| My Big Monte - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| MARIANA MACK |
Hello All,
I recently joined this group and everyone seems quite knowledgeable -
hopefully you can help me.
I have two wonderful ferrets - Buster who is about 3 yrs and Monte who is 2
1/2 yrs. Monte is a bit overweight (he weighs a little over 4 pounds!) and
I would like to put him on a diet without depriving Buster, who weighs about
half as much. They are both healthy, playful boys; although Buster is
significantly more active. (They are both neutered.) I usually mix several
types of dry ferret food and let them graze whenever they are hungry.
I don't want to separate my little guys because they are good friends and
love to play and cuddle with each other - how can I put one on a diet
without affecting the other?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Mariana
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| Zachary Paul Stewart |
"MARIANA MACK" <mariana.mack@verizon.net> wrote in
news:YYDfd.3909$jD4.1556@trnddc06:
>
> Monte is a bit overweight (he weighs a little
> over 4 pounds!) and I would like to put him on a diet without
> depriving Buster, who weighs about half as much.
>
> I don't want to separate my little guys because they are good
> how can I put one on a diet without affecting the other?
>
What does your vet say about Monte's weight? It may be possible that
4 pounds is the correct weight in his case.
Since I'm not even a ferret owner (yet) I don't know if I should
offer advice, but it would probably be a good idea to see what your
vet thinks.
Good luck,
Zach
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I agree with Zach........ Gilbert is almost four pounds and that's a good
weight for him. Kylie is only one pound and they eat the same thing, just
different amounts.
Sometimes if people want to lower the fat intake, they can change over to
Totally Ferret Senior or even Iams Kitten adult formula instead of kitten,
there are others also that come in a little lower calorie mixes. The other
thing you might want to do is try to get Buster more active - take him out
for walks now that the weather is cool, etc. If he can't be encouraged to
be more active, I would go back to the thought that he should probably be
checked by a vet. There are things that can be wrong that could be keeping
him from being active (maybe even heart problems), so I'd want to be sure
everything was okay before I put him on lower calorie food - but still stay
with the premium foods....don't go to a grocery store cat food because the
quality nutrition just isn't there. Another thought to put weight ON would
be to give your skinny boy some supplemental feedings of warm A/D soup or
babyfood chicken or turkey in between meals.
There are differrent body types in ferrets. A 'bulldog' ferret tends to be
larger boned and shorter legs, shorter nose and usually just heavier all
over. A ferret with a 'whippet' body style will tend to be thin, long
legged and long nose. Could be that you just have one whippet and one
bulldog.......maybe nothing wrong with either. But if in doubt,have both
checked out and see what the vet recommends.
I do want to stress here that it's important to use a vet who is used to
working with a lot of ferrets, so he will know what is and is not 'normal'.
You can find a list of ferret knowledgeable vets in your area by clicking
here; http://www.ferretcentral.org , click on 'resources', then on 'U.S.
Vets' and scroll thru by state and city to find one in your area (if you're
not in the US, use the 'non-US' vet list.
Best of luck to you and your little guys.
jumpingmouse, kylie & gilbert
"Zachary Paul Stewart" <zach@freezerbarn.FAKEcom> wrote in message
news:Xns958EE7A19657Fzacharypaulstewart@216.196.97.136...
> "MARIANA MACK" <mariana.mack@verizon.net> wrote in
> news:YYDfd.3909$jD4.1556@trnddc06:
>
>
>>
>> Monte is a bit overweight (he weighs a little
>> over 4 pounds!) and I would like to put him on a diet without
>> depriving Buster, who weighs about half as much.
>>
>> I don't want to separate my little guys because they are good
>> how can I put one on a diet without affecting the other?
>>
>
>
> What does your vet say about Monte's weight? It may be possible that
> 4 pounds is the correct weight in his case.
>
> Since I'm not even a ferret owner (yet) I don't know if I should
> offer advice, but it would probably be a good idea to see what your
> vet thinks.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Zach
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