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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2015 17:36:53 GMT -5
Sorry crossed messaged while editing with u Poncesmom I ordered a bunch of chicken feet and mine stashed as well. I finally gave them to puppy. I do not know what he did with them But, I am not saying do not feed them to him. Maybe cut a section off and see what he does with it
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Post by FireAngel on Jun 26, 2015 18:10:57 GMT -5
FireAngel - thanks for taking the time to look over my menu. The link was very helpful, thank you. You're welcome, I'm happy to be able to help anyway I can.I'd like to make sure I'm understanding what is classified as what. Is this correct? Whole prey meals: Skinned-gutted rabbit whole quail mouse Any animal that has organs, bones and fur intact is considered whole prey for our feeding purposes. Although with some animals many of us do skin animals like rabbits or guinea pigs (cavies). Most of us also take out the intestines and stomachs of rats, guineas and larger prey items in general. You will find a lot of ferrets just simply do not eat those parts and it is easier to take them out then it is to clean them off the walls or floor lol. Mice are just too small of animal to bother gutting though so I just have to pick up the little piles of intestines when they get mice.Bone-in meals Ground Goat/Bones/Tripe/Organs Ground Pheasant/Bone/Organs Whole Carcass Ground Cavies Ground Chicken/Bones/Organs chicken feet Like @poncesmom said chicken feet are not considered a meal for the reasons she mentioned. I think I recall bison and goat as a couple of your grinds so you have red meat covered there. Lamb is a great protein and red meat for ferrets if you ever come across one with food allergies or IBS lamb is generally well tolerated. The whole ground animal actually counts as a whole prey technically but you definitely want to make sure your not too heavy on grinds unless you have no issues with teeth cleaning, they need to be able to chomp those whole bones for their teeth health too. Muscle meals Chicken feet. Boneless Chicken Thigh Cubes Again like poncesmom stated chicken feet count as a snack. Anything that is just the muscle meat of an animal is considered a muscle meal. Heart is a muscle but for our diet purposes that has its own category.Heart meals Chicken Heart (Can I count whole prey as heart meal - or should it just be entirely heart?) Heart is its own category. Organ meals Rabbit organs Goose pieces chicken liver chicken heart I'm not sure what's in goose pieces so I cannot say what this counts as. Organ meals should be 1/2 liver of any protein type and 1/4 a second type of organ plus 1/4 of a third type. Example would be 1oz chicken liver 0.5 oz beef lung and 0.5oz pork brain. Hope all of that helped! edit- I didn't mean you need to have 3 different protein types for an organ meal just 3 different organs hehe sorry if that was confusing.
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Post by brightstar on Jun 26, 2015 18:51:58 GMT -5
Thanks to both of you for all your help. There seems so much to think about! I apologize if I ask the same question more than once. I'm finding it all a little overwhelming - so much to learn.
My order arrived today from hare-today. I admit it was a little distressing seeing the mice, quail and day old chicks. I do plan on getting the furkids other types of meat next time I order from hare-today, but I'll need them to clear out some of what I have currently, as there's no more room now in the freezer.
I'm looking forwards to being chef for my ferrets - I'm sure it will make feed time much more interested for me and them, if it involves more than just scooping some dry kibble into their bowl.
When planning my menu, I'll keep off day old chicks and chicken feet, and save them for treats.
When feeding them as treats, won't the furkids get full on them and not eat their proper meal?
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Post by FireAngel on Jun 26, 2015 19:44:24 GMT -5
Ask as many questions as you need to as many times as you need to until you get it. I would think that if I gave my three a chick as a snack then yes they would not be as hungry for meals but I think if they get a chick every couple of weeks that's fine.
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Post by brightstar on Jun 26, 2015 22:26:03 GMT -5
My updated attempt at menu:
Monday am: Ground Goat/Bones/Tripe/Organs Monday pm: Ground Pheasant/Bone/Organs
Tuesday am: Skinned-gutted rabbit Tuesday pm: Chicken Heart
Wednesday am: whole quail Wednesday pm: Chicken Breast Cubes
Thursday am: Ground Pheasant/Bone/Organs Thursday pm: Whole Carcass Ground Cavies
Friday am: Ground Chicken/Bones/Organs Friday pm: Rabbit Organs (website says it consists of 50% liver, 25% heart and 25% kidney may also contain some lung.)
Saturday am: Goose pieces Saturday pm: Boneless Chicken Thigh Cubes
Sunday am: mouse Sunday pm chicken liver, chicken heart
How's that?
(Sorry if I missed something or didn't take anyone's advise into account. This is a lot to keep track of!)
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Post by FireAngel on Jun 26, 2015 23:43:52 GMT -5
What are goose pieces? Is it just meat or does it have bone in it also? If you are ordering from hare today you may want to get some duck and chicken necks. They are great for bone in meals and you may want to follow an organ meal with a bone in meal to help poops get back to solid form. The whole quail from hare today I know doesn't contain any organs, it is just meat and bone so counts as a one in meal. So you have 6 whole meals, 2or 3 bone in meals (3 if the goose pieces has bone) 2or 3 muscle meals (3 if the goose pieces have no bones) and 1 heart meal and 2 organ meals. With the 6 whole meals you should have 5 bone in meals and 1 muscle meat 1 heart and 1 organ meal, so you have 1 too many organ meals and either 1 or 2 too many muscle meals depending on whether or not there is bone in the goose pieces.
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Post by brightstar on Jun 27, 2015 0:42:38 GMT -5
The website doesn't provide much information - it just says that they contain 81% meat and 19% bone.
Should I change Friday am feed from Ground Chicken/Bones/Organs to chicken neck, instead?
My quail is from hare-today. Should I change it to mouse instead?
This is a lot to keep track of! Is there anything I can do to simply my menu? Maybe if I fed more prey?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 15:31:16 GMT -5
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Post by brightstar on Jun 27, 2015 17:38:22 GMT -5
The ones I received certainly had feathers. I checked on the hare-today website and it doesn't say anything about them not being whole prey.
I guess I got a little confused and thought that it was essential to offer such a huge variety. With the link you provided, and the advise about not giving them something different every time, I think I'll revise my menu.
I do have another question - with larger prey like rabbits... well, do I just give the ferret the whole animal, or am I supposed to chop it up? Surely larger prey is too big for them to eat all at once, so how do I ensure they are getting proper balanced nutrition from it if they don't eat it all?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 17:45:07 GMT -5
Here is a sample. although chart says 4 bone in meals for 7/8 whole prey meals, it can be 3 or 4.
Monday am: Ground Goat/Bones/Tripe/Organs wp Monday pm: Ground Goat/Bones/Tripe/Organs wp
Tuesday am: Chicken Heart H Tuesday pm: rabbit ribs B
Wednesday am:Chicken Breast Cubes M Wednesday pm:chicken wing Mid section & tips B
Thursday am: whole carcass Ground cavies wp Thursday pm: Whole Carcass Ground Cavies wp
Friday am: quail wp ---------- if with hearts and organs otherwise it is bone in meal Friday pm: quail wp
Saturday am: rabbit organs O Saturday pm: mouse wp
Sunday am: chicken neck pulverized B Sunday pm mouse wp
to make things more simple as you said more whole prey. I think i got this right as i am changing to whole prey mainly myself and the practice of making menu helps
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Post by FireAngel on Jun 27, 2015 17:47:43 GMT -5
Sorry I thought I had gotten my quail from hare today but maybe I got it from somewhere else or maybe they have more then one option. I cut up the larger prey and use it as part of the frankenprey parts of my meal plan. Depending on how much yours eats you can do it as the whole thing but there may be a lot of waste.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 18:05:49 GMT -5
I cut my rabbit. the legs are too thick for mine to eat. Mine can eat forelegs (the tips of front legs) I also cut ribs like 3 or so together. I use scissors as much as possible--I have broken a few .
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Post by brightstar on Jun 27, 2015 18:26:36 GMT -5
Thanks everyone - it does make things feel a bit easier knowing I don't have to use so much variety. A smaller menu would make it easier to remember what I'm feeding when!
Can I feed all four ferrets one single rabbit/prey to share, or should I give them each their own rabbit/prey?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 18:33:42 GMT -5
personally, I would let all four have the one rabbit.
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Post by brightstar on Jun 27, 2015 18:45:57 GMT -5
They won't fight? I guess I'm thinking about dogs - whenever we give our dog a bone, she gets really possessive when other animals (like our cat) get too close.
I've worked on a new menu:
Monday am: Ground Goat/Bones/Tripe/Organs(WP) Monday pm: Ground Goat/Bones/Tripe/Organs(WP)
Tuesday am: quail(WP) Tuesday pm: quail(WP)
Wednesday am: Whole Carcass Ground Cavies (WP) Wednesday pm: Whole Carcass Ground Cavies (WP)
Thursday am: mouse(WP) Thursday pm: mouse(WP)
Friday am: Ground Pheasant/Bone/Organs(WP) Friday pm: Ground Pheasant/Bone/Organs(WP)
Saturday am: Goose pieces(B) Saturday pm: chicken necks(B)
Sunday am: Goose pieces(B) Sunday pm: rabbit organs(O) 1/2 chicken heart(H)
If I worked this out right, that gives me 10 prey meals (which I feed weekday) and then 3 bone-in meals, which I give Saturday am, pm and Sunday am, then rabbit organs and chicken heart make up the 1/2 organs and 1/2 heart leftover. (I'm kinda worried about whether I got Sunday right though - can I do it like that?)
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