Bone Meal

[razzlette]

Zuko and Katara have been on a raw diet for almost a year now. They still don't eat as much bone as I would like. I have done the crushed egg shell but I was wondering about using bone meal. They do eat rib and some of the other small bones from the game hens. I am just sick of the runny poo when they decide not to eat the bones.

Any suggestions would be great.

~Stacy

[sherrylynne]

I use bonemeal in my soups, for that same reason. Sometimes some of them won't eat as much of the bone as I like, the lazy little sods , and since whole prey is a bit too pricey for me to feed more than once a week right now, AND I can't give much chicken because of Boris, the bone meal makes for a good supplement. I pick mine up from a raw feeding pet store.

[Heather]

I know that ferrets can be really lazy in the chewing dept. They like their eating to be fast and furious Please, remember that bone meal is a cooked bone, you're loosing most of what you are seeking in the creating of this product. Personally, I would stick with the eggs. I would even consider purchasing some commercial ground if you want to get more bone in their diet before feeding bone meal. It's better for them. JMO of course
ciao

[ccretarolo]

One thing that you may want to consider is talking to a butcher. Since Mogli will only eat ground meats, I add in bone dust from the bone saw at my dad's work. He works in a grocery store meat department so I always have some of the bone dust either frozen or ready to put in my next batch of ground meat.

The difference between bone dust and bone meal is pretty simple. Bone meal is completely cooked through while bone dust is still at least partially raw. Luckily, the bone dust I get always has some meat scraps in it so it's actually more raw than cooked.

Adding both the bone dust and whole prey to Mogli's ground meat has done wonders for his health. Before, all of his poops were runny. Now that he has more calcium and fiber in his diet (from mouse fur), his poops are completely solid.

[Heather]

Excellent idea and one that I've heard of for cats too (they're rather lazy creatures when it comes to bones too), I just never thought of it. Silly me
ciao

[josiesmom]

I just picked up some Cuttlefish bone which I will pulverize in a mortar and pestle to add to Mimzy'z ( the ferret formerly known as Liza) and the crew's raw offerings. Cuttle fish bone is cheap, readily available anywhere bird supplies are sold, easilt pulverized and is high in calcium. My research shows the bone is processed by boiling then drying for packaging. The package offers a guaranteed analysis of the bone as follows:

Crude Protein: 4.1%
Crude fat: .2%
Crude Fiber: 2.3%
Moisture: 5.0%
Ash: 93.6%
Calcium: 31.2%

Although it IS processed bone, because I will be feeding it pulverized and mixed into the raw chunks offered, cooked bone splinters won't be a worry! This gets calcium into the ferrets even when they aren't actually eating raw bones yet!

From what I can find, calcium needs to be about 1% of the total diet as based on mink diet information and the small anmount done for BFF.

This link is VERY interesting regarding ferret diet formulations:

www.nagonline.net/Proceedings/NAG1995/Black%20Footed%20Ferrets%20Diets%20at%20MTZ.pdf

according to rodentpro.com site nutrition data at:

www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

shows that whole mice adults offer almost 3% calcium and 11% ash.

so combining the info from these two sources would mean if I stay within that range of 1 to 3% calcium when feeding RAW meat chunks I should be able to stay in a safe range and not be overdosing the ferrets with calcium.

Keep in mind that the cuttlebone itself is only 31% calcium. so a pulverized half teaspoon of that mixed into a quarter cup of raw chunks should be quite safe, while offering necessary minerals.

[sherrylynne]

Actually, the bone meal I get from the raw feeding store is fresh, raw bone meal! Still pink, even

[Heather]

Ok....I've never seen it that way, except to pick it up at the butcher and he calls it bone dust. It's obviously bone grind powder, what ccretarolo was talking about. Most people are talking about bonemeal and it comes cooked. My oops
ciao

[razzlette]

Thank you for the replies! I did buy a bit of NV for them to eat once a week so it may help.

"Actually, the bone meal I get from the raw feeding store is fresh, raw bone meal! Still pink, even"

I'm wondering if our health food store here has this. It is in the fridge section?

~Stacy

[sherrylynne]

I pick it up at a raw feeding pet food store. Just checked the package- it's produces locally, and it's from bison.