lost MORE hair and isn't gaining any more weight. She hates being handled these days and just seems sickly overall. It makes me want to cry. My vet wanted to wait and check her glucose again a few weeks after the last time before prescribing anything and she doesn't seem to be happy. I feel bad putting them through this. It's like they really hate this food. I'm trying to see a light at the end but I still don't know if its worth it. I hope someone can help, and I'm sorry if I rambled. I wanted to give enough information to get the right kind of help.
Feeling totally discouraged.