My son's 8th birthday was the 1st and we are having his party this coming up weekend. So right now money is kinda tied up in all that but I hope to get some new things for Zuko soon.I understand what its like to be tight on cash (Im a full time college student
) you can probably find some cheap, raw items (like chicken necks, gizzards, hearts, beef liver, etc) and those are just fine until you get a little extra spending money.
Is beef liver ok? I can't find a butcher close to me. All they have at the store is beef liver.Beef liver is okay. There are just two things to remember.
1.) dont feed the WHOLE liver lol (waaayyy to big). Just feed a piece that is about 1/2-1/3 the size of your palm. Do this 1x per week.
2.) I'd PREFER that you feed organic beef liver, simply because of the hormones/antibiotics used in meat these days, BUT even if you cant find/cant afford organic beef liver, thats okay. Regular beef liver is still 100x better then the meat sources that go into kibble.
Is there a difference between wings and wing-lets? Wings are a full chicken wing. Wingettes are the last segment of the wing (the fleshiest part). I like to feed wings because honestly, they are cheaper then wingettees per pound AND wings have the tip, which is a good source of cartalidge and then the middle segment has two,small, easy to eat bone (the radius and ulna).
On boneless meat days can I also do the ground meat with some egg shell in it? Yes you can. Just add 1tsp of ground eggshell powder per 8 oz of meat.
On average how much bone meat should he get? One wing 3-4 times a day? He's still young, so feed him as much as he'll eat. He won't get fat, he is a ferret and a YOUNG ferret so his metabolism is practically through the roof. When he hits about 7 months old, you will notice a drastic reduction in the amount of food he consumes. This is normal and it reflects that he is nearing the end of his "growing stage", thus, he'll require less calories.
4 days a week you should feed him ONLY bone-in meat. It is however much he'll eat. You could feed him 1 chicken wing per day, or 2. Its up to how much he can stomach.
Don't forget: stick with bones no larger then a chicken/rabbit bone. Larger bones are inedible.
When I do organ meat should it be an ounce or so 3-4 times that day? On organ meat day feed him 1 raw chicken liver (or a small piece of beef liver) a piece of beef kidney about 1/3 the size of your palm (if you can find it) and 1-2 raw chicken hearts. Just feed him throughout the day. You might notice dark, tarry, runny poop. this is normal. to combat the runs, feed a small chicken neck on organ meat day (to add fiber).
Can I mix the egg with the meat or should he just "drink" it up if I put it in a bowl? You can serve the egg however he likes. You can:
Poke a hole in the egg and let him lap up the goo that comes out and then crunch on the shell.
You can crack the egg and crush the shell and mix it all together and let him drink it up.
You can use the egg (and shell) as a "sauce" and put it on other foods.
Regardless, don't feed more then 1x per week. Eggs only make up a small (seasonal) percentage of the european polecat's diet.
I WILL NOT do raw whole prey. I'm sorry I am just not going to go that far.That is just fine. No need to feed small, fuzzy critter to Zuko. Would you be willing to include a few bugs and maybe a small fish or two in his diet? Or is that outside your comfort zone?
Does this sound ok?
Monday-Thursday: bone & meat
Friday: Organ meat & one egg
Saturday-Sunday: boneless meat (I work on weekends & this will be easy for my hubby)It sounds perfect!
Just be sure that you don't feed the SAME bone-in meat each day. For example:
On Monday you could feed chicken thigh(s)
On Tuesday you could feed 1/4 of a cornish game hen
On Wednesday you could feed a chicken wing
On Thursday you could feed another 1/4 of a cornish game hen or maybe a chicken leg.
Regardless, be sure that on Bone/Meat days that he is actually eating MOST of the bone. He probably won't eat it all, and thats normal okay, but if he's only stripping the meat of the bone, that doesnt count as BONE/meat day. make sense?
Here are a few other foods that are good for "bone/meat" day, you might have to cut these up slightly into little semi-circles so that he will actually eat the bone (I know I said dont feed any bone bigger then a rabbit/chicken bone, but in the case of NECKS its okay to feed pork, turkey, and beef tail bone).
Raw turkey necks
Raw pork neck segments
Raw Ox Tail segments.
We are going to be out of town this Christmas for 20 days in Florida. My Dad is taking care of my animals but he works from 5am to 4pm. Will it be ok if Zuko doesn't get a Lunch>Yes, its okay. By then Zuko should be older and he'll probably be nearing that stage where he eats less. It will be okay to cut his meals from 3-4 times per day to 2x per day in December.
Dont forget! its OKAY to leave whole bone-in meat out for 24 hours. Ground meat or chunks of boneless meat can only be left out for 4-6 hours. He doesnt have to eat all of his food in one meal. In fact, leaving it out might be a good idea. He'll probably come back to nibble on it throughout the day.
I hope this helps to answer your questions. Once you start feeding Zuko the raw meaty bones 4day a week, boneless meat 2 days a week, and organ meat 1 day a week, please post an example of what you fed for the week. such as:
MONDAY: Raw chicken wing
FRIDAY: Organ Meat (1/2 palm size piece of beef liver, some chicken gizzards)
SATURDAY: NV Lamb w/ egghshell
Get the idea? That way I know EXACTLY what he's eating. Once we have a chance to review your feeding schedule, you'll be ready to "graduate" and this thread will be retired to the "newbie switch archive" and then you'll post in the "raw" "whole prey" and "general feeding questions" sections, since Zuko will be "fully switched" to a natural diet.
Sound good? No need to rush with posting the schedule. Just post it once he's been doing well with the new feeding regimine.
He got very sick very fast and there was nothing we could do. This morning Zuko had some chicken on the bone and did good.
