advise

[Kay 3,709]

what do you normally feed her on

cat biscuits and bread and milk

 

How old are the kits now ?

 

two weeks thursday

 

Even iff there mom wont touch the rabbit the kits will, start offering rabbit from 3 weeks old & you will be amazed how they come on, there little teeth will be able to manage rabbit even at that early stage , they dont tend to handle anywhere near as good when fed the dry food as kits, i never wean kits on dry food fullstop, they need there little tummys filling with raw meat rabbit ideally

[jultaylor1972 2]

to add to this. I have bought my nursing jill(8 kitts) A load of ox liver from the local butcher. how much should I give her to start her off?

 

what do you normally feed her on

cat biscuits and bread and milk

 

Word's fail me especially this day and age where they is a lot more knowledge about.. ..

 

And you still get those nugget's twisting at people who do the sensible thing by culling there stock..which usually stop's these type of folk from getting hold of a ferret in the first place..

 

Millet

 

how do you tell a 13 year old that you got to KILL some of his baby ferrets he looks after them very well

 

I can see where Millet is coming from ; There are times when ferrets are badly treated and a lot of this is possibly due to people breeding ferrets and then realising they cant cope with or afford to feed the kitts as they begin to eat them out of house and home and take up more space, this then leads to giving the ferrets to anyone who wants them and the same process happens again. Im not saying you are irresponsible at all or that you fit into this category but I have to say that culling the unwanted ferrets in the first place would be the most sensible thing to do rather than get rid of them in a rush. Im breeding off one of my ferrets this year and have done loads of research about what it entails. I have people who are keen to have some offspring but if that all goes pearshaped then I will be keeping the whole litter myself, luckily I have the space to do this and my aim in breeding was to keep a very good working line going and to get at hob which will be vasectomised and used to bring my jills out of season next spring.

 

well if you are not trying to say that the ferret is treated badly why say it .he only asked for some help .

No where in my post does it say that he treats his ferret badly I am simply trying to offer my opinion and help him learn about ferrets and why sometimes there are an abundance of ferrets for sale that end up going to people who buy them on a whim. I have a very good book about ferrets and their upkeep etc and if you send me your address by PM I will gladly send it to your son to help him on his quest to learn more .

[theburlyblacksmith 0]

Word's fail me especially this day and age where they is a lot more knowledge about.. ..

 

And you still get those nugget's twisting at people who do the sensible thing by culling there stock..which usually stop's these type of folk from getting hold of a ferret in the first place..

 

Millet

 

I've got to say i disagree with that mate, you seem to imply that it would be better to kill a ferret than to give it diarrhoea! Although milk sops do cause this, im sure anything would take a life with diarrhoea than not having a life at all.

 

In my opinion, culling should only be an option if there is a serious medical issue. Better to give the ferret a chance with another owner than just kill it. If it's that big a deal to you then why not take the trouble to make sure the ferret is going to a good home, rather than doing the lazy thing and just killing it.

 

Also, posts like that only discourage people from posting. If derogatory comments were all i got in answer to an honest question then it would seriously put me off posting.

Edited May 28, 2008 by theburlyblacksmith

[Guest jojoamojo]

the lazy thing is feeding the poor jill on bread and milk!

 

Trying to help here - she will be getting no nutrition whatsoever, if she wont eat the rabbit, get her beef mice from asda, get her tuna fish in OIL not brine, decent FERRET food, a day old chick, chicken liver raw, get her anything nutritious, she needs something of substance.

 

Plus the kits need meat from 3 weeks + fresh meat at least 3 times a day, if you dont work your meat bill will be over £2 a day for a normal litter of kits reared correctly, but they seem to do much better on fur and feather and FERRET kibble should be there 24/7 for any nursing ferret (or constant supply of meat)

 

with all due respect and in the nicest possible way, a 13 year old shouldnt be soley responsible for a nursing animal

 

take the offer of the book, people will try to help but you gotta be willing to learn

Edited May 28, 2008 by jojoamojo

[stubby 175]

Word's fail me especially this day and age where they is a lot more knowledge about.. ..

 

And you still get those nugget's twisting at people who do the sensible thing by culling there stock..which usually stop's these type of folk from getting hold of a ferret in the first place..

 

Millet

 

I've got to say i disagree with that mate, you seem to imply that it would be better to kill a ferret than to give it diarrhoea! Although milk sops do cause this, im sure anything would take a life with diarrhoea than not having a life at all.

 

In my opinion, culling should only be an option if there is a serious medical issue. Better to give the ferret a chance with another owner than just kill it. If it's that big a deal to you then why not take the trouble to make sure the ferret is going to a good home, rather than doing the lazy thing and just killing it.

 

Also, posts like that only discourage people from posting. If derogatory comments were all i got in answer to an honest question then it would seriously put me off posting.

 

I think your reading millets reply wrong

he's not saying culling is better than diarrhoea, he's saying, culling stops inexperienced people getting their hands on ferrets, you'll notice I dont put an age on that remark, as grown up's can be just as nieve on the subject, but to have a ferret, or any animal for that matter is a big responsability, I would always expect anybody wanting an animal, to read up and ask questions, before getting the animal they desire, so they are prepaired for keeping it, show me a book nowdays, that recomends feeding, bread and milk

now this is'nt a dig at pet keepers, but I could quite understand a pet ferret keeper, not to feed fresh rabbit, but to use ferret biscuit, and have myself, taken in ferts that look at fresh rabbit, and walk over to the biscuit instead, but even if they dont eat it straight away, dont give up on it, not eating rabbit after one day, chop your rabbit into chunks, and each day, place the rabbit in a dish, with a little biscuit, she will eventually eat it,

if the ferret has been bought to use as a worker, and to catch rabbits, then surely, the keeper should know that the ferret eats rabbit.

as for the jill having a litter of kitts, why was the jill even bred before all this infomation was gathered, a bit like closing the gate, after the horse has bolted dont you think,

 

and lastly blacksmith, if by posting a question on the hunting life, you only expect to get nice/agree'ing/advice comments left, then this is'nt the site for you to post them on, this is an open forum, people can agree or dis agree with a post, and leave comments in answer to the question, its down to the "poster" to sift through all the replies left, and either act on advice given, or ignore it

hopefully, the questions and answers for this post will be read, and taken, and the young lad can persivie with the rabbit, and help his jill raise some healthy kitts, and go on to become a good ferreter/keeper,

or

he can ignore it and carry on feeding bread and milk

[sue 1]

i have been looking after a friends 2 ferrets for the past month ,they are pet ferrets .They only ate ferret biscuits when they first came but now they are eating fresh meat too ,its took a little time to bring them round to eating it as they was so used to dry that they just looked at the fresh meat ,now they will gladly took into what ever i give them .The only problem is when they go back home ive got to get the owner to carry on feeding fresh meat thats going to be the hardest thing

[wiz1243 0]

cheers for all your advise keep trying rabbit AND STOP THE SLOPS

[will.f11 24]

to add to this. I have bought my nursing jill(8 kitts) A load of ox liver from the local butcher. how much should I give her to start her off?

 

what do you normally feed her on

cat biscuits and bread and milk

 

Word's fail me especially this day and age where they is a lot more knowledge about.. ..

 

And you still get those nugget's twisting at people who do the sensible thing by culling there stock..which usually stop's these type of folk from getting hold of a ferret in the first place..

 

Millet

 

how do you tell a 13 year old that you got to KILL some of his baby ferrets he looks after them very well

 

I can see where Millet is coming from ; There are times when ferrets are badly treated and a lot of this is possibly due to people breeding ferrets and then realising they cant cope with or afford to feed the kitts as they begin to eat them out of house and home and take up more space, this then leads to giving the ferrets to anyone who wants them and the same process happens again. Im not saying you are irresponsible at all or that you fit into this category but I have to say that culling the unwanted ferrets in the first place would be the most sensible thing to do rather than get rid of them in a rush. Im breeding off one of my ferrets this year and have done loads of research about what it entails. I have people who are keen to have some offspring but if that all goes pearshaped then I will be keeping the whole litter myself, luckily I have the space to do this and my aim in breeding was to keep a very good working line going and to get at hob which will be vasectomised and used to bring my jills out of season next spring.

 

well if you are not trying to say that the ferret is treated badly why say it .he only asked for some help .

No where in my post does it say that he treats his ferret badly I am simply trying to offer my opinion and help him learn about ferrets and why sometimes there are an abundance of ferrets for sale that end up going to people who buy them on a whim. I have a very good book about ferrets and their upkeep etc and if you send me your address by PM I will gladly send it to your son to help him on his quest to learn more .

Am I the 13 year old that people are talking about lol

[will.f11 24]

to add to this. I have bought my nursing jill(8 kitts) A load of ox liver from the local butcher. how much should I give her to start her off?

Does anyone know?

[Kay 3,709]

to add to this. I have bought my nursing jill(8 kitts) A load of ox liver from the local butcher. how much should I give her to start her off?

Does anyone know?

 

no its not you

[Jack NUFC 1]

wrf are you getting an apprentiship with Ali G? init

[wiz1243 0]

went out this morning did not look to good so took her to the vet keeping her in

[The one 8,483]

What did you feed your ferret before she had the kitts ?? Stick to that because she was eating that and try a little bit of fresh meat for the kitts from 3 week onward .let us know how you get on at the vets

[wiz1243 0]

just had a phone call of vet she as died

feeding kits cat milk every two hours

Edited May 29, 2008 by wiz1243

[Kay 3,709]

just add phone call of vet she as died

feeding kits cat milk every two hours

 

Sorry to hear off the jills passing, all you can do now is try to bring on the kits