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Post by Klarissa on Jul 31, 2015 14:49:00 GMT -5
Also, ox tails? Literally ox tails? And so they count as a bone in meal?
And is pork stomach an acceptable organ meat? Even the Asian grocery didn't have a tonne of organ meats. I'm looking into a local company that does raw meat for cats (straight meat, no veg/fruit/etc). That have organ grinds, because finding organs other than heart/liver has been hard. It's not ideal probably, but its a better alternative.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 21:25:39 GMT -5
Ox tails they may not be able to eat because of how dense/thick the bone is, but you can buy a small amount, smash the bones up real good and give it a try. Some ferrets can't even handle the bone from chicken thighs or backs but some eat it like a pro, so it just depends. But when you're first introducing bone you smash the ever love out of it into tiny bits, and slowly smash it into bigger pieces until they're eating it whole. But with some bone-in meats you need to smash even when they're on whole. The general rule is no bone-in meats from an animal any bigger than a chicken, some ferts can do turkey bones, mostly just turkey wings or necks though. Anything bigger they may not be able to get through. As for the pork stomach it's a no-go. Tripe has little to no nutritional value and you couldn't get about 98% of ferrets to touch it with a 10 foot pole, lol. It STINKS. I don't know of anybody whose ferrets have liked it, but it's really of no value to their diet unless it's green tripe and even then it isn't worth it. Don't worry too much about finding organs, they won't be really needing "other" organ for 2-3 months, by then though you'll have to incorporate it into their diet. Of course the sooner the better, but don't worry a lot about it. If you try for a couple weeks and still can't find any, I would order them off of somewhere like HareToday/ReelRaw/MyPetCarnivore and etc. I know some people who have to order it because they can't find it. I had to drive 2 1/2 hours to get an organ other than kidney for mine and I live deep in the country lol. It is difficult at first, but trust me it gets easier, you get the hang of it and in a couple months it's just part of the routine. I nearly had a breakdown in my first couple months, my ferrets were being extremely picky, they weren't making much progress and I was very low on funds, trying to do meal prep, do the math, portion everything, and dealing with other daily life issues, it can get to you, but remember that we are all here for you if you need anything at all. If the rabbit has meat, bone, and heart/liver/other organ then yes it is a balanced meal so long as they eat the amount they should. When you said they eat 1.5 oz do you mean per day or per meal? And are you making sure they have at least 2-3 bites of food left, because if they are licking the plate clean or only living a small bit then offer than about 0.5 oz more each time until they start leaving some. It's good for them to eat kind of a lot at first, they need to build up those nutrients that they lost on kibble, and get re-hyrdated. Do me a favor, at their next meal offer them 0.5 oz more each ferret (so a 4 oz meal) and see how much they eat. If they leave a good amount you can just put it back in the fridge and feed it later, but I'd like to see if they eat it all. As for the ounces, lets say they each eat 2 oz per day, then per meal that would be 1 oz (2x a day). So, if you do chicken wings for breakfast, you would use kitchen shears, cut and weigh 2 oz of chicken wings and that would feed Trixie and Bear their breakfast (since they ate 1 oz each) that's if you fed them together. As for the organs and heart, it can be a bit hard to balance at first, so I'll try and give you some examples on this. Okay, so they need 1.5 meals of heart and 1.5 meals of organs per week, per ferret. In this we are going to assume you are only feeding ONE single ferret, NOT both of them together, as it is better to explain it that way as to not confuse you/anybody else. So lets say you just have Trixie that you are feeding, and that she eats 2 ounces per day, and you have heart, liver, and kidney. Lets say organ/heart days are Monday, Thursday and Saturday (you can choose any day you want though). Monday AM: 1 ounce Heart Monday PM: 1 ounce bone-in meat of your choice Thursday AM: 0.5 oz Heart, 0.5 oz Liver Thursday PM: 1 ounce bone-in meat of your choice Saturday AM: 0.5 oz Heart, 0.25 oz Liver, 0.25 oz Kidney Saturday PM: 1 ounce bone-in meat of your choice and that is all you have to do to have their organs and heart balanced, you can adjust the amounts depending on how much they eat, but the guideline is- 1 full Meal of Hearts 1 meal Half Heart, Half Liver 1 meal Half Heart, 1/4 Liver, 1/4 Other Organ And I'm sure hubby will get used to it eventually haha. My family sure thought it was really weird at first, they hated me feeding raw, but now on occasion they even feed them for me and give them their meds, sometimes even doing their dishes and everything lol. Nobody helps me with prep day but it's just because I've never asked. It's a process, some people can't jump all in at once, it may take him a bit to be able to handle it all. But he'll come around, and when he does we will all welcome him to the dark side (giggle) I'm going to tag @poncesmom to make sure all the info I've given you is correct, I'm not a mentor so I do want you to know to take a mentor/admin's advice before mine, they know more than me and what they say goes before what I say.
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Post by Klarissa on Aug 2, 2015 12:46:33 GMT -5
Just got a big haul from the Asian grocery store. 1 headless rabbit 4 quail 2 packs of duck wings 3 packs of pork kidney 2 packages labelled "Meat"; I *think* its chicken, its definitely a bird of some kind, with bones & meat. (It was 1.50, can't go wrong ) Another thing of chicken hearts (I have 3 packs now in the freezer). My husband has agreed to help beat the crap out of the duck, chicken, and quail, but the rabbits all mine I have tried leaving out extra for the girls, but if its left out for too long they refuse to eat it, especially Trixie. Trixie is my little princess Is it normal for ferrets to pretty much sleep through the night? I have a wacky schedule (my "night" is 1:00am - 9:00am). They barely eat all during that time, but wake up and scarf back tonnes of food. I've been making sure their room is totally dark during "night" as to not screw up their melatonin production.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2015 12:18:01 GMT -5
Good haul! Try making a menu out of what you have now and post it for practice. A note, when you're beating up the bone-in meats, make sure you have an apron or something on, because that stuff will go everywhere, lol. Learned that the hard way My two sleep during the night, they wake up maybe twice to use the litter box but that's all they do. It's very very rare if mine actually get up to snack or anything, during the day though they do. And mines favorite meal is breakfast, that's when they eat the most, so yep it's normal, they adjust to your schedule.
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Post by Klarissa on Aug 5, 2015 8:13:22 GMT -5
Trixie has been eating so much, I'm kind of worried. She eats until she has a huge belly, but shows zero signs of illness. She has stopped biting me, no teeth grinding or race rubbing, pooping/peeing normally. I guess she just loves to eat Willy, Willy, Willy. He stopped eating any raw soup willingly. He gets kibble left out, then I hand feed him raw meat dinner. He licks it willingly off my finger, will even eat some from the bowl. I tried to out stubborn him & leave him only rae, but he doesn't mind going on a hunger strike. I'm slowing it down a bit, since I think I have bitten off more than I can chew with his transition. I slowed back with the girls a bit as well. Their soup is super thick & I added heart chunks instead of blending them in completely. I also give them some bone in, but they mostly just drag it around & stash it Right now the transition seems overwhelming, with 3 ferrets all at different stages.
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 5, 2015 18:45:42 GMT -5
You are doing great! Just take a breath and look at how much you have accomplished! I know that we generally do not advocate kibble and raw at the same time because of the chances of possible bacteria overload but it really is a good trick to use if needed. Usually just a few sprinkles of crushed kibble on the top of the soup does the trick and gets them eating.
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Post by Klarissa on Aug 5, 2015 20:22:18 GMT -5
Willy won't touch kibble if it has a tsp of raw on it... But he will lick it off my finger. Which has been really helpful for building a bond, really hard when I work though. I wonder if he just wants to be babied more.
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 5, 2015 20:28:38 GMT -5
:heehee: he might just want to be coddled! It's definitely hard though when you have to work but you are doing great. If you need to keep where you are for a little bit it's ok but don't give up!
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Post by Klarissa on Aug 5, 2015 22:45:21 GMT -5
Hehe, giving up is not an option Less poop, less smell, better health, and I love watching them eat meat. For such silly looking little creatures, ferrets are designed to be strong, little meat eaters. But I think I might hang around the chunky soup stage for a bit; I make it with different proteins too. Just until Willy catches up, and everyone is eating consistently. Thanks for the encouragement and support!
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 5, 2015 23:12:48 GMT -5
I know it's hard to have them at different stages and sometimes we need a breather, you don't want to hang around the chunky soup stage too long though either, there's no sense in holding the girls back if they are ready to move forward and in Sables case will only make it just as difficult as Rowdy is being (not that he's being really difficult) Sable is a kit and eager and ready to eat everything and you don't want to lose that momentum/advantage with her either. Having said that now I'll say this, taking a small break will not harm it though. I'm tired now, I hope that made sense lol!
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Post by Klarissa on Aug 6, 2015 14:25:29 GMT -5
I think you have the wrong ferrets in mind, no kits in my house Kits would be easier! Last night I stood in my kitchen, staring at the ceiling "I am not going to cry". It was a loooong day, and my husband didn't pull any raw soup from the freezer (mornings are his feeding). So, I mixed some FDR, with a little ground Orijen kibble since they don't eat much over night.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2015 18:14:59 GMT -5
I'm sorry you're having a rough time, it can get difficult but I promise it gets better. Keep pushing Trixie and Bear as they will let you, it may be tough but the sooner they're on frankenprey the less you have to worry. If you feel too overwhelmed, take a couple days break, make their normal batch of soup of whatever they eat best and take a couple days to collect yourself. I had to do this a few times in the almost year I've been trying with mine, it is nothing to be ashamed of, we all get stressed out and it is completely understandable, we are all here for you, if you need to vent, a shoulder to cry on or even just to talk. You can PM me if you need anything at all, just ask. Have you been able to get Willy to eat anymore raw? He's just being stubborn, sounds like my Caillou. Try this, make him some soup but make it a little thinner than pudding, some ferrets just need to start simpler, make it a little thicker than like tomato soup. Sit in the floor with him in your lap and a spoon, hold him under his stomach so he can't run off and offer it to him from the spoon. You can even put your finger in the spoon if you need to then take it out slowly. Once he is eating from the spoon, slowly lower it into the bowl, eventually get the spoon into the bowl to where he is eating from the bowl, then take the spoon out. Then, start sitting him in front of you instead of in your lap, and eventually to where you are no longer touching him during meal time. After this, then start thickening his soup and adding slivers. As frustrating as it may be, you will have to take it slower with Willy. He has been through a traumatic experience and I don't think necessarily withholding raw is the solution, I'd say just take it slower.
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 6, 2015 22:05:58 GMT -5
I think you have the wrong ferrets in mind, no kits in my house Kits would be easier! Last night I stood in my kitchen, staring at the ceiling "I am not going to cry". It was a loooong day, and my husband didn't pull any raw soup from the freezer (mornings are his feeding). So, I mixed some FDR, with a little ground Orijen kibble since they don't eat much over night. Oh my gosh, I do not even know what happened there! I must have been really tired on that one, I'm sorry! I wonder what I posted for Sable and Rowdy that night... (headwall) Well that sucks about having to do that last night! Next time (I hope there isn't a next time and I'm sure you do too!)you can actually just put a couple of cubes in a Baggie and then run it under warm water until it's thawed enough for them to eat. If you just fill the sink with hot water a couple of cubes usually only takes about 10 minutes to thaw. I'm sorry you had a crappy day yesterday. Im the only one that feeds the beasties in the house, I'm trying to get my husband on board but it just doesn't seem to be going that well. In his defense I'm a bit OCD about it and while he is totally on board with raw/whole prey feeding them he is not so into gutting the rats and guineas lol! Holding at one step for a little bit is ok though if you need to, just don't make it a long hold. Set a limit like a week to let yourself build up again and then keep going.
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Post by Klarissa on Aug 7, 2015 11:36:22 GMT -5
Trixie has a new name, and it is " The Devourer!!" For a frail little thing, she has a monstrous appetite! She has doubled her food intake this week.
I left out food overnight for Bear, but she barely touched it. I blended it a little smoother (but still thick) and she took to it much better. I have Trixie & Bear separated for the most part right now (because it improved Trixie's attitude - haven't been bitten in a week) and its given better insight into who is eating what (Trixie was eating the chunks, while Bear ate the soup).
I finger fed Willy a tablespoon of raw last night & this morning. I don't mix any kibble into, since he has kibble left out all day. He willingly licks off my fingers, and nibbles from the bowl. But if I leave it out for him, he won't eat it though. Next week I will bump up his raw finger fed meals from dinner to breakfast & dinner.
Tomorrow is "make all the food" day. I'm going to make a batch of soup with bone in grinds & slivers, but enough soup to pull out for Willy. I'm also going to make a heart only soup, and an organ soup. So I can get them used to eating just organs, and get them into a bit of a schedule.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2015 21:43:57 GMT -5
How many oz is Trixie eating? My girl also ate a ton, at one point she ate nearly 10 oz a day for a couple days. Of course that amount is definitely not normal, but in her case the soup was watery so it may have only been like 5 oz of actual meat and the rest water. In Trixie's case I'd say she's just enjoying her raw
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