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Post by Forum Administrator on Feb 4, 2009 1:20:32 GMT -5
Recently I have begun to keep track of everything I feed my ferrets, dog, and cat. I feel that by logging their food intake I can better monitor what they are eating. I was shocked to find that I was actually feeding alot less bone then I thought I was. It was only after logging their food intake for a week that I noticed this. Thankfully, I was able to better adjust their food intake so they were getting more bone. I print off free blank calander pages online and hole punch them and store them in a manilla file. Each day when they eat, I write what they actually consumed (what the food was, and how much they ate). I now can keep track much better then I could by just using my memory. I also log when I give them pedialyte, or any supplements (such as fish oil). Also, I weigh my ferrets every other week and jot down their weight into the food log. I highly recommend that all HF members keep an individual food log for each of their raw fed pets. Another reason it is useful to keep this log is because if your ferret ever goes to the vet for routine bloodwork and any of the levels come back low or elevated you can look back at your food log and see if those unusual highs/lows are being caused by diet, or by a more serious (non-diet related) medical condition. You can log your ferret's (or dog or cat's) food intake on a paper calender or on your computer, whatever works best for you. I strongly encourage all HF members to keep an accurate, up to date, food log for each of their natural fed pets. It can really help you to better monitor their diet.  |
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Post by spiritualtramp on Feb 4, 2009 9:19:04 GMT -5
I've been using Google Calendar for this for a while now and I have to say, it really makes meal planning and shopping easy, not to mention it's helpful if I end up at the vet's like you said, or if I have to have someone else feed them for some reason.
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Post by Heather on Feb 4, 2009 14:23:35 GMT -5
It will also help in monitoring output...I have 16 ferrets, so when I see litter pans with a bunch of tarry stools I know that they've had an offal night or I've fed a meal with lots of blood. If I only had one or two furbrats I would have a heart attack not knowing what had happened (as I have a tendency to have the heart attack first and do the thinking later   ) With the monitoring system all you would have to do is look and see what had been fed. It's also very good to keep track of who eats what. My Loki would far rather have whole prey, but will eat the full range, Captain Jack (a newb) will only eat ground meats right now. Napoleon, enjoys mice but not rats and is a lazy eater so will eat ground over whole. I then plan accordingly, not feeding too many prey meals back to back (everyone gets a crack at the prey) and making sure that the ground has enough variety to cover all the nutrients. Keeping a log helps keep all that sort of thing straight. ciao |
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Post by bigsis7 on Feb 4, 2009 15:15:34 GMT -5
I have a question for you guys....How do you weigh your ferrets? I used the regular scale at home. Weighed myself and then held one of my ferrets at a time and subtracted my weight from the total. It was off by quite a lot.
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Post by harrisi on Feb 4, 2009 17:17:50 GMT -5
I have a question for you guys....How do you weigh your ferrets? I used the regular scale at home. Weighed myself and then held one of my ferrets at a time and subtracted my weight from the total. It was off by quite a lot. I got a pet carrier, put the carrier on the kichen scales, turned it on and made sure it was at 0.00, put one of the ferrets into the carrier, shut the door and fed them soupies from a spoon through the mesh door to keep them still and took the weight like that. Never failed. I monitor all my ferrets food intakes but with some it becomes almost impossible, take on of my mates, Jake, for instance. He has over 30 ferrets now in 1 enlosure (*turns green with envy * ), the outdoor enclosure is 4'x17' and is attached to a small hallway that is 5'x4'. In the morning Jake goes into the hall way, wakes the ferrets up, locks them outside, hoovers up and throws in the food and lets the ferrets him, he then takes up any un-eaten food after half an hour (including any that has been stashes around the enclosure) and feeds it a little throughout the day. Now if he was to feed the ferrets seperately so he could monitor the food it would take him nearly all day. Obviously he always watches any for lethargy, loss of appetite etc and makes sure none are stashing food from others but from then on he leaves them. So I think if its easily possible, then do so but dont prize yourself on it Back to the topic - I monitor all our ferrets food intake as much as possible and it allows me to vary the diet more and keep track of what I feed. |
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Post by sherrylynne on Feb 4, 2009 19:10:16 GMT -5
I have a question for you guys....How do you weigh your ferrets? I used the regular scale at home. Weighed myself and then held one of my ferrets at a time and subtracted my weight from the total. It was off by quite a lot. I have a scale like that |
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Post by Heather on Feb 5, 2009 9:00:28 GMT -5
I use a regular digital postal scale and a bowl. Add bowl turn on scale add a drop of slimy fish oil to the bottom of bowl and add ferret. Ferret is so busy licking up oil that they're perfectly still and you get an accurate weight. My guys usually get weighed monthly, unless someone is ill then they get weighed on an as needed basis. A log is kept pinned to the wall.
ciao
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Post by jojodancer on Feb 5, 2009 11:12:50 GMT -5
I put a clean and empty litter box on our postal scale, and then weigh them. Sometimes they get a spoonful of soupie to keep them still, othertimes I just take one of the numbers that is showing up on the screen.
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Post by velvetfuzzbutt on Feb 6, 2009 18:52:53 GMT -5
I wouldn't have a prblem wit this but I don't see how its possible to keep an accurate log for each pet, unless you watch them or keep your group seperated for each feeding and leave nothing in the room when they are together. I am still switching, but i don't think this is not possible for me, no matter how great it would actually be. = [ When mine are on raw I will still be away during the day 5 or 6 days a week.
Am I missing something on how you guys know your log is actually accurate rather than a guess?
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Post by Heather on Feb 7, 2009 0:06:19 GMT -5
I kept logs years ago when I first switched and kept them faithfully for a couple of years. I had a lot fewer animals to worry about back then. Now, most of what I'm feeding this week and next week, for that matter next month is in my head or I guess I should say in my freezers. Next weekend I'm expecting, 100 lbs of chicken necks, 50 lbs of tripe and 5 cases of chicken, 50 lbs of turkey, 60 lbs of turkey hearts and a couple of boxes of rabbits. At the end of the month, I'm scheduled to pick up about 50 lbs of frozen rats. I do keep a log about monthly weights, and general health of each ferret including meds, when started and how much, vet visits etc. Food is set up in the freezers in a manner of a journal or log (knowing what you're going to feed), how much and when. I know, for example, today, Napoleon, Captain Jack, Loki, Babushka, Mad Max and Aremis haven't eaten their normal quotas (my whole business right now has a highly infectious upper respiratory infection that my darling son decided to bring home a couple of weeks ago   ) I know that despite being very ill Ghenghis is still eating his normal amount, so is Odin, Mr Squiggly, Thor and Attila. Napoleon is presently sleeping on my lap as I type this. I will feed him and the others as well as Calypso when I finished posting here. It's a manner of habit. A journal is indeed a very beneficial and if one of the furbabies doesn't eat well tonight when I feed them it will be noted in the journal. No, I don't keep a journal stating that Loki ate 2 oz of ground chicken but I do know that he ate the head of the rat, so I'm less worried about him than I am Captain Jack who has done nothing but sleep most of the day...that is noted in my journal. For those of you just starting to feed raw and have multiple ferrets, you should be keeping a journal as to what meats you've tried, who liked them, how you served them. I've helped a couple of people who have fairly large businesses to switch and not remembering who has eaten what is one of the biggest problems. A journal is indeed needed. ciao |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Feb 7, 2009 1:13:48 GMT -5
I wouldn't have a prblem wit this but I don't see how its possible to keep an accurate log for each pet, unless you watch them or keep your group seperated for each feeding and leave nothing in the room when they are together. I am still switching, but i don't think this is not possible for me, no matter how great it would actually be. = [ When mine are on raw I will still be away during the day 5 or 6 days a week. Am I missing something on how you guys know your log is actually accurate rather than a guess? I feed my ferrets the same food (all eat wings one day, all eat legs one day. Only on organ day do I seperate them and make sure they each their full range of organs) I make a general guesstamite of how much they ate by putting food into the cage once a day and then watching who eats what. They pick at their food during the day, so its just my best guess, doesn't need to be totally accurate. |
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Post by mustelidmusk on Feb 7, 2009 11:48:41 GMT -5
The idea that one ferret might avoid bone, and other might avoid liver, etc. is the exact reason why I fed a ground /complete diet....same with the freeze-dried raw. Specific treats (lung, antler, heart, flesh, RMB) are fed in proportion (40%, 20%, 10%, etc), but treats are a small part of their diet. Three of my kids turn 4 next month, so I did CBC's on them - they all had stellar bloodwork. The vet said to keep doing what you're doing! So, I was very please with the results -jennifer |
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Post by spiritualtramp on Feb 7, 2009 17:17:19 GMT -5
Dresden, generally speaking my kids all eat the same thing, though for organs I separate Ranger since he's sensitive to organs. I'm around enough to know their habits, when they generally eat, and like Giuli said it's more of an estimate than an exact record. It just helps me to see what I feed more of, and I note if someone didn't eat at their usual time, or what have you. It's not as tricky as it sounds, remarkably!
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Darlene
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 287
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Post by Darlene on Feb 9, 2009 4:22:59 GMT -5
I keep a record of what is put out each day,and what is leftover from bedtime. This last week,my boys have been only been wanting to eat ground chicken mix. The last two evenings (bedtime) they wouldn't touch their quail. So tonight they got another quail and will not get chicken mix for awhile. Their eating has really slowed down this winter,especially since Jayla was sick.
I like to keep track on what different foods are feed for the week. I also weigh my guys every week.
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Post by jojodancer on Feb 10, 2009 11:47:48 GMT -5
"The idea that one ferret might avoid bone, and other might avoid liver, etc. is the exact reason why I fed a ground /complete diet....same with the freeze-dried raw. Specific treats (lung, antler, heart, flesh, RMB) are fed in proportion (40%, 20%, 10%, etc), but treats are a small part of their diet.
Three of my kids turn 4 next month, so I did CBC's on them - they all had stellar bloodwork. The vet said to keep doing what you're doing! So, I was very please with the results"
SAME HERE! with the exception of the treats - We rarely seem to give treats. Maybe 1/3 of an n-bone every 2-3 weeks. Maybe some ferretone-water once a week. Treat giving seems to slip our minds.
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