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Post by jadewolf on Feb 9, 2012 23:34:45 GMT -5
Yeah, frozen would've been better. The boys also say, soup rather than strips of straight liver would've been better, but the liver was thawed and the soup was frozen. They've eaten about 1/2 to 2/3 of the liver, though, and I gave them more than 1/3 of a cup, their standard meal size. So pretty good, all things considered.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 10, 2012 0:15:02 GMT -5
Considering they only need 2oz of liver a week each, that's excellent!!!
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 10, 2012 20:52:00 GMT -5
Heh, yeah, I should really weigh the liver so I have a visual of how much is 2 oz liver. I'll do that next time.
They're now on to turkey wings. I think Snorri believes I should hand feed him the bone-in. I finally hand fed him two pieces today about 4 hours after the bowl of turkey went in, then told him to work it out for himself. He just stared at me pathetically. I heard Dominique chewing on a piece behind the couch already, so apparently no hunger strike for him.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 10, 2012 20:59:34 GMT -5
He just stared at me pathetically. They are so very, very good at that ;D
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 12, 2012 19:45:22 GMT -5
Took about a day, but they ate a decent quantity of turkey, I'd estimate 1/3 cup a day for the 2nd and 3rd days. I fed the turkey for an extra meal because they took a while to warm up to it.
So last week's menu as it got fed: Mon AM pork Mon PM through Weds AM chicken wings Weds PM: Ground beef Thur AM: liver Thur PM: 2 chicken hearts and last of the chicken wings Fri AM through Sat PM: turkey wings Sun AM: chicken hearts (they gobbled them up!) Sun PM: pork
It ended up with an extra bone in meal, but since they'd been on hunger strike for the first day of each bone in meat, I wanted to extend the time their only option was to eat some bone in. They seem to be ingesting much more actual bone, I find fewer pieces around. That or they're hiding them better.
So next week, I think I'll group the bone in completely together, with liver in the middle, unless having all their muscle meals together would cause digestive problems.
It occurs to me we'll also be away this weekend, so I need to ask our ferret sitters if they're okay feeding them raw. I know they aren't completely opposed to the idea, but it might not be their idea of fun to find meat behind the sofa. If I arrange it right, though, they can just feed ground beef, which is hard to carry off to stash, and also so delicious they just eat it. They could probably even just put the ground beef in the cage only, as at their house they cage them after playtime and overnight.
Monday AM-Tues PM: turkey or chicken wings Weds AM: lamb liver and pork kidney Weds PM- Fri AM: whichever bone in poultry they didn't have Mon-Tues Fri PM- Sun AM: ground beef Sun PM: chicken hearts
I'd rather have an additional protein like pork or lamb instead of some of that ground beef, but since they'll be at the sitters I want to keep it simple and non-stashable.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 12, 2012 20:45:26 GMT -5
With the sitters, do whatever is most convenient That first menu is looking pretty good if they are eating most of the bone. When you get back, let's set up a permanent menu You can always switch out bone for bone and muscle for muscle, depending on what you can get hold of easily!
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 16, 2012 23:29:40 GMT -5
I have a genius thought, I'll send them to the sitter's with Stella and Chewy's freeze dried lamb. No mess, and they love it. Silly me to forget I have that. I bought it to give to Minnie as treats to tempt her to eat more. She loved the free sample, but after I bought the bag she changed her tiny mind. Have a good weekend!
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Post by Sherry on Feb 16, 2012 23:51:14 GMT -5
That is a great idea ;D ! Do what works best, and freeze Dried raw is great for comvenience.
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 22, 2012 14:34:52 GMT -5
Hi Sherry. The ferrets had a great weekend stuffing their faces on freeze dried raw. For this week I went with the same general menu as last week. They were champs eating the bone in chicken. What do you think of that last week's menu as the standing menu?
Monday AM-Tues PM: turkey or chicken wings or neck Weds AM: liver and kidney, and any other organs I find Weds PM- Fri AM: whichever bone in poultry they didn't have Mon-Tues Fri PM- Sun AM: muscle meat, some mix of lamb, pork, and beef Sun PM: chicken hearts or beef heart
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Post by Sherry on Feb 22, 2012 15:04:52 GMT -5
Only possible glitch I could see is how much of the actual bone in the turkey wings are they eating now? I'm sure you told me, but too lazy to look through, ;D
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 24, 2012 14:49:43 GMT -5
It seems like they're eating roughly 2-3 tablespoons of actual bones, not counting meat, a day. So about the size of the middle bones in a chicken wing. That's both ferrets together, and I don't know how it splits. Stools are looking good, though. This week they're getting turkey neck, I'm watching to see how the bone intake goes. They got about 2 or 2.5 vertebra from the top part of the neck this morning, well whacked with the cleaver.
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 26, 2012 23:08:40 GMT -5
They aren't wild about the turkey neck, but appear to have ingested roughly one small vertebra each, or hidden them very well.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 26, 2012 23:16:36 GMT -5
Okay, I'm going to pass this on to Heather and get her opinion How comfortable are you with substituting different meats if you come across them on sale?
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Post by jadewolf on Feb 27, 2012 10:34:11 GMT -5
I think i'm fine with substituting.
Basically the bone in days can be any combo of chicken, turkey, duck or lamb necks, poultry wings, any part of a cornish hen except maybe leg bones, and rabbit non-weight-bearing bones.
And the muscle meat is any meat; pork, beef, lamb I know they eat.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 27, 2012 11:00:18 GMT -5
Sounds good
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