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Post by joeynjuno on Oct 22, 2011 15:58:36 GMT -5
I'm swapping my ferrets from kibble to raw. Just wondering, the chicken mince I buy is minced frames, so has bone mixed in. Is that suitable as the bone source? I've tried feeding them full bones, and they won't eat them. Although, they do eat mice, they get them every 2-3 days, if I fed mice more often, would that be enough?
I'd also like some opinions on what I'm feeding them. Daily they get raw chicken mince, and raw chicken liver. As well as a mouse(normally a young adult, sometimes they get pinkies, othertimes adult, I breed them myself) every couple of days, raw egg every few days and mealworms every now and then.
I'm thinking of adding heart to the mix next time I buy food, although the shop only sells beef heart- is that ok? Maybe kidney too.
Suggestions? Anything I'm doing wrong?
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Post by Heather on Oct 22, 2011 16:10:25 GMT -5
You've got a good start. Basically, you need a minimum of 3 protein sources (more is desirable), an organ meal, and a heart meal or start adding taurine to your mix (personally I prefer natural to synthetic but that's just me). Your chicken bone mince can be used as a bone base but I would try and get them to eat whole bone if you can (much better to clean their teeth and offers good exercise for jaws and neck). If you feed mice...have you tried rabbits, rats, guinea pigs or hamsters (are just a few prey animals that come to mind). Baby animals, pinkies and such are good treats but don't hold much nutritional value.
Check out some of the graduated threads in the mentoring section. If you go to the end of the thread you will see each student has had to post a week/2 week's menu to show they do understand what is needed to feed their wee ones.
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2011 22:27:21 GMT -5
If I give mine a whole chicken wing or neck they won't touch it. They much prefer it coarsely chopped.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2011 6:32:38 GMT -5
It's not that they wont eat it, you just need to teach them to accept bone. Start with chicken wings and beat the bone with a mallet and chop it in the more manageable chunks for the first week or so you will need to crush it very finely. Once they are eating it with out a second look increase the size of the pieces. Once they accept bone it makes planning a diet easier.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 23, 2011 10:04:21 GMT -5
Here's my basic menu, to give you a better idea. Keep in mind, I also feed commercial raw as well as raw meaty bones. The commercial raw is made of either chicken, rabbit, or lamb and contains the whole animal ground up. So meat/bone/organ: Monday am: comm. raw pm: pork chunks Tues. am: comm. raw pm: turkey neck Wed. am: comm. raw pm: beef chunks Thurs am: comm. raw pm: chicken neck Fri am: comm. raw pm: turkey heart Sat am: comm. raw pm: whole prey Sun am: comm. raw pm: organ meats To modify this to obtain a good balance without using commercial grinds, you'd simply add in another 6 bone in meals, and one more muscle meat meal. Even with mine as it is, there are 6 different proteins. I also substitute other meats as they come on sale for the ones listed  |
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