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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2011 23:26:20 GMT -5
Okay thinking about how much they should eat a day. I know it's about 4 ozs, however does it depend on weight? Does a 1 lb ferret eat as much as an almost 5lb? I know Neka eats more cause he's a baby, seems he's eating constantly. lol
With the dogs on raw they are getting about 3% of their body weight in raw, is it about the same for ferrets?
I haven't paid much attention recently cause the boy eat on their own, i just make sure there is always food available. However with sadie having some issue and my having to 'force' her as she rarely eats alone, i need a refresher on how much.
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Post by goingpostal on Feb 7, 2011 23:47:27 GMT -5
I have seen 1-3 ozs for females and 2-4 for males as the average. I have four and new to raw so some days they seem to eat a ton and others not very much at all. If they eat it all fast, I give them more, if there's a lot left I let them work on it longer. I haven't really been weighing meat lately, my cat is going raw too, she used to eat 5-6 ounces of canned daily so I've been splitting a lot of meats and giving equal portions to the cat and ferrets. Just eyeballing it pretty much. I would weigh your girl frequently to keep an eye on things, doing the same with a skinny adrenal boy I have, he's eating, I just worry if he's eating enough.
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Post by taratee on Feb 8, 2011 0:07:02 GMT -5
ferrets need a higher percentage of their body weight in fat, i found it somewhere but i dont remember it. i think sherry said girl ferrets tend to eat 1-3 oz and boys 3-4 oz
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Post by Sherry on Feb 8, 2011 1:10:19 GMT -5
To be honest, it doesn't depend on weight as much as it seems to depend on age, health, activity level, age of neutering, etc. In other words, a 2-3lb unneutered very healthy jill, who's about 3-4 years old, and highly active, will likely eat more than a 4-5lb early neutered 2 year old adrenal male, who's sleeping more often. Unless he's a total pig ;D Which means you still have to watch and figure out how much they need daily! If you have a lot consistently left over, you are feeding too much. If they are consistently finishing it in one to two sittings, you likely need to put more out! And the averages I gave are just that- averages for our north american indoor early spay/neuter ferrets.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2011 1:14:50 GMT -5
Most ferrets won't overeat too much (of course there are those exceptions ) so I just give food until their full. Usually works out to 2-3 oz a day per ferret (young 2 yr old female).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2011 7:44:57 GMT -5
okay so it sounds about right. I make up a bowl of a little more then 3.5 ozs in the morning for my little girl, and she will rarely finish it. I still have to sit down with her 3 times a day and spoon feed her to be sure she is eating something. Though the last few nights i noticed she has actually touched some of the food i've left overnight for her. (even if it was just to move bits of it and stash it all over the cage lol)
I had been weighing them every 2 weeks, but hadn't since the beginning of Jan, thank you for the reminder. She is down an ozs, but given two rounds of antibiotics, the loss of her friend and a few weeks of the runs, one ozs isn't bad, and her appetite has been up last two days, so i'll weigh her again in a few and hope to see it up again.
thanks for the refresher!
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