From:
fmd409
Date: 2002-06-11 13:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Lizzie's eating problems - please help!
>... She is on Amway cat food right now
> (the only thing she will eat consistently) and I have try several
> times to switch her to ferret foods. We have tried Marshall's,
> Totally Ferret, etc. She continues to pick out the cat food and
> leaves the rest. ... comparing the two and that
> is why she seems so frail.
You CAN get a ferret to switch to a better food. The trick, from the
human perspective, is in being more stubborn than the ferret. From
the ferret's perspective the reason for changing is learning that
his human really isn't trying to poison him, and that stuff doesn't
taste all that bad, even though it doesn't taste like food.
A ferret imprints on what "food" tastes like. Ferrets are extreme
creatures of habit. They know where things are "supposed" to be
in "their" territory. They know how they're "supposed" to smell and
taste. If it changes, it's a possible threat. Although we snicker
and think it's cute when they investigate something new... THEY are
very serious about it on an instinctive level. So something as
survival critical as the food supply is a major concern when it
changes.
A ferret that has had infrequent environment changes over a span of
several years has a harder time adjusting to changes. For them it
has to be done slowly. Instead of measuring Lizzie's ability to
switch foods in days, think MONTHS. During those months only one
thing is necessary: she must taste the new food, SEVERAL TIMES EVERY
DAY.
1. Keep mixing the new food with the old. Mix the containers of
fresh foods together - put a ONE WEEK SUPPLY of the new food and the
old food together in a storage container and fill her food bowls
from it. When she's picked through her food bowl and has eaten most
of the old food out of it, DISCARD the uneaten new food and refill
the bowl with a fresh mixture from the storage container of mixed
food.
2. SEVERAL TIMES A DAY offer her a piece of the new food from your
hand. When she refuses it, rub the piece of food on her mouth.
3. ONCE A DAY, hold her by the scruff and wait until she opens her
mouth. (Be patient, she will eventually.) When her mouth opens,
place a piece of the new food IN THE FRONT of her mouth. Release her
immediately so that she can spit it out. You are only trying to get
the food in contact with her tongue, at the front of her mouth where
she has better control of food in her mouth and will not get choaked
on it.
4. Make a soup with the new food using ONLY the food and water. Soak
the food in water until it's soft, then mash or blend it with more
water to make it soupy. Offer this as a treat daily or several times
a week... Dip your finger in the soup and offer it to her to taste
or dab it on her mouth. CHEAT and sprinkle Ferretone on the top of
the soup to coax her to eat it. DON'T sprinkle Ferretone on dry
food... it soaks in and changes the smell and flavor which defeats
the purpose. Ferretone doesn't mix with the soup and the ferret will
get a taste of the food trying to get the Ferretone.
5. Put a few pieces of the new food in her hammock or bedding. Many
ferrets will pick them up with their mouth to get them out of their
bed.
6. Each week, reduce the amount of the old food in the mixture.
The ferret MUST taste the new food EVERY day for it to become
a "normal" part of his/her "territory". It might be every day for 3
months, depending on how deeply imprinted the ferret is on a
particular food, but it's usually only 1 or 2 months before they
will eat a new food.
Of all the ferrets that have come through this shelter, there has
NEVER been one that did not eventually accept a new food. Don't
confuse "preference" for "switching". They may ALWAYS "prefer" to
eat the old food if it's available, but they WILL eat the new food
(AFTER an adjustment period of months!) when the old food is not
available.
Debi Christy
Ferrets First Foster Home
http://www.geocities.com/ferretsfirst