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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2011 14:43:46 GMT -5
Also, that's great! Bone in meals are must, so I'm glad to hear they've taken to them! Muscle meats are important, though (not even just for the fact that too much bone can constipate them). Make sure you're shooting for 8/9 bone in meals (that means the majority of the bone is edible for ferrets) a week
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2011 21:54:28 GMT -5
Well I generally cut the chicken hearts in half or in threes. Could I blend half and then just add some of the rest of the chunks into the soup? I'm pretty sure my guys will eat liver plain. But they hate kidney!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2011 22:07:25 GMT -5
Also, that's great! Bone in meals are must, so I'm glad to hear they've taken to them! Muscle meats are important, though (not even just for the fact that too much bone can constipate them). Make sure you're shooting for 8/9 bone in meals (that means the majority of the bone is edible for ferrets) a week If I listed out everything that we have food wise for the ferts right now, could you help me make a menu type thing? Something that I can give my mum to follow if I'm not here at feeding times?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2011 11:29:49 GMT -5
Definitely, I can help out, it can def. be tricky at first (esp. for the others in the household) (just remember when it comes time for graduation, you'll have to create your own, but this should give you a good basis to run off of ) Generally speaking, you want 8/9 meals of bone in meat. For the sake of your menu let's stick with 9. That means we have 5 other meals to account for. 2 should be heart meals (that means that there should be enough hearts in the soup to make a complete meal for each of your ferts), 1 should be organ meal (2 oz liver, 2 oz whatever other organ per ferret. This meal CAN be split up or added in a bone in meal to reduce the nasty poos). The other 2 need to be muscle meats, your choice of protein source. Also remember, that for a balanced, varied diet, you need at least 3 protein sources (which might not be done, at this point in the switch, I know. But if you can meet the other criteria listed above, that let's us know that what we really have to focus on now is getting variety in there ). So for a quick run down for a week: - 3 protein sources - 9 bone in meals - 2 heart meals - 1 organ meal - 2 "other" muscle meat meals You can mix half blended and half chunked, definitely. See how they do with that, and if they're hesitant, or not even tasting the bits, you can always do a scruff and stuff session with each of them, to try to encourage them to taste the food. (handy reference for scruff and stuff: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=switch&action=display&thread=4340). You can also add in a favorite oil (my guys go crazy for coconut oil, so I use it for those really tricky meats I want them to try) to see if that makes them a bit more eager as well.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2011 11:32:44 GMT -5
Liver is usually okay. Mostly if something's holding a ferret up from eating it, it's usually the texture and not the taste. Kidney's a bit trickier, because it tends to have a stronger taste and smell that ferrets (a lot of the time) don't tend to appreciate on it's own. Pork kidneys tend to be a bit better regarded, but don't be surprised if soup or whole prey is the only way to get them to eat the other organs (remember, it's not natural to a ferret to have organs presented singly like that, they'd only encounter them in the context of their kill - mixed with bone, meat, fur/feather, skin, etc. It'd be more a dilution of taste and smell, then).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2011 21:32:35 GMT -5
Today we are being fed a Chicken Carcass for breakfast and chicken giblets for dinner. Is this too much chicken for one day? When I went shopping for them I bought: Chicken Hearts Chicken Liver Ox Spleen Pork rib bones Pork back bone Chicken giblets Some Chicken feet (which they LOVED are they OK for ferrets?) Beef mince meat Puppy mince meat (which is still beef but fattier and has other chunks of gristle and cartilage
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2011 20:43:27 GMT -5
A lot of people feed one protein source a day. With that plan, you should rotate sources each day though, so try not to feed chicken tomorrow, then.
Chicken feet are great for them! My guys adore them, too, and they'll also gobble down quail and *goose* feet ;D something about them ferrets love!
RE: pork. Be careful. If those ribs aren't "button" ribs, or riblets (bone is about 1/4" thick), they don't count as a bone in meal, because the majority of pork rib is going to be too large and dense for a ferret to shear and eat (goes for any of the larger sized protein sources). It can count as a meat meal, but not for bone.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2011 4:44:11 GMT -5
Ill get some more chicken feet next time then! I wasn't sure about them or how they would like them so i only grabbed two but WOW they chowed down! Today I gave them one chicken one beef so tomorrow I will do all beef I think i need to stock up on some different proteins cause I got mainly chicken. What kind of other protein things should I get? Like pork bones and organs and beef bone and organs (what kind?)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2011 13:06:19 GMT -5
Turkey, some fish (mine love tilapia and salmon, and a few go crazy for sardines. I've found descaling is must, though, since the scales choke 'em), my stores stock lamb, and if you find rabbit or quail, duck and/or goose, those are great.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2011 8:09:30 GMT -5
ok I will try to get some lamb or something, not sure how available turkey or rabbit will be. Quail is ridiculously expensive over here I cant afford it duck is not so bad I will see how much it is
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2011 8:44:27 GMT -5
Duck is really a great, fatty food ;D Most ferrets love it. With that addition, you'll have about 5 sources, and that's awesome (it also helps for those times a source is unobtainable for whatever reason).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2011 19:14:15 GMT -5
is fish OK for them? I've been told before that it wasn't suitable for their diet. Is it OK as treats and not a staple? We've given them some fish before and they loved it bit only that once as a treat.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2011 10:38:27 GMT -5
It's perfectly fine as an occasional food. About once a month all my guys get a meal of some kind of fish. The key is just not to overfeed it
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2011 16:22:18 GMT -5
Ok cool I will see about getting them some fish on Monday when I go out to get them some other protiens. What are bones to avoid? They're still not eating heart chunks I their own... Maybe. Because I give them the hearts as a second meal.. I only seem to see them eating once a day which is when I first bring them in, then we play and then they sleep :/
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2011 18:55:11 GMT -5
Don't feed hearts as a second meal, then. When it's heart day, they get that first meal, and then a bit of something else at night. Overall, you may need to do that, if that's the way they prefer to eat. Give them their normal sized meal and make the second smaller, if they're not eating much the 2nd go 'round. There's no harm in it, that's just the way they may prefer it Bones to avoid? Cooked ones ;D You don't have to avoid any raw bones. You just have to realize that sources like pork bones (except for button), beef bones, goat, etc (basically anything larger than a chicken) are going to be way too dense for a ferret to crack, so they count as stimulation OR a meat meal (if they're meaty enough) but NOT a bone meal. Also, weight bearing bones tend to be left relatively untouched as well, since they're the densest part. So, chicken legs - most of the time only the most avid bone crunchers will make inroads on them, whereas chicken wings, ribs, etc are gobbled down by even the laziest fert (...well, usually )
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