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Post by Sherry on May 2, 2011 0:42:53 GMT -5
Blood is fine. They need it in their diet for the nutrients it contains. Heart should be one full meal by itself, and liver about 2 oz per ferret per week. If you cannot get any other organ meat, you can up that to about 3 oz. Some prefer to spread it out over the week, simply because it does give black, tarry, somewhat loose stools when fed for a full meal. I think it's time to introduce another protein into their diet as well as upping the size a bit. Try slipping some small slivers of meat into the grind, cut just a wee bit larger than the grind for them. They'll likely pick around it for a bit, but keep with it. Sooner or later, they'll start eating them. For the new protein, either pork, cornish hen, or turkey are usually well received.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2011 23:13:56 GMT -5
I put pork in today, they ate some....Boo ate all of his, but the little fella eats like a vacuum cleaner! He's a growing boy Does heart give runny stools? One of them projectile pooped on the wall yesterday, maybe getting used to the change in diet? It looked black, now all stools are normal color.
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Post by Sherry on May 5, 2011 8:55:27 GMT -5
Any blood rich meat will cause looser, blackish stools, so no worries there. Just either add in some eggshell powder, or some pumpkin to help counteract the....effects ;D That great they liked the pork! Now, keep that as part of the regular rotation for their diet. In about 3-5 days, add in a different protein. You want to keep it very separate, just in case someone has a reaction to a particular meat. One of mine cannot have chicken anything. Another can have any kind of beef except kidney for some odd reason. It causes bloody, mucousy stools, as well as vomiting.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2011 23:11:24 GMT -5
I got some cornish hens to try this week, I'll let you know how it goes
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Post by Sherry on May 10, 2011 9:28:07 GMT -5
Perfect And since they already eat chicken bones fine, they'll do well with cornish game hens Once they are also eating the CGH, I'll need you to set up a tentative menu plan, including bone in days, muscle meats days, organs, and heart. Also, list which meats are fed on which days. By doing that, you can start to work in a fully balanced menu
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2011 17:44:04 GMT -5
Look at Maisey Mae go! She ate the ends off and she would never do more than lick hers in the past day one for Maisey!!!! Hope the picture works I am not good at technical stuff. She is my little petite whippet<3 She has been eating like a trooper past couple days, even the pork.
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Post by Sherry on May 12, 2011 19:29:22 GMT -5
Oh, good for her! That's so exciting when they finally start to recognize meat as food Is that chicken, or the cornish hen? Add another meat, and we need to start getting them a tentative menu set up! I can't remember- have they tried heart or liver yet?
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2011 23:11:43 GMT -5
It is chicken, I thawed the game hen to cut up tomorrow. I put liver pieces with their food 4x week and heart bits 3x. So far they will eat ground and pieces of chicken, pork, gizzard, heart or liver ( mixed in, they leave it if it is alone. I make small pieces of the heart and liver) How do ferrets take to fish? I would like to add salmon as the next meat if it is not too big a step. Is canned ok if it has no salt or additives? I can get a nice wild alaskan salmon canned with bones in it, just in water.
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Post by Sherry on May 12, 2011 23:15:19 GMT -5
You can certainly give them some of the canned like that. I don't know as I'd make it a regular meal, simply because they wouldn't get as much nutrition out of it, but if they like it, a bi-weekly, or monthly treat certainly won't hurt them. As for other raw fish, if you are going to include it in their meal plan, try to stick to the smaller, fresh water fish. Fewer toxins in them, like mercury, etc. I've got one who inhales salmon ;D I get slightly freezer burned salmon from my neighbor from time to time(wild cohoe), and Athena goes bonkers for it . Lucrezia adores smelts. I've not been able to get the others to enjoy fish at all, however.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2011 23:26:35 GMT -5
What fish contains the most nutrition, I like the idea of small ones. Are the smelts a snack meat or a type I can put in the meal plan? I have part of it on my calendar, going to see how they take to the game hen
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Post by Sherry on May 12, 2011 23:43:45 GMT -5
Smelts are very small fresh water fish, so yes- but no more than once a week. No matter how much they may like it ;D Smelts are how I found out some ferrets WILL overeat when they really, really, like something Picture a kid on way too much cotton candy- that's about how green my DEW looked after pigging out on smelts, and then getting really sick on them because she ate way too many, way too fast As for nutrition, they are all about the same. It's just that the smaller ones have fewer toxins.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 23:52:39 GMT -5
Today they ate cornish game hen easily, they ate the bone also. Some of the ferrets are taking to the bone in better than others.....Maisey has started but now Sebastian won't touch them. It is weird because it was the other way around before! I like the idea of smelts once a week, oily fish must be valuable for omega 3 fatty acids. I put a little olive oil on the meat also, should this be done daily? I was using ferretone before but think I read something negative about it (preservatives or something).....I wonder if it is ok to give the percentage of organ in small bits hidden in their food- I am trying to avoid the projectile pooping I got last time LOL Tentative Menu Mon: chicken wings Tues: Pork with liver Wed cornish game hen (bone in) with heart Thurs chicken meat with liver Friday Pork with heart Sat: chicken thighs with bone in with liver Sun: gizzard meat with heart
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Post by Sherry on May 14, 2011 9:52:07 GMT -5
That is definitely a good start You've got 3 basic proteins now, and 4 consumable bone meals(most won't eat the thigh bone), as well as your organ and heart . With the heart, about how much are they getting each, on average? I tend to feed one to two whole heart meals, so I just want to make sure they are getting enough taurine. Although the thighs do help with that. You'll learn to adapt the menu, depending on what they will eat, and what you have available. What you want to aim for is consumable bone 4 days a week(8-9 meals), muscle meat 2 day(4-5 meals), and since you are going to be putting organ in with other meals, you can make the last day either muscle or bone, depending on what works out best for them. I found it was always handier to keep a valid menu going. Made life simpler for me ;D I knew what I needed from the store, and what I was giving in order to get it from the freezer
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2011 14:30:25 GMT -5
I use mostly thigh meat when I feed chicken, the big packages are always available at my local store so that has taurine and if I make sure each ferret gets 1-2 hearts per week, even if I spread it out, is that reasonable? I like the menu idea, I do it for family meals to help with the shopping list for the week
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Post by Sherry on May 14, 2011 18:35:58 GMT -5
If you are referring to chicken hearts, mine will eat an average of 3-4 each. Turkey hearts, generally 1 per ferret. The thing about taurine, is you can't overdo it And IMO, better to be on the safe side of giving it if possible, because taurine deficiency is nasty!
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