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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 12:16:05 GMT -5
hello!! i am excited to finally post here!!!
i have four grown ferrets:
arrietty, F, about 3.5
oatmeal, M, about 3
snickerdoodle, F (full angora also), about 2.5
peregrin dook "pippin", M, about 1.5
i just got my fifth today, a 4 month old kit (cookies'n'creme (note: temporarily was named merry so that's the merry mentioned in some replies), F), and decided it is time to finally switch to raw. i held out for the usual reason people may give of the raw meat seeming icky and concerns about cleanliness if the ferrets drag it all around, but also that i live in japan, so meat is expensive and i can't just go to a butcher, either. in any case, time to switch!
i've read up on menus and everything on here about switching. i am able to get the bone-in wings, thigh meat, gizzards and liver easily from the store, i ordered hearts online and will try to find kidney also, but i am not sure how many other organs will be available beyond that. in japan the only things easily available are pork, beef and chicken.
anyway! so far i put a tiny bit of kibble and some small slivers of liver in with cookies, and she ate the liver first with no issue! so i put in bigger chunks of thigh meat, and she ate those also, no problem! once the tiny scoop of kibble in there is gone, i'm not giving her anymore. she's easy.
i'm going to try to make some soupie for the four older ones tomorrow!
any advice at all is welcome! thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 12:47:07 GMT -5
Hello and Welcome to the HFF  You have four grown ferrets and a baby. We call the little ones Tummies with Teeth. Merry will simply eat alot for now. The older ones may be a bit more stubborn but the soupie recipe is a good way to start them off. Sitting with them and hand feeding will be very important. Grown ferrets have imprinted on their food and simply do not recognize new foods as food. It's funny that you mention that you have trouble finding organs and such. We recommend looking for a good Asian Supermarket for organs and other harder to find items. One of my Mentees @akane is from Japan and currently living in the states. She is on vacation in Japan now but when she gets back, I will ask her to pm you and perhaps she can make some suggestions as to where to look for organs. We have a Mentoring program and you can sign up for it. Take a look at the Mentor/Member switching threads to see how the process goes. We just ask that you don't post to those. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/61/sign-mentoring-programUntil then, you can use your own thread and the Mentors will follow along and offer advice and suggestions to keep your menu balanced. We can also help with tips and tricks to convince finicky ferrets to try their new strange menu. Do you have the soupie recipe? Follow the recipe with no substitutions please. It's balanced and everything in it is there for a nutritional reason. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/61/sign-mentoring-programWe also love to share stories and pictures. If you need any help navigating the forum, just ask. Have fun and see you around the HFF (dance) |
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Post by msav on Oct 13, 2015 17:52:37 GMT -5
If they get along well with Merry, She could help to convince the others that raw is good eats. I would just give Merry whole bone in meats. Start out with chicken wings until her jaw strength is strong enough for other chicken bones.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 23:31:20 GMT -5
thank you both!!! it's true about asian markets, but those are more chinese based, japan eats way different than china and i just didn't see as much variety in meat, except they love cow tongue so that is everywhere. i will look through, but i am just curious about if it's okay to use pork and beef? i don't know how many other small prey animals i can get. japan doesn't have many rabbits and deer sacred in many places here, so they don't eat that. you mentioned to just give cookies a whole bone in meat. so i removed any kibble from her cage and she's DIGGING IN to her chicken wing!! i know she needs some organ meat to supplement her. i have ordered the hearts and gizzards/liver are in my fridge, so i hope i can just get the hearts soon enough to not have to give her any kibble at all.  |
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Post by msav on Oct 14, 2015 10:02:09 GMT -5
Cow tongue is a great substitute for heart until you get some.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 6:48:31 GMT -5
thank you! i got some cow tongue. of course, then my order of hearts shipped. so far a little update. i don't know if i should make an official switching thread or not, but as of tomorrow i'll have all the organs and meats i ordered, and a food processor. i only couldnt find bone meal, so i crushed up some egg shell. the baby (we renamed her to cookies'n'creme, it was such a better fit for her): totally fine. demolished an entire chicken wing, including most of the bone, over about 48 hours. also ate half a gizzard and part of a liver. she got two small slices of cow tongue today and another piece of chicken wing, which i cut in half this time since the entire wing took her two days and i don't want raw chicken lingering that long. the snooty snobby grown weasels: i made a mixture of ground kibble, egg shell, chicken baby food, minced chicken, and small slivers of chicken liver, gizzard, and beef tongue. they are eating it! kinda. i scruff them and rub it on their mouth, then they eat it while being scruffed, and if i let go, they continue eating from the spoon on their own for a while before getting bored of it. they are eating the slivers too, and even ate some pretty big chunks! but they won't touch the bit of the mush i put in their cage. totally ignore it if i am not hand feeding it to them. EDIT: pippin threw up a whole bunch of the mush and meat. the rest seem to be holding it. he only threw up after the beef tongue was fed to him. so i'll keep up the mush until tomorrow when it'll go bad anyway. i have amassed these meats: chicken gizzard, hearts, liver, wing, thigh, leg (besides the hearts, this stuff is all super easy to get) turkey kidney, heart, liver square chunks of goat meat with bone (i can only really get this if i go on the air force base, which i did today!) beef tongue and liver lamb kidney so i'll make a proper soupie recipe for the four precious little snowflakes, so they get their proper nutrition, and the baby can begin a proper raw menu without an issue, i believe. what do you guys think? i just can't seem to find how much soupie my four picky little snobs need to eat each day for them to be getting proper nutrition. is the soupie recipe here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aRms_O0F38lNSQktABNYDqievQ9GZSR4rRR6fcAcPHA/edit) for one ferret's daily amount? i haven't made it yet so if it's way too much and i seem crazy i apologize  photo is the baby crunching up a bone (i did not smash it or alter it at all!)  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 10:29:18 GMT -5
My baby could handle chicken wings--- it is amazing what they can do. I always cut big knuckles off because if they somehow become unattached they will not clear esophagus. (little incident with senior is why i do this)
Do not to mix your kibble with raw, raw and cooked digests at different times--- probably reason for upset tummy.
You can start an unofficial switching thread while you r waiting for a mentor, who will change it to an official switching thread. You will get feedback.
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Post by msav on Oct 15, 2015 13:08:11 GMT -5
For the finicky furbrats
For the soup, If you have a meat grinder capable of grinding whole chicken (or can find a butcher who is willing to grind it for you) you should not need bone powder or egg shell. I use a meat grinder and grind whole game hen and it pulverizes the bone. So the soup has all the natural bone in it at the correct ratio.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2015 19:41:04 GMT -5
Hi @denkimouse-san! So you live in Japan on Airforce base? I just came back from Japan last week! We could have passed each other there... hahaha I'm originally from Japan, and I live in the U.S. currently. I'm very surprised that you found turkey and goat meat in Japan! But I guess you can get these "American things" on base. You said hearts are difficult to get. Japanese people usually grill chicken hearts on charcoal BBQ grill. You could probably go to any grocery store meat counter and ask for ハツ. It's a common food item, and it shouldn't be too hard to find it.  I hope your switch will go well!!! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2015 20:25:43 GMT -5
hi akane!!  i am living in saitama, but i go on the base sometimes. i don't know why i had a hard time finding hearts in the grocery, but i found a really good 1kg bag on rakuten herethe turkey i also got on rakuten, but the goat was from the base, yeah thank you, i am very hopeful! |
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