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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2015 12:45:19 GMT -5
I hear you. I have had money and I have not had money. Having money is way better. I've also had stupid bosses and nice smart bosses, but one good thing about the military, they don't lay you off. My husband got laid off once years ago. They did it one week before Christmas. Grinch :slap: You'll be fine with the Wysong until you can get some shopping done.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2015 17:07:35 GMT -5
@poncesmom So I discovered a site called Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow. I'm interested in buying some meats off it just to give the fuzzies something new from their Rad diet. I've looked at the Frankenprey Diet...and it says Monday for bone-in meat, then Tuesday has a muscle meat...it's all very separated. I was looking into getting: www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?products_id=70This product, which is a mixture of bone, meat, muscle meats, etc. How do I adjust this to Frankenprey? Does it simply cover everything in one swoop?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2015 10:55:21 GMT -5
@poncesmom So I discovered a site called Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow. I'm interested in buying some meats off it just to give the fuzzies something new from their Rad diet. I've looked at the Frankenprey Diet...and it says Monday for bone-in meat, then Tuesday has a muscle meat...it's all very separated. I was looking into getting: www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?products_id=70This product, which is a mixture of bone, meat, muscle meats, etc. How do I adjust this to Frankenprey? Does it simply cover everything in one swoop? HareToday and MyPetCarnivore are both sites that I've seen our ferrents order from. What you would do is the same as with Whole Prey. It would cover all bone/meat/organs in one swoop. So, then you simply will subtract those meals from the Frankenprey meals and adjust your organs to the remaining Frankenprey meals. Heart being ten percent Liver being five percent other Organ being five percent Does that make sense to you. Bitbyter wrote a good article on commercial grinds holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17099/commercial-grinds
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2015 15:20:13 GMT -5
Some great news! Moses got her DES implant today. ^_^ And we had donation money left over to donate to a shelter. So we're doing that, too. I'm very happy for her!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2015 14:36:02 GMT -5
Today I ordered some more Rad Cat just in case. I also gained a foster ferret named Lacey! Since Lacey is a foster, she will remain kibble-fed and will be fed separate from my two.
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Post by Celene on Mar 21, 2015 16:23:52 GMT -5
She's so pretty - careful not to fall in love with her!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2015 12:33:18 GMT -5
She's so pretty - careful not to fall in love with her! Oh, too late for that. She won over my boyfriend and I am fond of her. But she's unadoptable, so she's going to be with us for a long time to come. :3 Learning what it's like to have a home life.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2015 11:37:32 GMT -5
SO... I am buying the following for the frankenprey diet to give it a shot. I learned Elisha's sickness earlier was from e. coli bacteria, so it's safe to say I've grown wary. 2 lbs bison liver 2 lbs beef lung 2 lbs turkey hearts 2 lbs chicken thigh cubes 10 lbs mutton bones (ribs) The mutton bones are my main concern as I want to feed them as edible bone in meat. They're 84% meat and 16% bone. Will this work? www.hare-today.com/product_info.php?products_id=84
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Post by Celene on Apr 5, 2015 13:58:12 GMT -5
I don't think E. Coli is common in raw meat - generally if meat is found to be contaminated with it I think it's recalled. A couple notes on the above: - Organ selection looks great! I would double the turkey hearts order as the general diet guidelines are 10% heart, 5% liver and 5% another organ, so you'll run out of heart first. I've found chicken/turkey hearts pretty cheap though at my local grocery store. - Ferrets should have a minimum of 3 types of protein a week (which you have above with turkey, chicken, and mutton - "organs" don't count as a different type of protein). It can't hurt to have more though - my girls LOVE pork and it's cheap and easy to find. The cheaper/fattier cuts are actually better for them - I'm about 95% sure mutton ribs are not "bone-in" - I think they're too hard for ferrets to crunch through. I'm going to tag katt who will know for sure though. Edible bone in meat is described as chicken: any / all, quail: any / all, rabbit: any / all, turkey: necks, ribs, and wing tips, duck: neck, ribs, and wing tips. pork: button bones, rib ends, cornish game hen: any / all. I also feed frogs legs which my girl loves. Chicken thighs, although listed above, are too hard for them.
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Post by Celene on Apr 5, 2015 14:04:20 GMT -5
One more thing I would suggest before worrying too much about jumping right into frankenprey (although you can just order the stuff now and keep in freezer) is making sure your fuzzies are comfortable eating chunks of meat. I usually start like this:
1. Introduce slivers - either mixed in with their grind or on their own. This is usually the hardest step.
2. Work up size until they're eating pieces somewhere between the size of a large pill or lip balm cap.
3. Start frankenprey diet, but use eggshell powder/bone meal for bone-in meals by sprinkling on meat at the ratio of 1/2 tsp to 8 oz of meat (can be tweaked based on poop consistency). Heart/organ meals *may* need to be pureed in a food processor if they won't eat on their own in pieces.
4. Start introducing bone-in meat. It can help to smash the bone up a bit. Smaller bones like quail and cornish game hen are easier to start with.
5. Introduce new proteins one at a time (can be done along with steps 3 and 4).
6. Continue to work up chunks in size until they're about the size of a thumb or so.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2015 14:19:04 GMT -5
I don't think E. Coli is common in raw meat - generally if meat is found to be contaminated with it I think it's recalled. A couple notes on the above: - Organ selection looks great! I would double the turkey hearts order as the general diet guidelines are 10% heart, 5% liver and 5% another organ, so you'll run out of heart first. I've found chicken/turkey hearts pretty cheap though at my local grocery store. - Ferrets should have a minimum of 3 types of protein a week (which you have above with turkey, chicken, and mutton - "organs" don't count as a different type of protein). It can't hurt to have more though - my girls LOVE pork and it's cheap and easy to find. The cheaper/fattier cuts are actually better for them - I'm about 95% sure mutton ribs are not "bone-in" - I think they're too hard for ferrets to crunch through. I'm going to tag katt who will know for sure though. Edible bone in meat is described as chicken: any / all, quail: any / all, rabbit: any / all, turkey: necks, ribs, and wing tips, duck: neck, ribs, and wing tips. pork: button bones, rib ends, cornish game hen: any / all. I also feed frogs legs which my girl loves. Chicken thighs, although listed above, are too hard for them. Her E. Coli definitely came from raw chicken I was feeding her, as my other ferret got sick from it, too. : / Ever since I stopped feeding that particular Rad Cat, though, they've done really well on lamb and turkey. And I will say now, your percentages don't mean anything to me. I have a learning disorder in mathematics. ^^; So I have no idea what you're saying. I just see percentages (or factions, or math in general) and my eyes glaze over and I stare, dumbfounded. Could you perhaps explain in a way that doesn't involve numbers? Or math? ( Edit: A visual/pictures would be best for me alongside a description, if you can.) I brought up the frakenprey diet and let my boyfriend do the math for what we'd need for a 30 day month wherein they eat ~8 oz of meat a day. Based on his math (which, I have nooo idea if it's right or not :'D), we should have enough heart to feed according to the menu...Trial and error, we'll see! Thanks for that bone-in description! <3 I could not find it anywhere and was extremely confused about what "bone-in" meant, except I knew chicken wings/necks fit. I'm going to save that description for next time. I think Hare Today doesn't sell much bone-in meat from that description. (they have chicken necks, I know). I'll have to check my grocery store for that portion. Our chicken thighs are boneless. I was using it for the muscle meat. But I'll remember not to get thigh bones for bone-in.
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Post by Celene on Apr 5, 2015 15:12:28 GMT -5
Yeah, rad cat isn't "human grade" so maybe that's where the issue is? Although you think they'd be extra careful if they KNEW their food was going to be fed raw... I totally understand the math thing. I tutored math for several years and everyone definitely has a different way of understanding it. I'd always love when I explained some concept in a completely different way and my student would be like "OH! Why didn't they say it like that to begin with? It totally makes sense!" after struggling for years. The school system really lets so many people down because they only teach everything in one single way which maybe makes sense for 40% of the population Enough about that though. I'll try a few things later but have to leave really soon for family dinner. How are you with pie charts?
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Post by katt on Apr 5, 2015 15:17:37 GMT -5
Lamb ribs are probably too thick for them to eat, so no they would not count as bone-in meals UNLESS it's just the rib tips and the ferrets actually eat them.
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Post by Celene on Apr 6, 2015 0:45:42 GMT -5
Okay. I'll first explain the heart/organ thing.
According to the Frankenprey Menu, you're supposed to have 1.5 (one and a half) meals each of heart and organ... But how on earth do you prep/serve a "half" meal? So instead of serving one and a half meals each of heart and organ, I serve 3 meals of heart AND organ. (Not sure what your level of math frustrations are, but if that's confusing, just trust me that 1.5 + 1.5 = 3.) Each organ meal is also supposed to be half liver and half another organ... So it can get really confusing and overwhelming - for anyone.
Anyway... That's the explanation. But basically, for an heart/organ meal I feed 2 parts heart, 1 part liver, and 1 part other organ (such as kidney). Based on them eating 4 oz meals (you said they were eating about 8 oz a day) the "recipe" would be: [/div][li style="text-align:justify;"] 2 oz heart[/li][li style="text-align:justify;"] 1 oz liver[/li][li style="text-align:justify;"] 1 oz other organ[/li][/ul]
I would recommend making a larger batch (say 20 oz heart, 10 oz liver, 10 oz organ), putting it all together in a food processor and making an "organ soup" and then weighing/freezing in ice cube trays. The blending works really well because a) organs are gross to cut, and b) that way ferrets can't pick out just one type and leave the others. I also split up organ meals and feed to my ferrets separately to make sure they're both eating the same amount.
If you're still having a hard time wrapping your head around it, here's a picture
katt's menu chart above is great. This is what I personally use when planning my weekly meals:
And then as I'm sorting and labeling the meals I fill the chart out, so it would look something like this: So all I have to do is basically fill in the blanks and then I've made sure they get all their proper meals. I usually do all the prep and portioning for meals once a month or so (or as I buy proteins). I freeze portions in giant ice cube trays (I just smush chunks together and they stick once they're frozen) so I have a big freezer bag of pork cubes, quail cubes, organ cubes, etc. all the same weight (i.e. enough for one meal each). Then once a week I fill out the chart above, put a meal cube in a mini tupperware, and label it! Then I just pull out the next meal each time I feed one so it has about 12 hours to thaw in the fridge. Sorry if that's a lot of pictures... But I (personally) find this the easiest way to do the frankenprey diet!
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