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Post by jadieglitch on Mar 25, 2009 17:20:20 GMT -5
Okay, so no plant products. Check.
What about eggs? I heard that feeding raw eggs to dogs is beneficial for their coat. How do ferrets react to this? Will they eat them boiled (is that even good for them?)?
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Post by harrisi on Mar 25, 2009 18:08:17 GMT -5
I feed raw eggs all the time from "wild" ground dwelling birds as well as, chickens, phesant and quail. I feed them raw, in shell. The ferrets have fun cracking the eggs open and then they will eat the egg shell and get some extra calcium.
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Post by bluedove on Mar 25, 2009 20:17:22 GMT -5
Ferrets are obligate carnivores, which means they MUST eat meat. They are incapable of digesting fiber due to the fact that they do not posses a cecum. Fiber should account for less than 3% of the ferrets total diet. They also have a very simple and short digestive tract... so much fewer nutrients are absorbed from their food during digestion than most creatures. This fact is why they need the the most nutrient dense food we can offer them... which is (recently) live prey. Carbohydrates and sugar in a ferrets diet have been linked to Insulinoma and other common and devastating illnesses in ferrets. Their systems are much less forgiving than those of cats or dogs and they suffer detriments more quickly from consuming carb loaded kibble than other carnivorous pets. Just like humans, ferrets do best on the diet their ancestors evolved eating. And the closer you get to their natural, living free-and-in-the-wild diet, the healthier your ferret will be.
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Post by tsslilsis on Mar 25, 2009 20:50:23 GMT -5
Ferrets are obligate carnivores, which means they MUST eat meat. They are incapable of digesting fiber due to the fact that they do not posses a cecum. Fiber should account for less than 3% of the ferrets total diet. They also have a very simple and short digestive tract... so much fewer nutrients are absorbed from their food during digestion than most creatures. This fact is why they need the the most nutrient dense food we can offer them... which is (recently) live prey. Carbohydrates and sugar in a ferrets diet have been linked to Insulinoma and other common and devastating illnesses in ferrets. Their systems are much less forgiving than those of cats or dogs and they suffer detriments more quickly from consuming carb loaded kibble than other carnivorous pets. Just like humans, ferrets do best on the diet their ancestors evolved eating. And the closer you get to their natural, living free-and-in-the-wild diet, the healthier your ferret will be. Some people (including me) consider ferrets as Super carnivores, or strict carnivores in the least. My ferrets personally, like my dogs do, avoid the plant matter in the stomaches of the whole prey they are given. Actually, I had some rabbit innards the other morning that I was giving the pups for breakfast and Skip REFUSED to eat the stomach.. He looked at me like "WHAT do you expect me to do with that?" but when it came to the cleaned out intestine, he was fine. The first time Lillian ever ate raw it was a rat and she still left the stomach and intestine. The ferrets will sometimes have a small bite of mashed potatoes or things like that but we do not include any plant matter in their day to day diet. Its the same with the dogs, but if we had some left over green beans or something like that then Bo will eat them though Skip, Sally and Tessa will not unless they are mixed with meat. It is good when people research animal diets but a lot of people are lead in the wrong direction or just put their personal diet beliefs on their animals. When you get your ferret, take a nice big whiff of him/her and say good bye to the stink because once they are on raw it will go away.. It is like when a person switches to organic, there is an obvious change for the better. My dogs don't smell like dogs, and my ferrets don't smell like ferrets... They shed less, it makes for a happier home and a happier furkid. -~Ketlin
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Post by harrisi on Mar 26, 2009 3:50:12 GMT -5
Just like humans, ferrets do best on the diet their ancestors evolved eating. And the closer you get to their natural, living free-and-in-the-wild diet, the healthier your ferret will be. And this is exactly why I gutload rabbits with veggies and rats/mice with native insects.
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Post by Heather on Mar 26, 2009 12:28:08 GMT -5
Ok, please remember too...which is something you have to do when you're feeding frankenprey vs prey animals that your ferrets will benefit from a small amount of cooked plant matter (please no raw...it sets you up for blockages that can kill your ferret). I use squash or pumpkin. Ferrets eat the fur of their kill, (you guys are right...they do not eat the stomach or the spleen and often they leave the intestines....all over the place )...you're going to use the plant matter (maybe a 1/4 c to 1/2 c for 10 lbs...that's not much) to be the animals fur. No a ferret cannot process the veggies but...they make use of it. Just like when you feed pumpkin. I've been using the squash family for a couple of years now to regulate IBD and ulcer ferrets diets...it really works and it doesn't hurt the other guys. In fact I get a more consistent stool consistency when I use it. It's just a thought but I'm not the only one to see the benefits. You have to think, if you use pumpkin to move fur load when they shed, why not all the time but in a lesser amount. I've found IBD attacks are less, and my guys can eat a more varied diet without it putting a strain on their digestive track. Just an observation that I've have made over the years of feeding raw ciao
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Post by jadieglitch on Mar 26, 2009 17:57:07 GMT -5
Okay... I think I understand... Frankenprey is storebought meat? Meaning no fur... so I should add some pumpkin or other squash to it in order to give them that bit of fiber they need?
What if I'm feeding meats, bugs, eggs, AND live animals? Should I still add in a bit of squash?
And do you use a food processor to make a mix for them consisting of meat and squash, or do you just give it to them?
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Post by luci on Mar 26, 2009 18:13:38 GMT -5
I feed pureed squash once a week in a soup that includes their serving of organs for the week. I can't get 3 of my 4 critters to eat organs on their own, so I make a soup with it and some meat baby food (that's their crack) and they eat it up. The squash helps the poos be firmer than they otherwise would with an organ meal. (They're still stinkier than their regular poos though.)
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Post by Heather on Mar 27, 2009 0:44:56 GMT -5
I mix my squash in with my ground mix. It's just easier that way. I order my ground rmb is 50 to 75 lbs cases. I just mix up 10 lbs batches that usually consists of the ground rmb, offal, raw eggs, and my squash or pumpkin. As my mix has bone already mixed in I don't bother to put it in a blender or food processor (it's rather hard on the blade, and I might add don't place bone in your food processor, it doesn't do very well...the food processor that is ). Using this mix means that I can add more liquid and feed it to sick or newbie ferrets ( I use this mixture to switch all my ferrets over to raw) as a per need basis. I also use this mix for when my guys are travelling to shows with me (they sit on my lap and eat their dinners from a spoon) This is a pic of Porthos when I first started switching him to a ground raw diet. Porthos eventually graduated to eating whole meats. ciao
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Post by harrisi on Mar 29, 2009 9:52:40 GMT -5
they do not eat the stomach or the spleen and often they leave the intestines....all over the place )... Opinion, or fact? Some of my ferrets eat the stomach and its content of every animal they have been offered and they get tripe if they go into the vets (the vet gives it them).
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Post by Heather on Mar 29, 2009 21:33:17 GMT -5
My guys will not eat rat stomachs, spleens or intestines and yes tripe is an awesome treat in their opinion. That is the opinion of over 30 ferrets, 4 cats and 3 dogs in over 10 yrs. My dogs eat tripe as a meal, my cats won't touch the stuff. I suppose that maybe my guys are too well fed so they don't believe in eating the trash parts of their rats. Mice are normally eaten in their entirety, unless the little bums have too many of them. Opinion...No...observation...yes, much of a difference possibly, certainly not something worth arguing about. ciao
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Apr 13, 2009 16:33:23 GMT -5
Jadieglitch-
It is always nice to see other vegans and vegetarians on this forum. I have been vegetarian for 6 years and vegan for 4 and have been feeding raw to my ferrets for almost one year.
Please feel free to contact me through a PM or email if you have questions about how veganism and pet carnivores fit together easily, I would love to chat!
AnimalsGetRevenge Cassie_Lock@yahoo.com
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