|
Post by Sherry on Mar 8, 2012 10:34:23 GMT -5
Right- it's storage that's the problem Still haven't finished my first coffee of the day yet ;D I don't know if this is feasible for you, but you may want to look at a small chest freezer. Not sure where you'd get one there, but here I'd be looking at kijiji or craig's list. Beef ribs would, unfortunately, be too dense for them to eat much of.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2012 12:27:46 GMT -5
I think that would be a good option, and will definitely be doing that soon, but unfortunately I'm house in about 2 months time and literally have no where to put a chest freezer until then, so I'll need a short term solution. I read on someone's raw blog online, who was feeding her ferrets raw and whole, but only minced, that they all got really bad plaque within a few months on their teeth, so was thinking if I fed minced chicken bone until I move and get a bigger freezer then this might lead to the same problem. And they have gone off most of the chicken altogether methinks. What about mincing pork or lamb bones? I know they will be too big for them to eat normally, but if I bash them up into little pieces or mince them, would that be okay? I could get some bone heavy pork or lamb chops them, and cut off a lot of the fat and meat and use it for boneless days? Or would that be no good?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 9, 2012 13:44:00 GMT -5
One solution for bone would be bone meal mixed in to their meats. If you have a butcher where you are you might be able to get it there. And you may also be able to get them to grind some up for you as well. I'm really curious about the other person's ferrets and the plaque. It shouldn't have happened that quickly just on the mince. If you have a grinder and can make the bits small enough then yes, pork or lamb would work. Mine can eat through cleavered up lamb neck. What I'm concerned about is if the bone bits aren't small enough, and they aren't able to chew them they could get stuck in their teeth/mouth.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2012 14:03:02 GMT -5
This is the link I was looking at: www.ferretlove.co.uk/barf.htm if you scroll down to her diary entry from the 16/01/01 she talks about how they all start getting plaque very quickly. I'm going intoo work tomorrow, but I work next door to a petstore, and I'm going to pick up some cuttle-fish bone to get them some extra calcium into their systems temporarily. I don't have a grinder, but I've had a quickly look on Ebay and I can get some manual ones very cheaply. Would these work okay do you think for lamb and pork bones, or not? And if I ask a butcher to grind it up for me, should I be asking for any particular type of grinding or mincing?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 10, 2012 12:32:00 GMT -5
Of course my post disappeared into the ether Anyway- short form ;D Hand grinders are great, but likely won't do the bones in either chop. If you can get some chicken frames, or turkey necks and grind those up and just add to a muscle meat, they aren't getting much of a chicken taste(since it's only bone and not much meat). And it will be easier on you trying to grind them. With the butcher, if he can do a finer to medium grind for the heavier bones, then they won't get stuck in the mouth or teeth.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2012 17:37:50 GMT -5
Okays, I've had to get chicken bone again until Monday, the only other boned meat that the shop had was pork chops with only a teeny bit of bone in, so I've got some cuttlefish bone to grinf up and add to all their meals for the next few days. I can get to the butchers on Monday, so if I ask for any of the following, will this be okay?
Ground Beef ribs Ground turkey necks Ground pork/lamb chops with extra bone Ground rabbit, but only if I plan in extra heart on other days
I can't think of anything else with enough bone in that will have a stronger taste that chicken. Just as a guide for when I go to the butchers, roughly what percentage of the meat should be bone for the lamp/pork chops? About 60% bone? And if I can get bone meal powder, should I mash that into a mince?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 10, 2012 18:23:37 GMT -5
Those look good. And yes, the 60% will do. You can always add more/less meat depending on how their stools are. For the bone meal powder, you can add it to a mince, or sprinkle it on meat chunks.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 9:03:39 GMT -5
Apparently the massive post I put up last night has disappeared so here's the shorted version of it: I gave them the last of the chicken Sunday night and Monday morning, and chopped it up really tiny and mushed some liver into it and some crushed cuttlefish bone as well to try and get them to eat it, and then went out on Monday and went to the three butchers stores within reasonable traveling distance to inquire about bone-in mince. Two said that their machines can't mince bone, and the third said that he couldn't sell me it or any bone meal powder because he isn't licensed to because it isn't for human consumption. The other two said the same about the bone meal powder as well After trying to wheedle my way into some for ages, I gave up, and on their suggestion, bought some bone-heavy pork chops. And then spent two hours covering the kitchen in blood and bone fragments trying to chop them up with very little success The chunks are too big for the furries to be able to manage I think, so that's going to be essentially useless. After doing all of this, and get myself into an angry state, I then went out to clean them out- and lo and behold, they have perfect bone poops. Or at least, Spike and two of the girls do judging by the sizes of them (not sure which girls though). I think with the liver mixed in they were more inclined to eat the chicken. Do you think I should persevere with the chicken? I can't seem to find any other alternatives, unless I go back to order the mince from the internet again, which is costing me a small fortune as I can only order week at a time, and then have to add £8 (about $12 I think) for the postage, and stay in for a whole day, which is very difficult.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2012 10:01:16 GMT -5
If liver is what's enticing them to eat the chicken, then just cut out a straight liver meal and instead portion that amount amongst all the chicken meals instead. You can combine your other organ(s) with those meals, or feed those separately if you prefer. I guess laws vary from place to place on what they can and cannot do as far as the bone meal is concerned.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 18:35:03 GMT -5
Success! I went to visit my boyfriend in Birmingham today and in a spare hour when I was waiting I pottered around the markets for a bit, and they have a covered market with loads of meat stalls. I went up and asked if they had any bone meal, and after the butcher told me they didn't because they didn't have a bansaw, he directed me to another guy who did, and was more than happy to give me a bag full. It's kinda of gritty though, and has smallish chips of bone in, but I assume that this will be fine. So what do I do with it now? Add it to every meal, or just the ones that are supposed to be bone? Do I not give them bone at all? It might be easier to do what you said and mix the organs into every day stuff tough- what would I put in place of the organ meal- another bone one?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2012 18:45:45 GMT -5
Oh, that is fantastic!!! Make sure to keep it in the freezer as it's raw, and it will go bad. You can just pinch a bit off when you feed them, no problem. That's what I do when I need it. the texture sounds about right. If they can't eat the small bits, they'll spit them out For now, until they are reliably eating bone, yes, add a pinch to one muscle meal a day. When you are feeding organ meals(if you do wind up doing it that way), you can always add it to that as well. For the interim, if you are going to be adding 2 oz liver and 2 oz other organ split between every chicken meal over the week, then what you substitute there depends on what you have, and on how their stools are. If the stools are loose, then do bone. If not, add muscle. Not a lot of help, I know ;D The great thing about a raw diet is it can be adapted to what YOUR ferret's needs are. You'll learn over time when the stools are TOO loose, or TOO dry. For now, as long as they aren't watery, it's fall good
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 19:02:09 GMT -5
Okay, so when you say add it to "one muscle meal a day", does that mean I need to add a muscle meal to my menu every day? At the moment they have some days that are all bone, so should I change that? And also, do I add the bone meal powder to the bone days too? And how much?
I bagged up their meals for the rest of the week with the cuttlefish bone ground up, but as soon as that's up I'll trade over to the bone powder, so if I need to trade anything in or out I have plenty of time to prepare.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2012 19:04:59 GMT -5
At the moment they have some days that are all bone, so should I change that? And also, do I add the bone meal powder to the bone days too? And how much? Sorry- I misunderstood! I thought they weren't doing well with bone, since it was mainly chicken which they didn't like! If they are eating bone well on heavy bone days, then on those days let them eat the bone. If it's a bone they don't want to eat, as in the chicken, add the bone meal on THOSE days.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 19:09:23 GMT -5
No, you got it right first time ;D They've stopped doing well on the bone, and had more or less stopped eating it, I think because they don't really like the chicken, as when I fed chicken on the boneless days they didn't like that either. When I mixed in a few bits of mushed up liver they ate more of it though, and the bone included, so that's an improvement. So as all of their bone days are chicken (except the occasional mice days when I've got more money), I should add bone powder to all of their meals?
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2012 19:13:37 GMT -5
Until they are eating satisfactory amounts of the actual bone, yes. Might also be an idea to save the blood from the beef and organs to mix with the chicken as well. Might be an idea to "marinate" the meat/bone in the blood for a few hours.
|
|