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Post by dookdook on Feb 11, 2011 7:55:56 GMT -5
Question: Why does feeding them raw decrease their musky scent? Is there some kind of enzyme in meat?
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Post by Heather on Feb 11, 2011 14:34:28 GMT -5
Let's put it this way....open up a fresh bag of kibbles....inhale deeply (gag, sputter and choke)...that's what your ferret smells like plus his own special odor . So, feed them raw and you take the kibble smell out of the equation....thus ferret smells less Seriously, though...raw meat does seem to tone down the odor. There is so much crap in kibble that your fuzz can't digest it oozes out of them. They stink, their litter box stinks, their bedding stinks. Your dog, if raw fed won't have that smell, the cat litter box smells less (raw meat will not cure that horrendous amonia stink ...remember carnivores on the brink of dehydration...but it will tone it down). I've never been able to sneak a new rescue in...they smell that bad. Hubby walks through the door takes a sniff and goes....you've got another one That ferret can be in the ferret room in the isolation cage but he can smell it and it's true. I walked into the vet's the other day and there was "a" ferret in there, that's all you could smell. I had two with me in for deslorin implants. The other ferret left with his momma. The woman at the desk goes...why don't your ferrets smell like that. The vet who was filling out a file never even looked up....responded.."raw diet, feed them what they're supposed to eat and they won't stink....as bad " ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 14:45:30 GMT -5
Haha! Cute story. My girls don't smell, either does their litter box (unless it's liver day, then it smells a bit ) No one believes me that they don't smell, until they hold my girls and realize there's no smell. :-)
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Post by bluemoose on Feb 11, 2011 14:48:30 GMT -5
My fuzzies have all been fed raw since the day I got them so my parents didn't even know ferrets usually stink. They still insist raw diets are no better than kibble because they've never seen a kibble fed ferret.
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Post by katt on Feb 11, 2011 19:16:33 GMT -5
This is my favorite analogy. I don't remember who said it but I use it all of the time. Kibble is the ferret equivalent to McDonalds. If you ate nothing but McDonalds all day every day, every meal...you would stink too! Raw decreases odor for several reason. For one it keeps them much better hydrated. Most of the smell comes from the musky oil that ferrets secrete from sebaceous (oil) glands in their skin. If you have ever talked to a dermatologist you might know this already, but dry skin overproduces oil to compensate for being so dry. Dehydration leads to dry skin, leads to overproduction of oils ,leads to smelly ferrets. Ferrets get most of their moisture from their food, and kibble is dry. Also, this is why lock crocks are better than water bottles. Ferrets are typically not patient enough to stay at a water bottle long enough to get the water intake that they actually need to keep hydrated. So when you have kibble+water bottle you get a REALLY dehydrated stinky ferret. Over-bathing creates the same issue as it strips the skin of its oils and forces the skin to have to work harder to produce Extra oil to replace what it lost and it goes into overdrive. Also, like Heather said, kibble is FULL of junk, and indigestible substances, and chemicals, etc. Since they cannot process it, their body must eliminate it as waste. This quite literally in Heather's apt words "oozes" out of them. It is secreted through glands and pores all over their body, their breath, their feces and urine, etc. Because there is so little utilizable nutrition in the kibble as well, this means that they have to eat constantly - think herbivores, plants are low nutrient foods and so to get the same amount of nutrients, the animal must eat a much larger amount of food. Like if you had the NEED to have 5 chocolate chips in one day, but your cookies only had one chip each, you would have toe eat 5 cookies to get the 5 chips you need instead of just one cookie with 5 chocolate chips. And, just like eating too many cookies, this can lead to kibble fed ferrets being overweight. But the USEABLE protein content (much of kibble protein is from plant sources) is still low, it does not get converted to muscle but instead is stored as unhealthy fats, waste buildup, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 19:24:17 GMT -5
Great explanation Katt :-)
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Post by katt on Feb 11, 2011 19:37:46 GMT -5
Great explanation Katt :-) Thanks! I got interrupted by work, so I went back and added the rest of what I wanted to say too.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 19:40:55 GMT -5
Oh, I just realized that. I was like "Was that there before?" Love the cookies analogy - makes me hungry
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Post by katt on Feb 11, 2011 20:05:49 GMT -5
I am hungry too actually. It was the best I could come up with. haha
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Post by Heather on Feb 11, 2011 23:13:34 GMT -5
Think about the Panda. It is a carnivore, eats as a herbivore. Has to eat huge amounts of food, just to cover it's basic needs and not starve to death. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 23:16:49 GMT -5
Wow, I did not know Pandas were carnivores! You learn something new every day
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Post by dookdook on Feb 12, 2011 15:03:38 GMT -5
Wow, haven't learnt so much in a post before! Thankyou! I will show my mom this. Is it really expensive to feed fully raw? Is it hard to find all the different meat\organs? I understand you can't just feed ONE kind of meat.. They have to have many different parts correct? Is it hard to find all this?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2011 15:21:11 GMT -5
The cost depends a lot on where you buy.
Commercially prepared raw is expensive, but with one fuzzy it probably wouldn't be too bad. If your ferret ate 3 oz a day, that's 90 oz a month, or about 5.6 lbs. You should feed at least 3 proteins, more is better.
You can make raw very affordable by buying meats from the supermarket on sale, buying the cheaper cuts. You can also find ethnic markets where stuff is usually mire affordable.
You needs hearts, livers, and hopefully one other organ like kidney. You need to feed bone in like chicken wings, necks, feet, spare ribs, tails, etc. You also need to feed plain muscle meats, unaltered. Most of that should be able to be found at your grocery store for a affordable price.
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Post by bluemoose on Feb 12, 2011 15:36:40 GMT -5
80% meat, at least 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other secreting organ (kidney, spleen, testicle, ect.). Things like heart count as muscle meat not organ but they are a good source of taurine. I would disagree that the 5% other organ is optional. A raw diet needs to be balanced or your ferret will get nutritional deficiencies. Depending on your grocery store, you may be able to get everything you need there. As mentioned, three proteins sources is the minimum. If your grocery store doesn't have everything you need, check ethnic grocery stores for the more unusual meats and organs. Because feeding raw is becoming more popular, there are also a variety of websites to choose from. Hare-Today is one of the more popular ones. www.hare-today.com/Personally, I prefer to feed whole prey. It naturally has balanced proportions of meat, bone, and organ plus roughage from fur/feathers, claws, ect. I feed mice, rats, quail, guinea pig, rabbit, and chicks from Rodent Pro. www.rodentpro.com/
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Post by dookdook on Feb 12, 2011 18:39:48 GMT -5
So you can JUST feed whole prey? Can you only feed mice?
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