Fuzzie's Switching Thread / Machan

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Here are all of their body pictures from above, taken today:
  

Here is proof that Tauntaun, the picky eater, is now eating like a champ and is gnawing on bones!




Just some cute photos of Wampa sleeping, Tauntaun pouting, and Tauntaun trying to sniff my phone. 
  

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Wow I never knew you can buy the turkey necks pre-cut. That must make it so much easier to prep. I buy mine while they're whole right from the supplier and have to do all the hard labour myself rofl! Tauntaun must have been interested in the bone in meat, that's great progress! Soon, he'll be eating them like a pro~  (dance)

That's interesting that you're unable to find chicken necks. Usually they're fairly easy to find and are the most common item stocked in stores. I guess that may also vary from place to place as well, but you had good luck with Turkey necks. Maybe there are more raw feeders who are snatching them up before you!

I think it's great news that they're doing well with the new proteins so far. If you do have pork at the moment, feel free to give them some and see how they do, Otherwise go for the beef.


I found the body shape thing highly intriguing.
Bulldog type appears to have shorter looking legs, have a lower arch and they are appear more stocky in shape.
Beavis is my bulldog of my three. He doesn't really have an arch and is really close to the ground. His face is more rounded and wide.

Greyhound type is lean, quick and more proportionate with legs in comparison to the body. They have long tails and long bodies and legs to match. They have a fairly high arch and slender body.
Yuki is my greyhound of my three. He has the high arch, a narrower head compared to beavis and his body and legs are long. 

Whippet type has a high arch and a tight tucked in tummy. They appear more skinny in body width. This type seems to be in between the bulldog and greyhound.
Haru seems to be a whippet. She has similar qualities like a Greyhound, however she is small and compared to Yuki is more narrow in body width. She's also not as tall and her arch isn't as large as Yuki's.  (dance)

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All three have gorgeous coats!
Tauntaun has bright sparkly eyes, I love them!

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Thank you! Tauntaun takes such great photo compared to the other two... Sometimes I feel like he poses!


Yeah, it’s really convenient to have the already cut up turkey necks since I haven’t found a cleaver to cut up bone yet. I am excited to go out and find one, yay to buying more kitchen stuff!!! Chicken necks might just be a hot commodity here or just shop at the wrong times. If it is more raw feeders… good for them! But boo for taking them all!  


Tauntaun loves bone in meat! He likes to be lazy and lick up the Soupie first, but after that he is all about gnawing on bones. His teeth look really great also. He had some bad tarter from the kibble, but it’s not there anymore thanks to the bones!!! (Ezio’s tarter is gone!) (dance) I’m so happy because the vet was not too eager to put him under so she could clean them. I wasn’t interested in the procedure, but I was asking about it and she wouldn’t tell me much she was so against it.



I do not have any pork at the moment; all I have is minced beef. According the guide of a weekly ferret menu plan… Would minced beef be considered a muscle meat meal? Can I add eggshell powder to it to make it a bone-in meat meal? Add how much should I add? I know it’s not the same as gnawing on a bone, but could I add eggshell for nutrition value and consider it a bone-in meal?
(idea)
Can you give ferret beef bones since they are so big? I imagine they couldn’t do much to a rib bone, since it’s usually bigger than their mouths.



I guess Tauntaun would be more of a greyhound body type, Ezio a whippet, and Wampa is still my bulldog. Haha! It’s funny because Wampa is growing so fast that he and Tauntaun are the same size already. Wampa is actually two ounces heavier! I imagine he will be a 3lb ferret soon. I am so excited to see how big he grows up to be. Ezio does have that larger arch like a whippet, that’s why in the photos she seems so small and short. I actually thought maybe something might be wrong but that’s just her. Tauntaun has more of the even proportions. When he runs, he uses all four feet gracefully compared to Ezio who seems to hop everywhere.

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What meal would ox tail be considered? Bone-in meat meal or muscle meat?
What about pork neck? (idea)

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Tauntaun does look like he poses for the camera. I wish my ferrets would do that. I did have one opportunity where little Haru posed for a good 5 seconds and I got some great shots. Now I get good shots when they're asleep rofl!

Good luck with kitchen shopping! I hope you find a perfect cleaver that suits you~ 
Someone has been buying all the hearts in my area lately and it reminded me of how you cannot get the chicken necks in time. It's been driving me crazy! Last fortnight it was kidney that they were out off, Today is heart. We need to be fast next time! 

It sounds wonderful that Tauntaun's teeth are looking great. It's so incredible how fast the natural diet and bone in meat works wonders for the teeth. I've been reading two books written about Veterinarian Tom Lonsdale and he's talking a lot about the teeth and how Kibble is the major cause for periodontal disease in dogs, cats and ferrets.
Just reading all about it and looking at how wonderful our ferret's teeth have become makes me so happy.
Getting teeth cleaning can be quite expensive, and here we've saved money and increased the benefits for our ferret's health. Ferret's have healthy teeth and everyone's happy~ 


Beef mince is considered a muscle meat.  :thumbsup:
Basically anything that is simply meat without bone is considered muscle meat (other than internal organs of course lol). You can add extra egg shell powder if you wish to the muscle meat. It would actually benefit Wampa since he's still growing. It cannot replace bone in meats. It can help firm up poops for temporary use, but egg shell powder and or bone in meal powder cannot replace bone in meats long term. ^^ 

Large bones are best avoided. I tried Ox tail in the past and found the bones were too large or dense for ferrets to chew or eat. Pork necks may also be too large and dense for ferrets. They're also quite hard to chop down in size because of how dense they are. They may get some good mental stimulation from ripping / tearing the meat off the bone though. 


I have to run for now. 
I'm heading into town for a couple appointments. I'll check in tonight~ 

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I so sorry for not replying yesterday, I’ve been pretty busy. Yeah, Tauntaun just gets the camera! Lol. The other two tend to give me the stink eye or the picture is always blurry.


Wow… organs are a hot commodity right now! I actually was given a couple of nice knives today so I don’t have to go shopping. Yay save! They work pretty well, after I sharpened them.

His teeth are wonderful! I keep telling everyone about it. I’m happy that he’s not going to have bad dental problems later on because of the kibble. It’s sad that kibble isn’t nutritionally balanced and isn't good for animals. That would just be too easy. I’m glad about this raw diet switch.



My babies are in love with bones! All of them “fight” for the bones at meal time. Yesterday, Ezio refused to eat the boneless chunk of turkey because Tauntaun got the bone-in chunk. It was so funny…she’s spoiled! They are all begging for their raw food. They were never this happy about kibble! I sneak Ezio some food before meals so she doesn’t get out competed by the boys.


Okay, that’s good to know that I can add some eggshell to the minced beef. I will do that for them. I didn’t even think about how dense pork and ox tail would be. I will not get those. I thought I saw somewhere that they can eat ox tail. Can I give them chicken (leg?) drumettes to chew on? I have some that are already stripped and was wondering if I could use them as a treat?


For the past two days, I have not been giving them more than 1 cube of Soupie per meal. I added some lamb heart with the turkey necks? Is that pretty good?

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Hello!
Don't worry too much on if you can't reply the same day. I was quite busy yesterday as well.
(I actually got home and went straight to napping hehe) 

Great job with the organs and yay, new knives!
A good knife always makes things so much easier when it comes to prepping meats, especially if they're nice and sharp. 

I'm reading this book at the moment called "Raw Meaty Bones" by Dr Tom Lonsdale and I read this part on dental hygiene for those poor animals who test out kibbles for their entire lifetime. Apparently they get routine cleanings, I found this quite unfair that the Petfood industry never mention such things to their customers. It does make sense, but it also shows how much they lie and cover up all the facts then claim their products are good for dental hygiene yada yada. Kibble's also contain all this synthetic vitamins and minerals and what not, as well as nasty ingredients. It's like a horror movie every time I read a label or do research. Some ingredients are alright, but most of the time they are synthetic or made somewhere in a lab. Natural stuff is always healthiest. ;u;

You probably did see somewhere that they can eat ox tail.
I personally feed the meat from the ox tail sometimes. It's got a lot of fat on it, so it makes it pretty hard to scrape meat from the large dense bone, but once done, the ferrets enjoy the fat and meat. Some larger ferrets may be able to handle larger bones like ox tail, but most will not try the bones, but would eat the meat from it.
I guess it would make a good mental stimulation for the ripping and tearing the meat off it. I did it with a lamb chop bone as well. Those too are quite dense from what I noticed and I couldn't chop it down like you could a chicken wing. I actually couldn't even get my cleaver through it.  Chicken legs / drumsticks are weight bearing bones and apparently most ferrets won't really eat them. However go for it if you would like. They may be little larger, so if you notice they won't touch them as a whole, try chopping those up like you would a wing.  

Adding extra lamb heart is always a good thing. It's especially great since ferrets get all their taurine from the hearts and any extra is excreted if not being used.  

Now that everyone seems to be eating quite well, I think for the next week you can try getting them following a menu.  How about you create a menu using what you're currently feeding. Don't worry too much on the base proteins for now, you can balance it out as you go.

Write it in this format:

Monday
AM:
PM:

Tuesday
AM:
PM:

Wednesday
AM:
PM:
... etc


Remember you need the following:

Between 7-9 meals bone in meat meals,
Between 3-4 meals muscle meats meals, (Including at least 1 full meal of heart.)
2 meals of organs. (One meal must contain ½ meal of heart) 
(¼ Liver + ¼ Other Organ+ ½ Heart)
(½ Liver, ½ Other Organ.)

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I will post more later, I just wanted to post this for you: 
I am working on finding another organ at the store, so I left those blank.

BEEF-FREE
MENU PLAN

Monday AM: Cut-up Chicken Wings

Monday PM: Turkey Necks


Tuesday AM: Cut-up Chicken Wings

Tuesday PM: Minced Turkey with Eggshell Powder


Wednesday AM: Turkey Necks

Wednesday PM: Lamb Heart


Thursday AM: Cut-up Chicken Wings

Thursday PM: Chicken Gizzards


Friday AM: Turkey Necks

Friday PM: Lamb Heart + Chicken Liver + Other Organ


Saturday AM: Cut-up Chicken Wings

Saturday PM: Elk


Sunday AM: Turkey Necks

Sunday PM: Chicken Liver + Other Organ 

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Your menu looks fantastic! You have a total of 5 proteins. (Chicken, Turkey, Beef, Lamb, Elk)
I'm especially happy that you've included Gizzard. Gizzards are fantastic for building jaw strength because their very chewy (Not good for the blender though!). They also clean teeth, but not as efficiently as real bone in meats. 
Good luck with finding your 'other organ'. Remember that the organs you want are major hormone-secreting tissues. So stuff like, Kidney, Spleen, Pancreas, etc. Good job once again, You did incredibly well on your menu~  :thumbsup:

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Yay! Thank you!
I am able to find most of those proteins all year long! Expect for Elk. That was a gift for them.
I heard chicken gizzards were good for them, I just hope that they love them. Yesterday I went shopping and found "beef sweetbreads" which is beef thymus or pancreas. I found the other organ! Yay!

That is so wrong, that is why you just can't trust anything a pet food company says about their pet food! Human foods are the same way... you can't trust ads or "studies." But pet foods are definitely not held as highly. I want my fuzzies to be eating something just as good quality as the food I eat. I buy all my fuzzies' food from the store now, it is all food I could eat. Though I dont't really find organs, feet, and raw meat appetizing lol. Yay for switching them! Their old kibble made them so sluggish. (dance)

I may get some ox tail for treats then, I imagine Tauntaun will like to chew on one. I am so surprised how quickly they caught on and love chewing on bones. After every meal I always find bones stripped clean of meat.

Lately, Tauntaun has been really acting out. I can't tell if its the new food or having a new kit in the home. He seems to always pout when he is fed, be naughty and not use his litter box anymore, and he is starting to bite. He never bites anymore... he's such a good boy. Also, he does this thing now where he lays on his side randomly and closes his eyes. He looks dead. Then Wampa runs up to him, playing and biting... and Tauntaun will just lay there. I wonder if he is sad?

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Wow! You scored on the sweetbreads. That's great!

When you get ox tail, if its a size enough for them to swallow it would be best if you watched them since it could be a blockage hazard. However if they're the large pieces, then that's best since you avoid the hazard.
They might love trying to rip the fat from the bone. Ox tail has thick fat, well at least the ones I've gotten in the past. Compared to meat, I find that the larger ox tail bones have more meat, whereas the smaller pieces are basically just fat. Either way, they do make a good treat and if you notice your ferrets aren't really touching it, then you can simply carve the meat an use it as muscle meat~

It sounds like Tauntaun is testing you with his behaviour. Maybe it does seem to sound like it may be from the new kit in the house. When they show naughty behaviour, either ignore or time out. Then when there's good behaviour, you reward it. The thing where he lays on his side kind of sounds like this thing called "Flat ferreting", or "Speed bumping". I think I've also heard it called "pancaking" rofl! Sometimes they do this suddenly when they're playing, then flop on the ground and give a sigh. It's kind of like a quick break. Other times, it may be a sign of boredom. 
Maybe he simply didn't feel up to playing with Wampa. He could still be adjusting to the new energy level of a kit hehe.

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Thanks! I wasn’t going to get the sweetbreads at first and then like a dork Ferrant I pulled out my phone and look up what sweetbread was and then double-checked it with your post here on HFF. Haha!


I may not go with ox tail then, it seems like too much for now. They really love the turkey necks at the moment and are fussy that I haven’t put them in the meals for the last two days. (I ran out) But now that I have them from grocery shopping last night, they will be very happy tonight for dinner. It’s funny because they love their chicken Soupie, but are not fond of chicken wings. They are all about the turkey necks.



I thought that was what Tauntaun was doing. He is also very low energy. (sniff) I let them outside and all he does is lie down and rest. He is really putting up a good fight because he is mad. I just hope he isn’t sad… I don’t know why he would be. Do you think he is upset about not being the dominant male? I am actually not sure who is. Lol.

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Good Morning, or Afternoon~
Double checking on the sweetbreads sounds like a very ferrenty thing to do hahah! I probably would have done the same. I actually didn't know what sweetbreads were around 2 months ago. It sounds like a dessert, such a strange name for some offals. rofl!

It sounds like they certainly prefer the turkey flavour compared to chicken.
Definitely must be a favourite protein! 

If Tauntaun is sad from having a new kit in the house, he'll surely adjust and get used to it in good time.
A good excuse for extra cuddles! I've also been told that it's usually the females of the business who are most likely to claim the alpha/dominant ferret position. My littlest girl, Haru, is apparently the alpha of my group hehe.

Time for a little pop quiz.
Think of these small pop quizzes as practice for the final exam.

1. Does Freezing or Heating degrade Taurine?
2. For what reason is liver only 5% of the total diet per week?

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Haha! It’s morning time!


Sweetbread is a really strange name to call something that I think is not very sweet or dessert like. I would have called it something less appetizing, as a warning… THESE ARE ORGANS! Lol.


I wonder if Ezio is the alpha, Wampa and Tauntaun are definitely scared of her sometimes. She chases them in the tubes and they always run backwards to get out of “HER TUBE” and I feel like she has claimed me as her human and not theirs. Haha



1. Does Freezing or Heating degrade Taurine?

Heating and long-term exposure to air!


2. For what reason is liver only 5% of the total diet per week?

The amount of Vitamin A in liver and because Vitamin A is fat soluble it cannot be excreted, it can cause a Vitamin A overdose.