Some quick questions about raw feeding

[Deleted]

Hello! I don't know if you guys have seen my intro post, but basically I've been lurking for awhile and I'm new here. I'm working on saving up for ferrets and I just had a few quick questions about raw diets. I've been looking through all the resources on the forums and on the main site, and there's plenty online about transitioning so I think I can handle it, but I was wondering about the exact types of food to feed.

What I'm looking at is:

My Pet Carnivore:
Coarse Ground Whole Chicken - 2lb 
Coarse Ground Whole Rabbit - 2lb 
Coarse Ground While Turkey - 2lb
Fine Ground Whole Pork - 2lb

RodentPro:
(Mice) White Extra Large Adults
(Rats) Large
(Guinea Pigs) Medium
(Quail) 1 Week

Would that be a good diet? I know they need at least 4 different proteins, but I still have questions

1. How much do I feed? How much ground food per ferret?
2. How often do I feed? Twice a day?
3. I'm leaning towards going with only raw grinds from MPC with the occasional whole prey thrown in (maybe one whole prey each week, and varying it between rats one week, guinea pig the other, etc) would I still need to brush their teeth?

I'm just trying to figure out a good weekly schedule of what and how much to feed 

Also, I've heard people saying to clip their nails just put some oil on their tummy, what exact kind of oil do you mean? Is it a certain brand? I just want something healthy to use

[LindaM]

Hi and welcome to the forum, we're glad you decided to join us and not just lurk, haha.

So, first thing first.. 1.) How much you will feed is going to depend on the tummies you will be stuffing it into... Age, Gender, Season, all plays a role in the amount. Every ferret is also unique, so they will tell you how much to feed them. We usually suggest to keep a journal over the course of a few weeks, making a note of how much food you offer, and how much remains by the change of meal time. A kitchen scale will be a blessing and necessity in this of course (also great for weighing fuzzies).
The general breakdown is that the adult female will eat 1-3oz of food on average per day. The adult male ferret will eat 2-5oz of food on average per day.
Kits can eat up to 4x the amount of their adult counterparts. In winter, ferrets will eat more, often picking up some nice winter chubbiness, and come the spring and summer, they will eat less and slim down. A ferret can pick up and lose up to 40% of their bodyweight during these changes, and it can be shocking your first time to witness, hence why the journal can be so helpful to look back at.
When first starting a switch, they also seem to eat more at first and then start to slow down, we like to think of it as they are trying to make up for lost nutrients from when they only got kibble.

2.) I feed twice a day myself, but that's my decision. My ferrets are all healthy and I feed a morning meal and an evening meal. Some raw feeders, especially the Whole Prey feeders will often feed only once a day, depending on the amount of food offered/size of animal. When you have sick ferrets (insulinoma for example) or kits, you will need to feed more often, usually around 3-4 times a day. I feel the best approach personally, is to free-feed with ferrets, especially when you are unsure of any health issues before getting them tested. I give them enough food to eat from the morning meal that only a bite or two remains when it comes time to offer the evening meal. If you have lots of food left by that change, you are likely giving too much, but if the bowls are licked clean, it's plausible someone might not have gotten to eat their fill because nothing remained to be eaten.

3.) Yes, most definitely if you are offering a diet based in grinds for the most part. Grinds do nothing at all to clean teeth, and sometimes some ferrets who are inclined towards it will overeat on grinds whereas they normally self-regulate. If you are offering around 3-4 bone-in Frankenprey/Whole Prey animal meals during the week as well, the bone from that should keep their teeth clean enough to not need brushing. Though it's always good to keep an eye on it to be sure it's working well enough.

As for the oil, Salmon Oil. Preferred brands being Grizzly or Alaskan Naturals, but others can work just as well. Just be careful of some in human health shops as they often get a type of citrus flavor added or other things. Amazon works best for me, or a holistic pet supply store, I feel the general pet stores really rip you off in price vs size. The limit of use for salmon oil is 1tsp per ferret, per week.

Please feel free to ask if you have more questions or would like me to explain something more for you.

[Deleted]

Great, thank you very much!

[LindaM]

You're very welcome. If you ever get stuck on something, struggle or feel unsure about something, feel free to reach out to us and we'll help however we can. You can also start an unofficial switching thread when you start switching your ferrets and feel confident in doing it yourself, and we'll keep an eye on it to make sure it all goes well. Plus, we'd love to see some photos when you end up getting your fuzzies!

[Deleted]

OKAY, so, would something like this be a good schedule? Hypothetically, I want to get two male ferrets and one female, so this would be for two males and one gal:
Monday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Monday PM: 1 large rat (to share)

Tuesday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Tuesday PM: 1 large rat (to share)

Wednesday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Wednesday PM: 1 large guinea pig (to share)

Thursday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Thursday PM: 1 extra large chicken (to share)

Friday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Friday PM: 1 8 week old quail (to share)

Saturday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Saturday PM: 1 large rat (to share)

Sunday AM: 6 white extra large adult mice (2 per ferret)
Sunday PM: 2 whole eggs to share (for shedding and coat), 1 large rat (to share)

Is this too much? Too little?
I won't be getting them until probably next year but I want to have all my ducks in a row

[Sherry]

That's a lot of food for 3 ferrets! My males would eat 2 regular adult mice each, my females one as a rule. Although if you get them as little babies they just might go through all that lol.

[Deleted]

Ok, I was hoping that that was actually too much because after adding up the costs of everything on RodentPro it was over $260 per month LMAO
When you say your boys only get 2 adult mice, do you mean per day as their only meal (or one in the morning, one in the evening, etc)? I'm already stressing myself out over what I'm going to feed, where I'm going to get it and how much it's going to cost and I'm nowhere near getting my ferrets yet

[Sherry]

No, for a single meal I feed twice a day.