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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2013 9:40:51 GMT -5
Only ethnic markets that are where we live are Asian. I think I can find lamb occasionally, but it would be pre-prepped and possibly have some addetives. I will have to check for sure on that. They are also small packs and very expensive. Cornish hen may be doable, but may be seasonal, same with turkey. One of the down sides of living in the middle of no where desert area. Will see what I can find though.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 19, 2013 9:47:42 GMT -5
Okay, understandable The advantage with turkey is you can buy a couple in season, defrost in turn, chop and baggie. A full turkey would last a couple of ferrets a very long time I find cornish hen in the freezer section. Here, they are very expensive, so they don't get them as often even though they adore them. If/when you go to a larger city sometime, look for a muslim Halal market. They frequently have stewing lamb and/or goat for a very reasonable price.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 19, 2013 9:48:22 GMT -5
I was just thinking- all asian markets here also have duck.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2013 9:50:37 GMT -5
Will check for duck. We have a few options for the Asian markets here so I will head out on another adventure in the near future.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2013 17:51:08 GMT -5
We can get cornish game hens pretty easily here, so that shouldn't be an issue. I like the idea of buying a couple of turkeys when they're in season and freezing them. Duh-makes sense!
Yesterday morning Sherlock had a very dark green stool that was more on the liquid side, but his other stools since then have been normal. Do you think we should be concerned?
They are still eating well, and we are no longer cutting the meat up- with the exception of the liver because it comes in such long pieces.
We will be strict with the bones/wings for the next few days. Thank you for sharing that it took a few days for some of yours to take to it. This will help keep us calm if we have issues with one or both of them refusing to eat it at first.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 20, 2013 18:42:07 GMT -5
You are going to find the odd funky stool, that's normal Just keep an eye out to make sure it's not consistent. Good beginner bones are also Cornish hen, since they are smaller. Let me know how it goes
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2013 7:41:34 GMT -5
I gave them some chicken wing last night. I left the bone in and used a mallet to mash it all pretty soft, and then cut it up in to chunks to mix in with their normal bowls of meat and organs. So, they will have pieces to chew on today. First thing they did when I put it in their bowls last night was start ferreting into their dens. I wasn't able to check on how much they may have actually eaten last night because I leave for work so early they are still asleep normally.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 21, 2013 9:13:12 GMT -5
Excellent! Let me know how they did And that's excellent news that they were putting the wing in their dens, rather than just leaving it- that means they KNOW it's good stuff
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2013 11:13:10 GMT -5
Sherlock's bowl was completely empty this morning, but Mo's bowl was still quite full. They have started eating out of S's bowl first and then when it is empty they'll move on to M's bowl.
I didn't refill S's bowl because I want them to eat what's in M's bowl. I'm going home around noon to check on the food and will refill the bowls.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 21, 2013 13:31:54 GMT -5
Hey, they are eating it, that's what counts
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2013 8:05:54 GMT -5
It is interesting that they have decided to eat from his bowl frist and then move to hers. Not sure what the mentality behind it is, but it is pretty much the norm now. Once his is empty and he needs more food, he will pull it from her bowl, put it in his and then eat it from there. They had two wings worth of chicken mixed in with their normal dinner/breakfast meal and all of the chicken had been eaten. I did have to clean out the dens last night as there was a decent amount (maybe half a bowl's worth of food) stashed between the two dens. I don't mind them storing for later as most times it just turns to jerkey since our air is so dry here, but some of it looked like it may have been rotting. The only thing that surprised us with yesterday was some of the messes in the litter box were a greenish-yellow. Only a few of them were like that, and their messes looked normal in the evening while we were home. I figured it was just from the new introduction of the bones and marrow n whatnot, but wanted to let you know. Will check for any more messes like that today since they have more bone-in wing chunks mixed in with their meals. They got a mix of wings, pork chop, heart, kidney, and gizzard for dinner.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 22, 2013 8:39:11 GMT -5
It is most likely just the new introduction. One way to find out for sure is to feed it separately. If they have a couple or three meals of it, the funky poops should go away. So- they are now getting chicken and pork for proteins? Give them a couple more days and then try a new one. As for the kidney, liver, heart are you sure they are BOTH eating enough of each? They need approx. 2oz of each per ferret per week. Heart they can have more of, but not the liver or kidney.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2013 10:46:06 GMT -5
Chicken, pork, and beef are their sources right now. Haven't given them any beef meat so far, just the heart and kidney. They have been getting 2 chunks of each organ each day from the beef since I was able to find it at the store. We can back that off though and only give that to them two days a week 1oz each time for the liver and kidney.
We arent sure who is getting what for intake as they share 2 story cage with their bowls next to each other on the bottom level.
When we go to the store this weekend will will check for some of the other sources you recommended for us to give to them for protein.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2013 10:48:13 GMT -5
Also, they get chicken hearts added to the meals in the evening as well, if we have any left over from the mixed package of chicken gizzards/hearts. But those packs often have very little heart in them. When i did find packs of just hearts for them they both rejected the new source as mentioned before.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 22, 2013 12:10:56 GMT -5
The best way I found to know who is getting what is to feed a single thing at a meal. So, one meal is consumable bone. I know that way that they are getting bone. One meal heart so one doesn't eat all if it and the other suffer from taurine deprivation. If you are having a problem getting them to eat plain heart, try pureeing it and hand feeding a few times. Same with liver/kidney. It's really important that you know who is eating what in order to prevent deficiencies. Once you know for a fact they will eat a given food, then by all means mix and match if you like.
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