Hi All, Two new additions to my family Fozzy and Faylene brought to light some dietary concerns. These both are older ferrets, being 6 years old. Kibble fed. I have raised my Josie ferret on a natural prey raw diet. The difference in the feel of them is tremendous. Fozzy & Faylene are both "Squishy". Fozzy is obese. To the point where he couldn't curl up in a ball, couldn't run, couldn't climb up one stair step, couldn't get up on the sofa and a short walk across the room would have his heart pounding through his chest he had to squeeze into a tunnel. He waddled when he walked and would stop often for a rest. His muscles had no tone. His teeth were grey,and brown and had considerable tartar build up all around from incisors to canines to carnassials and molars. His gums had a distinct red line and looked puffy. Fozzy isn't a particularly large ferret, maybe an inch and ahalf longer than Josie. While his actual weight was 2.65 lbs this was NOT muscle weight, instead he was a huge blubberball! I think he developed an OCD eating disorder. Apparently he was low man on the totem pole in his previous business and laid claim to something that made him feel good - food. The first night home I put down the food dish and he plopped down next to it and didn't come up for air! Faylene's teeth were in a similar condition. Her overall body weight was pretty good. A tad on the heavy side, but not overly so, just squishy poor muscle tone too. Both had a very subdued, laid back quiet attitude. (Which I realize could have been just because they were now suddenly in a new situation). That was Sunday June 24th. Today July 2nd (8 days later)he is now eating his kibble but it is mashed together with raw meats and cornish game hen. I measure out a half cup, mash in the meats and then divvie this up through a 24 hour period, no more food free choice 24/7 unless it is raw. Water of course is fresh and free choice from a ceramic bowl. He manages to locate dried meaty bones from Josie's stash and has been eating one of these each day! Yes - bones and all! Fozzy gets up throughout the day and night to wander through the house. He can now fit inside a tunnel without squeezing - still can't turn around in one - so once he goes inside its either go forward or put it in reverse! He can climb up on the sofa by himself. He actually trots a bit through the room. Even hops sideways a couple times to do a war wobble! He'll wrestle a bit with my hand, and rolls around in the ball pool. He actually pounced on a fox tail today! His activity levels are slowly increasing and his belly is slowly receding, the huge blobs of fat in front of his shoulders are reducing and his teeth are getting whiter! The bloody gums swollen gums are bubble gum pink now and no longer bleeding or swollen! He'll wake up, make a round about the house, engage in a scruffle then either go look for something to eat or sometimes just climb up on the sofa for a snuggle! He still prefers a crunchified meaty offering. Faylene has definitely enjoyed the change to a raw program and is now happily devouring large pieces of cornish game hen, some freeze dried meat mix I make and she too eats dried meaty bones from Josie's stash. Faylene will pick up all the raw pieces on the plate and eat them under the sink in seclusion. She eats her fill of meaty pieces then finds a few pieces of kibble and stashes them! These will be found later by Fozzy. She dispatched her first mouse last night, but didn't eat it. I'm not surprised, this is just what Josie did too - they have to learn they ARE indeed predators. But I am confident they will! Faylene's activity level keeps increasing each day! She does an honest to gosh wall and furniture banging war dance now, complete with backwards runs and inside out rollovers! She is also hanging about the front door, snuffling the door seal to the outdoors - so maybe soon she'll be venturing out on excursions too! Josie of course gets fed separately from these two - I don't want any food squabbles. She has a tendency to stash her food unless it is a mouse and then eat it later. But I've noticed lately how she eats it instead of stash and come back to it later. All in all, I'm amazed that Faylene took so readily to the new diet and am encouraged that Fozzy is trimming up as well as warming up to the better diet. Fat ferrets are NOT healthy ferrets and I look forward to the day when the Fozz man can romp and roll with the best of them! Cheers! Kim Here are pix of my footwork: http://photos.yahoo.com/forgewizard This is what I do when I am not under a horse: www.vanityferret.com To see what I'm always talking about please visit: http://www.horseshoes.com/forums/index.php?referrerid=1210 [Posted in FML 5657]