Post by bitbyter on May 4, 2013 8:46:48 GMT -5
Hey, I'm back. Quick update; Sable is fine. Good to hear. I just got up and haven't been on Facebook yet.
was unable to weigh them today so shall do it tomorrow.
now... to business... brace yourself!
... i was wondering some things... i was trying to think of ways to make this raw feeding thing go a little more smoothly...
currently i am undergoing a process in which i make up batches of food based on per week, and keep this batch in the fridge over a week... sadly, the meat seems to be going bad towards the end of the week and i worked out a better program for them... again, brace yourself...
so; taken from your previous post;
4 x daily food by weight (5 oz) of Bone In Meats = 20 oz
2 x daily food by weight (5 oz) of Boneless Meats = 10 oz
1 x daily food by weight (5 oz) of Heart = 5 oz
2 oz of liver x number of ferrets = 4 oz
2 oz of other organ x number of ferrets = 4 oz
but... this is inaccurate...
i realised today that i am not feeding them 5oz per day,,, it's 5oz per MEAL... I was wondering as 5 oz seemed low to me for young ferrets. not exactly though, in the morning i top up their bowl with somewhere between 5oz and 5.10oz (it's hard to get it dead on 5oz) usually their bowl is empty by the time i go to bed, or just a teensy bit left over. at which point i scoop their bowl contents out and put them back into the weekly batch Bad idea as the meat will have started going bad and you have just transferred the bacteria that was growing on into your fresh stuff in the fridge and mix it all up to dish them out a new batch of 5oz (probably a bad idea...)
which would mean that every 24 hours they consume roughly 10oz... not 5oz... but that being said, a fair bit does get hoarded and goes off and as a result is thrown out... which would mean they aren't getting everything they need per week!!! ARGH!!! anywayyy... few ideas and questions to present, feel free to tell me they're amazing or awful Ok, this is where weighing everyday comes in to determine EXACTLY how much they are eating. You weigh what you give them for the day (all of it one meal or two meals it doesn't matter). Then they next morning you find ALL the leftovers (check their stashes). Weigh the leftovers and subtract that from what the total was the previous day. This will tell EXACTLY how much they are eating. Then you can adjust the amounts you are giving them. If your amounts are right there shouldn't be very much in their stash spots because they will be hungry enough to eat it before the next morning.
ok, idea one; instead of making up weekly batches of food and storing it all in the same container, i shall do this; every pay day, which occurs fortnightly, i go to my butcher and supermarket...
i will purchase a bag of chicken wings and necks, hopefully equalling somewhere around a kilo
a large piece of gravy beef and a bag of duck giblets
2 lamb hearts
a lamb liver
3-4 lamb kidneys
a pumpkin (cannot locate canned)
a dozen eggs
i will make up batches of food per week which currently consist of the following (which may or may not need correcting?)
13.5oz bone in meats(chicken wings and chicken necks)
6oz muscle meats (duck giblets and gravy beef)
4oz lamb heart
4oz lamb liver
4oz lamb kidney
then separate the batch into zip-lock bags, one for each day... then freeze them but keep two in the fridge, and then each night pull out another one to defrost so that the meat is ready but isn't left too long in the fridge...
i was thinking of maintaining a shedule, i feed them 5oz into their bowl at 8am, i leave to go to uni to study at 8.45am and return around 5pm usually, then i weigh their leftover food after checking their cage hoarding places (as they would not be out of their cage whilst i was not home) and put it back into the fridge for later, then let them out for their play time when i arrive home and don't lock them back away until they are sleepy, which likely wouldn't be until around 7pm, then i was thinking i would feed them the rest of the days food which should be around 5oz and leave it with them overnight... then the next morning i weigh it again, toss any leftovers and start off with a fresh days' batch... Yep, that sounds like a much better strategy.
my concern here is; 13.5+6+4+4+4=31.5... if my girls are eating almost 10oz per day(i am still in the process of weighing this, it's difficult because they have a secret hoarding place which has just been discovered!) Which was probably contributing to the smell your room-mates were complaining about 31.5 will not cover a week worth... it would need to be 70oz... As soon as you have an ACCURATE measure of how much they are eating (see above), I would like for you to post a weekly menu like I did above:
4 x daily food by weight (? oz) of Bone In Meats = ? oz
2 x daily food by weight (? oz) of Boneless Meats = ? oz
1 x daily food by weight (? oz) of Heart = ? oz
2 oz of liver x number of ferrets = 4 oz
2 oz of other organ x number of ferrets = 4 oz
my next concern is this... if i am tossing leftovers from certain days... surely this will mean they aren't getting what they need per week?! but it will go off if i keep it in their cage... which is better? to risk off meat or risk them not getting enough? or should i start using supplements? When you feed them, do you watch them for a little while while they are eating. Have you observed each of them willingly eating heart & organ on their own? If so, then I wouldn't worry to much about them getting a proper balance. As long as they are hungry and will eat their organs on their own then they should be ok.
now, i was also thinking that every day, probably overnight, they would get their "treat" which is warmed pumpkin mixed with egg yolk, they love this! and it will move things along... will this be ok daily? or maybe every second day??? i was planning to give them 1egg yolk mixed with 1tsp pumpkin (cooked and pureed)to share. or should it be each??? I'd do this every other day or every third day with 1tsp of pumpkin added to their meat (just mix it in) on the days they are not getting the egg.
also, i cannot find salmon oil! but i was hoping you could suggest something else, i will keep looking of course... but i was thinking of adding a tsp of this to their daily treat? Any oily fish oil is fine (I use Anchovie oil. You can order Grizzly Salmon Oil through Amazon.com. You can also use Extra Virgin Olive Oil but some ferrets don't like it.
anywayyyy.... that's basically all the ideas i had... lemme know what you think!!! shall answer your previous post now too
was unable to weigh them today so shall do it tomorrow.
now... to business... brace yourself!
... i was wondering some things... i was trying to think of ways to make this raw feeding thing go a little more smoothly...
currently i am undergoing a process in which i make up batches of food based on per week, and keep this batch in the fridge over a week... sadly, the meat seems to be going bad towards the end of the week and i worked out a better program for them... again, brace yourself...
so; taken from your previous post;
4 x daily food by weight (5 oz) of Bone In Meats = 20 oz
2 x daily food by weight (5 oz) of Boneless Meats = 10 oz
1 x daily food by weight (5 oz) of Heart = 5 oz
2 oz of liver x number of ferrets = 4 oz
2 oz of other organ x number of ferrets = 4 oz
but... this is inaccurate...
i realised today that i am not feeding them 5oz per day,,, it's 5oz per MEAL... I was wondering as 5 oz seemed low to me for young ferrets. not exactly though, in the morning i top up their bowl with somewhere between 5oz and 5.10oz (it's hard to get it dead on 5oz) usually their bowl is empty by the time i go to bed, or just a teensy bit left over. at which point i scoop their bowl contents out and put them back into the weekly batch Bad idea as the meat will have started going bad and you have just transferred the bacteria that was growing on into your fresh stuff in the fridge and mix it all up to dish them out a new batch of 5oz (probably a bad idea...)
which would mean that every 24 hours they consume roughly 10oz... not 5oz... but that being said, a fair bit does get hoarded and goes off and as a result is thrown out... which would mean they aren't getting everything they need per week!!! ARGH!!! anywayyy... few ideas and questions to present, feel free to tell me they're amazing or awful Ok, this is where weighing everyday comes in to determine EXACTLY how much they are eating. You weigh what you give them for the day (all of it one meal or two meals it doesn't matter). Then they next morning you find ALL the leftovers (check their stashes). Weigh the leftovers and subtract that from what the total was the previous day. This will tell EXACTLY how much they are eating. Then you can adjust the amounts you are giving them. If your amounts are right there shouldn't be very much in their stash spots because they will be hungry enough to eat it before the next morning.
ok, idea one; instead of making up weekly batches of food and storing it all in the same container, i shall do this; every pay day, which occurs fortnightly, i go to my butcher and supermarket...
i will purchase a bag of chicken wings and necks, hopefully equalling somewhere around a kilo
a large piece of gravy beef and a bag of duck giblets
2 lamb hearts
a lamb liver
3-4 lamb kidneys
a pumpkin (cannot locate canned)
a dozen eggs
i will make up batches of food per week which currently consist of the following (which may or may not need correcting?)
13.5oz bone in meats(chicken wings and chicken necks)
6oz muscle meats (duck giblets and gravy beef)
4oz lamb heart
4oz lamb liver
4oz lamb kidney
then separate the batch into zip-lock bags, one for each day... then freeze them but keep two in the fridge, and then each night pull out another one to defrost so that the meat is ready but isn't left too long in the fridge...
i was thinking of maintaining a shedule, i feed them 5oz into their bowl at 8am, i leave to go to uni to study at 8.45am and return around 5pm usually, then i weigh their leftover food after checking their cage hoarding places (as they would not be out of their cage whilst i was not home) and put it back into the fridge for later, then let them out for their play time when i arrive home and don't lock them back away until they are sleepy, which likely wouldn't be until around 7pm, then i was thinking i would feed them the rest of the days food which should be around 5oz and leave it with them overnight... then the next morning i weigh it again, toss any leftovers and start off with a fresh days' batch... Yep, that sounds like a much better strategy.
my concern here is; 13.5+6+4+4+4=31.5... if my girls are eating almost 10oz per day(i am still in the process of weighing this, it's difficult because they have a secret hoarding place which has just been discovered!) Which was probably contributing to the smell your room-mates were complaining about 31.5 will not cover a week worth... it would need to be 70oz... As soon as you have an ACCURATE measure of how much they are eating (see above), I would like for you to post a weekly menu like I did above:
4 x daily food by weight (? oz) of Bone In Meats = ? oz
2 x daily food by weight (? oz) of Boneless Meats = ? oz
1 x daily food by weight (? oz) of Heart = ? oz
2 oz of liver x number of ferrets = 4 oz
2 oz of other organ x number of ferrets = 4 oz
my next concern is this... if i am tossing leftovers from certain days... surely this will mean they aren't getting what they need per week?! but it will go off if i keep it in their cage... which is better? to risk off meat or risk them not getting enough? or should i start using supplements? When you feed them, do you watch them for a little while while they are eating. Have you observed each of them willingly eating heart & organ on their own? If so, then I wouldn't worry to much about them getting a proper balance. As long as they are hungry and will eat their organs on their own then they should be ok.
now, i was also thinking that every day, probably overnight, they would get their "treat" which is warmed pumpkin mixed with egg yolk, they love this! and it will move things along... will this be ok daily? or maybe every second day??? i was planning to give them 1egg yolk mixed with 1tsp pumpkin (cooked and pureed)to share. or should it be each??? I'd do this every other day or every third day with 1tsp of pumpkin added to their meat (just mix it in) on the days they are not getting the egg.
also, i cannot find salmon oil! but i was hoping you could suggest something else, i will keep looking of course... but i was thinking of adding a tsp of this to their daily treat? Any oily fish oil is fine (I use Anchovie oil. You can order Grizzly Salmon Oil through Amazon.com. You can also use Extra Virgin Olive Oil but some ferrets don't like it.
anywayyyy.... that's basically all the ideas i had... lemme know what you think!!! shall answer your previous post now too