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Post by amymelissa on Dec 24, 2008 4:12:13 GMT -5
We gave the boys a wing and they ate all of it, well still are working on it but are eating the meat. We also gave them a chicken leg and they are eating the meat and skin off of it. I don't know that they can eat the bone though. Maybe the boys don't like white meat?
Taz is a stinker but I'm bigger and I will win lol
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 24, 2008 10:01:41 GMT -5
Them not liking white meat is a possibility. Sometimes animals are weird like that, you'd expect them to eat it since it is something or similar to something they would eat in the wild. For example, my coon hound won't eat raw chicken unless it is stinky or smothered in juices from some kind of red meat.
Were they able to eat the chicken leg?
We will figure something out for Taz. I don't think there is a dier need to get her on bone in meat since she has ground bone in her glop.. But if she doesn't get to that point ever then you might have to start brushing her teeth.. But I don't think thats anything to worry about, she may just refuse it for awhile then one day decide to accept it.
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 24, 2008 12:57:17 GMT -5
I checked this morning and there is nothing left. They eat an entire wing, drumstick and about 1 tablespoon of ground turkey.
They didn't eat very much soup this morning but I'm thinking they were full, the piglets!
The soup isn't really soupy. It's very chunky!
*update*
Bo found a tiny piece of wing and ate it. So the boys didn't eat it all, but were pretty close to eating it all!
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 25, 2008 12:44:07 GMT -5
That is a lot of food!!!! I'm surprised they aren't gaining a ton of weight. I guess they really will be big boys.
Okay. Time for a recap. How many different varieties of meat are they eating? And they are eating organ, right?
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 25, 2008 13:45:35 GMT -5
The boys are getting a nice budda belly lol
They are eating chicken and turkey. The turkey is ground turkey right out of the package. We also put it in the soup. They get a wing or a drumstick at night to chew on.
The soup has breast, thigh, neck, liver, eggshell and heart. All of that is chicken. Sometimes we will put ground turkey meat (not bones) in the soup too.
I know we need to add more meats but money is tight right now so we only have chicken and turkey!
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 25, 2008 14:18:37 GMT -5
I fully understand. The minumum for species of meat is three.. But I am confidant that they will eat other things as well.
Could you give me a menu of what their diet will most likely look like for a week?
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 25, 2008 18:55:09 GMT -5
I'll give the menu a shot. I might need some help with it though. If the boys eat beef tomorrow then I will change the menu to reflect the change. Right now the soup is chicken soup because it's the only meat Taz will eat right now. The soup is 1 breast, 1 thigh, 2 wings, 3 necks, 4 livers, 2 hearts and 2 eggshells. I should call it pate because it's really not soupy at all. Monday ~ am - soup pm - 2 chicken wings Tuesday ~ am- soup pm- ground turkey pm - 2 thighs Wednesday ~ am - soup pm - 2 drumsticks Thursday ~ am- soup afternoon - ground turkey pm - 2 wings Friday ~ am - soup pm - 2 thighs Saturday ~ am - soup afternoon - ground turkey pm - 2 drumsticks Sunday ~ am - soup pm - 2 wings Once we can afford other meats I would have the meats alt . Might use rabbit instead of lamb . For example: mon - chicken tues - duck wed - lamb thurs - turkey friday - duck sat - lamb sun - turkey The reason I would only have chicken once a week is the soup is made of chicken so they get chicken soup every day. I also wasn't sure if I should be having organ as a "meal" twice a week or not? There is a lot of liver and heart in the soup and they get that everyday. Also the amounts might be more of the meat in bone. I'm also unsure about the bone. I'm not sure if they can eat the bones of a turkey or lamb so would I need to supplement the bone on those days? It also seems they don't seem as interested in the soup now. They will eat the soup but usually only in the am after they're hungry. If given the choice they'd eat the meat on the bone rather than soup! They will eat the organ without it being in a soup so maybe organ instead of soup twice a week since they do eat the bone? The boys eat a LOT! *update* I gave the boys a breast and they once again ate all the skin, as much bone as they could get to and very little meat. I think they don't like the white meat. I also gave them a thigh and they ate more of the meat but somehow dug the bone out and mostly ate that and the skin... weird! I know you said they wont over eat.... but are you sure lol Tomorrow I'm giving them beef and chicken livers instead of soup. I'll still put some type of chicken in the cage at night mostly for the teething and to give them something to do in the middle of the night. If they eat the beef then they will be eating chicken, turkey and beef. Just one more meat source and they will be up to 4  |
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 27, 2008 11:32:35 GMT -5
Three is the min. Looking at the menu I think it is a bit much bone since the soup has bone in it also. So IMO you can either feed boneless meals about two days per week or eleminate the bone from the soup. You can have an organ meal 1-2 times a week. That would be enough to be able to take the organ out of the soup if you wanted which would save a little money, actually. Heart is concidered a meaty meaty in raw feeding but it has taurine which they need so it is good to feed. I wouldn't try feeding lamb bones. They _may_ be able to eat ribs if the animals were young. The ferrets have eaten the ribs of a small deer before.. But chances are all of the bones will be too hard for them to eat. Turkey bones are fine.. I doubt they would be able to eat a full grown turkeys legs but things like wing tips and ribs or backs they would do fine with... But ferrets don't have to have bone every day, it should just count for 10% of the total diet (same with organ). I think it would be great to feed the organ twice a week instead of soup. That will help balance it out since right now the food they are eating is a little bone heavy. They might just like the texture of the skin.. It might not be that they don't like the meat. You could probably debone chicken a couple times a week so they have no choice but to eat the meat.. Then Bo can get a nice boney chickeny treat. Yes, they know when to stop eating. As long as they aren't so full that they can't walk when they are finished they should be fine, lol. Are they being less destructive now that they are eating bone in meat? -~Ketlin |
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 27, 2008 13:50:31 GMT -5
The soup has bone in it because Taz is a stinker lol that or I'm going to have to make two different soups. If the boys need more bone than what they are getting from the wings, thighs, or CGH I can always give them Taz's soup for more bone.
The new soup I would make for the boys would be a mix of different meats from what we eat that week. I'll just take off some before I cook. I'm also going to try pork this week. For example the boys soup would have a mix of chicken, beef, turkey and pork but no bone and then should I add liver and giblets to it if they are having a meal of organs twice a week?
Yes the boys can walk after eating they just eat a LOT lol
Since I've been giving them the meat with bones they have gotten much better about not chewing on everything. They will still chew on things but it's not nearly as bad! So let me take another stab at a menu.
Monday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - 2 wings
Tuesday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - ground turkey
Wednesday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - ground beef/giblets
Thursday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - CGH
Friday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - ground turkey
Saturday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - ground beef/giblets
Sunday ~
am - soup (no bone)
pm - 2 thighs
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 28, 2008 17:59:48 GMT -5
You can add some liver and giblets to the new soup if you want but its not needed. Entire meals of organ twice a week would be enough organ.
It is great to hear that they aren't having as bad of a problem with chewing bedding and such up.
I like the look of the new menu. It does have three species of meat in it so that is good. I'll get Giuli to come in and review it!
I'm sorry I've not been replying to your posts very quick.
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 31, 2008 2:37:35 GMT -5
We can add pork to the list. The boys are now eating chicken, turkey, beef and pork.
Taz, she's a stinker. She still wont eat chicken on the bone, even if it's scored! At this point we are making two different soups. The boys are eating to much bone and Taz wont touch it so here are the soups.
Taz's chicken medley:
1 breast, 1 thigh, 1 drumstick, 2 necks, 1 egg, 1 ground eggshell, 3 livers and fresh giblets. Blended to a pate, not really soupy.
The boy's pate:
Is a mix of whatever meats we eat that week. We usually eat chicken, beef, and pork at least once a week. I get the boys ground turkey because we don't eat much of it.
8oz of beef stew meat, 8 oz of ground turkey, 6 oz of fresh giblets. This is the soup I made before I knew they'd eat pork.
About the fresh giblets. On the package all it says is giblets. From what we can see it looks like heart, liver and some other stuff... hard to say what.
I was really thinking of cutting out soup for the boys. The boys will eat everything in the soup fresh without us having to blend it. Is there a reason for the soup?
At this point we feed the boys soup in the am and then give them either wings or thighs at night. Taz gets soup. We do try and put chicken wings in her cage but she wont touch them!
Since the boys got a clean bill of health from the Vet we can introduce Taz to the boys, right?
Things have been really busy around here so I haven't been on much, sorry about that.
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 31, 2008 9:48:11 GMT -5
Woohoo!!! Good thing the boys aren't picky!! I'm still working on getting some assistance for getting Taz onto bone in meat.. How much giblet are you putting in Taz' soup? You don't need to continue giving soup to the boys.. It really depends on what you want to do and what works best for you. My ferrets ate soup for a long time after switching then we ran out and realized it was easier for us to just give them meat, bone and organ.. It is always good to have them used to soup though, incase they are ever sick and too weak to eat meat. So I would continue to give them the "pate" once a week if you choose to stop giving it daily. Are you sure they are giblets and not gizzards? Gizards usually are packaged with hearts. If it is giblets than it will probably have the organs like you will find in the giblet bag inside of a turkey.. Heart, liver, gizzards. Yep, you've had them for two weeks now as I recall, and its time for an introduction! Please get a video if possible to share. -~Ketlin |
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Post by amymelissa on Jan 1, 2009 22:28:45 GMT -5
We introduced the boys to Taz and she doesn't like them at all! I do have video of them but it's not very good other than watching the boys being kits and playing. Taz tried to stay away from them as much as possible. Damien tried to play with her but she hissed and even screamed at him.
Since getting the boys I've noticed how Taz doesn't play like other ferrets. Interesting thing she did do though was she would run over to my 12 yr old daughter to get away from the boys. I think she is used to humans and not other animals, ferrets included! I'm going to try again later.
Having all three out I noticed that although the boys look smaller they are heavier than Taz!
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Post by amymelissa on Jan 1, 2009 23:54:31 GMT -5
Here is video of Taz and the boys. I'm not sure when to intervene with them so when Taz started to really squeal I had her picked up. She really doesn't know how to play. Hopefully with time with the boys she will learn. Here's the video of them "playing"  |
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Post by tsslilsis on Jan 2, 2009 8:53:04 GMT -5
Weezer didn't really know how to play either when we introduced him to Lily and Jillian because he had been a lone ferret for so long. Then he played too rough with the girls. My three still squeal and his sometimes. Taz just needs to learn how to play. You can put them together and watch them closely. Even if she is screaming and trying to get away, the general rule is unless they are fighting and the ferret uses the bathroom on itself or the ferret is so scared that it happens, they are fine. I don't know if any of the ferrets have been in the area you introduced them in or not, but it is suggested that you introduce them in a neutral territory like you would with dogs.. So most people introduce them in a clean bath tub. Not all introductions go this well, but this is Weezer being introduced to Lillian and Jillian (Passed away early last year but forever loved). He was fine with them but alittle annoyed because they kept sticking their noses in his ears. It doesn't show them playing but playing is where they had their problems. And btw a bath was in order after because the girls pottied in the tub and stepped in it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK73sUxV_uk-~Ketlin |
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