How much to feed? And other questions

[dunkle1544]

New ferret parent here. Jinx is about 14 weeks as of now, and been home for about four days. He’s settling in nicely, and I would like to switch him to a better diet. He is currently eating Marshal’s ferret food because I didn’t want to have to many changes for him at first, but really want to change that. Jinx will eat raw egg yolk with ground shell and patê textured wet food (I gave him some grain free, pea free wet cat food this evening as a treat and to see how he would take to something different than his pellets), so I think we should have an easy time changing over.

I do have expierence with a raw diet, I have been feeding my dog raw for the past four years or so. He loves it, and he is so much happier on it. It also really seems to help with his anxiety!

So to my questions:
-How much should a ferret eat a day? Jinx is a male, 14 weeks old.

-I’d like to order from hare today, and I’m interested in doing the whole grinds (either whole animal grinds with fur/feathers and/or grinds with meat, bone and organ). I’m fine with having to add more organs or some meaty chunks/bone pieces, but I would like to have the base be the grinds. Is this workable?

-Someone who feeds the whole grinds, how much do you go through a month, per ferret?

-If I placed the following order, would this be a balanced base? Or what should be added to have the correct levels of meat-bone-organ-fat ratio?
—ground chicken/bones/organs
—ground duck/bones/organs
—ground pork/bones/organs
—ground turkey/bones/organs
—ground mutton/bones/organs
—ground whole rabbit (meat/bones/organs/fur)
—ground whole quail (meat/bones/organs/feathers)
—ground whole cavies (meat/bones/organs/feathers)


Thank you!

[Sherry]

If you are going to feed only grinds then that would work well. If you choose to add whole meats to that, here is a way to balance everything out holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17989/balancing-frankenprey-diets-prey-grinds

[Blue]

Welcome to the forum and to ferrenthood! I'm glad you're going to feed raw. It's great that your dog is already on a raw diet and that you're seeing the benefits. I feed whole grinds from Hare Today. On average, their grinds are well balanced if you feed a large mix of meats. They actually have the ratios listed if you want to be obsessive and calculate things exactly (I only did this for the bone, and ended up at 14.75% which is within the recommended 10-15%). Your list of 8 meats is a good one (incidentally cavies have fur, not feathers )

Adult female ferrets eat 1-3 oz of meat a day, adult males 3-5 oz. Kits can eat a lot more, so right now just feed Jinx as much as he wants. My Maisie eats 2 oz a day, so I go through almost 4 pounds a month.

If you could add some actual bones to that from time to time, that would be great, because it cleans their teeth. Otherwise, it would be best to brush their teeth (I confess, I do not do that, and I have to get her teeth professionally cleaned. Even then, she has had to have one tooth pulled). Jinx is young enough that he might take to it easily. A common first time bone-in-meat is a raw chicken wing, smashed up to make it easy to eat.

Good luck, let us know how it goes, and enjoy your baby!

[dunkle1544]

Thank you!
The give meaty bones on occasion was what I was wondering about. I know it’s amazing on their teeth (my dog is 7 and the vet says he has the whitest and best shape teeth he seen on a dog over a year old). With the dog, and I know it’s all from eating meaty bones).

So if I offer like a chicken wing or such, should I alter one meal? Or can it be added like once a week in addition to the grind?

I don’t believe I will have any problem switching Jinx over (thankfullly). I offered him a beef neck bone with about a sliver of meat on it to kinda play around with (under supervision) and he happily tore the meat off and ate some marrow. Im so excited to full switch him over and be able to offer him food he can actually enjoy!

[crazylady]

Hi if you are feeding only grind to start off with I would simply give him a wing with one of his meals ( I normally feed my kits 4 x a day ) how much is simply how much will he eat in one sitting lol ( around 2-4 ounces ) males tend to be greedier than females if you find he leaves meat in the bowl when you next come to feed him simply cut back until you know how much he will eat in one sitting ( with some of my adults who are chunks if I give a male four 1 inch cubes and find one stashed in his nest then I cut it to three next day no hidden meat lol )you will soon be able to judge just how much he needs mine get whole prey and hard boiled eggs as there toys its funny watching them trying to break in for the good stuff inside I do cheat and give them a head start by peeling a little of the shell back lol they are also enjoying the treat of ground salmon at the moment lol hope this helps take care bye for now
Bev

[Sherry]

Thanks crazylady! I'd forgotten to mention the black holes that kits are when it comes to food They will out eat any adult around. There's a reason we call kits "tummies with teeth"