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Post by melcab on Aug 4, 2011 7:34:20 GMT -5
I've had to cut their portions in half lately, but last night it was nice and cool and there was no food in sight when I got up this morning. It took them from dinner time til this am (or at least after I went to bed because there was still food left in the dish before I went up) to finish it. There's one more drummette left from the CGH then I think I'm going to give them some pork because I can get that from the grocery store right near my house. My daughter has a stomach bug, making it difficult to get to the meat market this week. I still have some livers and some hearts so I can stall for a few days. I want to add one more protein too (don't ask me what yet) as well as a couple more organs and then we'll be ready to graduate! Time flying by as it has been it might take a couple of weeks. One question, are gizzards considered an organ or muscle meat? Cuz I can get those by the pound too and someone said (I think it was you, actually) that ferrets generally love gizzards.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2011 12:56:59 GMT -5
They're muscle meats (my guys just had some for dinner last night, LOL). With them, though, they are more likely to cause loose stools because of the higher amounts of trace minerals (when compared to other muscle meats), so make sure not to overfeed at meals. They do, in fact, *usually* adore them. I've never had a problem introducing them before, so hopefully it'll go over well with your guys I'm so sorry your daughter is sick. Best wishes for a swift recovery
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Post by melcab on Aug 5, 2011 12:02:04 GMT -5
Thanks. The real problem is that once one kid gets sick, then it moves through the family and it takes a month to get rid of! It's easier to deal with when only one person is sick at a time, but it takes forever to get it over with! Hopefully this time we won't all get it. We've already had to postpone my son's 5th and my bday party til this weekend from last! Hopefully will get to the market today. Busy weekend (as usual)
Thanks for the heads up about the gizzards or I'd be on here afterwards going "now what?!" lol So I should feed gizzards WITH a meal and not as a meal in themselves then? They just finished the CGH I had. I gave them some liver this am which they polished off quickly. Pork will probably be next, as I said.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2011 21:06:28 GMT -5
I often feed gizzards with a high concentration of bone (necks, mostly) because the two tend to balance each other out, but you can (and I have) feed solo, I just wouldn't give them a lot, especially until you see how their bodies react.
(also, I realize I failed to answer your organ amount question. Checking in with other mentors they say that basically you'll need 2 oz liver and 2 oz of another organ per ferret per week to fit the ratio. That amount is dependent on how well the ferret's body). handles organ, some may need a bit less.
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Post by melcab on Aug 12, 2011 7:02:57 GMT -5
Well, I finally gave them kidney last night and this morning the bowl was empty! OM NOM NOM! I guess next week I'll do half liver half kidney for the organ meal. I have gizzards, but haven't given it to them yet. What indicates a ferret's body handling organs well? I found tarry poops after they ate the kidney, but nothing that seems strange considering. What would a "too much organ" poop look like? I guess I'm almost ready for a menu. This week I have a whole, skinned rabbit, minus the head and organs. That should be finished by this weekend. Then liver and kidney for one meal. Then hearts. After that I will go to CGH, some pork chunks when that is gone, then organs and hearts. I want to add in a couple more proteins too once I get these three really established. The market I found has duck, quail, (those two appear to be more expensive, so I might save them as an occasional) goat, lamb and various organs and parts that I don't eat. (like pig ears and chicken feet, bull testicles, etc. Are intestines ok to feed? I can get those too.) You probably want a more specific menu though, huh? Like a day by day?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2011 13:57:23 GMT -5
Generally, you'll see *stinky*, tarry poops, and that indicates they're getting too much. They'll be a bit more chronic, as the body's trying to get rid of the excess vit.s and minerals. If you do, just start cutting back until you see the poos get better (but I don't those poos, now, are the result of too much. It generally takes quite a while for the toxicity to build up in them. It's probably just because of the boneless food). It sounds like your on a roll! As for intestines, you CAN feed if the ferrets are up for it. Most aren't, but most don't immediately love organ either, and yours do! So it's worth a shot ;D As for the menu - yes. we want the details! In a format similar to this: Sunday: meal 1 meal 2 Monday: meal 1 meal 2 Tues: meal 1 meal 2 Weds.: meal 1 meal 2 Thurs.: meal 1 meal 2 Friday: meal 1 meal 2 Sat.: meal 1 meal 2 List by protein type and bone-in/boneless/organ. Then you can just list after the foods that are not staples but are still going to be incorporated (estimated frequency is good too, LOL). When you're ready and post that, I'll send it off to Heather for a review!
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Post by melcab on Aug 13, 2011 6:51:10 GMT -5
Okay. I do see stinky tarry poops after only one meal of kidney. Does that mean I shouldn't give just organs as a meal? Should I just include a couple of chunks in a regular bone in meal and call it organs? Or if it goes back to normal after a bone in meal or two is it fine? Also if I graduate, will this thread be closed? Where should other questions be posted if I have them? Or should I not graduate until I stop having questions quite so often? LOL I'm rambling.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2011 11:58:45 GMT -5
You can give organ mixed in with another meal (bone in) or mixed with pumpkin/squash if they'll take it, to bulk up those poos. Unfortunately, kidney is a stinkier meal, so that will have an effect on the poo, but if they have chronic bad poos or seem otherwise ill (dealing with vitamin toxicity) then I'd cut back on either 1) the amount you're feeding at each organ meal or 2) the frequency (a meal every 2 weeks) and see if their poos do better. I don't really think that's what's going on here, only because you JUST started feeding organ. As far as graduation, you need to be comfortable with where you and your guys are at, and with your ability to create their diet. That being said, it's pefectly normal to still have questions after graduation! After about a week after you're graduated this thread will be shut down, but you can always refer to it, AND you can always pm me with any questions or concerns you have about your guys and their diet
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Post by melcab on Aug 14, 2011 16:54:04 GMT -5
Okay so here is a preliminary menu: Sunday: meal 1: CGH quarter, with 2 teaspoons of babyfood squash mixed with a bit of chicken babyfood meal 2: chicken hearts
Monday: meal 1: CGH quarter with squash and chicken babyfood meal 2: chicken liver and pork kidney
Tues: meal 1: CGH quarter with squash and ch bbfood meal 2: pork chunks
Weds.: meal 1: CGH quarter w/sq bbfood mixture meal 2: chicken hearts
Thurs.: meal 1: pork chunks meal 2: pork chunks
Friday: meal 1: 1/6th of a 1lb (?) rabbit (I get frozen, skinned rabbits that I chop up into about 6 meals or more. Not sure how much they weigh ATM) w/ bbfood mixture meal 2: rabbit
Sat.: meal 1: rabbit w/bbfood mix meal 2: rabbit
They also eat chicken drummettes, which in this scenario might be rotated into the following week after the rabbit is finished. I plan on incorporating some quail, duck, lamb and goat into this menu in a week or two. What do you think?
I haven't actually been alternating the organs with the bone-in the past couple of weeks. What I've been doing is adding the organs and hearts meals after a whole animal is finished. Not alternating between bone-in and organs because I can only get the rabbit and the CGH frozen so once they are thawed they need to be eaten before they go bad, naturally. How do you deal with this issue? If it's vitally important I can do the alternating, but I'm concerned about the thawed meat going bad before it can be served, especially the rabbit since it makes 6 or more meals.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2011 17:04:52 GMT -5
I get cgh and portion it then refreeze, as well as with all my hare today orders and other goodies I pick up. BUT the meat will stay good for about three days in the fridge (longer if you can saw off a meal's portion to thaw in the sink, and then put the rest of the still frozen cgh in the fridge to unthaw that way), so you can do alternating meals for up to three days and be fine. I think that would work best, so that your guys don't get an overload of same type of meat.
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Post by melcab on Aug 14, 2011 18:16:59 GMT -5
I didn't think you could thaw a meat and then refreeze it again (healthily that is. don't know where that thought came from though) I think the duck is frozen at this market too as well as the quail (it's not whole but it's parts frozen together in a big, quail brick ) Luckily the chicken "parts" are not frozen, so I take them, spread them out on a cookie sheet in the freezer, then put them in freezer ziplock bags after they are frozen so they don't stick together and I can portion them out easily.
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Post by melcab on Aug 14, 2011 18:36:08 GMT -5
So apparently it IS safe to refreeze thawed, raw meat. I looked it up out of curiosity This means I'll have no problem alternating. I just have to thaw the rabbit and the CGH (and any other frozen meats I get) portion them out and refreeze in single meals. Yay *\o/* Also, my guys do appear to do better on CGH and rabbit than chicken wings and they seem to love pork. Hopefully they will like the other meats I plan to try too and then we'll have 6 or 7 different proteins. (7 with beef)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2011 17:03:14 GMT -5
You generally only run into issues with refreezing when you thaw, freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw ... over and over again. THEN you lose the majority of the nutrients in the meat. Anything else, your safe (well, besides having it sit in the freezer for very long periods of time. That degrades the meat, as well).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 19:13:49 GMT -5
okay, so maybe rearrange the menu, now, that you know can refreeze the different meats? At that point, I'll send it to Heather to look over and that'll be one thing off of the checklist. Won't mean you're graduated, but just a step closer
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Post by melcab on Aug 20, 2011 15:42:30 GMT -5
So I'm still working on getting that schedule to work right lol. Not sure why it's such a problem for me. Maybe I just sort of ended up practicing a mistake so now it's a habit I need to break. I got used to feeding the CGH til it was gone then feeding hearts and organs in between then switching to the rabbit, etc. But tomorrow's Sunday so I'll take my menu and put it right on the fridge so I can see it and refer to it. As it is written out does it look good though?
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