I got questions! (:

[Deleted]

So I've been doing alot of research about ferrets and their proper diets. I pretty much made a diet plan for my ferret which includes the following:
Monday: Chicken Wings and Ground Turkey
Tuesday: Turkey Wings and Beef Hearts
Wednesday: Chicken Necks and Pork Chops
Thursday: Turkey Wings and Chicken Liver
Friday: Chicken Wings and Chicken Neck
Saturday: Beef Liver and Turkey Wings
Sunday: Chicken Neck and Ground Beef w/ egg
This diet would be after the transition using the soup I saw posted up here (:   Does anything look wrong with it? Is there something I need to add.
The ferret I just got today is 2 weeks old so I'm hoping that he/she i think its a boy though (need to learn how to tell despite him being desexed, maybe I'll post a picture and someone could help me out?)will be able to transition easier because I know I've read he's still imprinting.... rigggghhhhttt. lol
Also I've read ferrets can be ok with high quality cat food that is high protein grain free no corn and no wheat or soy. ( which is the kind of food I got for now since itll take time for the transition). What if he had a little bit of both diets?? Would that be good? bad? ok? I appreciate anyone who's willing to help out and share their knowledge!! Thanks in advance!!!

[Deleted]

You have 8 Bone-In Meals, 4 Muscle Meals (1 being Heart, heart is a muscle), but will need to work on organ meals. One day needs to be-
Half Liver - Half Other Organ (such as kidney, pancreas, spleen, anyone that secretes)
and the other to be-
Half Liver, Half Other Organ and Half Meal of Hearts

So for Thursday it could be-
Thur: Turkey Wings & Half Chicken Liver & Half Other Organ
and Saturday could be
Turkey Wings & Half Beef Liver, Half Other Organ & Half Heart

Let the mentors confirm the above, I'm not a mentor and they know more than I do, always take their advice first.

2 weeks? Are you sure? Is it on formula? Where is it's mother? At 2 weeks they still need to be with mom and be taking milk/formula. I'm tagging Heather, she is an experienced raw feeder, owner and breeder.
Ferret CAN live on kibble, but it isn't good for them, and we don't recommend it. Raw/whole is the best diet for them, kibble can cause a cancer called Insulinoma among many other issues.

[Deleted]

This may help, copy and pasted from an awesome mentor who is so great at explaining things, gfountain hope you don't mind that I took this.

Now, moving on to the basic frankenprey menu:
Raw fed ferrets are generally fed twice a day, 12 hours apart, making a total of 14 meals per week. The basic weekly menu should include:

1 ½ meals of heart (~10% of the total diet)
1 ½ meals of organ, at least half of which must be liver (~5% liver, 5% other organ)
7-9 meals of edible bone-in meat (~50-60%)
2-4 meals of muscle meat with no bone (~15-30%)

and a sample menu to go by-

Sun AM: organ meal (½ liver, ½ other organ)
Sun PM: edible bone-in meat

Mon AM: edible bone-in meat (or muscle)
Mon PM: edible bone-in meat

Tues AM: heart
Tues PM: edible bone-in meat

Wed AM: muscle meat
Wed PM: edible bone-in meat

Thur AM: heart and organ (½ liver, ½ other organ)
Thur PM: edible bone-in meat

Fri AM: edible bone-in meat (or muscle)
Fri PM: edible bone-in meat

Sat AM: muscle meat
Sat PM: edible bone-in meat

and some other parts I picked through-

Raw meat is safe for ferrets to eat. A ferret’s digestive tract is very short and bacteria doesn’t have enough time to set up camp in there. And, surprisingly, raw food can be safely left out for several hours at a time, depending on the ambient temperature:
“Soups” - 6-8 hours (for soup recipe, see below)
Grinds - 8-12 hours
Chunks - 10-24 hours depending on the size (larger chunks last longer)
Bone-in meats - 12-24 hours, again depending on the size
Whole prey - up to 48 hours

EDIT/ADD:
Raw soup recipe
8 oz raw skinless/boneless chicken
1 oz raw chicken liver (about half a liver)
1 oz raw chicken heart (about 2 hearts)
½ tsp. eggshell powder
Water to thin
Blend all ingredients until soupy. Freeze in ice cube trays (rubbed with olive oil for easy removal) to make easy-to-serve portions and reduce waste. Chicken is the most common protein to start a switch with, but any protein can be used.

Ferrets, whether they are fed whole prey, grinds, or frankenprey, or some combination of the three, must have a minimum of 3 DIFFERENT PROTEINS in their diet, preferably including at least one red meat. Examples of different proteins are chicken, turkey, quail, beef, rabbit, pork, venison, lamb, goat, frog, fish, etc. Some common red meats are beef, bison, venison, goat, and lamb.

And speaking of poop, poop patrol is going to become a fact of your life. A raw fed ferret’s poop is NOTHING like a kibble poop. Their poops change from meal to meal depending on what they last ate. Here is a link to the ‘poop chart’ for reference. (poop chart) You will likely become a little (or a lot) obsessed with your fuzzy’s litter box for the next few weeks at least, and very likely you will soon be able to tell what your ferret ate for dinner just by looking in the litter box. (You can brag about this talent to your friends if you want, lol.) In addition to his activity level, a ferret’s output is the best indicator of his health. It is also how we determine if your fuzzy needs more or less bone in his diet. As mentioned earlier, the diet should include 10-15% bone. Sometimes they need a little more bone, sometimes a little less, depending on the poops. If the poops are loose, they need more bone. If the fuzzy is constipated, or poops look dry and hard or chalky, they need less bone. Blood-rich meats (hearts, organs) will cause dark, looser poops; heavy bone meals (like chicken necks) will cause drier, more formed poops that often have tiny bits of partially digested bone in them. Another thing to expect during the first few weeks is STINKY poops! Your ferret is basically on a detox from the nasty things that are in kibble. While his digestive tract gets used to processing the raw, his stools will be stinky and odd looking most days. This will all clear up and you will have smaller, less stinky raw poops before you know it!

-thank you Gina for writing all that info, I go back and read through this from time to time.

[Deleted]

Oh, you don't need to make soup, if you will have this baby when he is under 6mo old, all you do is throw a chicken wing in and they chow down. (giggle) No soups, no transitioning, we call them "tummies with teeth" for a reason, so when he is old enough (think you can intro raw at a very young age, I think Heather's were chomping on chunks before they even opened their eyes lol), but yeah when they are babies it's SO easy, so you can just work on building your frankenprey menu for the little bugger.

[Deleted]

Yea, that's what I was told. I got my ferret from pet co(there were no shelters or anything near by to adopt, I usually adopt as I've done with my dogs) Unless he misspoke and meant 2 months? Not sure. I was told 2 weeks ( which I too thought sounded young maybe he meant 2 months lol)I'll post a pic so it can be guesstimated? lol
As per the menu, thanks alot! Ill make those revisions. I was really hoping it could be just based on what I could find at HEB ( I made a list of all I could find there) I'll recheck for another type of organ that I can add in! If not find it elsewhere! Yall are amazing, thanks for the quick replies!!
Ok So i put upload but idk where it went! lol

[Deleted]

another picture, curled up on my bed. he/she is pretty small. It looks like hes got a belly button which i heard meant its a boy?

[Deleted]

Petco is not legally allowed (nobody is) to sell one under I think 8wks old. Call them back as soon as you can and ask them about this, did they give you paperwork? He looks quite small though, I'm not even sure if they open their eyes at that age, has he ever opened his eyes before? They can't castrate/descent (aka mutilate) a ferret that young either, they do at around 4-6 wks I think.
Judging from the first picture showing his belly it looks like he has a penis, so yes a boy. I can't believe they didn't even tell you that... hm.

Yes a variety of organs is best, but can be a little difficult to find. You can usually find something like kidney/spleen/etc at an Asian or Hispanic Market.

[Deleted]

Look in his ears, are there two blue dots? I think I see them in the picture, if so, I really highly doubt he is that young. Heather will be able to help you more on this though. In the first picture he looks like he is sleeping, is he active? Does he run and play?

[Deleted]

He did at the pet store and when I was bringing him home. He's just tired right now I'm guessing. His poop does seem watery though so I'm glad I'll be able to switch him easily? Does he look under 6 months?

[Deleted]

He isn't 2 weeks old, phew, looked back at pictures of Heathers meepers and this is them at 2wks-



He's probably 2 months.
Watery poop isn't good but can be due to stress, it may seem weird, but can you take a picture of his latest poop and post it? We ferret owners are obsessed with poop, it's part of life, lol.
What does he eat right now? Has he been checked by a Vet? What color are his poops?

[Heather]

Are those pics of the little one you just got. Not 2 weeks and definitely not 2 months either. This is a pic of 5 week old kits


This kit is 7 weeks


I'm thinking your kit is about 6 or 7 weeks. That means that just after that kits eyes opened if that he was torn away from his mom. Watery stools is a high risk situation in baby ferrets and vetting is necessary. Babies can go down hill in an hour or two.
This is a pic of a 6 month old ferret


if loose watery stools persist get your little one to the vet immediately.
ciao

[Deleted]

Hehe Ok thanks. I'll call back just to confirm the age tomorrow morning. It very well maybe stress. I literally just got him today. It was kind of late so no vet yet, but I will be taking him asap. Just to make sure all is well. I completely understand looking at the poop and look forward to learning more about that. I kind of scooped the poop up and moved it to his litter box so he'd learn....its not really a good pic now but ill upload one here as soon as he goes again. (I'm not poop shy so i can do whatever is needed, be it dig through poke around it whatever! ( Im in an EMT class and im pretty sure suctioning vomit will be a lot worse, lol) they are brown not exactly too watery but kind of like mmmm i want to say ..........pudding maybe? hmmm kind of like canned mushy dog food.... he went on me in the car, lol

[Deleted]

Yes as soon as you can get him to the Vet will be good, to make sure everything is okay. Thank you Heather, I've never had a ferret under 1yr so unfortunately don't know what they look like or how big they are and such.
Aren't Heather's little meepers the cutest darn things ever? Love!

Should she introduce some raw before she gets him to the Vet?

[Deleted]

Ok I just read that! I will immediately then. did not think he was that young. Ill post some more if it helps? hes playful when he gets to waking up, i just tried to at first he was groggy but then he started playing with knob that opens a shelf on my desk lol

[Deleted]

Also, just another question about bones... Ferrets can actually just eat them? That kind of worries me a bit ( because of how it can tear up a dogs insides if swallowed) so I just want to make sure an I mean bones are pretty hard so like, how? Lol how ignorant does that sound? Idk but from what I've been reading from consumable bone I'm just supposed to leave it in right? ]And since my ferret is so young I would probably have to smash it up right? Whatever it is I feed him?