1. how short is ferrets digestive system?
3-5 hours? I guess whenever they wake up lol.
correct, food needs 3-4 hrs from one end to another and that don't give a chance for bacterias to overgrow.2. is vitamin A fat soluable or water soluble and where do we find it?
Fat soluable, which means it has a greater chance of building up vit A toxicity. Finding it in their diet can be too much salmon oil in a short amount of time, or in liver. (Speaking of, I need to try and get them on liver again since I have chicken liver access-probably 0.1-0.2oz 1x per week)
correct! Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin (it is also called Retinol) Normally a ferret on a natural diet would find vitamin A in oily fish or the liver of other animals (it can also be found in eggs) when a ferret has eaten a food rich in Vitamin A its own liver needs to go to work to regulate the blood level of vitamin A.
It uses a special blood carrier to transport Vitamin A throughout the body. A ferret who has a high protein diet rich in fat can readliy absorb vitamin A into its body.
Ferrets fed on raw liver once per week do not need a Vitmin A suppliment as the raw liver of another animal contains more than enough Vitmin A.
THIS IS WHY RAW LIVER MUST BE FED ONLY ONCE PER WEEK TO PREVENT AN OVERDOSE OF NATURAL VITAMIN A.
On the Frankenprey diet we will break up that into several smaller meals.
Vitamin A is destroyed when cooked at temps of 40 degrees centigrade or more so to obtain the maximim benefit liver should be fed raw.
Vitamin A is an anti oxidant that may protect against disease in the body. This vitamin is used for night vision, growth, and reproduction it also has many varied uses thorugh out the body and also helps maintain a healthy skin. It helps to prevent dryness of skin. It also helps with the health of mucous linings and these include eyes, ears, lungs, nose, throat and bladder. It is also good to help prevent colds! So all in all vitamin A has many good uses, it also helps the ferrets immune system stay healthy.
A ferret who is deficient in vitamin A can show it in many ways and the simple deficiency can often be mistaken for something more serious.
Some of the signs of a vitamin A deficiency can be as follows: dry or rough skin, problems with growth (bones appear weak), low resistance to infection, digestive problems (diarrhea, kidney stones, loss of appetite) weak teeth that easily chip or break and appearing to have problems seeing - especially in darkness.
These are all the plus sides vitamin A can help solve but like all good things there is a reason for caution as there CAN be a down side if the vitamin is not treated with respect and used with care. I personally only give my ferrets a tiny pinch once every fourteen days on food if raw liver is not available as vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin that can be stored in the body and can cause overdoses if there is not a good break between doses. Very high doses can cause the following side effects: vomiting, hair loss, liver damage and painful joints so a ferret finds it painful to walk.
Vitamin A is a good vitamin it is simply one that needs to be treated with respect and given in very, very small doses with a decent break between them.
The plus side far outweighs the minus side but as I have stated and can't state enough, all vitamins should be treated with respect.
Read more:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/1222/vitamins#ixzz3zQKrKYo43. how many organ meals should a ferret get in one week?
Depends on the ferret and poops, but generally 2x a week as a rough guideline. Minces make it more difficult to know how much they get if an organ in a given mince serving.
they should get 2 organ meals in one week. one half liver/half other organ, and one meal with 1/2 heart, 1/4 liver and 1/4 other organ. if we don't count the heart, it's 1,5 meal. it's true that minces make it super difficult if you don't know exactly how many organs are inside. that's why you have to check the ingredients. if you have a balanced mince, you can count that meal as an alternative meal and include it in the frankenprey.
docs.google.com/document/d/1PE7zTHkmZGV9_T9ChjbsHVLgWd7U9Vip_zQN-qm85gs/edit#heading=h.n8t25br1ksmo4.how many bone in meals should they get in one week?
Depends on the rest of the weekly menu, but generally 7 or so per week.
correct! although some ferrets need 9 bone in meals, that depends on their poops. here's a frankenprey menu where you can see the whole thing:
holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/basic-frankenprey-menu/5. can you explain the blockage protocol that is used when a ferret eats a foreign object like rubber or foam?
Pumpkin 1tsp, wait 1 hour, vasoline 1tbp, wait 1 hour- repeat until the item appears out.
correct, The pumpkin is fiber and that helps push everything through the digestive system.
Vaseline helps ease the way.
you should follow the blockage protocol:
first 1 Tbsp of pureed canned pumpkin (no sugars)
1hr later 1 tsp of pure Vaseline
1hr later 1 Tbsp of pureed canned pumpkin (no sugars)
1hr later 1 tsp of pure Vaseline
and check their poops, if it purists seek vet attention as it can be fatal
6. what nutrients are found in beef?
A lot of iron that is hard to get elsewhere.
correct! beef is high in Iron and Vitamin B
you did it great!!!!