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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2016 21:56:32 GMT -5
Hey!!! I am new to this website, i'm 15 and own my first two ferrets! About 2-3 weeks ago, I self-switched them to raw, using this website as a guide and doing a whole bunch of research for months beforehand, and i love that they're finally on a raw diet now! I love this website so much, it's so helpful and educational! My two ferrets are Bea, and Darcy Bea is 8 months old, and deaf. Darcy is 4 months old, and both are eating chunks, meaty bones, egg, anything i'll put in front of them! My biggest concern is feeding them an unbalanced raw diet, as i know that can be very dangerous. I love my fuzzies to death! I want to make sure i'm feeding them right! Here is what their frankenprey schedule is/was this week: Monday AM: chunks of chicken thigh, heart + wing tips Monday PM: chunks of chicken gizzards + wingettes (the middle part of the wing) Tuesday AM: chunks of pork rib meat + chicken thigh Tuesday PM: Whole gizzards + wingettes Wednesday AM: chunks of chicken heart Wednesday PM: Wingettes + egg and eggshell Thursday AM: chunks of pork rib meat, gizzard, and whole wing tips Thursday PM: wingtips + chunks of chicken heart Friday AM: chunks of chicken heart, chicken liver, and eggshell (to help firm up poops) Friday PM: wingettes + cut up chicken thigh Saturday AM: chunk of pork rib meat, chicken heart, and chicken thigh Saturday PM: wing tips Sunday AM: chunks of chicken liver, and chicken heart Sunday PM: Wingettes + chicken gizzard I know that i need to add more variety (i'm hoping to get some beef, and/or some lamb! Some rabbit would be wonderful too), and that red meat at least once a week is ideal I'm also hoping to get some beef tongue! and I know i need another organ besides liver, but I'm having a hard time finding some, unfortunately. But I am going to a farmers market soon, so i'll ask if they have kidney/or other organs of some kind! Does this seem to be at least balanced enough for now, until i can get more variety? I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this, and I just would really appreciate any advice or input!! also somewhere down the road, I'd love to get them on whole prey too, but i'm not sure how that'd go with the balance of the frankenprey schedule ? Thank you!
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Sept 15, 2016 4:18:44 GMT -5
Hi and WELCOME to forum :wave3: Certainly great of you to switch your ferrets over to raw. There was another 15 year old member named julesalot, an excellent ferrant--- who switched her ferrets over too. She could give medications, do the blockage protocol(one of her ferrets like chewing fabric and another was sickly)--very dedicated to her ferrets. It certainly helped me to read her posts as I was new at the time. She needed to concentrate on her grades, I believe she wanted to be in animal health care one day, the reason you do not see her her now. I will let someone else comment on your meal plan.I have found some hard to find stuff at farmer's market---lamb kidneys and liver, rabbit---although about $30:(( and chicken hearts. Another meat that is easy to find at grocery store is turkey(I cut meat off turkey legs,that might be affordable for u), There is frozen quail at Asian stores. If you find quail at the grocery store, make sure it is all natural---no spices, no maltodextrin. You mentioned feeding some rodents. Here is the chart on how to do a mix of frankenprey and rodents(alternative meals). holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/balancing-frankenprey-with-alternative-meals/It shows how many frankenprey meals are left and in each category(bone, muscle,heart, and organ).
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Post by Sherry on Sept 15, 2016 9:56:29 GMT -5
Definitely need to reduce the chicken over the longer term. For now it will do. Immediate changes: Give the whole wing if possible. For heart/liver/organ it should be 1 full meal of each, plus one half meal of each a week. Another usually cheap meat is usually beef stewing meat. Turkey as abbey has mentioned is often cheap. That would give you 4 varieties to start. With whole prey I usually can only afford to give once a week so it is just classed as a bone in meal
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Post by raynebc on Sept 15, 2016 12:21:52 GMT -5
Sherry, I've been under the impression that the standard was 1.5 meals per week of heart, 0.75 meals per week each for liver and "other organ". That's consistent with the other moderator posts I've checked. Are the extra heart and liver needed for especially young ferrets?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 19:33:51 GMT -5
Thank you so much for all the input! I was so excited to see these messages, thank you, thank you!!!! (dance) Julesalot sounds like she was a wonderful ferrant! I hope she's doing well. I definitely strive to be that kind of ferrant. I am very dedicated to my two girls. Today, I was able to buy and cut up beef heart, lamb shoulder meat, beef chuck (stewing beef just as you suggested!)and turkey necks (cut in half)! Also, can ferrets eat oxtail and will they eat sardines? I went to a new grocery store, and there was lots of variety! My only issue in variety now, is that I cannot find any other secreting organ whatsoever! All I have access to is heart, and liver (even though i know heart is more of a muscle meat) So, for dinner, I fed them two halves of turkey neck, a small amount of beef heart, beef chuck, and chicken thigh + heart. It seems like a bit of an odd dinner, but it was just to coax them into eating the beef. Bea took to this new variety quite well, as she is not picky at all. Darcy is another story. She ignored the turkey neck, and picked out the chicken thigh and heart, although im pretty sure she got a little taste of the beef. I won't give up though, i know she'll get a taste for it! Thinking about leaving out the beef chuck and heart with chicken wings for breakfast when i leave them in the cage and go to school. Hopefully they'll eat it then. I have a question about giving the whole chicken wing: Is that safe? I don't know where, but somewhere on this forum (or maybe it was instagram?), i heard of someone who was afraid of feeding their ferret the whole chicken wing because she was worried her ferrets would choke on the joint part of the drumstick. Is this something to be worried about, or should i go ahead and give them drumstick and all? Thank you so much! I'm so happy to have been given such quick and helpful responses!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 19:37:59 GMT -5
Also!! I'm a little worried about my ferrets, although im sure its nothing (but never hurts to ask!) They've been on a raw diet for a few weeks now, they're softer and more energetic than ever, with bright eyes and beautiful teeth...
but, man, do they smell! Their odors are a bit stronger and their poops are even worse. Their poop looks like normal raw poop (according to the poop chart!) and their bone poops are tan (hoping this is normal?)
I was told that the smell will go away after the first week. It's been almost 3 weeks! It doesnt bother me so much, it just bothers my mom. I just hope it clears up soon and its all just because of the new switch! but if it could be something else, Ill be willing to get them checked.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 20:21:28 GMT -5
From my experience, takes 2-4 weeks for them to 'detox' from being kibble fed. My babies smell horrible when they're detoxing. I'm almost hitting the three week mark with my baby albino (well, he's not a baby anymore, he's huge!) and he's just starting to smell 'normal' like myraw fed adults. Hang in there, during this time just be diligent about cleaning litter boxes and washing any bedding/hammocks/blankets (using vinegar when you wash their stuff in dye free/perfume free lsundry detergent helps get odors out). Make sure not to over bathe your ferrets. It'll make them produce more oils and make them smell worse. Do you have any pics of your babies? We love pictures!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 21:54:49 GMT -5
Ahh okay, thank you !!! That's good to hear, I'm sure they'll smell better soon!!! I've been cleaning up all of their stuff, and my entire room, pretty well recently. Theyre the reason why I actually enjoy cleaning now! (giggle) I have a half water, half vinegar mix that i use, and i agree, it definitely helps get the odor out of anything! good to know, thank you! although, i've never bathed them! Of course I have pictures!! I take way too many videos and pictures of them, i think my friends are getting annoyed! I love them SO much, I'm so happy I discovered ferrets! I can say with all confidence, that i will be owning a big ferret business (group of ferrets) when i have my own place! And they will all be raw fed! That sounds like heaven to me. Bea was my first ferret, i got her off craigslist, she was very thin and small (and now a pretty big fluff ball!!) Heres Bea: I have no idea what Bea's markings are called, and i've always wondered! She looks like a blaze, she has the stripe on her head, shes deaf, and has the dark colors on her legs and tail, but not her whole body (like i see on most blazes). Shes not a panda bc she doesnt have the right face ( i dont think? correct me if im wrong) its just always been a mystery to me and if anyone can clear it up, that'd be cool! Here's Darcy, she was a buddy for Bea because school was coming up and she seemed lonely at times. Since then, Darcy has fit in well, and theyre the best of buds! Although, i will admit, i unfortunately got her from the pet store, rather than craigslist or a rescue. Here's some pictures of them together: (them when they were on the raw soupie stage) Hopefully all the pictures showed up! If anyone's interested, their instagram is Bea.darcy and i update it pretty much daily, so plenty of cute ferret pictures and rawfeeding videos!! I love these two so much
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 0:28:09 GMT -5
Pet store ferrets need love too. You're ferrets are so cute!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 5:33:23 GMT -5
That's very true!!!! Thank you!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 9:09:52 GMT -5
Welcome.....your doing good The detox varies for sure, some of ours took per 2 months but he was 3 yrs old. The coats are great and energy and with fall even better since they will start eating more and more. Where are you located?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 9:55:17 GMT -5
Thank you! I am located near Norwich, Connecticut in the US
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Post by Sherry on Sept 16, 2016 10:03:22 GMT -5
Sherry , I've been under the impression that the standard was 1.5 meals per week of heart, 0.75 meals per week each for liver and "other organ". That's consistent with the other moderator posts I've checked. Are the extra heart and liver needed for especially young ferrets? One full meal, plus one half meal IS 1.5 meals a week For the other atm she is only feeding liver, so that has to make up for both liver AND other organ. Again, one full meal and one half meal is 1.5 meals a week. Once there is the additional organs THEN the liver goes down to .75 and the other organ the same amount.
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Post by raynebc on Sept 16, 2016 12:24:08 GMT -5
The wording used (# meals each for heart/liver/organ) was confusing. I just wanted to clarify it wasn't 1.5 meals per week each for heart, liver and organ.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 18:45:20 GMT -5
Any tips on introducing a new protein? My girls are still refusing beef so far or maybe they just need a long play session to get them really hungry...
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