A business of 4 goes raw

[Heather]

Hare today supposedly carries good product. So does Urban Carnivore (I actually used to use it but they stopped shipping to Canada) Shipping is the brutal aspect Are there no pet food stores in your area that carries frozen pre-ground food? Just about every pet store here, that carries pet food, carries raw food too and a couple that it's their mainstay. They have several freezers full. That's how I get my whole quail and rabbit. I wouldn't be able to afford it any other way. I agree, whole meat is better than ground but I treat it like a bonus. As long as your guys are eating the ground with bone in it, you're getting some of the teeth cleaning benefits. You're right though, you're not getting the benefit of the muscle action that needs to develop.
Hand grinders...we had a member find one on ebay, picked it up for a couple of bucks. Another one actually found one for sale at a flea market, and someone else found one at a garage sale. All were very reasonably priced. You might ask your father if he still has his...they're something that usually doesn't get thrown out, just stashed somewhere lol
ciao

[weeksl08]

Progress again! (sort of) I attempted to grind u[ some egg shell in my new chopper (which I think is going back today) and of course, it didn't do anyting but break up the egg shells. I added a whole agg and it made some progress but not much. In a final effort yo salvage the egg shells, I added about 3/4 or so (just a guess) of ground chicken. Now, my kids refuse to go anywhere near egg, so this was a stretch. It wasn't quite a soup, more like a paste. I put a little on my finger and made each try it and all 3 ate quite a bit off of my finger! So I finally got some calcium in them!

As far as I know, the pet stores sell frozen whole mice but that is it. We don't have any local butchers either, but Kroger's grocery. If I want them to have diversity I'm going to have to order online. I will check urban carnivore, I hadn't checked into them yet.

[weeksl08]

I forgot to mention, this afternoon when I got in from work (12:30pm) ( I didn't have a chance to check this morning before work) I checked to see how much food they had eaten and when I got down on the ground I got a wiff of something nasty! Apparently the crushed wing went bad, and I didn't put it out untill 11pm. Maybe it was all the blood and marrow that the wing had in it but it was gross...

[Heather]

Ewww stinky wings I've been there. My brats will sometimes hide a wing tip, forgetting where it is or hoping for jerky and you then follow your nose
I'm sorry that your little grinder isn't cutting it (so to speak ) I use a mortar and pestle to gind my egg shells. Old fashion I suppose but I don't usually use egg shells as all my guys eat bone but there has been times when I've needed to use the shells. I always keep about 1/2 cup of them ground up in the freezer.
Ahhh, what you made (in part) was my version of duk soup I use that mix to switch all my furbabies. It's fast, easy and economical and even my egg haters love it. After my guys learn to eat it off my fingers, I then offer it off a spoon, from there they'll eat it out of the bowl on their own. I keep thickening it (with more ground meat) until they're eating my ground meat mix. I've been using the same recipe for about 10 yrs now and it works fantastic. In my mix you add everything that is needed for a balanced diet. There's meat and ground bone, offal, and a couple of eggs. I then add some marine fish oil only if I'm not putting it in the freezer. It's simple and works. All my guys eat this, from there each ferret then eats either whole meat and or prey. It's the base for my raw diet.
You're going to go for ground and whole foods right? Have you checked out Rodentpro?? They sell whole meats as well as prey animals, I believe (sorry no ground that I know of). I don't really know as they don't ship to Canada. I believe they are quite reasonable if you can find a local distributor. If they have to ship any distance they're expensive too. You might also see if you can locate a raw food coop. I can get ground chicken or turkey and chicken necks and wings. I can also get turkey necks, venison (when in season) and occasionally some ground lamb through this same coop.
Good luck with suppliers. It can be frustrating but thoroughly rewarding when you finally find a good supplier
Ciao

[weeksl08]

I'm looking at mortar and pestles on Ebay! I found a pretty cheap marble one that should do, but I will have to wait until next week when we get paid

At least I found a version of duck soup they will eat if they get sick I haven't had any luck with them and soupies until now. It's more pasty than soupy right now. I'm going to make a bigger batch tonight so its mostly ground. (And less egg shell- poopies had mostly egg shell chunks this morning!) They are still incrasing size on the brest meat chunks as well so when I get my mortar/pestle I will take the "soup" away and dust the chunks until I can get them onto boney meats. I am not so sure about wings after the other day that was bad, after less than a day! Eww! lol. I think I will wait until our brest chunks are huge before I try that again! I think I will end up using Hare-today.com I checked, and for 4 pounds of various meat, it would cost $10 and some change with $23 shipping, which isnt too horribly bad. 4 pounds of meat could last a few weeks. It ends up being the cost of kibble so its not a wallet breaker I will check into rodentpro though. Urbancarnivore didn't do online orders anymore so that one was out for me, no vendors in my area! I wish I could go to the buckeye bash and pick up some food there! Maybe I will get lucky and ((eventually)) there will be a show in VA or NC that I can afford to travel to!

[Heather]

Ahh my mortar and pestly is the marble type too. Works perfectly good.
I don't know what is with the wing tips, they go bad so fast and they smell so bad I've had chicken drumsticks stick around longer than the wing tips, necks work very good too. Even they don't smell as bad as the wing tips.
That's too bad about Urban Carnivore, but I can understand it. They had a fantastic product but it was very costly. I know their rabbit patties consisted of the whole rabbit, fur everything. So even if you couldn't get your furchild to eat whole meats at least they got all the nutritional value of whole prey.
I wish there were ferret shows up here too. I would love to go to a show, even if it's just to have a look at all the ferrets and the ferret stuff that the vendors must have.
Good luck
I will check in with you tomorrow. I'm off to package 50 lbs of chicken necks for my furbabies.
ciao

[weeksl08]

Wow chicken is going fast! They went from 2 ounces a day to 4 or 5 and still increasing! Yay for meat hungry ferts!

[Heather]

You and you're furbabies are doing fantastic Yes, when they start eating it, it's like they've never been fed in their lives. It's so much fun to suddenly see them enjoy their dinners and look for the food. Great job
ciao

[weeksl08]

Hmm... if I don't add egg to the ground... they will no longer eat it... I tried giving them some without egg yesterday ( I was ina hurry) and when i got home they hadn't touched it. I added some egg and they flocked to it. I guess this isn't so bad. It's weird considering they HATE raw egg by itself. The poopies are starting to look better now too, nimus the chunks of egg shell scattered throught out.

Constantine is now the only one eating chunks. I think he;s hiding more than he's eating. We made the food "cave" and I put a few cardboard boxes around for him, but he insists that his fod should be hidden in the pots and pans or in the bathroom next to the toilet. We try to persuade him back tot he food cave when we catch him, but I now how to do routine check of the house! We keep catching him running around with chunks (now bigger than his face) across the house! It's very cute, but not so fun

[Heather]

Ahhh chasing food...been there more times than I care to count Little Sprite the other day was trying to get a whole chicken neck in behind the fish tank (60 gal on a cupboard that the smallest ferts can access to get rid of some of my bigger bullies). As she was holding the neck horizonally and the hole to get in is only as large as she is, the neck of course wouldn't fit. She worked at that for a good 10 min She finally figured out that is she went in backwards and pulled it in behind her she could get it back there. A couple of hours later, Napoleon (he can't fit through the little space, but he as figured out how to open the doors to the cupboard) came in and stole her treasure.
My guys won't eat the ground without egg added. Now, my compensation is that it's now a mixture of more meat than egg, and you wouldn't know that the egg was even in there, the mixture is now that solid a consistency. I only make up the liquid egg mixture if someone is ill or when I'm switching them over. When I'm switching them over, I keep adding more and more meat until it's the same consistency that everyone else is eating. I only do this gradually, as texture and consistency are both things that cause the largest amount of grief when switching fuzzies over to raw in the first place.
You might try dipping some tiny chunks of meat in your egg mixture and see if they're more willing to eat it that way?? Start out very small. Not much bigger than the ground stuff. Put it off in another bowl and see if you have any takers.
I will check in with you a little later and see how things are going.
Ciao

[weeksl08]

Good idea! I will cut up some smaller chunks and dip them when I get home

Liberty did something similat to sprite a few days ago.. Only she stole my hair brush and was trying to get it behind the TV horizontally... thats some good stuff watching that! haha

[Heather]

Life is never dull when you have fuzzbutts to entertain you
Good luck with the new trial. I hope it works for you
ciao

[weeksl08]

Mayhem is still super skinny and I haven't actually witnessed her eat in a few days. This evening I got a small jar of stage 2 chicken baby food for her and every time she wakes up she eats her fill then does whatever. How long is too long to keep her on this if this is all she is eating? She may be eating the other food when I am not watching (she was eating it in front of me until a few days ago,) but I just want to make sure. She's made a lot of progress and she has no weight to spare. I would like to see her gain AT LEAST 2 more ounces.

[Heather]

You can use that for as long as you like. Some sick ferrets live on it for months. You can also try spoon feeding your egg mix into Mayhem. I almost always (unless I see them eating) top up switching ferrets (I usually use the egg mix). They have a tendency to loose some weight as some of the kibble fat is converted into muscle. Some ferrets are the more wippet type body style as well, but you will be able to tell by feel if they're loosing weight vs changing weight. Another thing to consider is that you're feeding breast meat?? I believe. That's really lean for a ferret (I made this mistake too when I first started) They need the skin and that fat that lays under the skin. Dark meat also carries more fat. I was amazed at how much fat these guys actually need to survive and put weight on. You have to remember these guys actually convert the fat into energy. All that dooking and wardancing requires energy from somewhere
I would definitely be supplementing Mayhem's diet. You spoon feeding will give her that extra boost. Sometimes, they go off right after they switch....I'm not entirely sure why. My little Pooka did. I thought she was eating well, and I picked her up one day and her tummy was empty. So back to the feeding we went. She was eating on her own within the week, but she had decided to go off. She, like your Mayhem had been an easy switch. Give that a try.
I will check in with you a little later. I'm off to work
ciao

[weeksl08]

Thanks for the suggestion! Today I got some fresh ground chicken, hearts and gizzards, and breast (before I got home to read this post.) I chopped the hearts and gizzard and well as the breast and mixed it all in the ground chicken. I know they need the organs so I hope this works for them. I have some wings (that they wont eat) and I think I may have a few legs left in the freezer. If I do, I will chop them up and add them to the mix for the next time I can get some ground. I am going to probably worder ground/bone/organ when I get paid (once a month ) next month when money is better. I have to buy books this month.

Good news, May is growning her fur back!