when to cut back on the mushy food?

[mindy]

in june my ferret fred was diagnosed with insulinoma and i started feeding him mushed up kibble. i would have fed him chicken baby food or the canned food from the vet if he would eat is but he would not. when i started feeding the mushy kibble to fred ginny decided that it was the best thing since sliced bread and she stopped eating hard kibble.

then, in july we lost fred. ginny was alone and i was so worried she was going to get depressed. i spent a lot of time with her and i had to coax her to eat. she would only eat mushy kibble. then in september we got harry. i have continued to feed them mushy kibble 2 times a day every day. they really love it and it makes them happy.

but now harry is starting to get pudgy (he was too thin when i got him) and ginny is more than pudgy. i noticed a few weeks ago that ginny was eating kibble again!!! wooooo!! i have noticed her stashing the kibble for a few months now but i have not seen her actually eat any until recently. i know that they are eating the hard kibble that is around because it is getting low in the dishes but i didn't know if it was just harry who was eating it. now i know for sure.

should i just cut back on the amount of mushy food i give, give them just enough to make them happy, or should i cut out one of the mushy kibble meals? like maybe just give them mushy kibble at night instead of in the mornings too? what do you think? i can't have a fat ferret, that is not healthy any more that too thin is.

please help.

[Johnny and Demon]

Are you sure they don't simply got their winter coat ? Demon is so so big and fluffy right now ! He has an hard time to get into his Octo-Play ! lol I feed him chicken baby food once a day (Johnny doesn't like it), he has always been bigger than Johnny but right now there's a huge difference because he's getting his winter coat. He's bigger than he was last winter, I'm pretty sure. He's really big, fluffy and soooo soft !

[mindy]

no, ginny is fat. ever since she has been eating the mushy kibble she has had a super fluffy, soft coat, more than usual but now she is fat. her belly is so pudgy and her neck is fat. i don't want her to get unhealthy.

[Johnny and Demon]

Well I supposed she is not as active as she used to, since she's old... so maybe its a good idea to cut a little bit of the mushy kibbles ..? Try to make her chase you around the house if possible. That's what my gibs love to do. While I am writing this, Johnny is chasing his daddy lol I think it makes them burn some calories .. maybe its the reason why they are not "monster" ferrets, especialy my tinny little Johnny lol If she can chase a toy or anything .. I think she needs a bit more of exercise lol & I'm pretty sure she will get back to the normal ..

[ferretmothertoo]

Ferrets put on weight for the winter and loose it in the spring. This weight change can be quite significant. They also sleep more in winter. As ferrets age their activity levels drop. Usually ferrets go on an eating binge in the fall and once their weight is up their eating levels off to maintenance. Generally speaking, ferrets do not overeat (albeit there are exceptions).

[mindy]

i am not sure if this is winter weight or not. she is just so chubby! maybe this is her winter weight but that on top of the weight she put on this summer makes it a lot of extra weight! she is heavier than harry. well, she was always heavier than him, he is really tiny.

i guess, what i really want to know is can i stop the morning mushy food now? do you think they will still be happy with just the night time mushy food? i know they are both eating hard kibble. ginny may just have winter weight on... i don't know.

[ferretmothertoo]

Suggestion: try gradually cutting back on the morning mushy food over a period of a week and see what happens. If they shift to eating hard kibble without a problem fine; if need be you can always go back to mushy food.

[motherof2]

well the winter weight and the food binge explains alot! My max has not been as hyper he usually is unless he is outside his cage playing with Annie but inside his cage he is quite lazy! Annie being a baby is hyper no matter where she is.....LOL but she sure is a biter!! She is learning that biting that hard is not nice. She will break the skin

[Tressie]

Heather is correct in terms of winter weight gain! Ferrets can gain anywhere from 35-50% more weight this time of year. It is fairly normal to see a significant bulking of our fuzzkids.

Cutting back on calories is strongly discouraged by ferret expert veterinarians even if the rare ferret is frankly obese. I went through all the channels to try to find some guidance with Sampson, who was topping the scales at 5 lbs. In the end I was advised to accept my chubby boy as is.

There is speculation that ferrets also suffer from thyroid problems and to date only one ferret researcher has been exploring this but nothing published yet. Unfortunately, there are no tests for ferrets developed as yet to test thyroid function.

The consensus amongst the ferret expert veterinary community is to increase activity levels if possible, but never cut back or restrict food intake because nutritional needs in ferrets are strongly tied to caloric intake.

In terms of mushy food versus dry kibble. There was a discussion on the Ferret Health List not too long ago about this. Some people strongly felt that if ferrets are ONLY eating mushy food that there is a health reason for this, i.e., digestion problems and mush is easier to digest, tooth/gum issues, etc.

I feed my gang (thirteen) mushy/duk soup twice a day, morning and night, every day. Those that are convalescing I feed mushy/duk soup every 3-4 hours, etc.

So far all of the 'healthy' ferrets who prefer mush will also eat dry kibble.

The compromise is to continue providing both and not too stress over their weights, unless significantly UNDERweight

Tressie

[Johnny and Demon]

Ohhh great ! Thanks Tressie ;D So I will tell my boyfriend Demon is not fat this winter, he just got a bigger size than last winter so we can keep feeding him his chicken baby food mixed with his kibbles that he loves so much lol

That said .. I'm very sad Johnny doesn't like it He looks so skinny ! Dr.Drmac once suggest me to try mushy kibbles only (no chicken baby food) when I told him that I can't feed Johnny chicken baby food as he doesn't like it but he won't eat mushy kibbles As long as he's healthy I'm fine but he just looks like the poor baby that no one feeds and that's not true lol
I wonder how come there's so many different sizes of ferrets

[ferretmothertoo]

Humans come in all different sizes too! It all has to do with genetics.

Just to clarify my suggestion: I am not implying a cutback in the actual amount of food offered, only a gradual switch in the way it is offered.

This fall I would see Eldon have a meal of kibble just before his pred was due and then take his entire feeding of duck soup.

Now if you believe in checking the coats of hairy caterpillars or the height of wasps' nests from the ground to predict the severity of the winter, Ginny and Demon may be telling us something by putting on more weight!!

[motherof2]

My max won't eat any of the mushy food but where I only got Annie a couple of days ago I haven't tried her yet.

[mindy]

i agree with what Heather is saying, not to cut back on the kibble offered but on the amount of mushy kibble. i think that i will try that, i will cut back on the morning meal over a week and then keep a super close eye on them. i ALWAYS have 2 full dishes of kibble in their room, each dish has about 3 days worth of kibble in it. if i cut back on the mushy food in the morning and it seems like they aren't eating enough dry kibble then i will give the mushy food again. the problem is that they are getting 1/3 of a cup of kibble mushed up between them a day and then they are eating dry kibble besides. they are only about 1.5 - 2 lb each!

[Johnny and Demon]

Nov 27, 2010 17:19:42 GMT -4 ferretmothertoo said:

Humans come in all different sizes too! It all has to do with genetics.

Now if you believe in checking the coats of hairy caterpillars or the height of wasps' nests from the ground to predict the severity of the winter, Ginny and Demon may be telling us something by putting on more weight!!

That's true, about genetics and different sizes lol

Well about predictions from a little fuzzy .. that's probably it ! lol
We just got alot of snow last night in Moncton. I woke up this morning and everything is covered with tons of snow

[mindy]

i don't know if ginny is predicting right... we don't have any snow yet. this is very unusual for us!