Raw/Whole Prey Diet Appreciation Thread! *graphic warning*

[satomi325]

This is a thread for those who practice or is interested in feeding raw/whole prey to their carnivorous furry friends. (Inspired by Pookie's Dog thread)
So, please feel free to share your experiences, diets, feeding process, and pictures!

*Beware, this will be a graphic thread.*


My experience:
Ferrets are obligate carnivores. They cannot digest grain, fiber, or any type of plant based material. Kibble has too much junk ferrets cannot digest.
Since switching my ferrets from kibble to whole prey, I have seen a vast improvement in body condition and overall health. They have great teeth, decreased appetite due to getting more nutrients/energy in less volume of food, less odor, less waste, more energy, more muscle mass, and softer and shinier coat (they glitter in the sun). My particular business of ferrets have been feeding on a variety of prey for the past 3 years and I couldn't be happier with their health and looks, especially with how prevalent Insulinoma is within the U.S.

Diet:
Mice, rats, rabbits, turkey, chicken, duck, quail, & freeze dried livers and meats.
I do provide a 'high quality' kibble 24/7, because I do have a strict kibble eating ferret in the group that needs to be free-fed. The rest are on whole prey. And between a nice juicy rat and a bowl of kibble, they will always choose the prey.

Feeding process:
Live, F/T, P/K depending on prey and size. I mainly feed live, but will pre-kill adult rats and rabbits for safety reasons. Poultry is given in a chick or juvi form so the ferrets can easily kill them without injury. And while I have no doubt they can take down an adult bird fine, I'd rather not risk it.



















Video of a female eating a mouse (no killing):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=...81537988713265

[DooLittle]

Your ferrets are cute as heck!

[4theSNAKElady]

Ive been in the pet business for like 15 years...and your ferrets look beautiful! Yes, working in the industry and getting lots of pet nutrition training, (esp. for dog and cat health) IMO, going grain free is the best choice for all obligate carnivores...esp. cats. People spend sooooo much money on their cats to help them get better, wheras it all could have been prevented by just making a few changes in their diet. I worked at a store in jersey, and we sold a lot of the frozen raw meat diets for dogs and cats. The customers that did do the "BARF" diet had pets that looked great! And for the most part, people that had a dog/cat that had a health issue and did NOT feed a grain free diet quickly discovered the benefits when they eliminated the grain from the diet. Did you carefully research how to switch your ferrets over?

[Dracoluna]

I feed raw meat to one of my cats because he can't digest even the grain free stuff. It's been about 10 months now and his digestive tract has just now gotten back to normal but the base meat consists of venison, elk, or bison. To that, I add calcium, taurine, Missing Link, and a multivitamin. I would love to use whole foods but unfortunately he just gives me any mice he catches (still alive) and refuses to eat whole ground up chicken legs/thighs which are a staple for many raw food cat diets. In this case, I wouldn't feed raw unless I had to but his digestive tract not only disagrees with commercial food (holistic, organic, grain-free or otherwise) to the point that it wasn't processing hardly any of it. I worry about raw food diets unless the animal does eat whole prey so they get all the good stuff which comes from the organ meat, etc. Bulls, on the other hand, would rather starve than eat liver, gizzards, hearts, or anything but wild game red meat...

[4theSNAKElady]

Yeah, that Missing Link stuff is great.

[satomi325]

Ive been in the pet business for like 15 years...and your ferrets look beautiful! Yes, working in the industry and getting lots of pet nutrition training, (esp. for dog and cat health) IMO, going grain free is the best choice for all obligate carnivores...esp. cats. People spend sooooo much money on their cats to help them get better, wheras it all could have been prevented by just making a few changes in their diet. I worked at a store in jersey, and we sold a lot of the frozen raw meat diets for dogs and cats. The customers that did do the "BARF" diet had pets that looked great! And for the most part, people that had a dog/cat that had a health issue and did NOT feed a grain free diet quickly discovered the benefits when they eliminated the grain from the diet. Did you carefully research how to switch your ferrets over?

Thank you!
I agree. I think grain free is best for obligate carnivores as well. Dogs too, honestly.
But don't forget to look at the ingredients list for the grain free stuff. They usually substitute the grain portion for corn or other starch/carb since they're all binders that hold the kibble together. I recently just read a study done on rats who were fed GMO corn their entire lives. They grew massive tumors as large as their own bodies. So staying away from grain/corn/etc is best imo. Who knows where pet food companies get their ingredients.

BARF diet is so awesome. I haven't tried it, but I'd like to some day.

I did do quite a bit of research before switching my ferrets over. I know there are 'good and bad' kibbles, but even the good commercial kibbles aren't that great. The top premium commercial ferret diets (by Wysong) that are pure animal meat content costs an arm and a leg. For an 18 pound bag, it's $80! It's much more efficient and easier on the wallet to feed them raw whole prey. Plus it's a rather enriching activity for the ferrets.

Also, after comparing the average American ferret with the average European ferret was an eye opener. In Europe, ferrets are working animals. They don't have commerical kibbles over there, so they are fed a strict raw diet. European ferrets are so much more robust and healthy. They don't have the same health issues America ferrets have. A lot of it is related to the grain/carb/starch in their diets.

If you are interested, this is a nice overview of Ferret Insulinoma (hypoglycemis) and the importance of diet:
http://holisticferret60.proboards.co...ay&thread=2702

[Jay_Bunny]

Awesome thread!

Currently none of my carnivorous companions (other than my snakes of course) are on a raw diet. I plan on switching them back very soon but I need to brush up on my know-how.

When my ferrets were on a raw diet I saw amazing results. My ferrets smelled less, went to the bathroom less, were more energetic, and went completely nuts over meal time. Several years back I put my cats on a raw diet for a month and was very impressed with how it improved the health of my cats. Unfortunately, kibble is convenient and both cats and ferrets were switched back but I'd really like them to go raw again. It was so good for them.

Twitch, my smallest female ferret still gets a mouse or rat from time to time, when one of the snakes doesn't eat. But I'd really like it to be more often. I'm planning on switching them to a whole prey/raw diet.

[Juan Carlos]

I want one. there cute

[Mike41793]

When i get my own dog i plan to do a raw diet. Pooks and coleslaw showed me the way of the dark side!

[Aes_Sidhe]

Now I really really want a ferret... when i was livin in Fl my roomate wife has 2.. you should see them playin with our pit-bull lolz.. sweetest view ever...

That's really interesting tread...

Is truth that you should house them at least in pair.. I heard that lonely ferret is not happy ferret...