|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 4, 2008 13:53:37 GMT -5
Smelt is fish, correct? How big are smelts? You can give it a shot. Fish the size of an anchovy or sardine are ideal for ferrets. Since polecats (ferret's closest wild relative) dont normally eat fish, I would stick with only feeding it 1x per week, or less.
|
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 4, 2008 13:56:13 GMT -5
That is great news about the bone! Give them time and they'll be able to chew through the whole thing on their own  They can also easily chew through chicken thigh bones. For some reason, chicken LEG bones (not thigh, but drumsticks) seem to be harder to eat all the way through. My guys almost always leave a middle piece of the bone. I can't wait to hear what kind of haul you get at the market. Don't make my babies jealous now  |
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 4, 2008 18:08:03 GMT -5
Smelt are about the same size as those. Khina thinks I'm crazy for even offering them to her and Gordie will eat them if he "has" to, but he leaves the heads. I thought that was supposed to be the best part! I expect the girls will look at me like I'm nuts, but who knows. They were only a buck for the package and they're not doing any good sitting in the freezer.
The case of bison hearts fell through. The bison dude is kind of a weird guy. But I spent $25 at my favorite guy's stall and got 2 dozen eggs, 2 bone in chicken breasts, a pork shoulder roast, some country style pork ribs and 4 sizable packages of chicken hearts and gizzards. He said he would look for some necks for me tomorrow and I think I'll see what else $15 dollars will get me for the critters for this week. I only have until the weekend before Thanksgiving to stock up my freezer. Pressure!
|
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 6, 2008 14:08:32 GMT -5
They LOVE the bone from the chicken breast! There was one particularly good bit that they kept working and working at. They left the same bits of bone behind that the cats would have.
Now... I have quite a bit more from that breast for them, but I'm not sure how often to give them edible bone. I offer it to the cats about every fourth day and I couple that with an organ. So far I don't have any takers on chicken liver. I have some beef liver thawing, so I'll try that next.
I'm actually sore from hauling frozen meat home from the farmer's market yesterday. He was giving away chicken and turkey backs, chicken and turkey giblets, turkey wings and lamb soup bones. I can't really tell how much meat is on the lamb bones while it's all packaged and frosty, but I hope there's enough to scrape off a taste for everyone. I haven't had lamb before. Then I asked him to pick out some beef and pork for $15 and he gave me 2 giant beef roasts and a pork roast. I had too many other things to do to take a proper inventory, but I bet I got about 80lbs of meat yesterday. I hope everything is labeled.
That's the scoop. I'm still feeding them whenever they ask. There's less poop and more urine output. Like the cats, I'm noticing that they don't spend as much time at the water bowl as they used to. I have a big shallow bowl that I float some of their plastic toys in and they like snorkeling around in that and I have three other regular water bowls in various places for everybody. I haven't tried the smelt yet. There's an asian market fairly nearby that sells whole frozen frogs. I almost bought them for the cats once, but my boyfriend was pretty skeeved out by the idea of me cutting them in half. They're about the size of a quail. What do you think? Is it worth a try? The cats have had frog legs a few times and liked them, so I'm pretty sure they'll go for it, but do I need to worry about anything with frogs? I have no idea how they're caught/farmed/whatever.
|
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 6, 2008 20:51:02 GMT -5
Frogs are a great addition. Polecats would eat frogs and lizards seasonally. You can buy some now and feed them in the late spring/summer months or you can feed them once a week or so. They make a good solid addition to the diet. Are the frogs sold for human consumption? If so, then I think they'd be fine to feed. Just cut them in however many pieces you want while frozen. Be sure to feed the whole frog overtime, not just the legs As for bone-in breast, my guys have never had that. Did they handle the bone okay? I might have to give that a shot.  |
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 8, 2008 11:04:02 GMT -5
They really liked gnawing and crunching on the breast bones. A lot of good marrow.
I've tried chicken, turkey and beef liver and they're not eating it. I've offered it in little hunks on its own, mixed amongst meat and cut into teeny pieces and stuffed inside meat chunks. Ghia may have accidentally eaten some, but I only suspect that because last night she had a smellier than normal poop. I think I'm going to have to puree (gag) some and... put it in some baby food? Or is there something else I should try first? You said they should eat the equivalent of one chicken liver per week, right? Does that mean they should be getting that same amount of another organ each week as well? I'm having a hard time finding much. I have some pork kidney. I saw bull testicles at the store, what category would those fall in? All these farmers I buy from don't keep any of the other organs aside from the liver. I've told them that I would buy it if they saved it for me, but I guess I'm asking them to change their routine.
How often should they get a bony meal? Twice a week?
|
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 8, 2008 13:08:13 GMT -5
Here is the layout you want to work towards: Raw meaty bones 4 days a week (atleast! You can feed them daily if you wish) Boneless Muscle Meat 2 days a week (this is where you'd feed boneless beef, turkey, pork etc) Organ Meat 1 day per week (Feed 1 liver per ferret, if you have to puree it do that. If you need to you can syringe feed them the liver, after all, you will only need to do it 1x per week. Its less than ideal, but you do what ya gotta do). If all you can find is liver that is fine. Pork kidney makes another excellent addition. Not so sure about the bull testicles. You can also feed heart and gizzard, but these are also "muscle meat" so feed them IN ADDITION to the "secreting organs" such as liver and kidney. A feeding schedule might look something like this: MONDAY: Raw Chicken Wing(s) TUESDAY: Boneless Beef Chunks and/or Mutton Chunks WEDNESDAY: Conrish Game Hen THURSDAY: Boneless Pork and/or Turkey Chunks FRIDAY: Raw Chicken Thigh(s) SATURDAY: Organ Meat, Chicken necks and/or whole raw egg (shell and all) SUNDAY: Whole Fish Count eggs and whole animals as a "raw meaty bone meal" Again, you should be feeding raw meaty bones atleast 4 days a week, but you can feed up to 7 days per week raw meaty bones with no ill effect (avoid super boney things such as chicken backs). Another thing that is good to do is to vary the CUT of meat you feed, nutrient composition varies between parts of an animal. Thighs are more rich in taurine then breast, wings have more cartalidge then thighs. Just take advantage of sales and what's available always strive to vary the cut. Pork shoulder one time, pork tenderloin another. Get the idea In addition, be sure to switch up your meat as much as possible. If you can get a variety of raw meaty bones that is great! You need to stick with bones no bigger then a chicken bone. Rabbit, Quail, Duck, Pheasent, Cornish Game Hen, etc are all great ways to vary your RMB type. Rotate between the legs, thighs, wings, etc of these animals. Finally, be sure to vary the age of animal you feed: Mutton/Lamb Beef/Veal Chicken/Cornish Game Hen Turkey/Poult Pork/Piglet Animals change in nutrient composition as they age. By following the tips of above you can ensure that they are getting a "balanced" and properly varied diet. |
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 10, 2008 13:59:16 GMT -5
Nothing new to report really. I've been busy with a couple of pressing projects, so it's been nice to be able to toss in chicken wings or pork or whatever and they tear it up themselves. Soooooo much better than hacking everything into smaller pieces. Nobody likes smelt.  Oh well. I managed to give some to a friend who was going to give them to her foxes. I need to make up a liver concoction yet. I think I'll manage to get to that on Monday. I have a crazy weekend coming up. Both of the girls have put on some weight and they look fantastic! Their spurts of energy are really ramped up now, but they certainly enjoy their naps too. Although who the heck knows what they're doing while I'm sleeping. When I come down at 6am I can usually find them in or near the cage sleeping somewhere. I hope they have fun at night by themselves. I try to leave things for them to do. Oh! I saw you say that they can eat the middle section of a turkey wing? Really? I have turkey wings up the wazoo and I've been cutting the meat off of the bones for the critters. Those bones seem too big for the cats even. |
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 10, 2008 21:12:50 GMT -5
For some reason cats seem to be more finicky about eating bigger bones. The ferrets can usually handle the middle segment bones of a turkey wing (radius and ulna) because these bones usually arent much thicker then a chicken leg bone (and many ferrets eat those bones just fine).
Sorry no one liked the smelt. My kids dont like fish either (well the ferrets dont, the cat does). Did you say your friend has foxes?
|
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 10, 2008 23:12:46 GMT -5
Not as pets, but she has a mama fox that has been coming to her house for handouts for a couple of years now. Her name is Charlene This year she had four cubs. So cute! |
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 11, 2008 22:17:25 GMT -5
Hey, that's really neat. What type of fox? |
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 12, 2008 13:48:57 GMT -5
Red foxes. She lives about 3 hours from me and I haven't been up there to see Charlene with kits, but I've seen just her previous years. So adorable.
|
|
|
|
Post by luci on Oct 13, 2008 14:28:56 GMT -5
Liver update.
I pureed a turkey liver with a whole egg and offered it in a bowl. They haven't had any soup in a while, so I thought they'd think it was a treat. They both took a couple of small licks, but that was it. I offered it again later with some delicious hunks of beef tongue in it. Nothing. I think my next step will be to blend in some turkey meat and spoon feed it. They really haven't had any liver since I stopped feeding the baby food/turkey/egg/liver mash. How long do I have before I really need to force the issue?
|
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 14, 2008 20:07:19 GMT -5
I'd give it a few more tries before you try the force feeding. You can:
Add it as a sauce to their other raw foods.
Mix it with some babyfood or a little heavy whipping cream (not whipped cream)
Mix it with some ground hamburger
Try a different type of liver (pork, veal, chicken, beef, etc)
Try the organic version of the liver you currently feed (sometimes ferrets prefer this)
Lightly sear the outside of the liver (leaving the inside raw)
Give it your best go and if they still wont eat it we'll try a few more things before we resort to force feeding.
|
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 15, 2008 14:58:48 GMT -5
I was wondering if you could give me a list of all the foods your ferrets have tried. If you could seperate that list into foods they actually will eat (liked) and foods they will not eat (disliked) that would be great. It doesnt have to be pefect, but try to make the list as comprehensive as possible. Thanks! |
|
