|
Post by katt on Feb 9, 2017 19:55:59 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Mei 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb 7 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. Mei has been eating about one oz on her own. 4. Stools on various proteins: Organ poops are liquidy with a strong odor, non-organ meal days solid with minimal smell. 5. Activity levels: Normal 1. Ferret's name: Max 2. Ferret's weight: 3 lbs 8 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 4-5 oz. Max tends to eat everything that Mei does not. 4. Stools on various proteins. Same as Mei. 5. Activity levels: Normal Monday Am - Chicken Wings Pm - Duck Tuesday Am - Cornish Hen Pm - Turkey Gizzards Wednesday Am - Duck Pm - Chicken Hearts Thursday Am - Cornish Hen Pm - Chicken Wings Friday Am - Duck Pm - Beef heart, beef liver, beef pancreas Saturday Am - Cornish Hen pm - Turkey Gizzards Sunday Am - Chicken wings Pm - Beef liver, beef pancreas I put in an order for some quail and they said they'd see about frog leg and rabbit prices as well. I'm hoping to hear back from them soon. I'm also going out of town the weekend of the 18th so I can pick up heart so I'll hunt around there and see what I can find as well. I would consider replacing a Cornish Hen meal with regular chicken. CGH is just young chicken and some concerns have been expressed about whether their bones are mature enough to provide adequate calcium and minerals. It's a great sized edible bone and can certainly still be fed as part of their edible bone sources, but should be kept as a pretty minimum part of their bone content. There's no rule on how many times a week they can have it, but when normal chicken is available I'd just as soon see the CGH at 1-2 meals rather than 3-4. You will hear different opinions on the topic of where to draw the line in the sand.... Also many "IBD" ferrets who struggle with Chicken do fine with CGH, so many people (myself inclluded) still consider it a "different" protein - BUT not quite different enough to count towards the minimum 3 different proteins (e.g. Feeding chicken, CGH, and pork is not enough variety). Do you have turkey legs or necks? Those are a great bone source. Also, look for chicken feet. While it is BETTER to have more bone variety, if you have a hard time with bone sources but have chicken feet that can be a helpful option. Chicken feet are mostly bone. They can be combined with boneless meats to make a "bone-in" meal. E.g. Chicken feet and beef, chicken feet and pork chunks, etc.
|
|
|
Post by katt on Feb 12, 2017 17:21:49 GMT -5
Any luck with the Asian market?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 19:41:41 GMT -5
Any luck with the Asian market? Should be getting my order in tomorrow and I'll swing by after work for it! I had no idea about the Cornish Hen, I'll probably cut that out of their diet with the new meats then.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 19:44:08 GMT -5
I actually have seen chicken feet, does that count as "different" from the chicken wings themselves? I've only ever found turkey gizzards and the big, fair-style turkey legs. Would the turkey legs be ok? They seemed huge to me.
|
|
|
Post by katt on Feb 12, 2017 21:35:34 GMT -5
Turkey legs no. Chicken feet are not different - chicken is chicken is chicken, but CAN be used to allow feeding different proteins when you have trouble sourcing bone. Like I said it would be better to get some other bone sources like rabbit, frog, duck (which you have), etc. BUT failing that you can add chicken feet to non-chicken proteins to make a "different" meal that is still bone in. If you rely too heavily on that though, and you ever get a ferret with a chicken intolerance, then you're going to be in a really tight spot.
|
|
|
Post by katt on Feb 12, 2017 21:45:41 GMT -5
For example, copying your previous menu but adding chicken feet....
Monday Am - Duck Pm - Chicken feet + pork chunks
Tuesday Am - Chicken Wings Pm - Turkey Gizzards
Wednesday Am - Duck Pm - Chicken Hearts
Thursday Am - Chicken feet + beef chunks Pm - Duck
Friday Am - Chicken Wings Pm - Beef heart, beef liver, beef pancreas
Saturday Am - Duck pm - Turkey Gizzards
Sunday Am - Chicken wings Pm - Beef liver, beef pancreas
The above menu now only has 3 chicken-heavy meals, and with the addition of beef and pork now has 5 proteins (chicken, duck, turkey, pork, beef). If you can get other bone-in meats that would be BEST and I would definitely encourage you to keep trying. But there are other ways to make it work if you can't. (Btw I forget if this was mentioned but some ferrets can and some cannot eat small pork bones, like pork rib-tips. IF they CAN eat it, that counts as an edible bone source).
BTW You don't need to just feed the wings of the chicken. It takes a tiny bit more prep work, but is MUCH cheaper (and healthier) to buy a whole chicken. I can get a whole chicken for under $10, versus a tiny pack of wings that costs that much. All of the bones of the chicken can be fed (some have trouble with the thigh bones, my boys always managed as long as I cracked them open but that is the one possible exception to "all" chicken bones). It is healthier because they then get a much better variety of muscle types - they'll get the light meat of the breasts, the dark meat in the legs, etc. It doesn't help your bone and protein variety issues, but it's something to think about for your overall menu (esp the chicken wing meals).
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 1:47:06 GMT -5
I'm back! Sorry for being away so suddenly. Had a loss in the family and started school. (I'm doing alright though, so no worries! ) Katt is amazing. I'm so happy that she watched over you while I was away from the forum for a week or so. I read over everything I missed and congrats on the quail. That is super awesome! I also agree with Katt on everything she has suggested so far. Also strongly agree on buying whole chicken. Sometimes you can get discounts on the whole chickens (or duck), which is super fantastic. I prepped up a whole duck the other day... I think it was something like 2.5kg and it made a heap load of food which will last quite a while. Whole chickens or whole ducks, tend to cost more than simply buying things like wings, or necks, but when you consider all the meat and bone, it really is quite worth the costs. ^^ I'm so happy to see that you're so close to graduating. You really have come quite a long way with Mei and Max. Both you and your partner are also pros when it comes to blockage protocol. You've impressed me and other mentors countless times with that!
|
|
|
Post by katt on Feb 15, 2017 20:38:13 GMT -5
I'm back! Whole chickens or whole ducks, tend to cost more than simply buying things like wings, or necks, Perhaps if you buy smaller packs when you get wings or necks. The price per lb is typically significantly lower buying a whole bird than butchered parts though because you pay extra for the work that went into cutting and packaging the wings for your convenience. At least in the US anyways - maybe Aus is different...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 22:53:58 GMT -5
Sorry for the late update, I had the flu and we're traveling tomorrow. Welcome back @machan! I'm sorry to hear about the loss, good luck with school! 1. Ferret's name: Mei 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb 7 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. Mei has been eating about one oz on her own. 4. Stools on various proteins: Organ poops are liquidy with a strong odor, non-organ meal days solid with minimal smell. 5. Activity levels: Normal 1. Ferret's name: Max 2. Ferret's weight: 3 lbs 7 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 4-5 oz. Max tends to eat everything that Mei does not. 4. Stools on various proteins. Same as Mei. 5. Activity levels: Normal I price checked the whole chicken vs the wings/legs packs I get and the whole chicken is slightly more expensive. If it's better to butcher the whole thing though, I'll do that instead. I already do it with the duck and now the quail. Quail are tinier than I expected haha...I knew they were small but I didn't realize how small. It's a good thing I ordered by pound and not by number of birds. I have yet to find the chicken feet again, but when I do I'll do the pork/chicken feet mix. I had one question: if I give them pork chunks mixed with whole chicken feet (would I leave them whole?) should I be worried about them being picky? Max prefers muscle meats, but Mei is impartial. I'm afraid Max might pick out all the pork and not eat any of the feet. Then again, he's never had feet so I have no idea. I'll probably replace some of the quail meals with the mix when I get some since the quail was kind of pricey to order. They might start carrying it in store again, though. They're also looking into seeing if they can order rabbit or frogs. Monday Am - Chicken Pm - Duck Tuesday Am - Quail Pm - Turkey Gizzards Wednesday Am - Duck Pm - Chicken Hearts Thursday Am - Quail Pm - Chicken Friday Am - Duck Pm - Beef heart, beef liver, beef pancreas Saturday Am - Quail pm - Turkey Gizzards Sunday Am - Chicken Pm - Beef liver, beef pancreas Thank God I haven't had to use the blockage protocol this year. That is one thing I did NOT want to have extensive experience with. Mei is walking miracle being alive after all of those incidents...I was so certain over Christmas I was going to be making an over the rainbow bridge post. She scares the heck out of me. We're going back into town this weekend and the next weekend and I've practically tore the room apart trying to avoid another incident. My mother is starting to think I'm crazy
|
|
|
Post by katt on Feb 15, 2017 23:08:47 GMT -5
The whole chicken cost more per lb??? Same brand? That is ridiculous..... >_>
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 23:52:32 GMT -5
I'm going to check when I head into town. For some reason the stores here have stupid prices and don't carry very much in terms of variety so I may start just buying my meat in bulk when I travel for the heart. Truthfully, I think they just hiked the price so people would buy the cooked rotisserie chickens instead because those are cheaper than the raw chickens, which is stupid.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 1:36:15 GMT -5
if I give them pork chunks mixed with whole chicken feet (would I leave them whole?) should I be worried about them being picky?
It should be fine if you fed them whole. They will have enough there for everyone to eat before next meal, so even if they eat a little more of one thing that the other, it should be okay. If you notice they get really picky, you could feed the chicken feet first then follow later on with the pork. (I sometimes do this with organs when I'm home or am able to. rather than blend or grind it)
My butcher recently hiked up their prices! I know your pain. It can be a tough life as a raw feeding ferrent.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2017 22:29:04 GMT -5
Also just to clarify my above comment, due to the lack of meat on the feet, there are risks of it becoming impacted and causing constipation if you were to feed feet first and then muscle 3-4 hours later. What I meant was you can feed part of the meal of chicken feet first, but an hour later follow with a muscle meal. That way you're within the gut transit time and can avoid potential constipation. This would only be ideal if you're home. If you have issues locating more protein types, I also recommend getting some grind mixes like rad cat, if you have storage space available in your freezer. ^^ This will help you to get in more proteins, but at the same time you have enough actual bones in meats, so it won't off the balance if you feed a meal or two a week of grinds.^^
|
|
|
Post by katt on Feb 16, 2017 23:51:37 GMT -5
I. Truthfully, I think they just hiked the price so people would buy the cooked rotisserie chickens instead because those are cheaper than the raw chickens, which is stupid. I swear I'm handing you back to Machan for real lol but seriously - that's really, really stupid. *grumbles and stomps off* >_>
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 5:47:54 GMT -5
katt having too much fun with my mentees huh? hahahahahaha
|
|