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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 0:38:53 GMT -5
Also a lot of ferrets tend to be pudgy their first winter, so you probably shouldn't judge them too harshly if they are chubby, not until they reach adulthood. "Kit chub" is a very real thing  |
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Post by Sherry on Aug 9, 2012 10:09:25 GMT -5
However. I disagree that all kibble ferts are pear shaped. Most kibble fed ferrets wind up pear shaped by the time they are about 3 years old. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 11:27:57 GMT -5
Oops. Haha. I missed the "most" part.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 13:51:00 GMT -5
Oh finn you are just to cute. I too have very different shaped ferrets. One pudgy and one very thing and small (almost like a female ferret I would assume.) I didn't notice a change in their shape sense changing to raw. I hope that's not a bad thing.
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Post by Sherry on Aug 9, 2012 14:12:58 GMT -5
It takes a while for the full musculature to develop. We got Frodo in June of last year. It wasn't until this past spring that he really started packing it(muscle) on. Now, he's absolutely solid.
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Post by Heather on Aug 9, 2012 14:24:15 GMT -5
:DI"m still waiting for Minion   I think he's actually starting to loose weight which would stand to reason as his body gets ready for summer   My poor confused little boy Just to make it clear....Minion would be the poster boy for the obese ferret  ciao |
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Post by crazylady on Aug 9, 2012 14:26:43 GMT -5
Hi a good way to judge if a ferret is carrying idea weight is to let it hang and then look at the distance between the shoulder blades and the hips does it look like your looking at a drainpipe ? ( in males you may see a slight bulge on one side that's normal the spleen in a male is larger than a female ) if you are looking at a drainpipe shape then your ferret is in proportion and not over weight umm slightly rounded in the middle section well moms been a bit over generous with the treats and being over weight is not the ferrets fault he don't measure the food lol hope this helps take care bye for now
Bev
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 14:47:39 GMT -5
I always thought that if you can see bones (ribs, hips, vertebrae etc) with the eye, the ferret is underweight. If you can't see them but can just feel them, their weight is spot on, and if you can't even feel them because there's too much fat on there, you have an overweight weasel.
Out of 7 I have a variety of shapes and sizes showing.
At the top of the scale is Murder at about 3.7 lbs, slightly overweight and a large, bulldog body frame.
Next is Zar'thun at 2 lb, 12 oz. Another large bulldog frame, only he is all muscle. He looks larger than his weighs.
Following up next is Artemis at 2.55 lbs. He is a whippet framed ferret, he looks appropriate for his frame though he's not super muscly or strong.
Behind him is baby Chell at 2 lbs 2 oz or so. She looks much larger than her weight, has sort of a stocky, bulldog frame and a small bit of pudge. She's only 5-6 months old so I expect some changes from her still.
Mayhem is near the back of the pack at about 2- 2.2 lbs, she is a leanly muscled greyhound sort of build. Very sleek, elegant and looks very weaselly.
At the bottom is Glados, at a whopping 1.5 lbs or so. She has barely gotten any larger since we brought her home. She is a very weaselly little girl, very petite and kittish looking still at 5 months. She's somewhere in the greyhound-whippet frame range and doesn't look to be getting any bigger in life. She looks properly proportioned, a mini version of my other ferrets.
Stormy is too young to consider for now, he might not get any bigger like Glados did, or he could grow a ton like Chelly did. Chelly was all bones when we got her.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 15:21:50 GMT -5
Heather, oh my goodness Minion, that chubby little guy is adorable but he doesn't look all too comfortable carrying all that weight!  I hope he can slim down a little bit! ;D And who is that precious silly fert next to him? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 15:22:16 GMT -5
Heather, oh my goodness Minion, that chubby little guy is adorable but he doesn't look all too comfortable carrying all that weight! I hope he can slim down a little bit! ;D And who is that precious silly fert next to him enjoying a good stretch? Bev, by your standards, I would say Finn is a bit overweight, not a lot, but not ideal weight either. Everybody told me that intact hobs lose a ton of weight in the summer and end up all skinny and looking like refugees or something. It never happened with Finn though, not to the extreme people say it does. Yes he lost weight during rut, but he just went from being really fat, to being just a little overweight. He never did get "skinny". And his fur never looked scruffy and awful like I was told it would. And Nancy said it's always hard with the intact hobs to keep weight on them during the summer, especially when they are in rut, it's hard to get them to eat. But that never happened with Finn, he ate less food but never dropped below around 4.5 lbs. Do I have a weird hob or something? LOL ;D What's the best way to keep them leaner? Is it just about limiting the food portions, that simple? I'm always a little afraid to give them less than they want because I worry someone (ahem Finn) might eat more than his share, leaving not enough for the other 2!  |
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Post by Heather on Aug 9, 2012 15:38:51 GMT -5
The wee fellow laying next to him is Atreyu, Minion's seeing eye ferret. No, Minion isn't comfortable in that picture. He could barely walk. He was overeating, maybe because he was blind he was more content to just crawl into his food dish. He's started to firm up a lot and he's playing again. He gets his food now, instead of his and Atreyu's. Atreyu (because he has ulcerated colitis) and is on antibiotics 24/7 to fight his ulcers and has to be hand fed so that he doesn't get stomach ulcers to go with his other problems. Now, there is no longer food left in their cage or in the room. Minion gets fed on a schedule. Before, he was eating all of Atreyu's food plus his own...so he was getting very fat. Now, he only gets his own food.  My hobs are slim, the 'binos slimmer than I would like but it's in their makeup...but they don't look bad by any means. Tico, is a pain because he really isn't a big eater and I have to watch to make sure he does eat his quota. This is Enigma  ciao |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 15:44:03 GMT -5
Aww that picture of Minion and Atreyu is so sweet, that is so touching that he helps him out! What a beautiful friendship They are both SO adorable. Engima looks awesome, very sporty, he looks like he is ready for anything!!! I really should try to get Finn to be more "lean and mean" before the summer is over. I can understand him fattening up during winter, I expect that, but I want him to at least get a chance to be slim in the summer! I think this is the most recent pic i have of him, it's hard to tell since he's on his back but I think you can tell he is carrying some extra weight that doesn't need to be there. He still runs around and plays and stuff but I would be interested to see how he would do at a slimmer weight more like Enigma's figure!  Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr What do you think, should I try reducing the portions, or doing set feeding times instead of the meat being available 24/7, or something? Another thought I had was more exercise. I need to figure out how to do this though. They have space to run around, but they don't always do it on their own unless there is something to rile them up and get them excited. Maybe some kind of cat tower with tubes for them to climb up and down to get more exercise? I'd love any suggestions! |
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Post by Heather on Aug 9, 2012 15:50:51 GMT -5
Different body types Mikey. Both 'binos are greyhound types, Finn's a bulldog type. You can't make him something he's not. The 'binos come from old hunting stock. You can see that long lean look that makes them awesome hunters.
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2012 16:09:34 GMT -5
Well yeah I wouldn't expect him to be AS lean as Enigma but I still think he is more chubby than he needs to be. One thing I have noticed though is at least Finn's belly doesn't touch the ground when he walks now ;D I think when their belly drags on the ground you KNOW they are too fat ;D ;D ;D Wow just look at Enigma, look how high off the ground his belly is!!!  His whole stance and posture, he really looks awesome, like he's a high-performance ferret! |
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Post by Heather on Aug 9, 2012 21:12:48 GMT -5
If you take a look at the two videos, you will see that there is a definite difference in body styles between Tico and Enigma. I apologise for the video quality   ciao |
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I hope he can slim down a little bit! ;D