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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2013 16:38:44 GMT -5
I weighed the ferrets today and nothing has changed since Tuesday the 12th when I last posted their weights here. Here is my current feeding routine: In the morning, I thaw out 4 ice cubes of the raw and feed it to them and let them out for several hours. Then I put them away for 3-5 hours. If there was any raw left over from their first meal, then I leave that in the cage with them, no kibble. Later, I take them out and feed them an additional 4 thawed out ice cubes of raw and let them play around for a few more hours. Then they go in their cage for the night with kibble to hold them over until morning. Last night I measured the kibble and put 2 ounces in the bowl, and by morning there was 1 ounce missing. All poops look normal. Activity level is normal. Everyone is doing good
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2013 18:14:34 GMT -5
How long can you leave thawed out raw food before it's no longer good for them to eat? Also, here's a picture of them eating
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Post by Heather on Mar 14, 2013 18:55:57 GMT -5
Everyone's looking good I don't leave my soupy out much more than 6 hrs. I find that at that point it's fairly gross and they probably won't touch it anyway. One thing to put your mind at rest is that for the most part ferrets will not eat food that has spoiled. That doesn't mean that they won't eat horrible, disgusting meats....but there seems to be a point between good meats and jerky where the meat bacteria count is higher than their systems will tolerate. They usually will avoid the meat at that point. If everyone's eating I would be very tempted to remove the kibble and replace it with raw. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2013 23:35:12 GMT -5
I didn't leave any kibble in the cage with them overnight last night. Everyone ate good on the raw today and they all shared a raw egg. Willie and Panda ate plenty as usual. Nessie and Wonton ate more raw than usual because they have all been without kibble for a little over a day now so they are more hungry because they were the only 2 eating it. On a different note, I'm loving that there is so much less in the litter boxes for me to clean up now!!
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Post by Heather on Mar 16, 2013 13:48:37 GMT -5
Isn't it great. It also makes you aware as to how much is actually waste and how little your little ones are getting when eating kibbles. Keep things as this for a couple of days. Keep a close eye on your two that are still standing off. Weigh them more often if you must to keep an eye to make sure they're eating enough. I will think that they will eat well if given time to get used to this level. It sounds to me that your guys have made the leap to raw. Congratulations ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2013 23:01:22 GMT -5
Yes, it is incredible how much less mess there is to clean up now. I can't believe it! I'm so happy that they are all eating the raw now, and enjoying it I made attempts at feeding them raw and frozen mice purchased from Petco in the past but I wasn't doing it correctly. I used to put big chunks of meat, or a whole mouse in front of them and they would have nothing to do with it. No wonder since they were so used to kibble! Now that I've pureed their meats and added a little pumpkin and EVOO/Linatone, they are a lot more open to trying new things! One of my questions now is, would it be considered a balanced diet to feed them this raw soup on a daily basis? The basic Frankenprey menu that I've seen has suggested feeding edible bone, liver/organ, heart and muscle meat all separately for each meal.
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Post by Heather on Mar 17, 2013 0:56:48 GMT -5
You can feed this as long as you do feed meat, bone, organs...etc The recipe you're feeding is the one that I gave you in the beginning? or the one that Sherry uses? You must cover all the bases. The frankenprey scenario fed properly as all these components in a meal. What you're trying to do is recreate a prey animal. For a ferret that's a tiny prey animal. It takes a bit more work to say make a tiny prey animal out of a beef. So, in theory by feeding a ground mix you can cover your base entirely. I get ground chicken mix (just chicken and bone...mostly neck and backs), I then add some ground chicken, some liver, hearts, raw eggs, pumpkin. So by doing this I've basically created a ground up chicken...the pumpkin representing the undigestibles...feathers and such. If you're feeding whole meats, you do exactly the same thing but you may feed the whole chicken in pieces of the period of a couple of days. A ferret would eat in this manner anyway. If they were to kill a chicken or find one then they would eat on it over a period of a day or so. One of the biggest problems is getting enough bone. Ferrets require a much higher bone content than cats or dogs. My guys get bone daily, even if it's in it's ground state. Whole meats work jaws, clean teeth, even strengthen chest and neck muscles. You can feed commercial grinds very successfully though if you choose to do that I would suggest that you teach your little ones to eat wings or necks to get the tooth cleaning benefit. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2013 17:27:03 GMT -5
Yes, I definitely want to get them eating chicken wings for the dental benefits. I have some thawing out now that I'm going to smash up and give to them tonight. Hopefully they will try the wings. I have been using the raw soup for switching recipe. (8oz muscle meat, 1oz heart, 1oz liver, and 1/2 tsp powdered egg shell). They have all been eating about the same amount of raw each day. Wonton and Nessie eat about 2 tbsp two times per day, and Panda and Willie eat a bit more until they are full. They haven't had kibble in about 3 days. Their weights as of today:
Willie- 45.20 ounces Wonton- 24.80 ounces Panda- 33 ounces Nessie- 27 ounces
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Post by Heather on Mar 18, 2013 19:47:35 GMT -5
1. Name: Willie Weight: 2lbs, 10oz = 2. 08 2. Name: Wonton Weight: 1lb, 9oz = 1.55 3. Name: Panda Weight: 2lbs, 1oz =2.06 4. Name: Nessie Weight: 1lb, 10oz =1.68 Ok....from the sounds of things, your guys have had a minor weight loss from the last time you weighed in. Well, everyone except Panda who appears to be thriving ;D Now, I switched your ounces measure to a mix of ounces and pounds because that's how you weighed in originally. There is also always a chance of discrepensies between weights from the scales. Make sure that you zero out for every ferret. It just makes it a bit easier to track. You may want to see if they will eat a bit more. One thing to consider is that it is that time of year when appetites wane and weights drop off. So, we're going to have to keep a close eye on the dropping weights. To get them to try the wings you may want to try and chop them up into smaller pieces. This is always a trial and error thing in that some ferrets like bigger pieces to gnaw on. I've found that most times smaller pieces are better recieved. Keep me posted Things are looking good. You should start to see some of the benefits within the next little while. Watch your little ones intake. Once they get comfortable they should increase the amounts often by a lot. It's almost like their bodies are trying to make up for lost nutrients. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2013 16:49:56 GMT -5
I noticed next to Willie's name you put 2.08 but he was actually about 2.8 pounds last time I weighed them. So he's lost a little bit of weight since last time.
Their weights as of today:
Willie: 43 ounces = 2.68 pounds Wonton: 25 ounces = 1.56 pounds Panda: 32.30 ounces = 2.01 pounds Nessie: 27 ounces = 1.68 pounds
I had a really hard time trying to cut the chicken wing. All I was able to do was cut off the wing tips and then cut the meat off of the bone, then threw away the bone since they didn't want it. I poured a little oil on the small chunks of meat and they still wouldn't touch it. Then I stirred the chunks into their soup and they ate some of the chunks. Do I literally need to take a hammer to smash the bones? I tried using a couple different sharp knives with no luck.
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Post by Heather on Mar 21, 2013 21:08:20 GMT -5
I use an Ulu knife that I bought from Hurricane Katt to cut up the bones. I use it to cut through even turkey bones. They're fantastic. They won't touch the bones once you've taken the meat off the bones. Ferrets are a lazy chew....if they don't feel it's necessary they won't eat them. Unlike dogs they don't have the propensity to chew on bones (kits being the occasional exception). As you've discovered at the moment your guys are not at the point where they will accept the bones without them being basically bite sized, so finding some method to cut them up or bash them up is going to be necessary. Make sure you leave them with their bones long enough for them to actually give them a nibble. One thing you can try, it may not work though....is cut the meat to the bone but leave it attached and see if they will eat it that way. I do that with my guys when feeding chicken legs. It sounds to me like your guys still want their soupy on their food mixes, which is ok, but it does mean that you're going to have to take a hammer to those bones to break them up. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2013 14:01:40 GMT -5
Sorry it's been several days since I posted. Everyone is doing good and eating well. Stools have looked normal, and energy level has been normal. They have been eating a chicken thigh/heart/liver soup that has some small chunks mixed in. I have not yet attempted at feeding another chicken wing but will do so soon. Their weights as of today:
Willie: 44.50 ounces = 2.78 pounds Wonton: 25.50 ounces = 1.59 pounds Panda: 32.75 ounces = 2.04 pounds Nessie: 26.80 ounces = 1.67 pounds
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Post by Heather on Mar 27, 2013 14:05:04 GMT -5
Weights appear good. If everyone is eating well, decrease the water and add a few more chunks. Please keep my updated as to how things are going ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 21:57:08 GMT -5
What kind of cuts of beef would be good to start them off with? They have eaten beef heart and liver before but I have never been sure what else was good for them
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Post by Heather on Mar 29, 2013 11:08:56 GMT -5
I use stewing beef....it's easy, it's already in sizeable chunks and it often has fat on it and has tough stringy pieces to rip and chew. It's also usually quite affordable too. I find that beef bones are often too hard, or at least my guys are way to lazy to even chew on them but youc can break them apart to let them clean out the marrow. You may want to add a couple of tiny pieces to their soupy, increasing both in number and size as you see them eating them ciao
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