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Post by svetlana on Feb 2, 2017 10:50:09 GMT -5
Sounds good. Keep working with Jezzy and introducing more bone in meats to the rest of the gang.
You can also switch to having livers one meal a week, and hearts one and a half meals a week. See if you're able to buy some organ meats like kidney, brain, spleen - the ones that secrete hormones. Then you could add a half a meal a week of those as well. Mixing them up together to make three organ and heart meals a week.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 2, 2017 11:31:37 GMT -5
I will hunt for organs today. We have a few Asian grocery stores.
I plan to do chicken neck tonight or in the morning if they are still working on breakfast later tonight.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 2, 2017 17:01:42 GMT -5
I found some Asian Markets near me. I think I will have time to check them out tomorrow. If not the soonest I can make it over there is Tuesday next week, unless any of them are open Sunday.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 3, 2017 10:58:33 GMT -5
Last night dinner was more of left over breakfast. This was gone for Jack, Tiny, and Bill this morning. Jezzy is still refusing the chunks. I think she may have eaten less of it yesterday. I will try mixing in an egg.
Breakfast: Jack, Bill, Tiny - Chicken neck. I did not cut it up this time because I had more interest in the chicken back when it was whole so thought to try this with the neck. Bill was munching on the neck when I left for work.
Jezzy - 0.8 ounce soup, 0.4 ounce thigh.
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Post by svetlana on Feb 4, 2017 10:23:00 GMT -5
Your group is doing great! Very quick progress for the three of them Jezzy will get there in her own time. Work with Jezzy closely for now, so she catches up somewhat to the rest. Do you still hand feed her, or just leave her food in the cage? The other three need to start going on a weekly menu soon.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 5, 2017 12:01:13 GMT -5
Billy Tiny, and Jack will chew on the bone in, but there is no real amount of meat or bone gone by the time they abandon it. I will try a piece of chicken back today as it seems to have very small bones and lots of meat. I am getting ready to make their meals for this coming week. Should I move Bill, Tiny, and Jack on to a menu yet that includes other meats such a s quale, beef, lamb, or pork?
I have not had fed her for the last two days. I thought I would take some of the pressure off of her and just offer it with her soup. I will be a bit more hand feeding pushy this coming week.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 8, 2017 9:47:25 GMT -5
I have no power at home. We are trying to eat all of the food I had set aside before it goes bad. I have already had to throw out three bone in meals. They are all on thick soup with heart and liver chunks and bone meal. I have to use up the meat before it goes bad.
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Post by svetlana on Feb 8, 2017 22:16:22 GMT -5
No problem. I hope it comes back soon. When it's back we'll start figuring out a weekly menu for them. I'm going to write a great big post, it took a couple of days (sorry), i'll recap this later again, and we will make sure you have everything down The Average weekly menu would be something like this: Monday am: edible bone in meat Monday pm: edible bone in meat (or muscle) Tuesday am: edible bone in meat Tuesday pm: muscle meat Wednesday am: edible bone in meat Wednesday pm: heart Thursday am: edible bone in meat Thursday pm: edible bone in meat (or muscle) Friday am: edible bone in meat Friday pm: ½ heart + ¼ liver + ¼ other organ Saturday am: edible bone in meat Saturday pm: muscle meat Sunday am: edible bone in meat Sunday pm: ½ liver + ½ other organ You NEED at least 3 different types of proteins in your ferrets diets. The more the better. You can get creative here, try quail, frog legs, goat, rabbit etc etc. So you get 7-9 meals consumable bone, younger growing ferrets need more bone, older ones need less. You can also take a meat mallet or hammer to the bigger bones (drumstick looking wing bones, or duck necks or turkey wings), to make them more accessible. Start smaller and move to bigger bones depending on how they are all tolerating them. Then come the 3-4 meals muscle meats which include 1.5 meals of heart (heart should be about 10% of the total diet). Heart is absolutely essential, it provides the taurine they need to keep their eyes working among other things. Extra taurine is expelled through urine so don't worry about any build up Aslo, try getting some red meat in as a muscle meal: beef, lamb, goat, pork etc. Or fish every couple of weeks. 1 meal of liver. Pretty self explanatory (gives them liquidy black stools, because of high blood content) 1/2 a meal of secreting organ which are spleen, brain, thymus, pancreas, kidney, etc. Any part of the body that secretes. Lung is good too, but as an "every once in a while" type of thing. All right this is enough for now Keep my updated on little Jezzy and her soups and slivers, how is she during this week?
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 10, 2017 0:30:42 GMT -5
Yah, power is back!!!
Jezzy is working on slivers only now. I got her to eat some chicken skin by hand feeding her, and she seems to be taking the chunks. She just barfed up some of the chunks. I will clean it up and hand feed some more. I will hunt for some bone in meals for the other three.
Current update for tonight.
Jack: 1282 g Bill: 1179 g Jezzy: 796 g Tiny: 752 g
All coats and poops are normal and regular.
Jezzy food: All slivers: 0.5 ounce liver, 1 ounce thigh, 0.2 ounce gizzard, 0.3 ounce heart
Jack, Bill, and Tiny:
Two chicken thighs chopped up into 1"-2" squares.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 10, 2017 13:47:03 GMT -5
Should I try slivers of other meat such as pork, beef and quail? Should these be introduced with meat they already accept or should it be separate? Since they are all around 5 ish years old would the muscle meat meals be the time to introduce the new meats? What are good bone in meals that are not chicken but do include iron? Is quail and chicken different enough for the ferrets to qualify as a different protein even though they are both birds?
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 10, 2017 13:48:31 GMT -5
Is tripe a good organ?
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 11, 2017 21:30:23 GMT -5
I am having trouble finding organs. Please let me know if I can use any of these: Tripe, pig stomach, and pig liver.
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Post by kattadragon on Feb 11, 2017 21:33:45 GMT -5
Oh, Jezzy is trying to eat the big chunks with the other ferrets, I think peer pressure is getting the better of her.
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Post by svetlana on Feb 12, 2017 13:57:40 GMT -5
Hello! Good for Jezzy keep working on making her comfortable eating those slivers and bits. Ferrets can often throw up from eating too fast, usually it's nothing to worry about. Bone meals are bones with meat on them, usually anything smaller than a chicken drumstick is a good size of the bone. So turkey wings, ribs and necks (smash the necks up a bit), duck wings, ribs, backs and necks, chicken everything (smash up the drumsticks), all quail, rabbit (smash the legs a bit), frog legs, guinea pig, squirrel, rats, mice etc. All of those animals qualify as a different protein. The only exception is chicken and cornish hen which both are basically different sized chickens. When you're chopping up their food try going for longer slices, rather than square ones. I feed mine chunks about the size of a finger or slightly bigger. They do better with ribbons of meat. Try as many new types of meat as you like, the more variety they eat the better but don't expect them to go for every new meat right away. If you mix it with something they already like they might take it easier... or they might turn their nose up at it. When i introduced mice i mixed them up with chicken chunks and they ate them up. When I introduced pork liver, i blended it in with chicken soupie and they wouldn't even go near the bowl. Introduce new meats with bone in meals and muscle meals too Most meats rich in iron are red meats. So you're looking at more muscle meals there. Cattle is good: Lamb, beef, pork, goat, venison. Tripe is not a good organ. It's usually bleached, and nutritionally minimal. Green tripe is more nutritious, but it stinks and it's a rare ferret that wants to eat it. I would suggest not to bother with it.
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Post by svetlana on Feb 12, 2017 14:02:10 GMT -5
Stomach is not very good either.
Pig liver qualifies, though my bunch really didn't like it.
Try buying kidneys. They are usually not too hard to find. I buy mine from the Polish store and the Asian market.
Good for Jezzy! i'm so glad (dance) ferrets do teach each other (usually mischief) but sometimes good things too.
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