Weening off kibble to meat

[Deleted]

Hi all,

As recommended in the welcome section by Sherry I am posting in here for your opinions.

My 5 ferrets are being fed primarily kibble but they also get meat everyday. I thought I would give you an overview of the last week so you can get an idea of what they are eating.

They have access to a mix of 3/4 kibbles at all times - James Wellbeloved, Vitalin, Supreme Science Selective and Alpha.

Meat wise;

Sat - Pork
Sun - Beef
Mon - Rabbit
Tue - Heart
Wed - Pork ribs (not eaten though)
Thu - DOC's (1 each)
Fri - Lamb, kidney and a sliver of liver

So the only bone they had was when they had rabbit and DOC's. I am trying to check everyone is eating meat before I switch over completely. One of my girls Pixie, I don't often see eat meat so I am trying to ascertain if she is first.

Obviously I need to include a lot more bone in this, but I am just trying to get them used to meat.

I don't tend to feed chicken as my albino hob Zebedee seems to have an intolerance to this and it has given him stomach problems in the past and been investigated by the vets.

One of my ferrets Gizmo has been having stomach problems this year and a poo sample has confirmed he has ecoli again (it has taken over the gut flora) so he is on a course of AB and then will be on steriods as it is a recurring problem.

Am I OK to carry on the switch to meat only? I don't want to upset his stomach - although I am hoping that a move from kibble to meat only will help with my albino's sensitive stomachs. Welcome your thoughts? They are blood brothers so probably no coincidence they both have sensitive stomachs?

Many thanks

[Sherry]

Since your one has ecoli(again), has a culture been done with his stool to determine the correct antibiotic? TBH, unless and until this is done, I'd put the switch on hold.

[Deleted]

Regarding your ferret with E.Coli......

I suspect your vet assumes that your ferret has a touch of irritable bowel disease (IBD) ...the reason for my statement is that your vet plans to switch from antibiotics to steroids. Antibiotics kill off most bacteria (I suspect you vet is giving a broad-spectrum antibiotic that addresses E. Coli as well as other bacteria. ) The follow -up with steroids is to suppress any inflammatory/immune response. A suppressed immune system will all bacterial growth - including e. coli.
The only reason to suppress the immune system is to reduce inflammation/suppress immune response. The immune system response is NORMALLY what keeps things like e. coli in check.

I recommend that you discuss the issue of recurring bacterial overgrowth (e. coli) coupled with the use of steroids. (Specifically, why follow up antibiotics with steroids? IBD suspected?) this information my affect your course of action with any switch.... If IBD is involved, food sensitivities and/or allergies may e involved. You may be able to avoid a lot of trouble by avoiding certain foods and/or adding some supplements. An irritated/unbalanced gut can result in everything in the gut(including bacteria) to get "whacked out".

-jennifer

[Deleted]

Nov 23, 2012 21:56:50 GMT -5 Sherry said:

Since your one has ecoli(again), has a culture been done with his stool to determine the correct antibiotic? TBH, unless and until this is done, I'd put the switch on hold.

Yes a culture has been done and a broad spectrum antibiotic called Baytril prescribed.

I will hold off for now. I thought that might be the case but wanted to check.

Nov 23, 2012 23:27:36 GMT -5 @mustelidmusk said:

Regarding your ferret with E.Coli......

I suspect your vet assumes that your ferret has a touch of irritable bowel disease (IBD) ...the reason for my statement is that your vet plans to switch from antibiotics to steroids. Antibiotics kill off most bacteria (I suspect you vet is giving a broad-spectrum antibiotic that addresses E. Coli as well as other bacteria. ) The follow -up with steroids is to suppress any inflammatory/immune response. A suppressed immune system will all bacterial growth - including e. coli.
The only reason to suppress the immune system is to reduce inflammation/suppress immune response. The immune system response is NORMALLY what keeps things like e. coli in check.

I recommend that you discuss the issue of recurring bacterial overgrowth (e. coli) coupled with the use of steroids. (Specifically, why follow up antibiotics with steroids? IBD suspected?) this information my affect your course of action with any switch.... If IBD is involved, food sensitivities and/or allergies may e involved. You may be able to avoid a lot of trouble by avoiding certain foods and/or adding some supplements. An irritated/unbalanced gut can result in everything in the gut(including bacteria) to get "whacked out".

-jennifer

This is the second time that Gizmo has had e.coli so the vet wants to put him on steroids as it seems to be a recurring problem.

I strongly suspect it is IBD. I have some slippery elm bark that I am starting from today and when he comes off the AB I am going to be giving him a probiotic (Acidophilus) to build up good bacteria in his gut as the AB will obviously wipe out the good as well as the e.coli.

I am going to just give him kibble over the weekend to see if it is the increase in meat they have had over the last week that has caused the problem.

[Sherry]

Once he's over the ecoli, you may also want to look into getting some pancreatic enzymes to mix into the meat for him. Those help to "predigest" the meat so he can gain more nutrition from it.
Here's a link to what we have on what IBD is and does:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ibd
And here's one to supplements for IBD and how to use them:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=healthresource&action=display&thread=867