Are these safe and benefical for the raw diet?

[maurc43]

I went to the grocery store to buy raw food for my ferrets. I've been reading a lot of information on here but still don't feel entirely confident. I will be signing up for a mentor as soon as I have 15 posts and a larger scale that my ferrets will fit on.

In the mean time, can anybody help me by telling me if I'm missing anything important for their diet and/or if I purchased anything that I shouldn't be feeding my ferrets. I tried to stay away from a lot of chicken products because I think that maybe one of my ferrets has a sensitivity to it.

I bought one package of each of these things. Please let me know which things I will use the most for their diet.

Pork Brains
Pork skin
Pork ears

Chicken neck
Chicken feet
Chicken livers

Duck heads
Whole duck

Beef shank(not sure what this is)
Beef bone
Ground beef (80% lean-only option at this market)
Beef liver
Beef Kidney
Beef Brain

Goat tongues
Goat hearts
Goat feet

Whole cornish hen

Quail eggs

Turkey tail
Turkey wing

Lamb ribs

I might have gone a little overboard since I wasn't really sure what to get resulting in me getting a little bit of everything. Please give me feedback!

[maurc43]

Some further questions I have that I haven't found answers so far while reading other peoples posts:

when it comes to whole prey such as cornish hen and duck, Do I cut it up and only give pieces of it? The cornish hen is kind of small so I could see just giving it to them but the duck is pretty large.

Is turkey tail okay to feed them? On the frankenprey menu it listed only parts of turkeys that were okay for bone-in meals or would this count as something else like muscule meal.

What are eggs counted as and how often should I give them? Do I just crack the egg and give it like that you do most people just put the yolk and egg white on the meat meals?

If one of my ferrets might have a chicken allergy, would feeding chicken eggs give her a reaction?

Since I'm not sure about the allergy mentioned above for my girl ferret, should I only give them beef at first? It seems like most people start off with chicken and since I bought a lot of different beef options for muscle, organs, etc. I was thinking I should do that at first. My thoughts are that I should only introduce a meat type once a week or so like you would for an infant so that if they have any allergies, it will be easy to pinpoint.

I was planning on starting tomorrow evening but I'm not feeling very confident about this as I have so many questions and the more I read this forum, the more questions I seem to have!

Is anyone willing to maybe give me a week sample of what they would do with the ingredients above? I've seen the sample schedule but I'm not sure about what above is good enough for the bone in meals since I don't have chicken. Or do I need to go buy something different?

[LindaM]

Yay! Raw grocery list! Let's go through it, I'll try to make some notes to each.

Pork Brains - Brains is a yummy other organ, but it is also incredibly rich, so it can lead to some diarrhea if given too much of.
Pork Skin - Doesn't really serve purpose in the menu.
Pork Ears - Doesn't really serve purpose in the menu, could be snack. I'd class it under muscle meat.

Chicken Neck - Great, bone-in meal.
Chicken Feet - A good choice, this can be used for a bone-in meal, but it is very boney, so add some extra muscle meat with it. If you are short on bone-in variety, you can pseudo it for a bit, by using them and different protein muscle meats.
Chicken Liver - Yes! Liver to be used in organ meals.

Duck Heads - Some fuzzards LOVE crunching up these and getting to the brains inside, lol. A bit on the boney side, so add a bit of extra muscle meat.
Whole Duck - You may want to smash up the bone of the weight-bearing parts, eg. thighs, or they'll just get ignored.

Beef Shank(not sure what this is) - A shank is a leg part of a heifer or steer. The bone is useless to the ferrets, but you can slice off the meat for muscle meat.
Beef Bone - Entirely useless when it comes to ferrets, the bones of big animals like this are too dense and will just be ignored and not eaten.
Ground Beef (80% lean-only option at this market) - Counts as a muscle meat.
Beef Liver - Good to use for liver in the organ meals.
Beef Kidney - Great choice for an other organ in the organ meals.
Beef Brain - Same as the pork brains.

Goat Tongues - Would be a muscle meat, doesn't have the same use as beef tongue (ONLY beef tongue can be used to replace hearts if necessary).
Goat Hearts - Great for heart meals.
Goat Feet - Doubt this will be touched by anyone, other than maybe shear off some meat. Bone too dense.

Whole Cornish Hen - They can eat the entire thing, it's great for bone-in introductions. Do not rely heavily on it for your menu though, it is still a juvenile chicken and not an adult.

Quail Eggs - Tasty treat and great for hairball prevention. Can crack them open or let the ferrets crack them by themselves. Three of these per ferret, per week (or around 5 of these during the shedding season).

Turkey Tail - These are usually just too fatty and not worth the risk to your ferret's health.
Turkey Wing - Good for bone-in meals.

Lamb Ribs - The bone is going to be too dense in this, some ferrets may nibble on the rib-ends of these, but most ignore entirely and just chew the meat off.

Now onto your questions, I did answer some through the shopping list too.

We start with chicken because it is a mild smelling and mild tasting meat. Beef on the other hand has a strong taste and smell, and is often harder to introduce. I'd start with something like pork or turkey instead if not chicken.

To my knowledge, I do not believe the eggs will cause any issue. Do keep in mind, raw egg poops can often look exactly like they did going in when they come out, haha.

As for starting, it depends on the age of your ferrets (though sometimes even kits very fond of kibble can put up a fussy start). Don't think you can just jump right into the full Frankenprey menu right off the bat. If yours are older ferrets, chances are you'll start at soup and progress through each step. If you have kits, you may easily skip some steps, but they may still take a bit to get their jaw strength up for crunching bones before they can properly eat bone-in meals.

How old are your ferrets? Any health issues other than the one possible sensitivity to chicken?

[maurc43]

Thanks for all the help! My boy ferret is 2.5 months old and the female is about 3 months. No other health issues that I know of and the vet said they both appear to be very healthy.

[abbeytheferret6]

If you have a ferret sensitive to chicken, it will be sensitive to cornish hen. As mentioned it is a chicken.However, you can find cleaned quail in about all Asian stores in their freezer. Order online and you can get organs, feathers and all(Hare Today and South Florida Rodents).

Beef and chicken are two meats that can cause sensitivities. I would go light on the beef. I think once a week for beef is sufficient. Mine will not eat beef. I have not tried it with my new boy though. Also beef in USA is tagged with a hormone and fattened in feedlots. Of course you can find hormone free beef at farmer's market. It may be expensive though.

My boy did surprise me eating chunks of lamb, which the girls will eat only as a soupy, and that--- by coaxing, warming, and finger feeding---hahaha.


I do whip my quail eggs, I have one that kind of balks when she hits that clear gel in eggs. I think because it hangs and acts strange. She is finicky.

Anyway you can give the yolk only if you like when serving chicken eggs. I read one article about whipping the chicken egg, so they can get equal amounts of the yoke and white. Over time, serving the white only is not good for ferret's health. Anyway, the tasty part is in the yoke, so another reason to beat them before serving. Do be prepared for funky stools as warned above. My ferrets like eggs. However, I did have to work with one before she took to them.

[Sherry]

If you have a ferret sensitive to chicken, it will be sensitive to cornish hen

Not necessarily. Many ferrets are sensitive to what the chickens are fed, and/or the antibiotics given. Cornish hen, being a young chicken, has a different diet and hasn't yet been given any of the preventative antibiotics. My IBD guy was set off in a major way by regular chicken but could tolerate cornish hen no problem. Sometimes there is no reaction to organically raised hens either.
Beef, pork, goat are favourites here. But as Abby mentioned- beef can also be a trigger for some. I had one lad with a true allergy to it. Thankfully he was the only one.

[abbeytheferret6]

Thanks for info Sherry. My new boy does not do well on either---so I was assuming that.

[Sherry]

No problem Abbey Sounds like your lad has a sensitivity to the actual protein then.