Post by Heather on Jul 30, 2011 22:04:30 GMT -5
Name: Aesha Kohnitz
HF Forum Username: Ferretdroogies
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
I started researching animal husbandry when I was old enough to get a companion animal of my own. I am always questioning everything, which led to me retracting more and more away from anything unnatural...especially when it came to diet. I found diet to be the most interesting part of caring for an animal. It just made sense to me that the more natural, the better (in general...there's exceptions). One of my favorite quotes is "Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food."-Hippocrates. At first, I was researching mainly guinea pig diets (since that's what I was interested in at the time). I also researched dog and cat nutrition out of curiosity and fascination for natural diets/care. Then I went to a local pet store one day (this was about 4 or 5 years ago), and I completely fell in love with ferrets right there and then! ;D I started researching them since I couldn't get them yet, and because I like to be as prepared as possible before jumping into or buying anything.
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.
Raw/frankenprey (based on the whole prey model) and some whole prey. Found an awesome local source of frozen mice, rats, and rabbits near by
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?
I want them to be as healthy as possible, and diet has a lot to do with that. I also just like being able to buy them REAL food and the preparation that goes into it. I like having control over every ingredient and the source of what they eat.
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, definitely. I feel as though I am finally ready to take it on long-term.
5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?
Reks - 3 year old male - Possible IBD, but it only flares up on occasion.
Pandora - 3 year old female - Chicken sensitivity, but it's controlled now with a medicinal mushroom supplement. She hasn't had any problems eating chicken since she was younger.
Sari - 3 year old female - partially blind (since she was little), malformed teeth, and can't open her jaw as wide as the others...typical waardenburg ferret without the deafness. She also broke an upper canine recently that was already weak with a huge chip near the upper area
Bantha - 1 year old male - He's a biggin', but healthy as far as we know ;D
6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
They already eat raw, but it's in the form of commercial freeze-dried and dehydrated raw. Their mix is as follows:
Ziwipeak venison with one of the following, rotated daily:
1.) S&C chicken
2.) S&C beef
3.) S&C lamb
4.) S&C duck
5.) Wysong Archetype-1 or the canine/feline archetype
Then I give the following supplements:
1.) Organic Pet Super Immunity (medicinal mushroom supplement - mixed into their food once a day)
2.) 500mg taurine (mixed into their food once a day)
3.) Olive oil (a cap-full each once a day)
4.) Fatty acid supplement (on occasion, although they got more of this when I made them wysong uncanny soupies - I switched between sardine/anchovy oil, krill oil, and emu oil/Vivify daily)
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
More times that I can count
I switched them all with ease to freeze-dried and dehydrated raw as soon as I got them. Bantha was my kibble addict when we got him, but he would eat kibble mush with commercial frozen raw mixed in. Then he started eating the freeze-dried and dehydrated raw on his own (since by morning, he was hungry since the others would eat his soupie too).
I have also tried several times to switch Pan, Reks, and Sari (on and off for 3 years, before we got Bantha) to commercial frozen/ground raw. Pan was always good with eating just about anything. Sari is fairly good about it with a few exceptions. Reks has always been my picky one, and usually would only eat from a spoon. I did eventually get him to eat without the spoon (by slowly bringing it closer to the bowl, evetually placing it in the bowl). They went nuts with the whole ground mice I ordered from hare today once without problems (even with Reks)! Anytime I mixed in some wysong uncanny, there were no problems with that either! The only reason that I never kept the switch going was lack of motivation (my ex boyfriend didn't like the whole raw/whole prey thing, but was okay with the freeze-dried and dehydrated only), money (commercial raw is EXPENSIVE, especially adding in commercial frozen to an already expensive commercial freeze-dried/dehydrated raw mix), and time (I was too busy to do it on my own, without the help of my ex boyfriend who was squeamish).
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
I'm into steampunk, and hope to one day incorporate my love for ferrets and steampunk into one thing ;D I want to make them their own steampunk goggles and a flying contraption (not a real one, of course
). I am a big nerd. I love Star Wars and the like, and I'm a gamer (mostly PC gaming). I'm also into nature/animals, classic cars (between late 60's and early 80's...70's muscle cars and luxury cars are my favorite...also hearses ;D), and various other things. I am a machinist (I make things using metal)...that's what I went to school for (I used to be an anthropology major, but as interesting as it is, it's not practical/useful).
I talk about my ferrets all the time to anyone that will listen ;D My boyfriend also does this, so I always wonder if people think we're crazy [image] Here's a little bio for each of our ferrets (now shortened because I wrote WAY too much originally!)
Reks - Bouncy, acts tough and plays rough, scaredy ferret (especially of vacuums and baths ;D), gets very itchy when he gets excited ;D, loves doing tricks like roll-over, and likes to be held by his humans 
Pandora (Pan) - Motherly, hates squeaky toys, ornery at times (like a grumpy old lady ;D), lick-lick-chomps your sensitive areas (on arms and legs/feet), total ham, and can be sweet when she wants to be
Sari - Very small, big personality, total sweetheart (she loves giving kisses on the face and grooming your face if it's dirty), extremely wired/total spazz and wiggly (can't be held or scruffed for more than 2 seconds ), plays with herself, dooks/talks to herself [image] , and very goofy/silly ;D
Bantha - Gentle giant, isn't afraid of anything, very chilled out and relaxed when sleepy, almost never gets upset about anything, has a ton of energy despite his size, and is a total lap ferret
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
Online often since I have no job right now (since we only have one car). When I'm not online, I'm playing with the ferrets (but have my handy iphone that I will check frequently while watching the ferrets).
10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
I can't decide on just one picture of each, so here's my facebook and photobucket albums ;D:
www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=593713294
s921.photobucket.com/albums/ad59/TankGirl1688/
Hi
I'm Heather, and we're going to be working together for the next little while trying to convince your furbabies to change to an even healthier diet
I've been feeding a raw/natural diet for a little over 15 yrs. I have a small private rescue/sanctuary, just outside of Toronto, Canada where all ferrets turned into me are switched immediately over to a raw diet that consists of ground raw/whole meats or frankenprey/ and prey diet. At present every ferret eats this full range of diets. I don't keep kibbles in the house, if I can possibly avoid it. To many little kibble addicts. All my furbabies are free roaming and have access to an outdoor play area that they can access at will. At present there are 10 little fuzzbutts who call this their permanent home. They range in ages of about 5 months, little Minion to Odin, who is 8 or 9 yrs, a late alter that was turned in 5 yrs ago intact. I would like to say my most difficult switch was a little senior who was turned in at 9 yrs of age (she by the way has been my biggest raw switch challenge, until recently, which had me at times wondering why I was doing this to her) She eventually was completely switched and putting on a beautiful dark black coat, teeth that were nicely cleaned up, and she actually has a lot of fun investigating the house (she used to do nothing but sleep when she first was turned in). She has made me aware that every ferret no matter how old, can get a new lease on life by eating a species appropriate diet. She eventually passed on at 11 yrs of age to complete organ failure....old age. Yuri is my present raw food quandry. He was on raw for about 8 months before becoming ill with an ulcer and has refused to eat raw since. Unfortunately, he associates raw food with the horrible meds he had to take. We're back at the beginning and are slowly making progress. Raw soupy is my favourite switching tool and one that I've had the most success with. I will be honest I have little knowledge about dried and freeze dried meats (other than they need to be hydrated ;D)
You can try to get them to eat a raw soup immediately. You will need a blender/food processor, and the following raw items:
8 oz raw chicken thigh meat (including skin and fat)
1/2 tsp of crushed eggshell powder (take a raw eggshell. Rinse it out. Let it dry. Crush to powder)
1 raw chicken heart
1/2 raw chicken liver
Water or broth(use more to make it soupier, less to make it thicker)
I've also started adding raw goat milk, about 1 tsp to this mixture, they seem to like it.
Blend ingredients together. Some prefer it at room temp. Try putting a dollop of "soup" onto your ferret's nose and they probably will lick it off. I use my finger. Sometimes this takes a little bit trying to convince them that you're not trying to poison them. I find within a very short time they're licking this off my finger. When I see that they're willing to eat freely off my finger then I use a small spoon to try and get them to eat from that. Try to get them eating the soupy on their own. It might pique their interest.
Most ferrets will willingly eat the food once they actually TASTE it, so the only struggle you *should* encounter is them not wanting to taste it. Don't be surprised if your furbabies' initial reaction is to gag, spit and look at you like, what are you trying to poison me with but don't let them get away with it The hardest part is to insist and be consistent. Please also be aware that after years of kibbles they aren't aware that what you're offering them is indeed food. Once they willingly eat from your finger and spoon, work to try and get them eating this out of a dish or plate.
Each time you make your soupy, use a little less water to make it thicker/chunkier. Replace soup with fresh soup every 4-6 hours. You can make a large batch if you like and freeze into ice cubes or cupcake trays. Then you just thaw a portion and serve. OR you can put a frozen "cube" into their bowl and let it slowly thaw.
This is a good way to slowly ease them into wet foods. I use this method to switch all my furbabies and I've personally switched over 30 ferrets of my own in the last few years.
I will let you read through and if you have any questions please ask.
Good luck
ciao
HF Forum Username: Ferretdroogies
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
I started researching animal husbandry when I was old enough to get a companion animal of my own. I am always questioning everything, which led to me retracting more and more away from anything unnatural...especially when it came to diet. I found diet to be the most interesting part of caring for an animal. It just made sense to me that the more natural, the better (in general...there's exceptions). One of my favorite quotes is "Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food."-Hippocrates. At first, I was researching mainly guinea pig diets (since that's what I was interested in at the time). I also researched dog and cat nutrition out of curiosity and fascination for natural diets/care. Then I went to a local pet store one day (this was about 4 or 5 years ago), and I completely fell in love with ferrets right there and then! ;D I started researching them since I couldn't get them yet, and because I like to be as prepared as possible before jumping into or buying anything.
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.
Raw/frankenprey (based on the whole prey model) and some whole prey. Found an awesome local source of frozen mice, rats, and rabbits near by
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?
I want them to be as healthy as possible, and diet has a lot to do with that. I also just like being able to buy them REAL food and the preparation that goes into it. I like having control over every ingredient and the source of what they eat.
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, definitely. I feel as though I am finally ready to take it on long-term.
5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?
Reks - 3 year old male - Possible IBD, but it only flares up on occasion.
Pandora - 3 year old female - Chicken sensitivity, but it's controlled now with a medicinal mushroom supplement. She hasn't had any problems eating chicken since she was younger.
Sari - 3 year old female - partially blind (since she was little), malformed teeth, and can't open her jaw as wide as the others...typical waardenburg ferret without the deafness. She also broke an upper canine recently that was already weak with a huge chip near the upper area
Bantha - 1 year old male - He's a biggin', but healthy as far as we know ;D
6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
They already eat raw, but it's in the form of commercial freeze-dried and dehydrated raw. Their mix is as follows:
Ziwipeak venison with one of the following, rotated daily:
1.) S&C chicken
2.) S&C beef
3.) S&C lamb
4.) S&C duck
5.) Wysong Archetype-1 or the canine/feline archetype
Then I give the following supplements:
1.) Organic Pet Super Immunity (medicinal mushroom supplement - mixed into their food once a day)
2.) 500mg taurine (mixed into their food once a day)
3.) Olive oil (a cap-full each once a day)
4.) Fatty acid supplement (on occasion, although they got more of this when I made them wysong uncanny soupies - I switched between sardine/anchovy oil, krill oil, and emu oil/Vivify daily)
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
More times that I can count
I switched them all with ease to freeze-dried and dehydrated raw as soon as I got them. Bantha was my kibble addict when we got him, but he would eat kibble mush with commercial frozen raw mixed in. Then he started eating the freeze-dried and dehydrated raw on his own (since by morning, he was hungry since the others would eat his soupie too
).I have also tried several times to switch Pan, Reks, and Sari (on and off for 3 years, before we got Bantha) to commercial frozen/ground raw. Pan was always good with eating just about anything. Sari is fairly good about it with a few exceptions. Reks has always been my picky one, and usually would only eat from a spoon. I did eventually get him to eat without the spoon (by slowly bringing it closer to the bowl, evetually placing it in the bowl). They went nuts with the whole ground mice I ordered from hare today once without problems (even with Reks)! Anytime I mixed in some wysong uncanny, there were no problems with that either! The only reason that I never kept the switch going was lack of motivation (my ex boyfriend didn't like the whole raw/whole prey thing, but was okay with the freeze-dried and dehydrated only), money (commercial raw is EXPENSIVE, especially adding in commercial frozen to an already expensive commercial freeze-dried/dehydrated raw mix), and time (I was too busy to do it on my own, without the help of my ex boyfriend who was squeamish).
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
I'm into steampunk, and hope to one day incorporate my love for ferrets and steampunk into one thing ;D I want to make them their own steampunk goggles and a flying contraption (not a real one, of course
). I am a big nerd. I love Star Wars and the like, and I'm a gamer (mostly PC gaming). I'm also into nature/animals, classic cars (between late 60's and early 80's...70's muscle cars and luxury cars are my favorite...also hearses ;D), and various other things. I am a machinist (I make things using metal)...that's what I went to school for (I used to be an anthropology major, but as interesting as it is, it's not practical/useful).I talk about my ferrets all the time to anyone that will listen
;D My boyfriend also does this, so I always wonder if people think we're crazy [image] Here's a little bio for each of our ferrets (now shortened because I wrote WAY too much originally!)Reks - Bouncy, acts tough and plays rough, scaredy ferret (especially of vacuums and baths
;D), gets very itchy when he gets excited ;D, loves doing tricks like roll-over, and likes to be held by his humans 
Pandora (Pan) - Motherly, hates squeaky toys, ornery at times (like a grumpy old lady ;D), lick-lick-chomps your sensitive areas (on arms and legs/feet
), total ham, and can be sweet when she wants to be Sari - Very small, big personality, total sweetheart (she loves giving kisses on the face and grooming your face if it's dirty
), extremely wired/total spazz and wiggly (can't be held or scruffed for more than 2 seconds ), plays with herself, dooks/talks to herself [image] , and very goofy/silly ;DBantha - Gentle giant, isn't afraid of anything, very chilled out and relaxed when sleepy, almost never gets upset about anything, has a ton of energy despite his size, and is a total lap ferret
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
Online often since I have no job right now (since we only have one car). When I'm not online, I'm playing with the ferrets (but have my handy iphone that I will check frequently while watching the ferrets
).10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
I can't decide on just one picture of each, so here's my facebook and photobucket albums ;D:
www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=593713294
s921.photobucket.com/albums/ad59/TankGirl1688/
Hi
I'm Heather, and we're going to be working together for the next little while trying to convince your furbabies to change to an even healthier diet
I've been feeding a raw/natural diet for a little over 15 yrs. I have a small private rescue/sanctuary, just outside of Toronto, Canada where all ferrets turned into me are switched immediately over to a raw diet that consists of ground raw/whole meats or frankenprey/ and prey diet. At present every ferret eats this full range of diets. I don't keep kibbles in the house, if I can possibly avoid it. To many little kibble addicts. All my furbabies are free roaming and have access to an outdoor play area that they can access at will. At present there are 10 little fuzzbutts who call this their permanent home. They range in ages of about 5 months, little Minion to Odin, who is 8 or 9 yrs, a late alter that was turned in 5 yrs ago intact. I would like to say my most difficult switch was a little senior who was turned in at 9 yrs of age (she by the way has been my biggest raw switch challenge, until recently, which had me at times wondering why I was doing this to her) She eventually was completely switched and putting on a beautiful dark black coat, teeth that were nicely cleaned up, and she actually has a lot of fun investigating the house (she used to do nothing but sleep when she first was turned in). She has made me aware that every ferret no matter how old, can get a new lease on life by eating a species appropriate diet. She eventually passed on at 11 yrs of age to complete organ failure....old age. Yuri is my present raw food quandry. He was on raw for about 8 months before becoming ill with an ulcer and has refused to eat raw since. Unfortunately, he associates raw food with the horrible meds he had to take. We're back at the beginning and are slowly making progress. Raw soupy is my favourite switching tool and one that I've had the most success with. I will be honest I have little knowledge about dried and freeze dried meats (other than they need to be hydrated
;D)You can try to get them to eat a raw soup immediately. You will need a blender/food processor, and the following raw items:
8 oz raw chicken thigh meat (including skin and fat)
1/2 tsp of crushed eggshell powder (take a raw eggshell. Rinse it out. Let it dry. Crush to powder)
1 raw chicken heart
1/2 raw chicken liver
Water or broth(use more to make it soupier, less to make it thicker)
I've also started adding raw goat milk, about 1 tsp to this mixture, they seem to like it.
Blend ingredients together. Some prefer it at room temp. Try putting a dollop of "soup" onto your ferret's nose and they probably will lick it off. I use my finger. Sometimes this takes a little bit trying to convince them that you're not trying to poison them. I find within a very short time they're licking this off my finger. When I see that they're willing to eat freely off my finger then I use a small spoon to try and get them to eat from that. Try to get them eating the soupy on their own. It might pique their interest.
Most ferrets will willingly eat the food once they actually TASTE it, so the only struggle you *should* encounter is them not wanting to taste it. Don't be surprised if your furbabies' initial reaction is to gag, spit and look at you like, what are you trying to poison me with but don't let them get away with it The hardest part is to insist and be consistent. Please also be aware that after years of kibbles they aren't aware that what you're offering them is indeed food. Once they willingly eat from your finger and spoon, work to try and get them eating this out of a dish or plate.
Each time you make your soupy, use a little less water to make it thicker/chunkier. Replace soup with fresh soup every 4-6 hours. You can make a large batch if you like and freeze into ice cubes or cupcake trays. Then you just thaw a portion and serve. OR you can put a frozen "cube" into their bowl and let it slowly thaw.
This is a good way to slowly ease them into wet foods. I use this method to switch all my furbabies and I've personally switched over 30 ferrets of my own in the last few years.
I will let you read through and if you have any questions please ask.
Good luck
ciao
;D ;D
I'll keep a close eye on her to see if she goes back to eat at all. I would feel horrible if I've been forcing her to eat when she's not quite ready 
I'm hoping she ate some overnight since she wouldn't eat any for me before bed 
Another hour passed, so I brought the bowl to her. A gave her a little on the spoon first, then she remembered she DOES like chicken, then preceded to eat it on her own ;D
