Beef Heart, ground meats and other questions

[rajh08]

I bought beef heart today and was wondering if they are just as good or worse health wise next to chicken hearts. Should I worry about how much to give them?

I also bought ground beef and pork. No additives and the beef is 27% fat. I make soups for my boys and was wondering if there are any negatives to feeding them ground instead of chucks of meat or larger pieces of meat.

I also bought pork kidney. How much should I give 2 adult male ferrets? I know I should give them 2 types of organs 1x a week. Do chicken gizzards count as another organ?

Right now their soups are made out of a few chicken hearts, a couple chicken gizzards, chicken thighs without the bone, egg with shell, olive oil, pure pumpkin, raw bone powder, and water. I mix it up in our blender and put it in ice cube trays and freeze. It's not super soupy and not super thick. It's just right. I'm ready to add more to there diet.

How many cubes should I feed them each meal? At 1st they were eating 4- 5 cubes each meal. They would eat all of it within the 6 hour time period and then I would feed them another bowl at night and they would eat most of it. Now they hardly eat any of their food. I put 2 cubes in last night and I had to sit there with them and to get them started so they would eat and they didn't eat all of it. Is this normal?


Happy Valentines Day everyone and thank you for all your help

[Deleted]

Beef Heart is excellent The more variety you have in your diet the better it is. Heart counts as a muscle meat and as long as they are getting their organ you can feed as much as you want.

The only negatives to feeding ground meat are they don't get the enrichment of tearing it up and bones/tissues help to clean the teeth.

Gizzards count as a muscle meat. Liver shouldn't be too hard to find.

[rajh08]

Oh yeah, I have no issue finding liver here. I think they have beef liver at our local store right now. I just haven't bought any yet. And I can find chicken liver at Walmart for cheap.

Do you know how much they should be eating?

[Deleted]

Feb 14, 2012 12:35:35 GMT -5 @rajh08 said:

Should I worry about how much to give them?

You should be feeding about 1-2 entire meals of heart a week. I space it out between several meals though. A little extra is okay

Feb 14, 2012 12:35:35 GMT -5 @rajh08 said:

I make soups for my boys and was wondering if there are any negatives to feeding them ground instead of chucks of meat or larger pieces of meat.

Mine love ground beef soup - very yummy.
The benefits of chucks are that chewing maintains jaw strength for eating bones, and the chunks (especially gizzards and bones) do an AMAZING job at cleaning teeth and maintaining dental health.

Feb 14, 2012 12:35:35 GMT -5 @rajh08 said:

I also bought pork kidney. How much should I give 2 adult male ferrets? I know I should give them 2 types of organs 1x a week.

Liver should comprise 5% of the entire diet. Any other organs should be 5%. It usually works out to about 2 oz liver a week, 2 oz kidney.

Feb 14, 2012 12:35:35 GMT -5 @rajh08 said:

Do chicken gizzards count as another organ?

Gizzards are a muscle meat Organs are liver, kidney, brain, lung, thymus, reproductive organs, spleen, etc.

Feb 14, 2012 12:35:35 GMT -5 @rajh08 said:

How many cubes should I feed them each meal? At 1st they were eating 4- 5 cubes each meal. They would eat all of it within the 6 hour time period and then I would feed them another bowl at night and they would eat most of it.

Feed them as much as they will eat. They will go through a period of "EAT EAT EAT" at the beginning of the switch. They will eat you out of house and home. AFter about a month, this slows down and they start to regulate it out.

Feb 14, 2012 12:35:35 GMT -5 @rajh08 said:

I put 2 cubes in last night and I had to sit there with them and to get them started so they would eat and they didn't eat all of it. Is this normal?

Some times ferrets just aren't hungry. Mine occassionally skip a meal. I always have food in the cage, so they snack when they want to.

Hope that answered some of your questions! If you need any extra assistance, feel free to apply for a mentor

[rajh08]

^^^^ Thank you Jackie