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Post by cchagan08 on Mar 26, 2012 20:58:23 GMT -5
The past week has been a life changing/eye opening experience for me that is still going on....but thats a different thread all together.
I use to think that I knew "what I was doing" with Chaos, and was making the right decisions for him. But since finding this website...I have learned so much and want to learn so much more!
What are the Pros and Cons of switching from kibble to a raw diet? Since Chaos is 1.5 years old, is this too far along to make a switch, or just that it will take longer to make the switch?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2012 21:03:04 GMT -5
No he's not to old, that around the time i switched my two. Its better overall for their health and can help prevent Insulinoma. Its all depends how long it will take as it's different for everyone.
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Post by cchagan08 on Mar 26, 2012 21:07:11 GMT -5
Thank you Kely! You are enticing me with something that will only be beneficial for Chaos! and am excited to learn more  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2012 21:15:01 GMT -5
The younger the ferret, the easier it is, generally. Chaos should switch relatively easily, if you're dedicated to feeding raw for his health Raw promotes so much! It promotes the health of your ferret, by giving it the life energy it needs. It also eliminates some diseases your ferret may be prone to get. Depending on where you are, price can be a con. Your vet most likely is backed by a corporation *surprise, surprise*, and will NOT take raw feeding your pet..too well. They will immediately latch on the idea that raw is the source of all your pet troubles. Take kPaz's Goomba for example. She feeds raw, but unfortunately her vet found out she fed Goomba raw diets, and said that Goomba's issues were with the raw diet, and refused to treat him until he was on kibble.  Kibbles' cons are so much greater. Did you know that kibble holds drugs like penobitral really easily? That drug is what is used to euthanized unwanted animals! The fact that it survived being cooked twice is amazing and dangerous. Kibble also is prone to funguses and toxin poisoning. They use additional preservatives and sugars, which LEAD to insulinoma, as much as people, vets and corps alike, want to deny it. Also, the kibble can be high in fiber and really nasty things your pet cannot digest. I swear to god, if i hear of one more kibble that is high in fiber and blah, i will personally beat the person who bought it.  Your ferret is an obligate carnivore, which means it can't process plant food very well. So no vegetables, etc. Definitely no grain for sure. Its almost strictly meat! Also, kibble can cause tooth decay--your ferret needs bones or a good tooth brushing to prevent cavities and tartar build up. Raw vs kibble...I would honestly go with raw, after all i've heard about kibble. If you were to keep feeding kibble, please please please, do your research on the kibbles. Look at Evoo Ferret or Wysong, Epigen 90 is good as well as the Archetypal I. Not the II, because thats not appropriate for your ferret (kinda sad.) If you really want to know everything, I can tell you ALL i learned. |
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Post by Heather on Mar 26, 2012 21:15:52 GMT -5
It is never too late to switch and the health benefits are huge. The oldest ferret I've ever switched was Babushka who was turned in, basically at death's door at the ripe old age of 9 (she was one of the few who actually showed up here with a birth certificate). It took me a little over 6 months to convince her to switch. In the end she was actually enjoying whole prey. She lived for another 18 months before her little body finally went into total organ failure and she passed on
ciao
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Post by kpaz on Mar 26, 2012 21:47:37 GMT -5
My vet can be a bit (ok, maybe more than "a bit") of a hassle, but it really depends on your vet. I don't have many options in my area. Mine are almost 2 years old and I've almost finished switching 2/3. Goomba has been dealing with a lot of health issues, so he's taking longer. Since the switch they poop less, their poop is generally much better consistency, they don't smell as musky, and their fur is soft and silky (Goomba feels like a soft bunny  ) They're much more active, and through hand feeding through the process of switching them to raw I've gained much stronger bonds with all of them. Switching can be difficult at times, but you can check out the mentoring progam if you do decide to switch. They are extremely knowledgeable and I can't thank them enough for doing what they do  |
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Post by kpaz on Mar 26, 2012 21:50:27 GMT -5
Cons: It is much less convenient than just scooping some kibble out of a bag. It takes work, effort, dedication, creativity (some will think you're trying to give them poison at first ;D ) It's worth it, though.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 27, 2012 13:34:35 GMT -5
My oldest switch was 4yrs old. She had adrenal(early stage), and lives to almost 8, and passes from adrenal related lymphoma. Boris, who is basically uncontrolled IBD and has been off and on for about a year and a half, still isn't considered "dehydrated" because he gets so much more from the raw. If he had been kibble fed, I'm quite certain we'd have lost him long ago.
Raw will keep your fuzz hydrated, give more energy, reduce odor and stools, have cleaner teeth, and be all around healthier. They'll also have more reserves to rely on when they DO get sick.
It will also help delay(and hopefully drastically reduce) the odds of insulinoma, which IS strictly diet related.
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Post by Heather on Mar 27, 2012 15:07:07 GMT -5
Sherry mentions hydration and that is a key point. Ferrets on kibble, just like cats spend their whole life on the border of dehydration. If and when they get sick, this is the first issue at hand. Like all carnivores, ferrets don't drink near enough to stay hydrated...why? because as obligate carnivores most of their moisture comes from their diet..."meat". If you feed kibbles you take all that moisture away and then some. An example. Last summer Captain Jack was diagnosed with advanced cardiomyopathy. This is not an uncommon diagnosis for an older ferret, especially RC ferrets. One of the medications prescribed is lasix, just like people. Lasix is a type of diuretic, that removes fluid build up in the body, especially around the heart and lungs but it works elsewhere too. Hence, can you see an obvious problem...dehydration. Ferret fed kibbles cannot hydrate fast enough to build up good fluids when on Lasix so the dosage has to be moderated closely and often has to remain fairly low. Once the higher dosages are attained then subq fluids must be given to rehydrate the ferret. Captain Jack finally reached the highest possible dosage for a ferret, we could not ethically give a higher dosage. The vet was totally amazed, she could not believe that Captain Jack was still functioning, at that level. The only thing we could put it down to was that Jack was raw fed and all the other ferrets she had treated for this were kibble fed. Eventually, even the best things come to an end and Captain Jack succumbed to his illness but he managed to get almost a year after diagnosis. He enjoyed his life right until the last few weeks but this was possible in part to his diet. It's just something to think about  ciao |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2012 18:35:09 GMT -5
Hmmm cons with raw?? I don't think there's any! I got my Chestnut when he was 3 months old, switched him cold turkey the next day. Never looked back. When we brought him home his fur was wirey, dull. After about a month became shiny and very soft. And he doesn't smell at all. Although I think we ferret people don't think they stink....  I read it in your other post, that you have 2 pits! yay! I have one, and he's on a raw diet for a year and a half (he was 2 on Dec. 20 last year). Something to think about |
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Post by Sherry on Mar 27, 2012 21:45:22 GMT -5
Cons for a raw diet? Forgot to put that in my original post ;D yes, there can be a few! If not balanced properly(easy to do), it can lead to a number of nutritional deficiencies. But that's one if the reason this forum is here- to teach people how to balance a diet!
Cost can be another factor. If someone feeds one of the less expensive and lower quality kibbles, yes- raw can be more expensive. However- the decreased vet bills helps to counteract that.
You have to be able to find various organ and heart meats as well, which can be difficult depending on where you live. If you live in a small town you may have to do monthly shopping in a larger urban area, order them from someplace like hare today, or use supplements to cover the gaps when you can't access the needed meats.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2012 6:23:08 GMT -5
Raw feeding takes a lot of planning and organisation. Like Sherry said, if you live in a small area, you might have to order stuff in or make a trip once a month to a city to get certain foods. Have a look at some of the switching threads and peoples menu plans to see what sort of thing raw feeding entails. It's also not for the faint-hearted!
You need to be quite vigilant about removing old food, especially in these temperatures. Most of the time fuzz won't eat something if it's gone off, until it dries out completely into "jerky", which they think is a special treat. Spike is one of the exceptions to this rule- he eats bugs, plants, foam and even soil occasionally, but he's a special case. A lot of raw feeding is about knowing your ferrets too. You need to keep a really close eye on them when they're switching, to make sure that they're eating everything, and watch out for things like lack of energy or any different behaviours. Most people see a gain in energy, but it's really important to watch out for anything else.
You'll also find that you become obsessed with their litter box. One of the easiest ways to tell if they've eaten certain things like enough bone, especially when you have more than one fuzz and you can't always tell if everyone is eating enough of everything, is to look at their poop. I actually sent my boyfriend a picture the other day of Tiny's poop with bone in it, because I was so pleased she was eating it. Only afterwards did I realise how gross this was, and then I thought I'd better start going outside and speaking to some "non-ferrety" people to normalise me a bit!
The bottom line is that it's expensive and takes work. But you will generally help your fuzzy to live longer, give them better health, be more mentally stimulated, bond better with them, they'll have more energy, smell better and poop less (I didn't believe those last three myself until I saw it- but it's true!). Raw frankenprey works out much cheaper than whole prey generally, but it takes more preparation and you have to be careful to balance it out. Do you know what you would be wanting to feed Chaos yet?
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