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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2014 22:04:52 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2014 2:01:10 GMT -5
No, he only needs have of a meal of liver a week. Any more can lead to vitamin A toxicity. Have you been giving eggshells/bone meal and taurine supplements this week? If so, how much of each per meal? (this should be included in menus until you're feeding whole bones and hearts)
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2014 10:53:48 GMT -5
No I said should I give him more liver then chicken for his liver meal NEXT week. I have been giving him three capsules of taurine a week and there 500mg capsules. I have no idea how much egg shell powder he has been getting I just sprinkle some on his meat.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2014 12:24:44 GMT -5
All he needs is a single meal of 50% liver, 50% other organ (or chicken/soup until you find another organ). If he's already at 1/2 and 1/2, then you don't need to add anything else.
Also, just a note for reference if you ever need it. The official eggshell ratio is 1/4-1/2 tsp eggshell per 8 oz of boneless meat to count as a bone-in meal.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2014 14:44:30 GMT -5
I thought I was supposed to be working up to feeding him whole livers though? I tried to give him an egg today...It did not go well he got it everywhere and I don't think he ate any of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 11:31:22 GMT -5
Thanks for clarifying your inquiry. Yes, we are working him up to whole livers, but you need to keep the proportions the same (1/2 a meal of liver), so if you're already feeding half the meal of liver in his soup then in order to get him to chunks we need to focus on the sliver transition rather than quantity increase. So next week, prepare the soup with a little less liver in the blend, and finely chop the extra bit to mix in to the soup has small chunks in it. Since liver is pretty mushy, chances are he won't really notice the pieces too much if it's chopped fine enough. Or, you can make just chicken soup, and mash all of the liver you normally add until it's almost the consistency of a ground meat and mix that in the soup.
It's not a big deal if he doesn't eat egg, but it is useful for hairball control, so if you'd like help getting him used to eggs, let me know.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 20:29:41 GMT -5
Is there a type of pork I should get him? Like how chicken thighs are the best to give for chicken. I am planning on getting him pork and some chicken wings when I leave work tomorrow since he has been eating the chicken chunks fine.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2014 11:38:01 GMT -5
Just whatever is cheapest is fine. I usually get the pork stew chunks cause it's cheap and already chopped up. Pork doesn't really have a huge difference in nutrients as chicken does.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2014 9:24:11 GMT -5
I gave him a meal last night of small chunks of chicken and pork mixed together there not small enough to be slivers but there smaller then the chunks that I have been giving him. I just went and looked and he ate most of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2014 18:33:00 GMT -5
Good! Keep it up, just keep increases chunk sizes as he eats them until he's eating the size you want. Since he accepted the pork fine, you can also try other meats as you feel fit. Since he is still young he should take to the process pretty well. If he is eating the wings okay, then I'd suggest replacing all chicken breast/thighs with wings, and work on feeding 2 additional proteins for proper balance. Keep in mind for a balanced weekly menu, a ferret needs 3 different proteins, 7-9 bone-in meals (edible bone with adequate meat on it), 1.5-2 heart meals (or boneless meat with proper taurine supplement), 1 organ meal (.5 liver .5 other organ), and 2-5 boneless meals. Feed bones according to consistency of his stool. This ratio is what we will be building you up to, so if you would like to start working on that kind of structure it might be easier.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2014 22:19:33 GMT -5
Mister 2lbs 8oz He has been eating his normal sized 6-7 chunks His poop has been watery but I am hoping feeding wings will help that His has been a little less active but I think that is partly from the heat
Saturday-Thursday morning 6-7 chicken chunks Thursday night chicken chunks mixed with pork chunks Friday morning pork and chicken chunks Friday night cut up chicken wing Saturday 6-7 chicken chunks Sunday morning 6-7 chicken chunks Sunday night half chicken half liver soup with the liver sliver size. Three 500mg taurine capsules
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2014 12:30:31 GMT -5
Yes, once you start feeding bone his stool with be much better formed. Keep an eye on it though, if it's watery for too long it might be diarrhea which will quickly dehydrate him to dangerous levels. I'd suggest feeding at least one bone meal per day if he accepts it, if not then you need to mix each meal with half wings and half muscle meat until he eats bones willingly.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2014 22:23:23 GMT -5
He has a whole chicken wing right now I will see if he will eat it I have always cut it up before.
You said I should be feeding at least three proteins. What is the third I should try feeding I know I can get beef or turkey easily but I can always try to find other stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2014 22:01:15 GMT -5
Is it ok if he leaves some of the bones? He seems to be eating most of it just leaving some pieces of the bones. If not what can I do to get him to eat them?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2014 17:33:49 GMT -5
Can you send me a picture of what he leaves behind? Also, what part of the wing did you give him? (There's three segments to a wing, the drumette - a mini drumstick, the middle piece that has two bones, and the wing tip that has a pointy tip to it) did you give him one of these pieces or the full wing? I give mine a full wing between the two of them and most days they eat all but maybe an inch piece of bone. If he is leaving more bone than he should, then you can try chopping the wing into 3 pieces, if he still has trouble with that then he needs more work on his jaw strength and might need you to smash the bones a bit until he's built that strength.
As for proteins, some common options are beef, turkey, and fish (limited to 2 or less meals a week - keep in mind fish can make ferrets a bit stinky), some stores also carry other options like pheasant, quail, goose/duck, lamb, goat, etc. Just keep in mind they can only eat poultry bones and some very small weight-bearing bones like rib tips. Any weight bearing animals need to be fed as muscle meat only. Also, some turkey bones (for example, the thigh bone) are generally too dense for most ferrets. Keep in mind when looking for another protein that "Cornish game hen" is just a young fowl that is very similar to chickens and thus doesn't have enough nutritional diversity to count as a 3rd protein. You can, however, use it to replace chicken for some meals if you would like.
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