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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 0:25:18 GMT -5
I think this would be a good thread for people interested in switching their ferrets to raw, since it's not an overnight switch. With Cooper, he was on board with everything I tried with him. (I credit that to the fact he's a kit and open to trying new foods). 9 weeks old when I started the switch, and getting him eating raw by itself took about 4-5 days. Alice was a bit tougher, being 2 years old and closed minded as far as food goes. Took me about 8-9 days before she was reliably eating raw and I could completely pull her kibble. I consider myself lucky, because I know some ferrets are a lot more stubborn and take much longer than they did. When you switched, how old were your fuzzies and how long did it take for them to start eating raw by itself? FOUND
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 2:55:50 GMT -5
Are you asking how long it took them to TRY raw for the first time or to switch completely? Because they are two different things Trying raw is one big step for sure, but getting on a fully balanced weekly menu with meat, bone, organ and heart definitely usually takes a bit longer. For me, Sophie and Olivia started switching on May 5, 2011 (just looked at my old switch thread ;D) and graduated with a full balanced menu on May 19, 2011. They were both babies mind you and super easy to switch for the most part. However, a couple months later they decided to stop eating organ and refused to eat any sort of raw soup too since I kind of "skipped" that step with them. (Don't skip the soup step ;D It is very important to have if they get sick or you need to hide their organs in it! ) So they had a raw soup / organ second switch June 30, 2011 - July 22, 2011 ;D They tried freeze-dried raw a few days after coming home and they ate their first raw meat a couple days after that Howie my 2 year old rescue loved raw from the first time I offered it, and only took about a month to switch to a full menu (and would have been shorter had I not been so busy at the time). Some older ferrets will go right on it, others not so much. Bo and Nova were SUPER stubborn at first despite being babies and took a good few weeks to try raw. But once they tried it, the switch was pretty quick. They are still being a bit stubborn about liver though so I'm gonna have to pull out some tricks with them ;D I also used freeze-dried raw as a "stepping-stone" for all my switches to get them going though, so I believe that contributed to them all being fairly quick! If anyone new to raw wants to get a general idea of how long switches take and read about how they are done, I highly recommend reading some of the graduated/completed switches threads which can be found here: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=successRemember, the switching time-frame totally depends on the age of the ferret (younger is usually easier but not always) and the ferret themselves. Some can literally be switched in a few days, others take months to even try soup and longer to get on a balanced menu. So don't get discouraged!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 3:11:54 GMT -5
I'm still waiting to be set up with a mentor. Right now they're eating raw by itself, but I don't have a menu planned out as of yet, so right now they're getting more raw medallions and whole prey than meat from the store.
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Post by dook2dook on Mar 21, 2012 3:28:52 GMT -5
I was lucky, mine was *drumroll* instant!
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Post by miamiferret2 on Mar 21, 2012 8:04:32 GMT -5
Sonny was a tiny baby when I brought him home and I put him on freeze dried raw right away then I.rehydrated it after a few days and he ate it just fine. No problems whatsoever introducing rehydrated freeze dried, commercial frozen, fresh raw meat. He took to everything pretty well.
Now there is Lemmy....Lemmy was insulinomic. He was about 6.5 yrs old and I slowly started putting finely crumbled wysong arch 1 in his "soupies" (gruel made with Totally Ferret baby, EVO Ferret). It took a few months but I slowly decreased the gruel and I had him on approx 75% raw mush. I had to brush his teeth though. He lived past 8 yrs and I think he did much better with the diet change. I kept him off of meds for awhile.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 8:48:31 GMT -5
My kids...are rather stubborn apparently ;D I started their switch in mid-January. It didn't take long to be able to pull the kibble -- they were already used to soups, and I used freezedried as an intermediate step -- but getting off the soupie stage is taking its time. They are finally just starting to eat thickened soups (ALMOST to the consistency of ground meat...ALMOST) with sliver chunks in them. It's well worth it though, their coats are GORGEOUS, and energy levels are sky-high. Oh, and I have 3 fuzzers, the youngest (marley) being about 1.5 yrs, Freya is about 2, and Soxx is around 7 years old. So age may have something to do with it. Plus they are texture freaks and stop eating when I decrease the water in their soups even a smidge
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Post by kaelypso on Mar 21, 2012 9:04:53 GMT -5
It's funny, Athena & Pandora (1 1/3 years and 5 months respectively) were pretty stubborn to switch initially, its took me about two weeks to get them fully on raw soup, and then about two weeks after that, chunks, and now, (after another two weeks ) they're almost fully switched! I say almost because they haven't really figured out that bone is food yet . On the other hand Draco & Myst (3 & 4 years) took to the soup immediately, and are now eating everything the others are (albeit cut up into smaller pieces)! They're better eaters than my little ones, even though they had been fed icky cat food all their life before coming here. I guess they realized it was the good stuff, and now won't even touch kibble! ;D Their full switch is still in progress, but its only been a little less than a month.
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Post by sherik on Mar 21, 2012 9:12:11 GMT -5
I have been trying to switch mine for over a year. But I did give up for a while. Mine aren't totally all on raw. But I have a large business with 9 ferrets. I have 6 right now who are happily eating the commercial ground foods, well for the most part. The other 3 are being stubborn about it. With one of them she got the flu and went totally off raw, and she was the best eater of all of them. I am waiting for her to be over her illness til I try her again. I have been spoonfeeding her for over a week, and yesterday was the first day she finally ate on her own again. The best part though, is that the most stubborn ferret you will ever meet named Huck eats all the commercial grounds I put down for him. I'll be trying some small bone in pieces this weekend with the more advanced eaters. I'm hopeful that in a couple of weeks I can pull the kibbles. But I am doing the no pressure approach.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 21, 2012 10:45:32 GMT -5
Mine took anywhere from instantly(switched themselves first day), to about 2 months to be on a balanced diet. Boris, of course was the most stubborn. Took him 6 weeks to accept the fact that raw soup wasn't poisonous. From there, it was only 2 weeks to full raw.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 11:52:25 GMT -5
All of mine were more or less happy to eat raw straight away, as they had been fed chicks, mice and meaty catfood as occasional treats, so raw wasn't too hard. we're still not graduated a couple of months on though, no major problems, but certain spoilt fuzzies keep throwing tantrums (Tilly, my drama queen), and I keep having to add bone meal to their food to make sure she's getting enough calcium. Also had to mess about a lot with my menu because of a change in financial circumstances (orignally was hoping to feed whole, then 50:50 with frankenprey, and now we're down to frankenprey with whole treats), and a lack of storage space. We're getting there though, and most hold-ups are because of me, not the fur kids!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 11:57:44 GMT -5
About a month for all of them to eat it willingly
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Post by cierva4 on Mar 21, 2012 13:02:42 GMT -5
It only took about 2 weeks to get Charlotte and Wheatley off the kibble, but we're still working on balancing the diet. (Charlotte finalyl started eating bone yesterday!) Nate hasn't had kibble since he came home last weekend. He'll eat anything I put in front of him, and try to eat anything else that looks like food too.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2012 14:23:10 GMT -5
Half-way through my switching process I got fed up making it myself (I apparently don't know how to store food well, so it would spoil and therefor I would waste money) so I switched to premade. They took to the chicken semi-well, I think within a week they would eat it on their own. I tried beef many times with no luck. When I could afford different varieties, it think it only took about 2ish weeks. So all in all when condensing times after i got the food. About a month maybe?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2012 14:53:56 GMT -5
Hmmm... Well I had to go back to my switching thread on the old HFF. Started my switch Dec. 4th 2010 and graduated March 20th 2011. So approximately 4 months. Pixie was ONE stubborn baby (only about a year old).
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2012 15:22:52 GMT -5
I got Chestnut when he was almost 12 weeks old. We got home Wednesday night with him and the very next morning I gave him ground turkey. He took it instantly. Probably within the next week I offered him organ meats, and bones and everything else I could think of. Never looked back
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