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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 5:06:12 GMT -5
Post by eddiesmom on Nov 15, 2008 5:06:12 GMT -5
So I've been doing a lot of research and found how awesome it would be to feed raw, but then I realized...I have to pull parts of an animal apart, and touch things... I can't do that I hate helping with the turkey for Thanksgiving for that very reason.
Anyways, thanks for the advice guys, and sorry to waste anyones time, but it looks like I am going to be feeding EVO instead of raw. Atleast it's not the worst diet ya know! I'll still be on Ferret Village, so see whoever there!
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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 9:33:06 GMT -5
Post by bigsis7 on Nov 15, 2008 9:33:06 GMT -5
Technically you don't have to pull animals apart. You can buy separate parts like legs, wings, backs, necks, etc. I was a little squeamish about this too, but what I do is get a zip loc bag turn it inside out, grab the meat, and then put the bag the right way. Sorry if that's confusing.... Well feel free to stick around!!!
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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 12:44:01 GMT -5
Post by sherrylynne on Nov 15, 2008 12:44:01 GMT -5
What a shame to see you leave! Have you thought about trying rubber gloves? I mean the kind doctors use. You can generally buy them in most drug stores, by the box. I don't know if this would work for you. Depends on if it's the actual touching of the raw meat, or the whole idea of it. But like Bigsis said, stick around anyway! Your always welcome here!
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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 14:24:04 GMT -5
Post by Jen on Nov 15, 2008 14:24:04 GMT -5
I'm sorry- you're still very welcome here though, ya know We can always talk about other ferrety stuff, like health, enrichment, and pictures There's also dried, prepackaged meat for ferrets; never tried them, but I imagine it somewhat like dried jerky. Here's a link in case you're interested: www.caseyshiddenpantry.com/products.htmlNice talking to you though, hope to see you around. Take care
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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 14:27:03 GMT -5
Post by spiritualtramp on Nov 15, 2008 14:27:03 GMT -5
Like Jen said, you could always do commercial raw - there's frozen and freeze-dried varieties that are less "hands-on" but offer a lot of the same benefits of a raw diet!
Either way, I'll be seeing you!
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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 22:07:40 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Nov 15, 2008 22:07:40 GMT -5
Aww don't go You don't have to leave. You know you don't have to pull meat apart, or even feed whole recognizable pieces. You can feed raw pre-fab ground. It may not be the ultimate but it's still better than kibbles and you can use a spoon to serve it. Your furbaby still reaps all the benefits of a raw diet just not the muscle action (which he wouldn't get from kibbles anyway) so you could go that far...maybe??? It's all a matter of degrees. I use it all the time (I use other stuff too) but that's ok too. Don't go away, it's all about loving your furbaby too. This forum is all about natural health care too I do hope I will see you again. ciao
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Bye :(
Nov 15, 2008 22:16:20 GMT -5
Post by tsslilsis on Nov 15, 2008 22:16:20 GMT -5
I thought the same way in the begining.. But before long I was helping buther a deer (already dead. We don't hunt or anything, it was a road killed one). I am now hands on with the meat. I still won't touch whole prey, or feed live prey. But if you are fine with touching just chunks of meat and organ, your fine. It doesn't need to be something where you can tell what it is. Just because your feeding raw doesn't meat you need to feed fur on meat or whole prey.
-~Ketlin
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Bye :(
Nov 16, 2008 16:09:00 GMT -5
Post by animalsgetrevenge on Nov 16, 2008 16:09:00 GMT -5
I hadn't touched or eaten meat in over five years, until I started feeding raw this June.
I was a lot of work to get used to handling meat, but it was worth it for my ferrets. At first I wore zip lock bags on my hands, but now I can touch and handle anything, including whole prey.
I would agree with the other members... If you don't think you can do raw, try Nature's Variety raw food. They come in medallions, which are like coins of food. They don't look like meat at all, they are just brown, and have all the nutrition your ferrets need. Mine LOVE NV raw food, it's worth it!
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Bye :(
Nov 19, 2008 13:37:19 GMT -5
Post by jojodancer on Nov 19, 2008 13:37:19 GMT -5
Do we know if EddiesMom might try commercial raw?
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Bye :(
Nov 19, 2008 20:10:25 GMT -5
Post by sherrylynne on Nov 19, 2008 20:10:25 GMT -5
If I remember correctly, one of the reasons she checked out this site, besides raw being healthier, was the fact that raw costs less than the kibbles. I don't believe commercial raw would come under that heading.
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Bye :(
Nov 19, 2008 22:34:11 GMT -5
Post by eddiesmom on Nov 19, 2008 22:34:11 GMT -5
Sorry it’s been so long guys….busy, busy, busy.
In reply to everyone posts, it’s more like seeing and touching the insides of a dead animal that I think will bother me. I help and watch surgeries at work, and it doesn’t bother me with live animals because your helping them, but touching and looking at dead animal parts is totally different, lol! I could deal with chicken legs and such, but the organs would be a problem.
If they could eat only ground meat I’d be okay, but I see that they need organs for the diet to be complete…blah! Maybe I could get my boyfriend to do that dirty work…lol!
The dried meat would be awesome, but seems pretty expensive, and I have a zoo to care for already, so I wouldn’t be able to invest in that unfortunately. We have a store (Pet People) that sells Ziwi Peak, but the bags are so small and expensive! I’m not sure how that would be in comparison to EVO‘s price/how long it lasts (I’m assuming more expensive though).
So can you feed Nature’s Valley as a staple diet or what would you add to it to make it complete. Is it more expensive than EVO? EVO is $21.99 where I get it for 6.6 lbs. I'll keep research alternatives...
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Nov 19, 2008 22:51:38 GMT -5
Post by animalsgetrevenge on Nov 19, 2008 22:51:38 GMT -5
Where I buy Nature's Variety Medallions, I get a 3 lb bag for between $12.00 and $15.00, depending on the kind. They make chicken, lamb, beef, rabbit, venison, and organic chicken, and you should feed your ferret(s) at least 3 varieties per week. A 3lb bag contains 48 medallions. Depending on your ferrets age and activity level, your ferret(s) will need more or less medallions each day. My 5 year old, low energy ferret would eat 2 to 2.5 medallions per day, while my 3 year old active male would eat 3-4 a day.
I have never used Eco, so I don't know how quickly your ferrets would eat a bag.
I hope this helps!
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Bye :(
Nov 19, 2008 22:58:57 GMT -5
Post by mustelidmusk on Nov 19, 2008 22:58:57 GMT -5
There are evera options for feeding raw comercial diets.
I recomend that you start out feeding the eo and sprinkle in some freeze-dried AFS, which is a complete/balanced dry diet, which can be purchased ast Casey's pantry.
This will allow you to be conservative with you funds while providing some extra nutrtion for your ferrets.
The AFS is probaly the best value out there for freeze-dried diets. Freee-dried diets can easily be incorporated into your current feeding program for a healthier diet as well as for added enrichment for your ferrets well-being too!
We have several people on this site who feed supplemental raw. You can alway feed chicken wings and legs as part of the diet and provie he ogan meats in the form f freeze-dried treats. Of course, you can also continue to feed kibble as part of the det to manage the cost of the freeze-dried organ meats.
Raw feeding is great becuse it does no have to be an all-or-nothing approach! We'd love to have you give it a go with some freeze-dried food and treats!!!
-jennifer
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Bye :(
Nov 20, 2008 0:35:15 GMT -5
Post by eddiesmom on Nov 20, 2008 0:35:15 GMT -5
(By the way, I have a second Ferret, now...lol! Another 10 week old, (well Eddie is 13 weeks now) but she's a female. Her name is Mollie).
Beware…I’m totally thinking “out loud in typing” in this post…lol…
Freeze dried is totally out of my price range, unless it lasts much longer. I also tried feeding some treats that I have for my cats that are 100% freeze dried Salmon, and the Ferrets (nor the cats) took any interest in them. Whether or not they didn't like Salmon or the texture, I'm not sure. But it's still to expensive. It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t already have a zoo to feed.
So, could I use NV as a staple diet that provides all the nutrition my ferrets need? How many Medallions would I give my 12 week old and 10 week old very active ferrets? Gosh if they ate 8 Medallions a day that would be like 6 days worth for $13.00 and $52.00 a month. I don’t know, that still sounds expensive. EVO seems to be lasting quite awhile for $22.00.
From my understanding you can’t use just ground meat all the time because you need meaty bones, and organs to complete the diet, right?
I guess I could do mostly EVO, with a daily Medallion of NV per Ferret and a weekly-bi weekly meaty bone? As well as some type of Soupie a couple times a week. Or are there any other ideas to a daily/weekly diet regimen containing these “okay to work with” items? Would this still reap the benefits of a natural diet, like smell and health?
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Nov 20, 2008 0:59:14 GMT -5
Post by Heather on Nov 20, 2008 0:59:14 GMT -5
Ok...I don't know anything about the content of "your" medallions..but that being said "most" raw medallions are supposed to be the easy way to feed. My mother in law (age 86) feeds them to her two kitties and that's all she feeds. She's had a stroke so all this raw chunky food and preparation is out of her hands but she still wants to feed her furbabies the best that she can. For her the medallions are the answer. I go out once every month or two and get her the supply of raw medallions that she needs. I make sure that I get a variety of meats so that she has no necessity to offer any supplements. I try and keep it simple. Now, she feeds 2 large cats....it costs her about $145 every two months. Now when you feed patties your going to be paying for convenience but when you break it down...you're not paying any more for the raw then you would for kibbles. If you were up to it, you could feed some chicken legs once in awhile or small quail pieces. The offal (liver, kidney and such) should be in the ground patties so you wouldn't have to add anything. All you would need is the patties. Would you reap the benefits...yes...would it be as much as feeding whole frankenprey...maybe not but it would cut down on the smell and yes you would reap most of the health benefits of raw. Personally, when I would be pressed, ground raw over kibbles or even Evo...I would choose the ground raw every time. JMO of course. Good luck. We're behind you all the way ciao
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