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Post by eirah on Oct 9, 2011 1:51:12 GMT -5
After looking though some of the mentor forums over the past week, I had started my 3 little ones on a raw soupie made of chicken, chicken liver, and powered eggshell.
The first day, my youngest ferret Boo(5 months) Had some chicken chunks without much fuss. No one else would bite so I decided I would just start them all on soupies. I had to put it in every ones faces for them to try it. They ate it, but weren't going back for more. She second day, I took the kibble out of their cage for a bit. It was about the same, apart from eating more of it.
Today I didn't have the time to remove the food for a while, but they stayed and continued eating out of a spoon for minutes at a time. They aren't going towards the food and eating it on there own yet but they seem to think its not so bad after all. Tonight i'll remove there food before going to bed and give them some more soupie in the morning. Very happy with their progress so far.
Question:
I'm having trouble finding any organs other then liver. What other organs should I feed.? I think I saw chicken giblets at the supermarket but I need to double check next time I go. Might have just been gizzard.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2011 2:03:27 GMT -5
Do you have an ethnic market near-by? My local Asian market is an amazing organ source, I can find beef liver, pork kidney, liver, brains, and spleen, and chicken and duck livers as well. With the organs, I feed half liver, half of a mix of the other ones depending on what I can find, and although the "others" I can find are almost always pork, I switch up the liver source frequently. Hearts and gizzards don't count towards the organ meats since they're muscle, but heart is a great source of taurine and my kids love how chewy gizzards are, so they're great additions to the muscle portion of the diet  . |
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Post by eirah on Oct 9, 2011 2:10:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. As for ethnic markets, that's a no. None in the entire city. I think there are only 2 other butcher shops here also. so I'm a little worried I won't be able to supply a well balanced diet.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2011 3:28:24 GMT -5
I think the hardest part is finding good meat sources, I know some people use mail-order and online services to have things they can't find shipped in, some people feed whole prey since it's already perfectly balanced, some people travel to stock up for a few months at a time...I'm sure other members will chime in with how they get around that problem. Have you signed up for a mentor? Once you find a way to get good sources for your food and a mentor helps you figure out a balanced feeding schedule, the rest practically takes care of itself |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 9, 2011 9:08:40 GMT -5
That's fantastic that they are taking to the soupie so quickly!!!! As for organs- do you have small, privately owned pet stores in your city? I mean those that aren't the big brand name ones. Take a look through your yellow pages. Those ones will frequently have things like dried lung you can give as treats to supplement  Also, talk to the butcher's. They may be able to get things like brain, lung, or spleen for you as "cast off" meats. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2011 10:40:59 GMT -5
Another resource here is the local meat lockers (I don't know how Canada does it but...) The local meat lockers in the smaller towns around here process the farmers pigs/chickens/cows and hunted animals like deer. Most people don't like to eat the 'other meats' so they go in a toss bin. That's how I got a lot of beef tongue (for myself, yummmm) when my Mom had her cows processed, no one wants 'em. By law they can't sell those meats but they may be able to have you work with the animal owner to include those cast-offs in the processing order and you pay the processing cost (generally by the pound.) We also have donation programs where hunters donate the deer to be processed for the needy. You might be able to get the cast-offs for free even since it's for animal consumption? Depends on the owners I think, we know the owners of the meat locker my Mom uses so it works out well Hope this helps! ~Kelli |
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Post by Sherry on Oct 9, 2011 14:10:51 GMT -5
Also, for the interim, you can feed liver, keep an eye out for the other organs and pick them up when you can, portion and freeze. Just feed either a smaller amount weekly, or give it once a month or something like that.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2011 14:14:13 GMT -5
You can buy whole chickens that have organs and all! good luck! i am hopefully starting the switching process soon. i REALLY want my babies to get nice and bulky. i must be patient! haha good luck! again, whole chickens are great, i heard, for organs.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 9, 2011 14:17:46 GMT -5
Unfortunately, you only get the liver with those, which she can already get.
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Post by eirah on Oct 9, 2011 20:20:31 GMT -5
Thanks for the help. I don't know of any meat lockers here. I'll have to look into that.
The pet stores don't have anything. They are all chains.
I spoke to my sister today, and she says she knows a guy who should be able to give me the cow organs from his cows. So I really hope that works out. Fingers crossed! If it works out, what parts should I ask for?
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Post by Sherry on Oct 9, 2011 20:57:27 GMT -5
Heart, liver, kidney, spleen, brain, basically any organ parts he doesn't want! Organ meats are described as any part of the body that secretes. Those Include the above as well as reproductive organs, thymus, pituitary(very tiny), lung, stomach(tripe), intestines(washed out). Basically anything, as I said, that he doesn't want or use getting your ferrets to eat all that may be another matter ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2011 14:08:13 GMT -5
Unless the guy your sister knows processes his own cattle, he would know what meat lockers to send you to.
Good Luck!
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