To much bone?

[loveless]

Yes, another question from me...

I've switched my two over recently and my male ferret is somewhat obsessed with bones. He'll eat meat but basically pick at it but go hog nutz and try and eat every bone. Can a ferret have to much bone in it's diet?

Any suggestions on how to get some bone for my girl ferret with out od-ing my boy in calcium?

Soups don't seem to work on my guys. They never got over the idea that soup was gross.

[taratee]

chicken wings are always my winner as far as bones, my girls usually go for the delicate bones while my boys eat at the harder bones... knowing if theyre getting too much of anything is most easily seen in the poo.

so hows the poo look?

[Sherry]

If the stools start to become dry, then yes, they are getting too much. It can become constipating. Any way you can feed separately?

[Deleted]

You can always have too much of anything. The balance should be about 75-80% muscle meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ. You can add some fiber too, but no more than 5%.

I'd look into feeding them separately.

[Deleted]

Calcium & percentages

I keep searching and haven't yet found the true scientific muscle/bone/fat/organ percentages that so often get posted as necessary when feeding natural diets to ferrets.

All too often the fats and indigestible parts of whole prey are left out of these percentages. Think about how prey animals differ in their fat, muscle, fur content throughout the seasons and it's easy to see these percentages will vary quite a bit.

Fur, feathers, teeth, claws & bone condyls are indigestible but play a large role in keeping the intestinal tract clear of obstructions as well as protecting it against chewed bone shards. The fur and feathers will literally entwine the shards into a rope like form and then get expelled in a neat practically odorless scat. This is the "fiber" of the carnivore's diet.

When we substitute raw for whole prey the ferret loses this natural fiber soft scrub of the intestines, yet they still will eagerly eat the bones of the raw foods.

So far I haven't seen any issues when my ferrets get more raw than whole prey as far as irritated innards goes.

But then again I offer free choice lard licks and this keeps them "well oiled" internally.

Calcium needs phosphorous in proper ratios for dietary benefits.
Usually 2:1. This site offers this info on Ca:P ratio for raw chicken wings: Raw Meaty Bones For Pets: Raw Chicken Wings
www.primalpetfoods.com/product/detail/c/10/id/29

Meats tend to be high in phosphorous, while calcium is mostly in the bone. So unless the ferret is eating nothing but bone it's not likely a raw diet will be offering MORE calcium than the ferret needs. If anything it's most likely that the calcium to phosphorous ratio is inverted and very unbalanced.

Pulverized eggshells, cuttlefish bone, can help offer more calcium to the raw diet with little worry of putting too much calcium in the diet.

If you are seeing constipated ferrets then they need more moisture content in their diet so offer more meat. But keep in mind that a scat really shouldn't be very moist. A scat from a whole prey (mouse) meal is quite dry. The colon's job is to remove moisture from the feces in order to help keep the body hydrated.

Scats from raw meals tend to be very moist just because the meat to bone ratio is much higher as well as lacking the soft scrub fibers of fur.

If the ferret is chomping on bones then he likely NEEDS more calcium and or other minerals found within the bones.

Or he may be after the fat rich marrow. Offer a lard lick and see if his bone chewing subsides.

Let him chomp the bones but be sure to offer him plenty of edible bone like wing tips, chicken backs, necks or Cornish Game hen.

Their systems will tell them when to level off. As long as we offer the variety and types they can digest the dietary ratios and percentages will take care of themselves.

Cheers,
Kim



Calcium & percentages

I keep searching and haven't yet found the true scientific muscle/bone/fat/organ percentages that so often get posted as necessary when feeding natural diets to ferrets.

All too often the fats and indigestible parts of whole prey are left out of these percentages. Think about how prey animals differ in their fat, muscle, fur content throughout the seasons and it's easy to see these percentages will vary quite a bit.

Fur, feathers, teeth, claws & bone condyls are indigestible but play a large role in keeping the intestinal tract clear of obstructions as well as protecting it against chewed bone shards. The fur and feathers will literally entwine the shards into a rope like form and then get expelled in a neat practically odorless scat. This is the "fiber" of the carnivore's diet.

When we substitute raw for whole prey the ferret loses this natural fiber soft scrub of the intestines, yet they still will eagerly eat the bones of the raw foods.

So far I haven't seen any issues when my ferrets get more raw than whole prey as far as irritated innards goes.

But then again I offer free choice lard licks and this keeps them "well oiled" internally.

Calcium needs phosphorous in proper ratios for dietary benefits.
Usually 2:1. This site offers this info on Ca:P ratio for raw chicken wings: Raw Meaty Bones For Pets: Raw Chicken Wings
www.primalpetfoods.com/product/detail/c/10/id/29

Meats tend to be high in phosphorous, while calcium is mostly in the bone. So unless the ferret is eating nothing but bone it's not likely a raw diet will be offering MORE calcium than the ferret needs. If anything it's most likely that the calcium to phosphorous ratio is inverted and very unbalanced.

Pulverized eggshells, cuttlefish bone, can help offer more calcium to the raw diet with little worry of putting too much calcium in the diet.

If you are seeing constipated ferrets then they need more moisture content in their diet so offer more meat. But keep in mind that a scat really shouldn't be very moist. A scat from a whole prey (mouse) meal is quite dry. The colon's job is to remove moisture from the feces in order to help keep the body hydrated.

Scats from raw meals tend to be very moist just because the meat to bone ratio is much higher as well as lacking the soft scrub fibers of fur.

If the ferret is chomping on bones then he likely NEEDS more calcium and or other minerals found within the bones.

Or he may be after the fat rich marrow. Offer a lard lick and see if his bone chewing subsides.

Let him chomp the bones but be sure to offer him plenty of edible bone like wing tips, chicken backs, necks or Cornish Game hen.

Their systems will tell them when to level off. As long as we offer the variety and types they can digest the dietary ratios and percentages will take care of themselves.

Cheers,
Kim
Calcium & percentages

I keep searching and haven't yet found the true scientific muscle/bone/fat/organ percentages that so often get posted as necessary when feeding natural diets to ferrets.

All too often the fats and indigestible parts of whole prey are left out of these percentages. Think about how prey animals differ in their fat, muscle, fur content throughout the seasons and it's easy to see these percentages will vary quite a bit.

Fur, feathers, teeth, claws & bone condyls are indigestible but play a large role in keeping the intestinal tract clear of obstructions as well as protecting it against chewed bone shards. The fur and feathers will literally entwine the shards into a rope like form and then get expelled in a neat practically odorless scat. This is the "fiber" of the carnivore's diet.

When we substitute raw for whole prey the ferret loses this natural fiber soft scrub of the intestines, yet they still will eagerly eat the bones of the raw foods.

So far I haven't seen any issues when my ferrets get more raw than whole prey as far as irritated innards goes.

But then again I offer free choice lard licks and this keeps them "well oiled" internally.

Calcium needs phosphorous in proper ratios for dietary benefits.
Usually 2:1. This site offers this info on Ca:P ratio for raw chicken wings: Raw Meaty Bones For Pets: Raw Chicken Wings
www.primalpetfoods.com/product/detail/c/10/id/29

Meats tend to be high in phosphorous, while calcium is mostly in the bone. So unless the ferret is eating nothing but bone it's not likely a raw diet will be offering MORE calcium than the ferret needs. If anything it's most likely that the calcium to phosphorous ratio is inverted and very unbalanced.

Pulverized eggshells, cuttlefish bone, can help offer more calcium to the raw diet with little worry of putting too much calcium in the diet.

If you are seeing constipated ferrets then they need more moisture content in their diet so offer more meat. But keep in mind that a scat really shouldn't be very moist. A scat from a whole prey (mouse) meal is quite dry. The colon's job is to remove moisture from the feces in order to help keep the body hydrated.

Scats from raw meals tend to be very moist just because the meat to bone ratio is much higher as well as lacking the soft scrub fibers of fur.

If the ferret is chomping on bones then he likely NEEDS more calcium and or other minerals found within the bones.

Or he may be after the fat rich marrow. Offer a lard lick and see if his bone chewing subsides.

Let him chomp the bones but be sure to offer him plenty of edible bone like wing tips, chicken backs, necks or Cornish Game hen.

Their systems will tell them when to level off. As long as we offer the variety and types they can digest the dietary ratios and percentages will take care of themselves.

Cheers,
Kim

[whipple]

I have, in the past, offered tons of bone in meals and my ferrets would end up leaving the bones alone if they didn't want it. Even now I find pats of eaten bones when I put in the next meal. They just ignore what they don't want. I watch their poo, I mean I have to since I'm cleaning litter daily. And as long as everything seems fine, then its all good. If something was off then I would adjust, but so far I have not once had an issue with too much bone. Although it could happen to someone else. Like too many treats, it can be fixed, just don't feed as much. We learn as we go.