Skunkers and Thomas J go raw!

[valkyriestorm]

Which NV do you use for your ferrets? because today I looked at their meat today and all of it has greens in it, so that mean seeds to I guess??

[mustelidmusk]

Hi!

I've been feeding feed NV Organic chicken, Lamb, Venison, and Rabbit diets. I too have found an occasional apple seed in the NV. Here is what I do... when the meat is thawed, I mash it up with a fork l, and I remove anything that seems like it could be an issue (some bone pieces, cartilage, an occasional apple seed)I've seen my kids swallow (and poop out) bits of bone that are twice the size of an apple seed when they eat raw meaty bones - I admit that it freaks me out when they do this, so I don't feed many RMBs. I feed Oma's Pride trachea rounds and velvet antler for teeth cleaning. The brats are also good at impaling cartilage pieces on their canines. My little princess panics when this happens, so I have to rescue her . OK, so my kids aren't too spoiled!

I've tried many brands of commercial foods, and they all have something a ferret could possibly choke on. But I know several private breeders that have been feeding the NV for years and have never had a problem. The problem with the seeds in the NV freeze-dried (not frozen)was PUMPKIN seeds, which are HUGE). So I honestly think any risk with an apple seed is just as great with bone eating. (Hey, we're paranoid ferret moms - we just can't help it )

I find that some of the NV foods are a bit dry, so I add a bit of water to them when I mash them up - makes it easier for find the big stuff.

And then there was the time (over 10 years ago) I found a chunk of plastic larger than an Apple seed in a piece of kibble - I saw something orange as I poured the kibble into the food bowl!

So, I do think it's worth mashing up the fod before serving regardless if there are fruits/veggies or not in th mix.

I emailed Primal about what needs to be added to their meat-only gind to make them complete if I don't want 10-20% veggies.I hope they answer since I think they have a good quality product at good price - and I can get some types locally.

The NV has ony 5% veggies, which is the lowest I've seen in a complete comercial diet.

Now there is a product called laying hen, which is whole ground up chicken - feathers and all.
www.wildlifepetfoods.com
My issue with it is that it comes in a wide-mouthed jug . If this is one solid frozen chunk, you'd have to thaw, repackage, refreeze the food, which loses nutrients. I think there's somebody on the forum that feeds this. You may want to post a message in the aw food section asking if anyone uses it and how they get it out of the jug .

I also think some primal raw grind (no veggies) would be good as a small portion of the diet, but since we don't know what might (and might not) be missing, I'd be a little nervous about feeding it as the primary diet.


-jennifer

[valkyriestorm]

Great news!! I just got them both to eat NV chicken without adding Duk Soup or Furo Tone. I hope it stays this way.

[Forum Administrator]

Excellent!

[valkyriestorm]

Now I just cut some raw chicken meat from a chicken leg. And they are not really going for it. Both of them just picked up a piece and put it in a corner. Well first I tried the meat by itself, then had to add Duk Soup for them to even go near it. I wish they would eat whole prey too, this is tough.

[mustelidmusk]

Are they still eating the NV???

Here's what I would do....play tug-of- war with strip of the meat.
cut smaller sized bits of meat and mix this in with the NV. Start by adding only a few bits of NV and mix it in really well. If the NV seems a little dry add a small amount of water and mix it in well. (Don't make this really soupy - the consistency of canned cat food should be good.

Over time increase the size of the pieces of meat in the NV, and amcrease the quantity of added meat too.

Once you start to get success with this mix in some bits of liver, herat, etc.

Yes, this does take patience, but you're actually doing extremely well!!! Keep up the good work!

-jennifer

[valkyriestorm]

I noticed tiny seeds in the meat is this OK? The one I am using is NV Chicken formula Medallions.

[mustelidmusk]

The small seeds (about 1/16th inch long) are flax seeds they represent no risk. Occasionally, I'll find an apple seed in the NV frozen diets. My brats will sometimes eat one (swallow it whole), and they're small enough to pass right through. The seeds that are bad are the very poorly ground (or whole) pumpkin seeds in the FREEZE-DRIED Nature's variety foods. There are pumpkin seeds in the Frozen raw NV as well, BUT these are very finely ground. I have been feeding NV frozen to my 4 kids for over 3.5 yea, and I've never found a huge seed piece in the NV frozen foods. The NV freeze-dried product is LOADED with them so I assume that the freeze-dried must have to be less ground up to form the medallions.

How are things going with the switch?
It sounds like they're eating the NV ground diets, but they are not big on chunky foods. Try mixing some smaller chunks in with frozen NV - mix it together. start with very small chunks and gradually increase the size of the chunks over time.

You have a really good start so far... if all of your kids are readily eating the NV, we can start working on chunks and organ meats, and then bone. Bfore we get this far, we can try some whole prey for your kids as well.

This is a journey that requires patience, so relax and enjoy yo ferrets along the way.

Just let m know who's eating what and how well they'r doing with it. It wil help me know which tricks might work best for them

Kep up the good work!!! You're doing reallywell already

-jennifer