Can I get some ferret love? ***NON-VEGAN THREAD***

[Superfictious]

Hey there!
I joined this forum because I'm delving into raw food, and love forum communities.
And what do I find? A pet section! 8] So here I was looking for ideas and support for myself, and my first post/thread is about my real focus and love.

My Ferrets. ;D So sorry, this post will be long.

Does anybody else have some carpet sharks kicking around?
I got my first ferret, Larka, over a year ago. My second, Oatmeal, last September. They're both the same age, only a few months apart, and both female.

Before I got Larka, I read PAGES on "specialty kibbles", and had a rotation selection of three picked out.
Then I found a raw/whole food ferret forum. My first reaction to feeding a ferret a diet like that after reading up on it was "... That.... makes so much sense!"

So the battle began to switch little lady Larka over to raw food, at 6 months old, after getting her from kijiji.
It was slow going. Soaking kibble in blended chicken water, slowly increasing the amount, etc. I finally got her eating plain ground turkey after a while. Then slowly went to chunked meat and organs, then she slowly got the idea that she could chew bones. Crunch crunch crunch.

After she was set with that, I decided to go into the 'whole food' aspect. I also have a snake, so feeder rodents are in my freezer, and it was a matter of getting Larka to eat them.
Little lady Larka didn't want to tear through fur. But she really liked smelling them.
So, I put freakin' frozen thawed mice in my blender, and whizzed. And gagged. But Larka ate it and it's good for her so I was happy.

Oatmeal was the same age as Larka, and I also found her on kijiji. Her and Larka have completely different personalities, and I had to keep them separated for a long time, having two pens beside each other they lived in, and supervised playtime with each other. I was lagging starting Oatmeal into the raw food, because it took Larka so long, and I wasn't looking forwards to all that raw meat in my poor blender again.
When I let them out together to play, both pens were open, they could go in each other's, all over the house, etc. One day, Oatmeal was noticeably absent. Being a bull-headed, war dancing, dooking ball of PLAY WITH ME, this was odd.
I found her in LARKA'S pen, hidden away in a food hide, just chowing down on a chicken leg!

So little lady Larka took forever to see the light, and Oatmeal the All-Devourer barreled into a hunk of leg and decided "YES, best food EVER, NOMNOMNOM."
She also took to mice like no tomorrow. She'll crack them open, so to speak, eat her favourite parts, and leave Larka the rest. Larka daintily picks at it.

Now I feed them mice and rats of varying sizes, whole chickens that I've hacked up, beef and pork, gizzard packs (chicken hearts for taurine!), organs, necks, etc.

The results? Healthy ferts! Their teeth are clean, their coats are thick and soft and shiny, they smell much less, and their poop was the biggest thing. Ferrets poop A LOT. And it SMELLS. But this is on kibble. Ferrets are straight carnivores, and what they eat they pump out in 4 hours. Kibble diets contained corn, and other plant-based fillers. Ferrets have absolutely NO NEED for that stuff to EVER be in their stomachs. So it passes out, a lot of it, and stinks up their litter pan, because it's food their body doesn't know what to do with. Feeding them raw/whole, they get exactly what they need, and their body process most of it, because it is what their systems are designed to eat. Ergo, less poop, less smell. Less cleaning. More happy.

So, while I'm not eating meat, I always have some in my house, because my ferrets need it. I don't understand vegan diets for cats and dogs. My dog at home with my parents is on a raw omnivore diet containing lots of meat.
I think my body should be eating raw vegan food, and I know my pets should be eating their meat, and all together we're a raw household.

What're you all up to with your pets?

[BlackKat]

I have plenty of ferret love to give! I have 3 of my own. 1 male(Vito), and 2 girls (Lucca & Idgie). Started out with one like you, and now proud mommy of 3 lil' devils.

I am very interested in reading your post because I often wondered about trying raw with my fuzzbutts. My male is very open to trying new things, and I think the 2 girls would be that hardest to convert.

I agree with you, its very hard to find a decent ferret kibble. Mine are on a grain-free dry food which is a bit better than the ones with all the corn and by-products, but its still a ways away from being a "natural" diet for them

And you are absolutely right, they all have different personalities. It's so cool to see. I love each one for different reasons. They all are perfect in their own ways.

[BlackKat]

Has anyone had any experience or have known of anyone who has tried raw diet for ferrets with adrenal disease? Has it helped or reversed symptoms? One of my boys is showing the first signs of adrenal problems (itching excessively, sleeping much more, no fur loss yet..).I want my babies to stick around for as long as possible, as healthy as possible. Any links to websites with info on this or personal info is welcome and appreciated.

[Divine Soul]

The shelter lady that i adopted my two ferrets from said not to feed them fruit or vegitables because it will kill them because their bodies can not dieguest it. So i'm going off of what she said because I don't want to risk my ferret's lives and they seem to be thriveing on their current diet ^.^

[BlackKat]

The shelter lady that i adopted my two ferrets from said not to feed them fruit or vegitables because it will kill them because their bodies can not dieguest it. So i'm going off of what she said because I don't want to risk my ferret's lives and they seem to be thriveing on their current diet ^.^

Oh OF COURSE NOT!!! i was pertaining to a raw diet suitable for carnivorous animals... raw meat, whole-prey diets that they would naturally be eating in the wild... carbohydrates(sugars, fruits, vegetables, grains, etc) can actually cause problems so bad they can result in insulinomas (cancer) and blood glucose issues in ferrets.

[BlackKat]

To add to this topic Some great foods to check out are Stella And Chewys and Vital Essentials.

[ItsMichelle]

AACCKK was so scared you were going to feed them OUR raw diets! LOL Nice to see more people feeding their little ferts natural diets..they do much better!! Here's a web site I LOVE for the ferrets.