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Post by Aftershock on Jan 5, 2017 9:53:57 GMT -5
Next time you order I would just order adult. I'm a bit worried on the calcium amount since baby animals tend to not have sufficient amounts. This goes for nutrients in general with them. If you are feeding grinds, how flexible the bones are and such don't matter all that much. also, beef was an excellent choice because your menu needed a red meat. How long before these beef grinds run out approximately?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 14:42:36 GMT -5
Do you mind me asking if you just took all kibble away and put raw down as the only option?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 16:48:04 GMT -5
The grinds I just got will last me about 1 and a half month... Possibly 2 if he keeps eating about the same amount. He is eating around 2.5 ounces per meal.
And the first time I gave him meat it was chicken livers. I cut it up really thin, took some of the blood and added it to the kibble first to see if he was interested. Once he ate the kibble, the next night I added a few slivers to his kibble. He wouldn't eat it until I spoon fed him. He still doesn't like liver! Then I found out that feeding raw with kibble was dangerous because they digest at different speeds and the kibble can turn the meat rancid in his stomach. After the first time I mixed it with the kibble, I didn't do that again. I just took away his kibble 3 hours before feeding time and I think the first dinner of raw meat for him was whole ground turkey... He loved it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 16:50:05 GMT -5
Also, I appreciate the advice on the beef! I was so focused on him being and to chew the bones that I never even thought about the calcium!!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 16:57:31 GMT -5
I was wondering how often I should feed him the red meat?
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Post by Aftershock on Jan 5, 2017 17:06:16 GMT -5
@hugs, generally ferrets do best with a 2-4 hour time period without food before raw is introduced. @kcal357, you are so very welcome❤ I would like to recommend either ordering adult beef grinds or another red meat to balance calcium. You can still feed the calf grinds, but I personally would only serve it 1-2 times a week until it runs out. Other than that, I personally think your menu looks great. Do you have any questions at all? Any information you are curious on that I may be able to help with?
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Post by Aftershock on Jan 5, 2017 17:12:58 GMT -5
Any protein can be fed up to 3 times a week. If you had duck, that could also be fed three times a week, along with beef since you are doing grinds. my personal menu has 3-4 (duck as bone in meals, and one beef muscle meat meal) With the variety you have, your little floof has a great pool of nutrients❤
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 19:41:20 GMT -5
That's great to hear!! I was so worried about it, I felt like it wasn't enough variety, but I feel a bit better now. I will definitely see what I can do about ordering adult beef grind for him. Have to check out the website. I think I may be able to get duck meat, but I don't think they have whole grind. I'll check though, that's for sure!! Thank you for all your help. If I think of anything else, I'll definitely ask.
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Post by Aftershock on Jan 7, 2017 10:44:10 GMT -5
Let me know how it goes! Also! MINI LESSON TIME!As a new ferrent, you are now on poop duty! (giggle) Our little fuzzies poop can tell us a lot about their specific dietary needs and how they are feeling. On a raw diet, their poop generally varies from protein to protein (this is why we ask what their poop looks like fairly often. ) Occasionally there will be a random, odd poop and nothing to worry about. Introducing new proteins can make for some weird poops too. So, if you ever feel nervous about what is coming out of your ferret ask, are they eating anything new? How many times has this happened? What does it smell like? Back to the poops themselves, I mentioned they can tell about your ferrets individual dietary needs, too much bone in their diet will cause seedy, dry looking poops, and loose ones mean they need more bone. Poops after an organ meal will be loose and dark colored from all that blood rich food, and they can smell a bit. Organs themselves smell a little too (I seriously hate the smell of liver :puke: ) so it makes sense. Here's a poop chart! Because organ meals can make loose poops, we feed a bone in meal after to even everything out, for example, I feed Wednesday am: Heart, and follow up Wednesday pm: duck wing/thigh/neck/spine. This leads to another point I would like to make; the detox phase. Switching a ferret over to a raw diet starts with detoxing for 2-3 weeks (this can last up to 5 as each ferret is different) and during this detox you may notice some pretty different poops with some odd smells. This is just their body pushing out kibble toxins and adjusting to the wider variety and higher nutrients in their current diet. I promise this won't last forever! As you continue to feed raw, the smell will go down, the poops will be smaller, and they won't be as weird looking. This leads to a couple of effects of raw: Higher energy/ energy levels even out Super soft coats! And possibly grape tail! Grape tail (their tails smell like grape Kool-Aid) can happen to raw fed ferrets, and it can take a few weeks to a few months (so don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen right off the bat). It is pretty exciting to smell for the first time! The smell also comes and goes. Their raw food is safe to leave out! Guidelines: Soup: 6-8 hours Grinds: 8-12 hours Chunks: 10-24 hours depending on the size (the bigger the chunks, the longer they last) Bone in meats: 12-24 hours, again depending on the size Whole prey: up to 48 hours
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2017 14:05:28 GMT -5
That is incredibly helpful!! His poops have become a lot smaller over the past 2 2-3 weeks. I have noticed that sometimes they are a very dark brown and on other occasions they are a very light color, almost tan. The consistency is pretty solid though. When I first brought him home, all of his poops were very liquidy and smelled TERRIBLE! I'm assuming it was because he ate MF kibble. Poor baby /: the people at the pet store were all like "you got some of his MF kibble right? You are going to need a lot of it!!" I was like yeah, totally... And then bought the smallest bag possible so I could wean him off. Haha. It's amazing how little they know about the animals they sell. So now every time I go, I want to buy all their ferret babies so I can make them happy and healthy I'm actually trying to talk my man into letting me have a second baby. It would be good for Loki to have someone around when I'm at work. Sorry I got a little off topic... But yeah. I'll pay more attention to the poops now.
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Post by Aftershock on Jan 8, 2017 11:39:35 GMT -5
I'm so glad it helps out! Poop color can totally be a result of what you just fed them too. Turkey and chicken can cause lighter poops, where red meats like beef and duck will cause darker ones. Ulgh, kibble poops are the worst. My husband and I didn't realize how much kibble made a difference until we brought home Cow. She STUNK, her poops were HUGE and STUNK (seriously, something that big has no business coming out of a ferret that small), and her fur was so COARSE. I always feel so bad for the animals at the pet store, because they don't hire very knowledgeable people to care for them. I got a dwarf hamster once, and the girl messing with their cage was TERRIFIED of them because one bit her. Terrified of these tiny fluff balls. So she was spraying them with a lavender EO mix. I felt bad for their poor eyeballs. -.- I know how you feel. The sad thing is that they will only ship in more. I will suggest that if you get another, take Loki in to pick and quarantine the newbie for two weeks. Things such as ear mites, upper respiratory infections, and ECE are very common in mill kits. This way you can watch and see if the newbie has any issues and needs to be vetted without Loki getting sick too.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2017 21:45:21 GMT -5
Tried to give Loki beef last night. He didn't take to it at all! I'm going to have to scruff and stuff once or twice for him to get a taste of it, I guess.
Does anyone else's babies absolutely love chicken wings? It's his absolute favorite.
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Post by Aftershock on Jan 11, 2017 10:57:43 GMT -5
He's probably like, 'MOM, HOW DARE YOU TRY TO FEED ME THIS EXTREME TASTING MEAT. I TRUSTED YOU!' (because we all know how dramatic ferrets can be) Mine personally, Gator LOVES hearts, Cow LOVES turkey necks, and Croc..... I think he likes liver best? I can't tell, he mostly just wants to steal the other two's food. >.>
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2017 18:43:17 GMT -5
He has absolutely no interest in beef, but what he doesn't realize is that he has no choice! Lol eat it! It's good for you!!! Like trying to feed a toddler broccoli.
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Post by Celene on Jan 13, 2017 9:44:20 GMT -5
Hi @kcal357 , I just wanted to let you know that you've been assigned a mentor (me!), and that you can find your new switching thread here. Heather will be locking this one, although you can still access and refer back to it at any time.
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