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Post by Aftershock on Nov 2, 2016 21:59:02 GMT -5
What about Sax? Are you looking for a beefy name or a fun name?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 10:23:29 GMT -5
I love Sax! Both fun and beefy haha.
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Post by Aftershock on Nov 3, 2016 12:08:46 GMT -5
Hee hee, I'm glad you like it. I sat and stared at the pictures until a name came to me.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2016 15:47:24 GMT -5
I did the same for "Amara" until I remembered one of the shows I love had the name, and it stuck. :heehee: I did get some bad news last night; my hours are getting cut in half at work starting in January, so I don't know for sure that I'll be able to put Sax on a raw diet. It'll be easier to tell when the transition is complete and I can tell how much meat I'm actually ordering each paycheck, but just in case, what's a good kibble for him to be on? Bo and Blaze either haven't noticed about the soup, or they really don't care I love that they're taking to this so much easier than I thought they would. It's amazing!
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Post by Aftershock on Nov 4, 2016 3:25:55 GMT -5
the best names come from our favorite places. I will check out kibbles for you, but definitely try to check around locally and push those stores if you can. I did the math the other day and in my area it's only about $18-20 to feed one male ferret per 28 days. Raw cat diets are similar to ferrets, except they don't require as much bone in meals. So any local muscle meats on sale would be awesome for all of the furbabies. Walmart has whole chicken and duck most of the time, and stores like that will almost always order them in if they don't have them. Bahahahaha, they really are such good fuzzies! They are on 3/4 pieces 1/4 soup, right?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2016 12:44:03 GMT -5
Yep, still on that same ratio.
I could be over estimating the cost since they're only eating about 8 oz a day, but then again, I'm also planning on buying from Hare-Today so every order would be in bulk, which costs more. I really need to just sit down and do the math on how often I need to order versus how much they eat.
So when I boost Bo and Blaze up to no soup, how would I go about mixing in the heart/liver/eggshell?
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Post by Aftershock on Nov 4, 2016 13:33:19 GMT -5
Kay, let's see if they will just take the pieces today. Go ahead and sprinkle some eggshell on the pieces too since we are gonna see if they will eat it without soup. The soup was acting as a kind of suppliment for the pieces, but if there's no soup, there's no suppliment. What will happen is once they start eating chunks, we will see what they do with chunks of heart. Hopefully they will take it. (If they end up going to long and not accepting larger chunks, we will put heart and organ meals in with them. But this is entirely short term) The organ days should be a piece of cake since they've done so well with soup. The organ mixes end up being a soup, so I'm honestly not too worried about that. If you want some help on the math and everything, I'm more than happy to help!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2016 14:07:11 GMT -5
How much eggshell do you think I ahould do per feeding? I'll come back here in a few and lay out the feeding expenses.
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Post by Aftershock on Nov 4, 2016 14:56:56 GMT -5
I'd try 1/8 teaspoon per feeding and watch poops, to loose, add a bit more, to firm less.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2016 15:09:59 GMT -5
Got it! Okay, so here's the new and improved menu. With this (most of it being ordered from Hare-Today) and cutting out the whole-prey 2 X a week, I might have enough for Sax to eat raw too, depending on what he eats and how much of it. Do cats eat whole prey? Monday AM: Duck Pieces Monday PM: Rabbit Pieces (Turkey Cubes) Tuesday AM: Chicken Pieces Tuesday PM: Turkey Cubes Wednesday AM: Chicken Pieces Wednesday PM: Rabbit heart Thursday AM: Chicken Pieces Thursday PM: Duck Pieces (Turkey Cubes) Friday AM: Rabbit Pieces Friday PM: Chicken heart + liver + beef lung Saturday AM: Duck Pieces Saturday PM: Turkey Cubes Sunday AM: Goose Pieces Sunday PM: Rabbit liver + kidney A day's worth of food = 8 oz 2 weeks worth of food = 7 lbs 4 weeks worth of food = 14 lbs My ordering: (There's also chicken heart/liver, but I can go to Walmart and the international market here in town to get those for a pretty low price, and I'm going to look at some stores to see if I can get a whole chicken for cheaper than what's listed below). 3 lbs Chicken pieces = 10.17 2 lbs Turkey cubes = 8.58 3 lbs Rabbit pieces = 16.77 3 lbs Duck pieces = 14.97 2 lbs Rabbit organs = 13.98 2 lbs Beef lung = 4.19 Rounding to the next dollar, a single order of all of this is:71$ for 15 lbs of meat/ a month of supplies. That I can manage. So, yeah...raw for Sax it is . I'm going to have to get a chest freezer for all of this though!
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Post by katt on Nov 4, 2016 18:27:45 GMT -5
If you buy in bulk it is typically much more affordable to feed raw than it is to feed a high quality kibble. You don't need much space to buy in bulk. I used to share a fridge-freezer with a roommate. I had 1/2 of the tiny fridge-freezer for all of MY food and the ferrets' food. By buying in bulk and prepping meals into meal-sized portions in ziplock baggies, pressing all of the air out and gently (to avoid sharp bones lol) smooshing the bags flat for more space efficient stacking, I was able to get a good 4 months worth of meat for 2 ferrets in there. To give you an idea, a 5lb bag of high quality kibble costs about $30+/- a few bucks. A whole chicken costs about $9. Once you get the ferrets and kitty up to eating chunks and bones it will be much easier to shop as you can buy whole animals (chicken, duck, rabbit, etc) and butcher them yourself. This saves a ton of money.
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Post by katt on Nov 4, 2016 18:29:44 GMT -5
BTW Orijen is typically the most recommended kibble brand as they actually use meat as the first several ingredients. However, guess what they have also....peas. Which are linked to bladder stones. Unfortunately you're always going to be dealing with something less than ideal if you decide to go the kibble route. :/
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2016 18:57:39 GMT -5
If you buy in bulk it is typically much more affordable to feed raw than it is to feed a high quality kibble. You don't need much space to buy in bulk. I used to share a fridge-freezer with a roommate. I had 1/2 of the tiny fridge-freezer for all of MY food and the ferrets' food. By buying in bulk and prepping meals into meal-sized portions in ziplock baggies, pressing all of the air out and gently (to avoid sharp bones lol) smooshing the bags flat for more space efficient stacking, I was able to get a good 4 months worth of meat for 2 ferrets in there. To give you an idea, a 5lb bag of high quality kibble costs about $30+/- a few bucks. A whole chicken costs about $9. Once you get the ferrets and kitty up to eating chunks and bones it will be much easier to shop as you can buy whole animals (chicken, duck, rabbit, etc) and butcher them yourself. This saves a ton of money. This is a really good point, and I'll make sure to keep that mind The thing is that I still live at home and my dad runs what comes in the house and where it goes, and since there's things in the future like organs and occasional whole prey, he refuses to mix ferret and human food. (Doesn't want to try to take a hamburger out and get beef liver instead, even if I have it all labelled). *Sigh* So even with buying in bulk and smooshing meal baggies flat, I still have to go out get a whole new fridge/freezer/whatever it is just for Bo and Blaze and Sax. On the topic of kibbles, my vet recommended Royal Canin cat food. I looked and the ingredients and the closest thing to real meat was 'chicken byproduct meal.'
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2016 23:33:03 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Blaze 2. Ferret's weight: * Note* I need to get another scale. The one I had broke when my sister threw it in a tantrum. I'll get another one asap, but until then, I'm kind of stuck without weights for the ferrets. I have the chicken already separated into 1 ounce portions, so I'm okay there for a while. 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: 2 (ish) oz 4. Stools on various proteins: same consistency as usual, but the seediness has gone away since I've cut back on the eggshell and made it finder. 5. Activity level: starting to level out, still more energetic than when she was on kibble 6. Weekly menu: Mon: Mon: AM- Soup w/ 3/4 bits PM- Soup w/ 3/4 bits Tues: AM- Soup w/ 1/2 part bits PM- Soup w/ 1/2 part bits Wed: AM- Soup w/ 1/2 bits PM- Soup 1/3 to 2/3 Thurs: AM- Soup 1/2 to 2/3 PM-Soup w/ 3/4 bits Friday: AM-Soup w/ 3/4 bits PM-Bits w/eggshell powder Saturday: AM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder PM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder Sunday: AM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder PM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder 1. Ferret's name: Bo 2. Ferret's weight: See above note ^^^ 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 2-3 oz 4. Stools on various proteins: same consistency, seediness gone away with changes to eggshell amount and graininess. 5. Activity level: starting to level out; still higher than when on kibble 6. Weekly menu: Mon: AM- Soup w/ 3/4 bits PM- Soup w/ 3/4 bits Tues: AM- Soup w/ 1/2 part bits PM- Soup w/ 1/2 part bits Wed: AM- Soup w/ 1/2 bits PM- Soup 1/3 to 2/3 Thurs: AM- Soup 1/2 to 2/3 PM-Soup w/ 3/4 bits Friday: AM-Soup w/ 3/4 bits PM-Bits w/eggshell powder Saturday: AM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder PM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder Sunday: AM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder PM- Chicken bits w/ eggshell powder They ate the bits with eggshell!! I'll keep an eye on the poops to see if I need to add more or not, but they didn't even notice the lack of soup This is an older picture, but look who fell asleep in my sweater <3
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Post by katt on Nov 5, 2016 0:08:36 GMT -5
Royal Canin is a no. It's no different from Hills/Science diet, just another brand that vets essentially get commission from selling. I got my little 5 cubic foot deep freezer brand new for $199 at Fred Meyers (not sure where you are that's a West coast chain lol). WalMart has them too. Check on craigslist for used freezers too. I love mine and it makes saving $ by buying in bulk soooo easy!
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