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Post by shambhaba on Jan 24, 2009 0:05:23 GMT -5
I am thinking to feed my ferrets half kibble, half meat. But, I worry about sanitary issue. I am not talking about food borne bacteria. I am talking about if tap water can make meat clean enough.
So, I am thinking to have meat cooked/boiled before feeding. How do you guys think about cooked/boiled meat? Some people say that cooked meat can not be ingested. Is it true?
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Post by bigsis7 on Jan 24, 2009 0:21:16 GMT -5
Cooking meat takes out a lot of nutrients and should only be fed as a treat. Freezing should clear the meat of bacteria plus ferrets have a stronger immune system to bacteria. I'll try to post more tomorrow!
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Post by Heather on Jan 24, 2009 0:30:55 GMT -5
I'm not sure I follow you. Are you saying that your tap water supply is contaminated? or are you concerned that water cannot wash away the bacteria in the meat? For most healthy animals neither is going to present a problem. A ferret's digestive track is so short that most bacterium aren't in there long enough to cause a problem. It's only when you feed both kibble and meat at the same time do you run into bacterial overgrowth problems. Kibble digests much slower and has much more waste, so the chances of it slowing up and causing bacterial problems with the meat fed are greater. I'm not saying this "will" happen I'm saying it could happen. Cats, dogs and ferrets suffer some tummy upsets when both kibbles and meats (cooked or raw) are supplied together. I personally do not like cooked meats for my guys. Cooking has a tendency to destroy much needed nutrients, you cannot in any way shape or form allow bone to be in the cooked mix (which will cause very serious health issues) and it has a tendency to cause some tummy issues. Can it be digested....of course it can, just like kibble can be digested, but why? Raw is far easier to do, and easier for your furchild to digest, but then after feeding raw for over 10 yrs....11 so I was informed the other day I can't imagine feeding any other way. I've switched 3 cats, 3 dogs, and over 30 ferrets. I've never had to deal with salmonella or worms (except when my guys were on kibble -- the worm thing ) I treat their meat the same way I would my own meats when I'm preparing it. I have to admit having the little bums charge down the hall with a chicken leg is not the cleanest way of keeping things but noone in the house has ever got ill from this kind of behaviour and there are more than a few methods to stop that type of play. At present I have 16 ferrets in house, all eating raw. The only kibble that I have is some that was turned in with Captain Jack and Calypso when their people turned them in to me. It's slowly being eaten by the mouse colony (they hate it too ) This is of course my opinion, and my experience in following this feeding method. ciao
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Post by shambhaba on Jan 24, 2009 8:24:49 GMT -5
Thank you for the replies. I don¡¦t think that the tap water here is clean enough as it¡¦s not drinkable directly. Do you guys have meat washed before feeding? I am think to use hot boiled water to wash meat so as to make sure there¡¦s no dust or something dirty on the meat. How do you think?
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Post by harrisi on Jan 24, 2009 9:18:45 GMT -5
Dont worry, the meat dosent need cleaning . Dust etc will be ingested by the ferrets and pass through the digestive system fine.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jan 24, 2009 9:36:32 GMT -5
I think it would be too much work to do that and the meat doesn't need cleaning, so it'll be fine . Feel free to ask as many questions as you like!
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 24, 2009 11:26:53 GMT -5
I never wash the meat for either my ferrets, or my cats. It is simply not necessary. I figure, why complicate smething that should be so simple?
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Post by spiritualtramp on Jan 25, 2009 19:29:38 GMT -5
A ferret in the wild isn't going to find clean tap water to rinse off their prey with, so do we need to worry? Probably not much, no
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Post by Forum Administrator on Jan 26, 2009 16:31:24 GMT -5
Cooking meat takes out a lot of nutrients and should only be fed as a treat. Freezing should clear the meat of bacteria Bigsis is right, cooking meat destroys many different nutrients. However, freezing meat only kills parasites, not bacteria.
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Post by harrisi on Jan 26, 2009 16:36:45 GMT -5
Cooking meat takes out a lot of nutrients and should only be fed as a treat. Freezing should clear the meat of bacteria Bigsis is right, cooking meat destroys many different nutrients. However, freezing meat only kills parasites, not bacteria. Forgot to add that. Whilst it dosent kill most bacteria though it will stop them breeding (when any temprature above freezing level bacteria breeds, so you should only leave meats/prey out just long enough for it to defrost).
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