Joan,

Your menu of kibble/ground meats/canned foods/softened & soup is what
is contributing to the oral health problems. Its encouraging that some
of your ferrets are eating some raw items - but even those items are
soft.

Teeth get cleaned from the action of meat and bone scraping across
them, the gums get exercised and brushed too when the teeth scissor
through the meat and cleave it from the bone. THere just is no
substitution for this action. No matter what kind of commercial
product or tooth brush you get your fingers cannot reach all the
way around the teeth and the gums won't get stimulated either.

The result of eating softened diets is that the gums actually loosen
their hold on the teeth. The placque and tartar and calculus builds up
on the teeth and keeps pushing the gums away from the teeth. Bacteria
get into these pockets and soon an infection starts - then abscesses
and even bone loss - its a yucky vicious cycle.

The VERY BEST item I've discovered for keeping teeth clean and
providing excellent oral health are chicken necks! You can offer an
entire neck, or cut one into thirds. There's enough meat on them to
interest the ferret, and it's thick enough for their entire tooth to
sink into clear up to the gums. The meat is tucked into the vertebrae,
surrounding the vertebrae are sinews that floss and the vertebrae are
small enough to be devoured which adds calcium and other minerals to
their diet! Chicken necks are cheap and available at most grocery
stores or butcher shops. You can dehydrate them, freeze dry them or
feed them raw.

Really do what you can to encourage your ferrets to eat more raw and
eat the chicken necks - if it means they have to get a bit hungry to do
so , well then let them get hungry - it won't kill them ( the normal
disclaimer for insulinomic ferrets applies).

Don't be surprised if their gums bleed a little the first few times
they eat the necks. The gums are soft and weak from dis-use. As the
ferret gnaws more and more on the necks the gums will toughen up and it
won't be long at all before their teeth are smooth and gleaming whte
and the gums are bubble gum pink!

If you continue with your soft/ground mushy diet they'll need necks at
least once a day. So mush at night and necks in the morning. No more
mushy stuff until the necks are done! and by ddone that means nothing
left but the thicker heavier parts of the vertebrae - all the meat and
sinew should be gnawed off.

I'd strongly suggest eliminating completely the kibble stuff - or at
least the stuff with grains in it. N-Bones are advertised to clean
ferret's teeth - while my ferrets are allowed N-bones (even the raw fed
ones) the new adoptees still eating kibbles get N-bones and their teeth
have issues.

Kosmo who became depressed after a Mimzy died and stopped eating any
raw items; so I had to hand feed for weeks since Christmas jsut had
another vet visit today and his teeth are showing considerable issues:
tartar, calculus, red lines at the gums - and this is all since he's
been on the soft diet! I've located a new buddy for him so he is coming
out of his depression. But the new buddy is a kibble cruncher - so I've
got to start them both all over on the transition.

Chicken necks are the best, turkey necks work great too - but they
don't eat as much of the bone. Besides chicken necks, chicken wings
work great too!

Good luck!

Cheers!
Kim

[Posted in FML 6585]