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Post by corrij on Sept 22, 2011 13:19:08 GMT -5
Ok. We can now get beef hearts. I can't find the post in the thread but you mentioned they are dense and a suggested weekly amount?
Organ wise we can get livers (chicken, pork, and beef) easy. And we can get giblets. Are we still needing to hunt for another organ?
We also had a small concern about fish. When Cyrano eats it he makes a coughing hiccup type sound. He's the only one who does this. Is he just eating to fast or should we keep fish away from him?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 13:33:01 GMT -5
While the local Whole Foods does not stock beef heart (it didn't sell well when they did) the manager of whole meats ordered me a 10lb case ( two hearts) and told me that if we keep them in freezer bags it should be viable for up to 3mos. And it's only $3/lb so I think it's pretty reasonable. That's great! I'm glad you've finally got a heart source. I'm also in the market for a grinder to start making my own grind mixes. I have been toying with percentages. I have ready access to chicken, chicken liver, turkey, beef heart, pork, trout, venison heart, venison liver, venison kidney, and venison. I have been told that the grinder my step father has will grind bone that isn't weight bearing. So I think I can add spine, wing and thigh bone to the grind, and I was considering leg bone from the turkey and chicken broken in half and stuck into the grind like a garnish that way they get to gnaw still. So before investing in a grinder, I would buy some ground beef/turkey/pork etc and see how they handle the ground meats. Some ferrets are NOT fond of ground meats. Others (especially lazy ones) love the stuff. Ok. We can now get beef hearts. I can't find the post in the thread but you mentioned they are dense and a suggested weekly amount? As for amounts, it depends on how much the ferret eats. To be safe, I would feed 1 meal (so like Monday AM meal) of only heart meat. Then add some heart into the organ days, throw in a couple pieces on other boneless days etc. You canont really give too much heart, but expect dark (and maybe stinky) stools. It counts as a boneless muscle meat. I wouldn't feed more than 2 whole meals of heart a week per ferret. Organ wise we can get livers (chicken, pork, and beef) easy. And we can get giblets. Are we still needing to hunt for another organ? So you're set on the liver. Giblets unfortunately aren't "organs" - they're muscle meat like heart or beef. You mentioned that you have access to deer organs - when will that happen? Ideally you'd want at least 2 organs, 1 which is liver and another like kidney, spleen, pancreas, brain, reproductive organs, etc. If you don't have access to any other those at the moment, you can instead double the liver (so 10% of diet is liver instead of 5%) until you can get another organ. We also had a small concern about fish. When Cyrano eats it he makes a coughing hiccup type sound. He's the only one who does this. Is he just eating to fast or should we keep fish away from him? Does the fish have bones it in? It's likely he's just eating too fast. Mine will do it occasionally. Are his stools okay on fish? Any excessive itchiness after eating it?
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Post by corrij on Sept 22, 2011 13:43:03 GMT -5
The fish does have bones and fins. No extra itching or strange stools after he eats. He is the biggest and seems to always get first eats on food. The cough/hiccup doesn't last long. Seems to happen while he's eating and for a little bit after.
Deer meat is dependent on hunting season starting and if my step father in law can bag a deer (in the two years I've known him he's gotten one each year).
We'll buy some ground this weekend and see how they like it. I'll keep my eyes out for organs. When we pick up the hearts I'll ask if they can special order kidneys or anything else.
We're still working on getting them to eat organs that haven't been blended with chicken. I'm not sure how they will take to the heart.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 13:50:27 GMT -5
The cough is probably just the scales and small bones irritating his throat (maybe from eating too fast and not chewing it up enough). I wouldn't be too worried about it. Well hopefully your step father bags a big one! Good luck I would try the heart in chunks (maybe long 2-3 inch slivers instead of cubes) and see if it goes well. You can also gently scruff N stuff the heart to get them to chew it and see if that helps them.
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Post by corrij on Sept 22, 2011 13:56:09 GMT -5
Ok will try with the hearts :-) and glad to know about Cyrano. There are so many little things we don't know yet.
Oh and pork this week went just fine. No odd poops. I'm wondering if there might have been too much new variety last time and that upset tummies.
How are shrimp and other shellfish for ferrets? Every so often the store puts whole, unshelled, uncooked shrimp on for a good price.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 14:08:22 GMT -5
Shrimp would be fine (though like fish it'd probably be best in moderation - once a week type thing). General rule - as long as it's not seasoned, salted, smoked, etc. Any raw meat is just fine
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Post by corrij on Sept 22, 2011 14:10:01 GMT -5
Ok. We'll try the beef heart tomorrow and once we see how that goes over I'll put up a meal plan this weekend for review?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 14:23:17 GMT -5
Sounds good Did I read somewhere that you got another ferret? (I could be completely mistaken though )
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Post by cubsfanhaynes on Sept 22, 2011 19:10:38 GMT -5
Yes his name is Kvothe. I bought him almost literally out of the hands of the man delivering him to PETCO. He has had all of one kibble meal that was mixed with a tuna jerky cat treat (natural of course) and he is already on raw. He's had a chicken mush, organ mush, and had munched a healthy chunk of chicken wing when I left for work today.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 19:18:32 GMT -5
Wow ;D what a natural Congrats on the ferret math
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Post by corrij on Sept 22, 2011 19:51:12 GMT -5
I'm working on a picture post now that I am home. ^.^
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Post by corrij on Sept 23, 2011 12:05:29 GMT -5
Ok got the beef hearts, not a lot of liking of them on their own so I'm going to do the same as with the livers and mix with a bit of chicken breast and slowly decrease the amount of chicken. We bought calf livers this trip for something different then chicken.
Anyways here is our weekly menu to be looked over.
Ferret weekly meal plan Sunday – Morning Meal: Skinless chicken quarter | Evening Meal: Turkey leg Monday – Morning Meal: Beef heart | Evening Meal: 2 Chicken wings Tuesday – Morning Meal: livers mixed with ¼ chicken breast (Will be only liver when we can wean them from the mush) | Evening Meal: Weekly Meat* Wednesday – Morning Meal: Skinless chicken quarter | Evening Meal: Fish Thursday – Morning Meal: Frozen Cornish hen | Evening Meal: Frozen Cornish hen Friday – Morning Meal: Chicken back and ribs (mostly bone some meat attached) | Evening Meal: Chicken breast Saturday– Morning Meal: Livers mixed with ¼ chicken breast** | Evening Meal: Weekly Meat
*Weekly meat is pork, beef, or some other non-poultry that is on sale when we go shopping (venison during hunting season) ** When we find a second organ source we’ll replace the second liver meal
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2011 12:21:41 GMT -5
Just to clarify before I send it in:
The fish has bones, yes?
About the chicken quarter and turkey legs - how much of the bone are they eating from it? Is there a lot of bone left over?
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Post by corrij on Sept 23, 2011 13:26:05 GMT -5
The fish has bones, no head and no innards. With the quarters they always eat about an inch in from either end of the two bone pieces, and sometimes the whole thing, other times just the ends. With the turkey leg they eat the tips and chew on the rest but it's a little hard for them even when we break it up.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2011 14:19:59 GMT -5
Okay so I'll count the quarters as bone in and turkey legs as boneless.
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