|
Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2015 20:08:40 GMT -5
Quick update: Tonight he ate an entire split wing, bones and all, not a bit left! WHOOOOOO! 1. Ferret's name: Severus Snape 2. Ferret's weight: 2lbs 2oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 3.5oz per meal (every 12 hours) 4. Stools on various proteins. Before bone-in meals, BM were mostly soft, and after organ meals tar-like. After starting bone-in BM have been more formed, not hard, but not soft, with small bone shards in them, after organ meals still tar-like. 5. Activity levels: Sleeps a lot, but as soon as he wakes up he's ready to play for hours and hours. 6. Weekly menu: Sunday: Bone-in wing/bone-in wing Monday: turkey cut/bone-in wing Tuesday: heart meal/bone-in wing Wednesday: Pork and egg/ pork and egg (he only eats half an egg at a time) Thursday: Bone-in wing/ organ meal Friday: beef cut/bone-in wing Saturday: bone-in wing/ organ and heart meal.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Sept 25, 2015 10:15:48 GMT -5
That is looking good, and so is he How are his teeth starting to look? If you want, you can also add a pinch of eggshell powder to his organ meals. He is on the light end of the bone for amount, so would be no issue. A couple of quick questions for you 1. What is a suitable substitute for heart? 2. Name two other organs other than liver. 3. Are gizzards muscle meat, or organ? 4. How can you tell if your ferret is getting too much bone? 5. How can you tell if your ferret is too fat, or too skinny?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 15:47:52 GMT -5
Sorry for taking so long to update. We didn't anticipate the area our house is in is practically a dead zone when it comes to cell reception (and therefore our main form of internet for the last week and a half.) Sev is doing much better with bone-in meals now. He will eat 90% of the bones in the wing leaving usually only the big chunk from joint. Otherwise it gets all crunched up and eaten. And I usually add a little (human consumption grade) bone meal to his organ meals. I've been forgetting to do it lately cause I've just been exhausted from the holidays (Thanksgiving was on Monday here in Canada. ) and kid sitting for inlaws. Now. Answers to your question: 1. Taurine powder or tongue, I believe. 2. Kidneys ands lungs 3. Gizzards are a muscle meat and are good for building jaw strength. 4. I don't know 5. I don't know
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 15, 2015 18:26:07 GMT -5
I am in Canada as well 1. Correct 2. Correct 3. Correct 4. Too much bone results in stools that are hard and dry. If this sign is ignored they can go on to become totally blocked up, as well as changing the ph of the urine, resulting in a struvite stone with a coating of calcium oxylate. 5. When dangling your ferret they should be a straight tube shoulders to hips(not including a swelling to the left from the spleen) They are carrying too much fat if they are pear shaped, or too little if they have a real dip at the waist. Next 1. What is good for preventing hairballs? 2. Does freezing degrade taurine? 3. If your ferret has dry, hard stools what can you do to fix that? 4. In an emergency (you run out of bone), what are 2 acceptable bone substitutes and how much should your ferrets get? (be speficic) 5. How many meals a week should be organ, and of those meals how much needs to be liver?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2015 16:04:24 GMT -5
I think Sev is a little tubby then, lol.
1. Feeding raw eggs once a week, and a little bit of salmon oil now and then to keep things running smooth. 2. I believe freezing degrades a little of the nutrients in every food. I may be wrong about that though. 3. A little bit of salmon oil? 4. I know powdered eggshell is one, but other than bone meal powder I don't know of any other substitutes. And I have no idea how much specifically per meal though. 5. You should have three organ meals in a week, a heart meal, a liver meal mixed with other another secreting organ, and a liver, secreting organ, and heart meal.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 17, 2015 11:05:33 GMT -5
1. Correct 2. Freezing does not degrade taurine for some reason. 3. Feed less bone 4. Got them both! 5. Correct. Except heart is considered a muscle meal for raw feeding purposes as it doesn't secrete Care to continue with more to expand your knowledge base? Also, how many proteins is he getting now?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 19, 2015 11:37:50 GMT -5
Actually, better idea Machan(mentor in training) is working on a quiz for us. This will give me a better understanding of what we need to work on next It is SO important to not just know what to feed, but WHY. That way if you need to make some changes to the menu you can do so accurately with no risks. www.poll-maker.com/QNQZ7B
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2015 16:26:26 GMT -5
I'm sure you've already seen, but I got 93/100. A lot of stuff my previous mentor taught me, some you taught me, and others were educated guesses.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 21, 2015 10:35:33 GMT -5
Sorry I wasn't on yesterday. Went and picked up Lucrezia's ashes You did quite well Only area of concern that I can see is what constitutes muscle meat meals. In that quiz two answers that shouldn't have been listed were turkey necks, and duck wings. while not all can eat the duck wing bone, some can. And most can eat the tip. A lot of those are listed in here holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/146/meat-bone-organ-weekly-menuOkay- let's get a weekly menu listed, tweak it, and then get you graduated :banana:
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Oct 29, 2015 10:40:44 GMT -5
Hello?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2015 14:59:31 GMT -5
Sorry. I have finally have time to sit down and type this all out. So. I think I got confused by that question cause I was thinking in my head 'well, technically that's all muscle meat, but do they mean they want muscle meat only or bone in as well.' So I just with listing them all in that one question. Herp derp. Anyway, it's been crazy hectic for me this last week. Either I spend the day working then come home and clean, or I don't even spend the day at home. So the last week almost I haven't really touched my computer cause all my free time is going to Sev and playing with him so he gets some play time. I think this last week has been hard on him and I feel really bad that he has had to spend so much time locked up in his cage so I have been trying to make out time as fun as possible. If you have any suggestions on toys or games I can play with him I'm all ears. Currently he's exploring the main floor while I type this out, then I just gotta vacuum and then I am done for the day. Now on to the main boy. Sev no longer picks around the bone in his bone-in meals. He just crunches right through them. A little more time and I feel like he'll be able to crunch right through those joint pieces. I still haven't found a new source of organs, and I'm thinking I may have to order them online or something. I have two more places to try (someone told me to try the china town here) and a butcher close by to my house. Only thing is they close at two and aren't open on my 'free' days. I'm hoooooping I can get in there on Monday or Tuesday. Either tonight or tomorrow night I plan on offering him a turkey neck. I managed to get that and a turkey back for less than a dollar. Here's hoping he'll like it, lol. Schedule meal plan: Plan A (Low end of bone-in meals) Sunday: Bone-in/Bone-in Monday: Muscle meat/Bone-in Tuesday: Heart meal/ Bone-in Wednesday: Egg with muscle meat/ Egg with muscle meat (1 whole egg for the day he's picky about eating them alone) Thursday: Bone-in/ Organ meal Friday: Bone-in/ Muscle meat Saturday: Bone-in/ Organ-heart meal Plan B (More bone-in meals) Sunday: Bone-in/Bone-in Monday: Muscle meat/Bone-in Tuesday: Heart meal/ Bone-in Wednesday: Egg with muscle meat/ Bone-in Thursday: Bone-in/ Organ meal Friday: Bone-in/ Bone-in Saturday: Bone-in/ Organ-heart meal I tried to plan around his organ meals and make sure the next meal is bone-in so no super upset tummy. Same with the egg meals. I know he gets some really runny poops after eggs. Some of the proteins he eats (though remains picky about if you offer multiple times in a row) are pork, beef, turkey, chicken, and duck when I can find it. I have tried offering lamb but he remains adamant about not liking it. I'm waiting for the next big sale for lamb to try it again (we get large sales on it regularly where you can buy a family pack of lamb chops for less than 10 dollars. Anyway, if there is more you need to know just let me know. I'll be more available now, due to the rush being over. (I had myself booked all weekend for pet/house sitting, and a cleaning job nearly everyday, except yesterday, not to mention my own household cleaning. But I made a nice little chunk of cash which I already spent on christmas gifts. D'oh. ) Oh and one other thing, if you could recommend some sites where I can buy organs from that would be awesome! (Edit: He ended up eating the joints right after I wrote this. ^^ Way to go little Sevvy. Also, the one gross side of his mouth is looking a little bit better. The other side is gorgeous though. ) )
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2015 15:03:17 GMT -5
I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss of Lucrezia, I know that losing a little fuzbuddy is never easy. May Lucrezia dook in peace and play beyond the bridge for eternity.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Nov 1, 2015 12:19:31 GMT -5
Hare Today would be your best bet, but for those you really need to buy in bulk to make the shipping costs worth while I believe. hare-today.com/With your bone in, what does it consist of? Still just chicken wings(besides the turkey neck you got), or do you have other parts of the carcass in there? Also a tip- with the turkey neck you will have to chop it into segments for him. Not sure he can eat the spine but try it. Otherwise you can use it to make a broth for yourself for soup
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2015 15:42:45 GMT -5
Oh, I couldn't find the neck for him in the freezer (didn't feel like digging for it in our chest freezer) so for the last 3 bone in meals he had turkey back instead. I just set him down in front of it and he just plowed on in. Couldn't of been prouder. No begging or coddling, just him going straight to business. I'm definitely doing turkey neck tomorrow night, cause I want him to get better at this whole bone-in business. I've stopped chopping some of the wings for him (instead just giving the bones a few breaks instead of turning it into mashed bird), cause he needs to learn to eat those too and he just eats it like it's nothing! I honestly didn't ever know if he would be able to eat bone in meals cause of how stubborn he was, but holy cow! You really know how to get a ferret to eat bone in. And I checked Hare today, but it's US shipping only. But it doesn't matter cause I found kidneys. I found a few places that serve the ontario area (online) that handle raw food, but all of their organs were preblended with their meats. Still I did find a place that sells rabbit and and duck for cheap. Just need to see how bad shipping is.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Nov 4, 2015 23:20:05 GMT -5
Oh I didn't realize you were in Canada lol! Where is your locale? I know bitbyter has found a few places. Just don't know where you are.
|
|