Variety is the Spice

Or so they say! I want to offer a variety of foods to the ferrets, this will help keep their diet balanced and hopefully them used to trying new things.

Our next step was to try some egg, I got a little wild too and threw in a very small bit of ground beef. Both were added to the standard chunky chicken soup. It went over very well with all 6 of them. It's moments like this that help keep me motivated to continue with the switch.

In the photo you see Mojo on the right, Cracker Jack in the upper right corner and that is Ozzy sneaking in from the left. Of all the things I've tried so far this has been one of their favorites.

Determination

Before heading down this path to transition my ferrets to a more natural diet, I had been warned that I should be prepared for it to take time. I'm feeling good about our progress thus far as I really don't have high expectations for a quick transition. Ferrets can be stubborn!

Really it has more to do with olfactory imprinting. At a very young age ferrets determine what is food based on the smell of the food items offered to them. The 6 Pack have been kibble fed up until now, with my youngest being about 14 months old I am certain that the only things they recognize as food are items that smell like kibble.

Every time I start to get a little down about our progress they surprise me and try something new. Sometimes it is one of the not so daring kiddos finally deciding to give something a try. Thus far I think the best motivation for me is Cracker Jack, he gets this look each night when I come in to the ferret room. I can only describe this look as an expression in which he is saying "Where's my meat Mommy?" I'll have to try to get a picture of his look, so you can truly understand what he is saying.

Gizzards?!

What kind of word is that? I can tell you it is one that strikes me funny, it looks funny and sounds funny to me.

While at the grocery store I found I could by a package of chicken hearts and gizzards so I decided to give it a try. Cost was less than $2.00, I was sure I would end up throwing it all away but I would never know if the ferrets like it or not if I didn't try.

I warmed a few up by soaking them in hot water for a few minutes and then finely chopped them up by hand. I had no idea what I was actually serving, if it was hearts or gizzards or maybe both. I guess I've lead a sheltered life and I don't know how to tell which is which. Any way I chopped them up and served them mixed into the nightly soup.

The addition to the soup didn't stop them from eating their soup, but they sure did pick around those hearts and or gizzards.

Natural Feeding week 1

So I got all excited about the thought of switching my ferrets to a more natural diet that I soooo went there and tried to serve them some pinkie mice. Nothing doing, and I'm not really surprised. I'm not even sure what possessed me or how I even found the courage to do this.

At the same time I did serve up some chunks of raw chicken and one small chicken leg, bone and all. Nobody seems interested in chewing up the bites of chicken, Cracker Jack thought they were fun to run off with and hide. I dutifully followed along behind him, cleaning up his stash. It was a sight to watch him run off with the chicken leg with a look of excitement. He looked so proud of his new possession, but he didn't try to eat any of it.


I decided that we would maintain through my work week, having a chunky soup dinner in the evening with kibble available 24 X 7 as it always has been. We'd do the experimentation with new things or ways for me to serve it on the weekends. We'll see where that leads......

Always learning...

One thing I have learned in my time with ferrets, is that I myself am always learning. What works for one ferret will not work for other ferrets. Additionally what works today may not work tomorrow as the ferrets learn themselves.

We started with a plexiglass gate, standard 2' x 3' that we just velcroed to the door frame. This successfully kept up to 6 different ferrets in the ferret room for over a year. Then one day Moki realized if he pogo'd long enough he had enough momentum to grab on to the top and pull himself over.

I figured I'd fix him, and just raise the height by purchasing a larger piece of plexiglass. Now we were at 2' 4" X 3' and this worked successfully for another year.

Then one day Ozzy realized that if he pogo'd long enough he could reach the top and pull himself over. This left me in a quandry if I raised the height again I would not be able to climb over it. So our cleaver idea was to put some tubing at the top edge, so the little 'devils' couldn't get a grip to pull themselves over.

Not pretty but functional all the same. This lasted all of about a month, and then Ozzy realized that he could leverage himself just right on the actual door to the room that he was able to push the plexiglass away from the velcro at the bottom and squeeze through. Aarrghh!

Now we are trying this, they can't push it out based on how it is positioned, it is too wide for little ferret paws to grab on to the top edge if they jump up. It's working for now!!

Anyone betting on how long it takes for one of them to figure a way out?

Natural Feeding, where do I start?

I've done lots of reading, there are many sites out there. I have found several threads on various ferret forums where this topic is discussed.

One of my favorite articles on the subject was the Bob Church series on the FML from 2003. It was actually this article that convinced me to try switching the 6 Pack over. I gathered from this article that chicken necks might be a good place to start.

After work one night I went in search of chicken necks and found out that these are not something I can just pick up at the grocery store. Silly me! I did find turkey necks, but opted for some chicken legs instead.

Now I wasn't completely comfortable with the thought of raw chicken so I boiled the legs for a few minutes something that was mentioned in the Bob Church series. I still pulled the meat off the bones and instead of making the soup the ferrets are used to I just made it chunkier instead.

The results were really mixed, everyone checked it out and sort of nibbled at what I served. It looks like Cracker Jack and Moki were definitely enjoying the meal.

Not bad for a first attempt I guess.

The 6 Pack ponders Natural Feeding

Well if the truth be told, it's me pondering how to convince them it's good for them. After much reading, I have convinced myself that there are health benefits to my ferrets in feeding a more natural diet.

What does that mean? RMB (raw meaty bones) or whole prey? At this time I really don't know. I do not know that I will completely abandon kibble. I do know that I would like to greatly reduce kibble consumption in our household. For now it's a matter of how do I convince them that this is a good idea.

The 6 Pack regularly gets duck soup as a treat, to keep them interested in it should I ever need it to care for a sick ferret. They love their duck soup, but it is very liquefied. I have always made what we call 'Chicken Smoothies' by boiling chicken thighs. I pull the chicken off the bone when done. Using the chicken stock, a small amount of soaked kibble, some Nupro and the chicken everything is whirled in the blender until liquefied.

I know they are used to the smell and 'taste' of cooked chicken. Can I get them used to eating chicken in a form other than liquefied? Will they eat it raw and with bones? I do not know the answer to this question but I am going to try, see what happens and post our journey here.

Moki turns two! May 22nd, 2007

Moki San our Kamikaze Ferret Ruler of the Universe has turned two! His birthday was a couple weeks back and of course we celebrated in style.

As usual the celebration started out with traditional soupy.




Totally not related to the party, but I wanted you to see the 6 Pack knows how to use "napkins" after soupy. This is Moki demonstrating at the bash...





See Mom...all clean!



Moki & Bobo investigating the box that appeared in the room while everyone was distracted by soup.



Moki checking out the new tube toy.



Tube Jam!! We've had lots of these lately and lots of tail wags too!



As with any good party you should be tired when it's over...




Looking back at life with Moki...
Baby pictures:





Growing up and changing colors:

Long time No blogging

We're not doing so good on updating the world on our antics, but we are alive and doing well.

We've been going outside to play now that spring is here and the weather is nicer, it won't be long before the weather is too hot for us to be outside.

We are also in the beginning stages of trying out a diet more natural for ferrets. This includes eating raw meat for better health. Ferrets are after all carnivores. There are signs that this transition will be successful, but the ferrets aren't gung ho over their new food choices yet either.

Poo Mystery

If you have ever spent any amount of time around a ferret owner, you know the subject of ferret poop will come up. Get a bunch of ferret owners together and look out! We seem to be obsessed with poo, we scoop it, we look for it in all corners, and we inspect it to ensure our fuzzies health.

This week we had a poop mystery and I had to use my keen detective skills to try and solve it.

I was holding Ozzy one morning, when I noticed he had a streak of poo on the outside of one of his hind legs. Odd very odd, I cleaned him up and went about my way. It didn't take long to realize that Ozzy had transferred some of his poo to my shirt while I had been holding him. Uggh!!!

Later that day I was greeting Bobo as she woke up from a nap. I picked her up, and lo and behold another streak of poo. This time it was on Bobo's neck. We cleaned her up and I set about my detective work.

It had to be somewhere in there room, cleverly hidden so that I couldn't see it. Out came the step stool so I could get up to the 3rd level of the cage. No blanket or toy was left in the cage, everything was carefully inspected...no poo. I did this level by level until I was satisfied the mystery poo was not in the cage.

Could it be under the cage? That was a pain, does anybody realize just exactly how many toys Ozzy has dragged under there? I do, I pulled them out one by one and inspected each closely...no poo.

We have a one level cat condo, that the ferrets use to climb in and out of their cage. Just maybe it was in the hidey hole portion of the condo....peek inside....no poo. Hmmmm the plot thickens.

Oh goodness, it has to be in their tunnels. That'll be a pain to get to and clean. After peering in each section of tunnel, I was satisfied...no poo.

We have a blankie box, that is just for curling up somewhere warm....out came each blankie for careful inspection...no poo.

Please understand the ferrets have their own room here, so there are no cabinets or drawers that they can get into. This is probably a good thing, for the situation.

Then I decided it had to be on one of the ferrets. Maybe just maybe someone stepped on poo in the litter pan and somehow transferred it onto the others.

One by one each fuzzy got a full body inspection including between their toes....no poo.

At this point I am completely stumped, where could the poo be hiding?

To this day, I still can't say for sure where the poo came from or where the rest of it went but I have my suspicions.

Does this look like a litter box to you?


It does to a ferret! In reality it's a cat bed that I thought they'd like sleeping in. Now I never found any poo in there, I did find a nice wet spot so it is possible.

Just to ensure the other Ferrents out there aren't concerned about the fuzzies, the poo found on Bobo and Ozzy was definitely some kind of transfer and not due to any yucky butt.

Snow Bunnies..err....ferrets!

Today we received our second measurable snowfall of the season. While I'm not sure exactly how much snow we received, it was beyond ferret deep anyway. The kiddos had never met snow face to face before and we wanted to see what would happen.

One by one we put their harnesses on and ventured out to the backyard. Most of them thought it was okay, Little Luna didn't like it one bit and was scrambling for dry ground and then there was Ozzy. The Blizzard of Oz took to the snow like a long lost friend.

We captured a few pictures of him out playing in the freshly fallen snow.

See what I mean, beyond ferret deep?

Cruising along....

Rollin around....

Gone Poofy...

With the exception of Luna, all had fun and I think we'll try it again sometime.

Happy First Birthday Cracker Jack

Our loveable Cracker Jack has turned one! We celebrated with Duck Soup, lots of hugs and playtime in the ferret room tonight.

Without further ado, lets introduce the birthday boy, guest of honor!

Is this toy for me?

Yeah, Mom I'll come out for a new toy!


Cracker Jack and Ozzy taking advantage of the fact the other party guests hadn't found the soup tray yet. DIG IN BROTHER!!


Clean up crew, after most of the party guests have moved on the play games.
Featuring Bobo, notice the feet on the plate and Moki.




Of course what is a ferret birthday party without a game of steal the toy and hide it?

Ozzy stealing Cracker Jacks new toy. They toy was then carefully tucked under the cage for safe keeping.

Mojo Turns Two

We celebrated our Mojo Man's second birthday this evening. There was singing and dancing, followed by a great feast, lots of hugs and some new toys. All I'm left with at this point is a pile of sleeping ferrets!

Here is the Birthday Boy now, anticipating the good things to come his way!




We will use just about any reason to have some soupies in our house, so it was definately the main course at the bash! All the party guests, are bellied up and enjoying the treat.



There were a couple of jingle balls given as gifts, they are Mojo's favorite toy. I have no pictures of Mojo's prized new possessions, because they were stashed before the others could try to take them.

Mommy is just as tired as the sleeping pile behind her, so we'll leave you with some pictures of Mojo over the last 2 years.

Happy Birthday Dancin' Mojo!