ground organ mixes? Kibble + Raw?

[hamstacraze]

1. I was wondering if one could feed kibble in the morning for breakfast and then feed raw at night for dinner.


2. I was also wondering if feeding a beef organ ground mix of 50% heart, 30% liver, 20% kidney would suffice for the heart and organ requirements or if additional hearts and liver would be needed.


3. I found another organ mix that was an even mix of liver, gullet, heart, kidney, lung (all beef) would this be sufficient for heart and organ needs or would it need additional hearts/liver? 

4. Could you feed just whole animal grinds or would it be necessary to supplement with the extra organs. (Neck and gizzards would be also fed to help teeth cleanings)  

[caitmonster]

1. You will see some physical improvement in supplementing a kibble diet with raw, of course, but at that point all you are doing is putting the extra expense of kibble on yourself (and causing your ferret to deal with the drawbacks), with far few benefits than a full raw diet would provide. Are there limitations in your lifestyle that prompt that question? I know switching to completely raw might seem daunting--it certainly was to me!--but it's been so, so worth it.

2. I'm not good at percentages so I don't know that I can be much help with this one. You would need to at least add hearts, though. The traditional meal plan calls for 1 FULL meal heart, then 1 meal of half heart/quarter liver/quarter other organ, and 1 meal half liver/half other organ. What meal plan are you considering following?

3. You would definitely need more heart and liver with that mix. Gullet (esophagus) and lungs are also not considered organs, which throws off the desired percentage even more. See here: Organ Meats

4. You could feed whole animal grinds, yes, as long as you know for sure that everything has been included.

[hamstacraze]

1: would be a time commitment thing. May be hard to dish out a fancy meal in the mornings. Will be going into the healthcare field and will have crazy work hours and I am not a morning person. I currently live in a state where ferrets are illegal but hope to move up to Washington in a few years and get ferrets. Doing as much research ahead of time as I can.

2. I was looking at doing the 9 alternate meal flake prey meal plan with 9 meals being whole animal grinds, 1 boneless meat, 3, bone in meat like chicken necks and gizzards, and one meal 50% heart 25% liver, 25% other. Which where I though of the beef 50% heart 30% liver 20% kidney.

3: found out that product didn’t ship to the state I’m looking into moving to so no need to worry about it but good to know that it is not enough heart liver.

4. Says all bones meat and organs with the skin and hair/feather removed and eviscerated. Some did have some fur and some had tripe.

[caitmonster]

Gotcha. If it helps, just about all of us who do feed the frankenprey diet do a meal prep once a week or every few weeks by portioning out meals for AM and PM into little tupperware containers or baggies, then keeping them in the freezer. Then all you have to do each day is get the appropriate meal out ahead of time (AM meals defrost in the fridge overnight for morning, and PM meals put in the fridge to defrost during the day).

[Sherry]

If you do meal prep weekly or monthly it's very easy to grab a baggie, toss it on the counter to thaw, and feed when you get up.