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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2015 14:08:56 GMT -5
Hi folks,
next friday I´m getting my new kit. The breeder feeds raw and kibble, so the kit will be used to eat raw.
At the moment I´m preparing myself to feed the kit completely on raw.
I have some generell questions... Maybe somone can help me...
How much will a hob-kit eat? I just need a reference, because I don´t have a clue about feeding only raw.
Next thing. I can get high-quality grinds for a good price. They offer beef, poultry, chicken, deer, roos and fish. My first order would be Beef, Poultry and chicken and is prepared with heart already. In every Package there will be 150 Gramm (5.3 oz) total with 45 Gramm (1.6 oz) of heart in it. What do you think about this grinds? I´ve won´t rely completly on this, but I like to use this for my "muscle meat meals". I want to supplement with bonemeal in the beginning and will introduce bone-in soon. So, this would be aprox. 80% of the meals for some time and with this amount of heart in it, I dont have to add any more heart, right? If I understand correctly, I can´t overdose taurin?
I´m already working on a balanced menu, but I need to know, if I can use the grinds as stated above.
I´ve already bought chicken-liver, gizzard and chicken necks which will be on the menu too. At the moment I´ve got no source of other organs, but will hopefully find a good source soon.
Thanks for your time. I hope you all have a lovely weekend. (giggle)
Best wishes.
Jenny
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2015 15:56:35 GMT -5
Hi Jenny, We call a kit a Tummy with Teeth. They will eat alot. It's hard to give you an exact number but you will most likely be feeding four times a day. Start out with 3-4 ounces and if you little one, eats all of that, then they can eat more. If they leave some on the plate, then they have had enough. You cannot overdose on Taurine. It's water soluable and is eliminated. Liver is different. It's full of Vitamin A and can build up in their system. We suggest keeping liver to five percent of their weekly intake. You can mix commercial grinds with a Frankenprey menu. Celene wrote a terrific thread about this: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17989/balancing-frankenprey-diets-prey-grindsWe have a mentoring program and you can sign up for that. You can also build your own switching thread and all of the mentors will offer advice and support. Take a look at some of the Mentor/Member switching threads and you can see how the process works. We only ask that you don't post to those threads. Congratulations on your upcoming Ferrenthood. You're in for quite a ride. (dance)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2015 11:36:18 GMT -5
Thanks for your reply @poncesmom.
I think I'll try the switch without a mentor. Hopefully the kit won't make any problems food wise, so a one on one help might be too much. The mother preferred raw over kibble and offered this to the kits and later he was eating it by himself, so he is used to eat some different proteins and textures by now. I think, I need more help on the "switch" than the kit :-)
Do I need to open a new thread or can I use this one? Does it need to be renamed/moved to another section?
I've already read through some switching threads.
Due to the amount of food in my freezer, I don't have to care to buy new food for the kit until 2020... I've ordered a menu for at least 30 days and my mother ordered as starter package for the "grandferret" with some whole prey (mice, rabbit, rabbit heats to chew on, ...) and different bags of organ and so on... She seems to be excited as I am... hehe.
Best wishes
Jenny
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Post by Heather on Jul 14, 2015 13:29:15 GMT -5
No you don't have to change your thread. You may want to change the title abit to reflect where you're going with this and then it will notify the mentors that you're going this alone. It's not going to be an issue getting your wee furry tummy with teeth to eat what you put in front of him but meeting his proper dietary needs is actually going to be the issue. That's often the way. The mentors help you learn how to properly balance your little one's diet rather than helping your switch. A kit's dietary needs are only a bit more different than the adult. Besides the amounts (about 3x that of the adult)you're going to have to feed a bit more bone than you would an adult. It's advised that a ferret gets 7 to 9 bone meals a week...a kit needs 9 bone in meals a week. Feeding whole prey is easy, feeding a mixture of prey and frankenprey or feeding just frankenprey is a little more complicated but still easily done if the rules are followed. Good luck, I hope you will be posting pictures of this wee beastie. They change daily, so don't be shy about sharing ciao
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2015 13:32:47 GMT -5
Thanks for your reply @poncesmom. I think I'll try the switch without a mentor. Hopefully the kit won't make any problems food wise, so a one on one help might be too much. The mother preferred raw over kibble and offered this to the kits and later he was eating it by himself, so he is used to eat some different proteins and textures by now. I think, I need more help on the "switch" than the kit :-) Do I need to open a new thread or can I use this one? Does it need to be renamed/moved to another section? I've already read through some switching threads. Due to the amount of food in my freezer, I don't have to care to buy new food for the kit until 2020... I've ordered a menu for at least 30 days and my mother ordered as starter package for the "grandferret" with some whole prey (mice, rabbit, rabbit heats to chew on, ...) and different bags of organ and so on... She seems to be excited as I am... hehe. Best wishes Jenny As Heather said, this thread is fine here, and if you change the subject title, it will make it easier for Mentors to identify it. Heather is a breeder and our Ferret Whisperer. She will give you excellent advice and knows everything there is to know about kits.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2015 2:06:48 GMT -5
Sorry, I was quite the last weeks... I want to update you on our situation.
Junior got sick the day I brought him home. We held contact with the breeder, other kits got the same symptoms, 4 of the other died. After different stressful tests and necropsy done on the dead kits, we couldn't really track down the issue. We think this could be an intoxication from the wormer because all this started with the wormer...
After a few days I brought Junior back to the breeder. He was weak and lonely, I couldn't introduce him to my business. He was put back to mommy and his siblings. He instantly feels better. The breeder hand feeds him and he got better in about a week, gained weight and was back to his normal self.
Two weeks later I could get Junior back... And a little bit of ferret math happened. We noticed Juniors behaviour with his siblings... Happy little kit... We got home with 2 kits...
Junior has grown rapidly and is a big silver hob kit now, nearly 11 weeks old. He is a happy, cheeky boy. Wrestling is a must at playtime...
Dexter is his half brother and is an albino. He is 9 weeks old. He's a lot slinkier than Junior, who is more a heavy body type. Dexter has a nice personality, playful but also enjoys a good belly rub.
Both use the litter pan in the cage, no misses by now. Out of the cage accident happen... Nip training is no big issue, both are gentle. They are passionate about my partners socks... I don't wear socks at home, so my partner have to work on it ;-)
So, here we are now. The kits don't need a true switch... They're already feed on raw. But I'm new to this... I will do a menu for next week today and appreciate a little help from you. I will post the menu later this day.
Best wishes,
Jenny
P.S.: Pictures will come... I didn't manage to do nice pictures by now...
P.P.S.: I can't change the subject, got an error message on tapatalk :-(
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2015 7:11:28 GMT -5
Glad little one pulled through. Two always better than one
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2015 8:41:02 GMT -5
Oh yes! I couldn't compensate the second kit... I'm literally glad I don't have to wrestle with Junior when he's hyper...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2015 8:43:55 GMT -5
Weighing is done... Junior 870 grams Dexter 700 grams (Not really flattering... His face isn't so pointed...)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2015 9:08:10 GMT -5
MO WP 4 Mices MO BI 2 Boxes of muscle meat with bone meal TU BI 2 Boxes of muscle meat with bone meal TU BI 2 Boxes of muscle meat with bone meal WE O Beef organ mix (heart, liver, spleen 50/25/25) WE BI rabbit back and front leg TH BI chicken carcasses TH O beef organ mix (heart, liver, spleen 50/25/25) FR M 2 Boxes of muscle meat FR BI chicken carcasses SA BI rabbit back and front leg SA M 2 Boxes of muscle meat SU BI chicken carcasses SU O beef organ mix (heart, liver, spleen 50/25/25) BI for bone in O for organ meal WP for whole prey M for muscle meal
The boxes are vary, I've got chicken, poultry, deer, beef.
The week after next will improve a bit because I stock up bone in meals and don't need to supplement with bone meal.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2015 15:36:39 GMT -5
Would someone have a look on my menu, please? I'm not 100% sure if this the optimum...
Thank you :-)
Could a mod change my thread title? I'm still getting an error message... (Juniors and Dexters (unofficial) "switch")
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2015 15:43:46 GMT -5
They r so gorgeous! Nice pics.
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 11, 2015 16:22:08 GMT -5
MO WP 4 Mices MO BI 2 Boxes of muscle meat with bone meal TU BI 2 Boxes of muscle meat with bone meal TU BI 2 Boxes of muscle meat with bone meal WE O Beef organ mix (heart, liver, spleen 50/25/25) WE BI rabbit back and front leg TH BI chicken carcasses TH O beef organ mix (heart, liver, spleen 50/25/25) FR M 2 Boxes of muscle meat FR BI chicken carcasses SA BI rabbit back and front leg SA M 2 Boxes of muscle meat SU BI chicken carcasses SU O beef organ mix (heart, liver, spleen 50/25/25) BI for bone in O for organ meal WP for whole prey M for muscle meal The boxes are vary, I've got chicken, poultry, deer, beef. The week after next will improve a bit because I stock up bone in meals and don't need to supplement with bone meal. Are the boxes grinds? Are they just meat and bone or do they contain organs also? Do you know the percantage of meat vs. bone in them?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2015 16:42:33 GMT -5
The boxes are pure muscle meats,in cuts (1x1cm), no bone, no organ. I add bone meal to keep it balanced.
Next week I add grinds with bone in. E.g.: I ordered grinds from rabbit with front leg and back, bone in. Can't find a percentage online, they say "naturally balanced"...
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 11, 2015 18:17:28 GMT -5
Any reason why if they are eating whole prey you are going to grinds? (to me it's a step backwards.) Does the "naturally balanced" grinds include organs do you know? The balanced part of it makes me think it does, can you tell me the brand of the grinds? Overall the menu looks good for a frankenprey with one whole prey meal. I would move quickly through the grinds though because ferrets get lazy when everything is mushed for them and they do not have to work to eat. Are you adding any bonemeal to the organs? They are young kits so as long as their stools aren't too hard the extra calcium is a good thing for them.
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