Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Apr 24, 2015 23:10:47 GMT -5
Humph. So this is basically what I've been doing from the get go. I weighed out 8 oz of meat, 1 oz heart, 1oz liver, 1/2 bone meal & slogged that into a blender w/ about 1/2-1 water then poured them into 2oz cups. I made enough for 2 ferrets to eat 2 2oz cups for about a week. I did this for about 1 1/2 weeks. When I started introducing chunks I used the same measurements without turning it into a soup & just mixed it in with the soup. Then cut out the soup completely. I did this for about a week...? So now they still eat maybe 8-10 oz of meat, 1 oz heart, 1oz liver, 1 oz kidney & spleen combined spread out in 2 oz cups. A total of 14 cups for each ferret (had to make more than 1 batch) & put in the freezer. Just recently I've been using pork chunks & chicken wing w/ bone (I've been using a meat cleaver & a mallet to break up the chicken into pieces for the protein. This is why I asked about how much for each serving... I've been literally making 2 oz servings for them that I just pop out of the freezer the night before & throw into the fridge. 1.8oz
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Post by Celene on Apr 25, 2015 0:33:37 GMT -5
I actually do the same thing (portion meals and when I feed one, pull the next out to thaw in fridge). The difference is the menu I follow looks more or less like this: So right now you're making a balanced meal (basically chunked soup) for each meal... But that's a lot of work! With the frankenprey diet each component is divided up into separate meals (7-9 bone-in, 2-4 muscle, 1.5 heart and 1.5 liver/organ).
What I have found easiest to far is to portion a bunch of meal into meals (in my case 1.75 oz each), freeze in large silicone ice cube trays, and then store in a labeled freezer bag. So in my fridge I have a bag of organ meals, a bag of pork meals, rabbit, quail, frogs legs, lamb, etc. Then once I week I fill and label all of their meals for the next 7 days! The portioning obviously takes some time but I try and do a bunch at once (my last round of organ meals I did 6 weeks worth) then each week making the menu/putting cubes into containers only takes about 30 minutes.
Other than the hassle/time commitment I don't think it would necessarily be bad to do it your way, so long as the meals have enough bone and the ferrets are eating EVERYTHING each meal. A lot of ferrets will try and pick out their favourite parts and leave essential parts of the meal (like organ) behind and not get all their nutrients.
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Apr 25, 2015 1:00:22 GMT -5
Its funny but in the beginning, I was concerned that Dexter wasn't eating enough because he didn't finish his soup whereas Zim did (& wanted more). Now that I'm not blending it anymore, but making the chunks bigger & including bone, he's about the amount that Dexter did with his soup & Dexter is clearing up his serving (well most of it anyway). I'll actually put their bowls in a labelled ziplock bag & put it back in the fridge & give it them a few hours later to finish up any part of their morning meal. hmmm haven't weighed them since I started which was 3/28... almost a month now... WOW They're eating bone & chicken & pork chunks! Zim concerns me because he's not eating as much as Dex but then again he's also smaller too. Dexter has taken to freeze dried turkey bits as treats.. yay Zim... not so much They're both ecstatic over EVOO. I mean they will leap out of the cage to get to it (their leaping skills are not the greatest btw). Now I just need to get a hold of some salmon or Pollack oil & see what they think. I really want to find a treat for Zim. (still no kibble)
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Apr 28, 2015 17:49:14 GMT -5
Thank you so much Celene!
Those pictures & your menu really helped me out.
Your servings are about the same size as my little cups so that's good.
I guess for the heart/organs, I still don't get it because if you try to give me percentage... my eyes will cross.
You feed heart/organs 1 meal on Mon, Wed & Sat. How much of each do you put in those containers (which are about the same size as mine)?
When you do the bone-in, do you just give the whole chicken wing? Or do you whack at it & break it down some. I'll have to break mine down for the time being?
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Post by Celene on Apr 28, 2015 20:37:55 GMT -5
I am an absolutely ridiculous human being (probably why I have ferrets) and absolutely love math. But I know basically the rest of the world hates it so I also have this made: Which is based on a 4oz meal. Basically they need 1.5 meals a week of heart, and 1.5 meals a week of liver/organs. Some people also feed 1 whole heart meal, 1 whole liver/organ meal, and 1 meal which is half heart/half liver and organ but I find my method easier since I hate going near stinky organs and so can prep all my heart/liver/organ meals weeks in advance. As for bone, I usually segment the bone into 3 sections: the tip, the middle, and the upper areas. When I first introduced bone I just gave the tips and froze the middle/upper sections for when they got more used to bone. I posted a bone-smashing tutorial on page 6 of the thread, but I will link to the video here as well so you don't need to go hunting for it: . I know they've already been eating some bone though as you said earlier - how are they doing with it?
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Apr 28, 2015 23:19:34 GMT -5
i've actually been doing that but with chicken wings. ill also cut down the ends a little for easier crunching
thank you for the oz break down. & yes I agree prepping ahead of time much better!!
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Post by katt on Apr 30, 2015 3:41:35 GMT -5
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Apr 30, 2015 12:39:48 GMT -5
Wow, prepping their food went much faster after I finished the rest of their week the way I usually do.
I set up next week based off of your schedule but sun-sat & I currently don't have the variety in meats yet. Planning to go shopping tomorrow & hoping to find more variety to tempt them with.
I'm also going to weigh them tomorrow. I'm not able to at the moment because the batteries in my food scale need replacing
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on Apr 30, 2015 20:39:28 GMT -5
So... Celene.. for my heart/organ combo... what I did is 1/2 oz of spleen, 1/2 oz kidney 1 oz liver & 2 oz heart.. mixed it together then split it between my little 2 oz cups. 2 cups down in 1 go. Pork spleen is VERY stinky.... (I so want these ferret emoticons)
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on May 1, 2015 23:15:19 GMT -5
WEIGHT TIME
Dexter 5/1 1273g 3/28 1232g Zim 5/1 1110g 3/28 1128g
So Dex gains a little & Zim loses a little or is running about the same since the first time I weighed him, he didn't stay still very well. (this time he did freakishly well)
Zim LOOKS pudgier. They both do.
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Post by Celene on May 1, 2015 23:31:08 GMT -5
Yay!
How is their energy since starting the switch?
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on May 2, 2015 20:20:46 GMT -5
They're a tad more energetic but the most noticeable difference is that their fur is more soft & less course.
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on May 9, 2015 1:09:04 GMT -5
Have I mentioned how big of a pair of pills my boys are?
Getting them to eat something other than chicken is like pulling teeth. Zim will only eat it if I've thrown a quail egg & EVOO & some water in with the meat. Then I set him in my lap & grab a couple pieces & give it to him by hand. After a few pieces, he'll eat most of it on his own while still in my lap. I have to do something similar for Dexter too. (I has me a pair of momma's boys I think)
On another note...
I dropped Zim off at my vet last night for surgery today. He had a massive lump along his throat that didn't get smaller or go away while he was taking the amoxicillin & the prednisolone (which he's still taking. The lump is gone. They'll do a biopsy on it so I'll find out exactly what's been going on. & I now have instructions to slower taper him off the pred.
He's doing great. A bit bald along his throat but eating fine & just as lively (once the anesthesia wore off). Maybe he'll start eating more? One can only hope.
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Post by Celene on May 9, 2015 11:26:38 GMT -5
Poor Zim, I hope the biopsy comes back with good results!
As for the egg and EVOO - they are 100% totally playing you. I know this, because my girls manipulated me a whole bunch during the switch before I caught on. I kept a container of watered-down egg yolk in the fridge, and would have to pour some over EVERY meal before they ate it. I would put the meat out "plain" first and hope they ate it, but they'd just stand there and stare at me like "what am I supposed to do with that?" then the second the egg yolk hit it was like magic and they'd just dig in. I knew they were manipulating me, but I was worried they wouldn't eat so I kept doing it.
Then one day, I made the decision to use a little tough love. I put the food in the bowl, with (*gasp!*) no egg on top. The ferrets ran up to the shelf and stood there looking at me and waiting, and I stood back and stared at them, and made it plain that I had no intentions of putting egg on top this time. Mocha, in particular, was a big drama queen about it and threw a little tantrum. She sniffed it really exaggeratedly, looked at me, speedbumped, rolled around, looked at the food, nosed the dish, looked at me, then did her best to look really pathetic and starving. They also tried coming up to me and kissing my ankles, giving the big, sad ferret eyes, standing on hind legs, everything they could think of. At least every 5-10 minutes they would go check the food to see if any egg had appeared (it hadn't).
Nova caved after an hour or so and started eating that meat all plain and gross. Mocha followed after about two hours. It was probably the first (and only) time I out-stubborned a ferret! By now they know that they eat whatever is in their bowl or go hungry. It's not that they didn't like their meat, it was just that if they knew they could get an extra treat, of course they were going to go for it!
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Shawna
Junior Member
Posts: 111
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Post by Shawna on May 10, 2015 16:19:55 GMT -5
Oh my! I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.
Hmmm so its OK to just .... let them "starve". I gotta out-stubborn them. That'll be interesting.
I didn't think ferrets could play you. But I do know what you mean.
When I had my first 10. The last ferret I brought home... She was dark gray/black w white undertones & 4 white feet... Cho Cho; I put her in the playpen w the others & she basically freaked out if they came near her.
I thought it strange since I brought 3 of my other ferrets w me to interact w her before taking her home & she was great w them. But I guess 9 was a little too much for her.
She would literally squeal as if in pain & I would come running & put her on my shoulder.
It took me a month before I caught on. I watched this time to see if she was being bullied. Nope. She was doing the bullying. She would step away as soon as she saw me coming. (I was spying)
I came up & she would be looking up at me & she'd rear up expecting me to pick her up. I didn't. I walked away. She'd squeal again while trying to climb the pen. So I went back over, picked her up, kissed her on the nose, told her to play nice & put her back. She didnt do it again after that.
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