|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Mar 5, 2010 10:44:55 GMT -5
This is just a generalized guideline on how much ferrets will wind up eating on a raw diet. Obviously, health, size, age, and activity level can cause it to vary. As a ferret gets into the raw diet, these amounts can be doubled for a couple of months. The same with winter appetites for a month or so. Females will eat an average of 1-3 ounces per day Males and average of 2-4 ounces per day. To give you a rough idea, one square inch of beef heart is one ounce. Something like chicken breast will be approx. 2sq inches, because it isn't as dense. Believe me, when starting out, a normal kitchen scale will be your best friend  |
|
|
|
Post by luci on Mar 5, 2010 19:05:08 GMT -5
It definitely will feel like these little buggers are going to eat you out of house and home when you first switch and for the weeks when they put on their winter weight. But they will slow down, so don't panic!
|
|
|
|
Post by msktty89 on Mar 8, 2010 17:37:52 GMT -5
I'm glad this was posted. I know I asked a lot over on FH about how much they should be getting.  |
|
odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
|
Post by odin on Mar 9, 2010 13:12:12 GMT -5
I agree. I was glad this was posted. Can we add some stuff to this? I would like either added to this or pinned up seperate a list of the percentages for a balanced meal. How much fat vs dark meat vs organ vs bone/eggshell. That way i can formulate my own recipes easier until i'm a bit more experienced. I'm so nervous to completely take my newly switched monster completely off kibble b/c i'm afraid i'm missing something that needs to be in the soupy she's eating.
Also maybe someplace to just share recipes? I would have loved a list of peoples starting soupy's they found worked. And also a weekly meal list, so once i'm off soup and shes isn't getting the organ percentage everyday i know how much to give. some people say one organ day, some say two...
|
|
|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Mar 12, 2010 0:23:35 GMT -5
Just to help set your mind at rest Odin- dietary deficiencies wouldn't cause much of a problem for several months anyway. I do know ferrets can thrive on just jars of chicken only baby food for up to about 6 months anyway! General rule of thumb is about 4 days bone in meats, 2 days muscle only meats, one meal liver, other meal whatever you want. I usually feed whole prey, or bone in to counteract the laxative effects of the liver/organ. Percentages(and by no means do they have to be precisely exact!) are 70-80% muscle meat, 10-15% bone, 10% liver and other organs. If you can't get the other organs, up the liver that week to the full 10%. The greatest thing about a raw diet is how inexact is really has to be! You can adapt it to whatever your ferret needs that week. His/her bowels are a bit loose? Add more bone! The stool is a bit dry? Add more fat/organ. It's really very malleable. There truly is no exact percentage. It varies from ferret to ferret. One of mine can have bone every day, and thrive on it. Another cannot have beef. It causes her to have extremely mucousy, reddish poops, from the dyes that are used to make it "redder". So she gets something else. Yet another needs a touch more liver/fat!  |
|
|
|
Post by katt on Mar 29, 2010 17:43:24 GMT -5
I am glad you posted this - I was just going to make a post asking when I found this! haha
Would someone mind maybe posting pictures of what, say 2 ounces, of different foods looks like? Like perhaps 2 ounces of chicken bone-in, 2 ounces of a more dense meat, like beef heart, and 2 ounces of chicken bone out, compared to a 2 ounce rodent?
|
|
|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Mar 29, 2010 19:07:01 GMT -5
Pictures, I don't think, would really give an idea. Best description I can think of - a one square inch of beef heart is two ounces, because it's so dense. A chicken wing is on average, 3 oz. a chicken liver, 2 oz.
Again, a lot of it depends on the size of the original animal. And this is, as stated above, only meant as a guideline. Some will eat a lot more, some less. If a lot is being left behind, odds are you're feeding too much. If they are after more, then give it.
|
|
|
|
Post by 1 on Apr 23, 2010 20:40:26 GMT -5
Pictures, I don't think, would really give an idea. Best description I can think of - a one square inch of beef heart is two ounces, because it's so dense. A chicken wing is on average, 3 oz. a chicken liver, 2 oz. Again, a lot of it depends on the size of the original animal. And this is, as stated above, only meant as a guideline. Some will eat a lot more, some less. If a lot is being left behind, odds are you're feeding too much. If they are after more, then give it. You shoun't have done that! Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by emntl on Dec 24, 2010 21:19:22 GMT -5
I was JUST about to ask about this...and then you posted it! Thanks! I'm deff. going to need to get a scale, haha.
|
|
|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Dec 25, 2010 11:17:29 GMT -5
A cheap kitchen scale turned out to be my very best friend, especially at the beginning  |
|
