|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 25, 2014 9:45:38 GMT -5
Same. One ounce of beef. If you have beef heart i would still add like 250 mg of taurine per day. Taurine is a water soluble amino acid. Whatever their bodies do not use is flushed out in the urine. I would give about 3 oz of raw hearts per week.
How much does your ferret weigh?
So if he is chowing down keep lessening the amount of the baby food and increase amount of raw mush in the mix
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Jan 27, 2014 9:46:33 GMT -5
OK, so you're saying they can't have TOO MUCH taurine? I'm still waiting to hear from a couple of butchers who are trying to locate chicken hearts for me. I'm not too excited about the prospect of chopping up a cow heart, but if I don't hear about the chicken hearts by tomorrow afternoon, I'll go get the big one Last Monday, he was 2 lbs. 11 oz. He looks really scrawny to me, with bony hips, but he still feels about the same and he has a big belly. I'll weigh him again tonight. He ate the raw/baby food mix really well Thursday night, but not so much on Friday or Saturday.. maybe only 1 oz. both of those nights. Yesterday (Sunday) he ate pretty well again, not quite 2 oz. and I've still got it mixed about half & half. His output seems to have decreased this week, and it's a little loose and greenish. It's been seedy for a few weeks on just kibble, and that seems to be a little bit better, but the color worries me. He's also not using his litter box consistently now. He was about 95-98% both in the cage and out, but since I've really started pushing the raw, he's pretty much hit or miss. I've cleaned up more poop in the last week than I did in the whole 4 months prior!
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Jan 28, 2014 9:29:28 GMT -5
Well, the Slinks is not particularly liking his soup anymore. He goes to the fridge & begs for food, but when I get it fixed, he sniffs it and turns away sadly. He's so pitiful. He finally ate some of it, but only because I fed it to him with a spoon... spoiled baby.
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Jan 28, 2014 16:26:54 GMT -5
My chicken hearts will be here tomorrow!! Yay for not having to slice & dice a cow heart
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 28, 2014 19:29:12 GMT -5
sorry i have not posted. i was having trouble accessing the site. yeah general consensus is that you really cannot over do it with the taurine. especially if you are feeding natural hearts and just adding in like 250 mg per day of the taurine supplement.
when you feed him with the spoon, just keep lowering the spoon down to the plate until he is eating off of the plate. how much is he eating in one sitting? are you on full raw mush now or still mixing it with the baby food?
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 28, 2014 19:29:59 GMT -5
he may be turning his nose up because of the beef hearts. alot of ferrets are not crazy about beef.
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 28, 2014 19:31:11 GMT -5
but they will still eat them. he is young enough that you can make him like variety. once we get him on full raw eating actual bone in meats from the chicken, we will incorporate other meat sources like turkey, quail, cornish game hen, duck, lamb, venison. we need to rotate at least 3. BTW what other meats can you find at your local grocery store?
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Jan 29, 2014 10:26:36 GMT -5
He's not getting beef yet. I was going to pick a heart up, but I got a call from another butcher that they'll have chicken hearts available today.
I made fresh soup yesterday afternoon, and Slinkee dove into the bowl and ate like he was starving. (It made me wonder if maybe the last batch was going bad & that's why he didn't want it.) It's still mixed with the baby food, but I'm increasing the ratio every day. I actually didn't blend the meat as well yesterday as I did last week, so he had a few little chunks to work through last night and he cleaned up his bowl, about 1 1/2 oz. maybe (I didn't measure it this time). I offered more but he didn't want it.
I can get a pretty good variety of meat.. for sure chicken, turkey, cornish game hen, duck, beef, pork, lamb, venison, and some others. I've got a list at home of what is always available, but I can't remember everything that's on it. I've also talked to the manager of the meat department & if I give him a couple of weeks notice, he can order in pretty much anything I want.
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 29, 2014 19:07:08 GMT -5
probably. are you freezing the mixture into cubes and then just thawing out what you will use for the next day? if the meat turns, they will not eat it. that is a good variety of proteins. is he still eating his kibble? as soon as he is on a full raw grind and eating it all, we can remove the kibble.
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Jan 30, 2014 9:55:13 GMT -5
The first batch I froze in baggies, but not single-serve cubes. So 1 baggie would be thawed for maybe 2-3 days. This last batch is frozen in baby food jars.
Last night, his food was almost all raw, with only about 1/2 tsp. of baby food. He ate it with no fuss, but left quite a bit in his dish. He is still eating his kibble... Morning are very difficult at my house for several reasons and I haven't been able to take the time to feed him by hand, so he still has his kibble during the day. I take it out when I get home from school & he eats the mush in the afternoons & evenings, usually twice during that time. Then I put the kibble back in before bed. Once he's eating chunks, or at least eating the soup on his own, I'll be able to give him the raw in the mornings too.
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Jan 30, 2014 16:57:20 GMT -5
I'll be away for the weekend. My mom & dad are taking care of our menagerie & I have Slinkee's raw stuff already fixed so they just have to heat & serve. I'm worried about him getting enough playtime, but they & my in-laws have promised to go over and play with him as often as they can. And we'll only be gone for the weekend... but I'm still worried
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 31, 2014 9:05:04 GMT -5
Do not heat the raw mush. Destroys the nutrients. Defeats the purpose of feeding raw diet. Also bones can never be cooked or they basically become brittle shards of glass and can perforate intestines! Bones must be raw.
Never microwave anything. Serve at room temp or add a bit of hot water from the tap if you must.
He was turning his nose up bc the raw mush started going bad. With grinds only thaw out what he will eat the next day.
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 31, 2014 9:06:21 GMT -5
If you are still feeding by hand and you are not confident that he will eat all of his food i suggest you leave him just the kibble while you are out of town. When you return we can continue with the switch.
|
|
|
Post by miamiferret2 on Jan 31, 2014 9:16:43 GMT -5
Please post a photo of him before his switch and post his weight once a week. Extremely important to keep track of his weight during the switch.
|
|
|
Post by gfountain on Feb 1, 2014 15:52:34 GMT -5
I talked to Mom & he's eating OK. He's been eating from the dish for a while now, except for that one night when he refused to touch it unless it was on the spoon. By 'heat & serve' I mean hot water to thin & warm it a little. He likes cold stuff, but prefers his soup to be a little warm.. but it's definitely NOT cooked.
I talked to my in-laws a little while ago. They went to the house and played with him for about an hour, so I'm feeling a little more at ease about being gone. Also my dad plays with him a little every time he goes over to walk the dogs.
I tried to post a picture the other day & couldn't get it to work. I'll try again when I get home tomorrow. And I forgot to post his weight again. I weighed him on Tuesday of last week and he was still 2 lb 11 oz - same as the previous week.
|
|