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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2011 10:41:30 GMT -5
Just wondering how you guys keep it smelling fresh with a raw diet. My boyfriend is kind of freaking out about our place smelling bad. I told him the boys themselves would smell better! And they would poop a lot less! But raw meat does smell kinda funky sometimes.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2011 10:44:58 GMT -5
The worst smelling day in this house is liver/heart days. So to avoid that, I would feed a small amount of liver over the week, rather than one large meal of it. Aside from that, scoop the litter box twice a day (use some baking soda in the bottom too), try not to leave too much left over meat, check your ferts favorite stash spots daily. The ferret room is ajoined to my room, and the bathroom, so I try to keep it smelling nice. I open windows when I can  I think a regular stand up fan also helps circulate the air and makes it smell better |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2011 10:54:34 GMT -5
Thank you Never heard of the baking soda thing.  |
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Post by miamiferret2 on May 19, 2011 10:59:16 GMT -5
I'm in the same situation. I can't leave regular raw meat out. i live in florida. with the heat, things get rancid pretty quick down here. i can't have my room smelling like a slaughterhouse all the time. especially in the bedroom which is where Sonny lives. my husband won't allow it. but he doesn't say anything about the freeze dried stuff because it doesn't stink up the place.
Sonny has free run of the bedroom. as it is we find chunks of freeze dried (some rehydrated) in strange places...i can just imagine what would
happen if i left chicken wings in there with him.
when i do give him the "real" raw (i.e. grocery store bought meats) i will give it to him in the family room, kitchen or in the guest bathroom. i put it in the refrigerator once he goes back into the bedroom.
he has access to the freeze dried raw 24/7. Yes, i am fully aware that the freeze dried is not the same as real raw, doesn't have the same benefits, some of them have fruits and vegetables, (someone actually told me that it was just as bad as kibble? i highly doubt that). But freeze dried is the ONLY way i can leave decent food out for him during the day and not worry about him being hungry while i'm gone. so be it.
the way i think of it is, the wysong and stella & chewy's freeze dried raw is FAR better than the crappy kibble that i had been feeding my poor ferrets for a large part of the last 20 years.
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Post by Sherry on May 19, 2011 13:25:05 GMT -5
Agreed, miamiferret! Raw in any form is far better than kibble. I don't worry about the raw going bad so much anymore. They tend to eat it fairly qui key, and I don't put too much out now with it being summer(or almost, anyway!)
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2011 13:30:17 GMT -5
The biggest odor issue I noticed is the stashed meat going rancid.....I like the idea i have seen posted with the plastic feeding bin and the meat attached with shower curtain hooks. With soupie it isn't an issue, and what dosen't get eaten within 12 hours is removed and fed to the cats (they never stash  All bowls and feeding areas are sanitized at each meal, so bacteria is not introduced to cause it to prematurely decompose. Fresh meat in my opinion does not smell. Organs spoil fast so are not left out long. Litterboxes I change regularly, before it is too yukky or they will not use it LOL. I never have litterbox odor unless I skip checking them! |
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Post by katt on May 19, 2011 14:09:51 GMT -5
The worst smelling day in this house is liver/heart days. So to avoid that, I would feed a small amount of liver over the week, rather than one large meal of it. Aside from that, scoop the litter box twice a day (use some baking soda in the bottom too), try not to leave too much left over meat, check your ferts favorite stash spots daily. The ferret room is ajoined to my room, and the bathroom, so I try to keep it smelling nice. I open windows when I can I think a regular stand up fan also helps circulate the air and makes it smell better You have to watch poops if you do that though as feeding organ too often can cause runny poops. Every ferret is different. I know Koda used to handle a small amount of organ almost daily (I tried to make each day the equivalent to a whole prey item) but after his surgery organ meat sets him off more easily. Some ferrets just get gross poops from even a little organ meat. You just have to try it out and see what works for your ferret(s). Also, it depends on if you have multiple ferrets. When I had Koda I could easily make each meal a "prey item" but with 2 it is harder to make sure that both are getting the right balance of things if I do this. To answer your question though... I have to be honest. If I miss a piece of meat, or if I do not keep up with the feeding den and litter box, then absolutely my bedroom will reek like rotting meat. But as soon as I clean the litter box and feeding den - voila! No more stinky room! Do regular sweeps for stashed meat, and keep the litter box and feeding dens clean and you shouldn't have any problem with the smell. Some days will be worse than others, but honestly - have you ever put your nose in a bag of kibble?  And even kibble fed animals have their stinky days. I find them to smell worse in general - even dogs and cats. My parent's kibble fed dogs smell worse than my ferrets.  Your ferrets will smell better, their litter box will smell better, their cage will smell better. If you keep stuff cleaned up like I said, wash bedding regularly, etc, then there really is very little odor, if any! |
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Post by crazylady on May 19, 2011 17:23:22 GMT -5
you could also feed in the cage in the cool of the evening ( that way he has no where to hide it it has to stay in the cage!) next morning simply check for stashed pieces and open the door to allow him to run hope this helps take care bye for now
Bev aka crazy lady
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Post by katt on May 19, 2011 17:39:26 GMT -5
Yes. My ferrets ONLY get food in the cage. When they are out playing, the cage is closed. The occasional chunk falls out (or is thrown out  ) of the cage, but in general, 99.8% of the meat stays in the cage. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2011 17:56:28 GMT -5
Thanks so much guys!!
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Post by Sherry on May 19, 2011 22:09:18 GMT -5
Mine will climb each other's cages to hook the meat out, run off, and either eat or stash it |
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Post by goingpostal on May 21, 2011 10:24:20 GMT -5
The smelly things I find are organs, eggs, fish and chicks, those all lead to stinky poo or smell on their own. Other than that I haven't noticed much odor from regular raw meat or whole prey and that stuff sits around all day quite often. We don't get much for hot weather though.
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Post by joclyn on May 21, 2011 14:16:10 GMT -5
only thing i notice that stinks is the rabbit innards and only when it's a larger sized animal (anything over 1 pound) or pieces from a full-sized animal. i only give rabbit 2x a month, so, not a big deal at all.
heart isn't ever around long enough to stink, lol. i do only give poultry heart or lamb or goat (no beef or pork products used here) and liver from fresh chickens or lamb or goat doesn't give off much aroma - and they'll eat that pretty quickly also, so again, not an issue.
meat pieces (not prey animals) dry out before they would start to stink -and, if you're feeding the correct amounts, there won't be anything left around long enough for odors to be an issue
summer time i keep the a/c on 24/7 and keep the temp no higher than 72, so, those living in the warmer areas shouldn't experience anything different since you'd have the a/c on as well.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2011 14:25:08 GMT -5
summer time i keep the a/c on 24/7 and keep the temp no higher than 72, so, those living in the warmer areas shouldn't experience anything different since you'd have the a/c on as well. Adding an AC unit to the ferret room has helped TONS with smell! It's on 73 most of the time, sometimes 74 when its rainy and chilly outside. |
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) of the cage, but in general, 99.8% of the meat stays in the cage.
