|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2014 17:52:52 GMT -5
I'm starting to teach my ferret to eat meat and one of the meats that ferrets need to eat is hearts. They don't sell hearts at my local store and my mother really doesn't want to go out in search for something she doesn't find nessisary for a ferret's health (she thinks a complete diet consists of liver, chicken breast and kibble).
So, since my mom doesn't want to buy hearts for my ferret, I decided to order 100% taurine powder online at iherb.com. The label states that it's 100% taurine and is free of soy, corn, gluten, starch, wheat, milk, yeast and preservatives. So it's literally JUST taurine powder.
My my question is, is it okay to add 500mg of taurine powder into my ferret's soup once a week instead of feeding hearts? Or is heart a must-have in a ferrets diet.
i have read threads that say to feed hearts twice a week for the taurine they supply.
Also, why is it so important that a ferret gets taurine in their diet? What does it do and what will giving my ferret taurine prevent? Is it just part of a balance diet? Or is there something special about it?
thank you!
|
|
|
|
Post by raynebc on Oct 2, 2014 18:19:14 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Oct 2, 2014 18:47:43 GMT -5
Taurine is vital for eye, brain, and heart health. Ferrets cannot manufacture this amino acid, thus MUST get it from their diet. Taurine is found in muscles that are used A LOT, which is why heart is a good source - it beats constantly. Another good source of taurine is beef tongue which may be easier for you to find than heart. But if you use tongue, it must be the tongue of a cow, as taurine values of other animal tongues have not been confirmed. If you absolutely cannot get heart or beef tongue, the amount of supplement is 500 mg PER DAY, but this should be a temporary measure until you CAN locate heart or tongue. Heart/beef tongue should be 10% of the total diet so if you're feeding frankenprey, that is equal to about 1.5 meals per week.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2014 19:22:00 GMT -5
gfountain gave very good info. For finding heart look at your local grocery stores for the "Tysons- Chicken Heart & Gizzards" there isn't a lot of heart in the packs, but it's what I currently use, until I find another source. They're about $2-$4 and usually I buy 2-3 packs at a time. I have like 8 gallon bags full of gizzards but my ferts have hearts  I don't know where you live but you can call and check walmart, foodcity, kroger, etc for the Tyson packs. And then you can call or go to your local Asian and Hispanic markets. It doesn't have to be chicken hearts of course, but that's usually more easy to find in my experience. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2014 19:22:26 GMT -5
Thank you very much for your replies! I will search for cow tongue when I go to grocery store this weekend.  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2014 0:09:40 GMT -5
I was told that they need about 1400 mg of taurine a week to replace hearts by my mentor. I give my boy three 500mg capsules in his liver/beef soup once a week which I was told was fine. I also can only find hearts in the gizzard heart packs and it just isn't worth it because I end up wasting a ton of gizzards because they go bad on me. I can find tongue in walmart but it is to expensive at $20 for one tongue.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 3, 2014 8:37:37 GMT -5
If they are not getting taurine from their diet they will need 500g per day supplemented
|
|
|
|
Post by Heather on Oct 3, 2014 11:56:20 GMT -5
Please also continue to look for sources and pick up hearts whenever you see them, even if it's for a treat. The real deal is much better for them than the supplement. Another thing to remember if you're prey feeding mice are very high in taurine too
ciao
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2014 16:47:51 GMT -5
Thank you so much for the information! At the moment I can't feed Chaka the raw meat diet, I can only feed him 1/2 meat diet and 1/2 high quality kibble. So in the morning he will get meat, in the afternoon he will just get kibble. I will be looking out for hearts still and will also look for the Tyson's gizzards and heart mixture. I'm also going to teach Chaka to eat frozen thawed mice from the pet store, so he will also be receiving that in the future. I'll Be buying a mini fridge since my mom doesn't want the main fridge to be bombarded with Chaka's meats.
My plan is to get him used to the meats now, then when I move out on my own, switch him over to the raw meat diet.
Again, thank you to everyone who replied, I'm so happy you guys were able to clear this up for me. I will make sure he gets cow tongue or hearts into his diet. Chaka thanks you all aswell.
|
|
