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Post by cristina on Jun 2, 2009 23:16:09 GMT -5
Ok this opinion is from Suds, another mentor (and a few others have backed him up with this including myself) " ammonia is also very bad for respitory systems if inhaled it can burn your lungs in high concentrated quanitie's like in cleaners . Ferrets love to smell everything I would highly recomend not use such a product around any animals . Urin does have amonia in it but it dont get to toxic levels unless its never cleaned up . and in ferrets unlike cats there is very very little ammonia in there Urin . And animals look for diffent kind of markers to know where to potty not the ammonia smell .
The best would be to leave a little poo in the litter boxes and be vigalent in watching for sings of going to potty and at that point put him.her in the litter box when caught
Ammonia is found throughout the environment in the air, soil, and water, and in plants and animals including humans. Exposure to high levels of ammonia can cause irritation and serious burns on the skin and in the mouth, throat, lungs, and eyes. At very high levels, ammonia can even cause death.
How can ammonia affect my health?
No health effects have been found in humans exposed to typical environmental concentrations of ammonia. Exposure to high levels of ammonia in air may be irritating to your skin, eyes, throat, and lungs and cause coughing and burns. Lung damage and death may occur after exposure to very high concentrations of ammonia. Some people with asthma may be more sensitive to breathing ammonia than others.
Swallowing concentrated solutions of ammonia can cause burns in your mouth, throat, and stomach. Splashing ammonia into your eyes can cause burns and even blindness.
a quick refernce link
www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts126.html"
IMO I dont think you should use it, I never use any kind of chemicals around my ferrets, its just too risky plus I even had to switch laundry detergents because it cause some of my guys to have allergies so now I am very pro holistic cleaning (I only use vinegar and baking soda and hydrogen peroxide for anything)....Plus ammonia is very strong even to us humans, I dont even have it in the house because I have no use for it. But its up to you of course, I just find it to be way too toxic for anyone (humans and pets)  |
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 4, 2009 21:23:11 GMT -5
I used bitter end instead, they are useing their litter boxes much much better with it.
Im glad i didnt use it.
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 4, 2009 21:34:59 GMT -5
Saybor LOVES it!
I think saybors and ashers past owners gave them raw meat because they are doing so great with it.
The only thing i worry about is if they are getting enough to eat for the past three days they have had ground beef/turkey/chicken with cut up chicken and a tiny bit of kibble.
Their bowls enough for three ferrets, but i only have to re-fill it once a day. usually at 9pm its all gone and i put some more in it.
Is this okay?
oh and im going to the store tomarrow, and i need to know what i should get.
Any more ground beef? and do i need to get any meat with bones?
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Post by cristina on Jun 4, 2009 23:31:17 GMT -5
Once ferrets start eating raw, you will find they eat less....this is because they over eat kibble to gain the right amount of nutrients and minerals from it (which also leads to obesity as well), but yes they will eat noticably less raw than kibble because they are getting all the proper nutrients from an appropriate amount! I feed my 3 twice a day, once in the morning and once at night....and there is always leftovers, plus I dont put out more than 8-10 cut up pieces (and the pieces are about the size of half of my middle finger) sure you can get some bone-in meats, normally you would wean completely off the kibble and then up the sizes of the cut up chunks, then give them bone in meat....but since they are eating so well of the bat, go ahead and see if they take to it!  I would though really start to wean them off the kibble completely now since they are eating raw willingly. Personally for starting out introducing bones I chose to go with chicken wings cut up into sections, I find its easier for them to get a feel for those first so maybe get some wings (I usually cut each wing into 3 parts... kind of at the joints and one cut through the long end to split it into 2 since its a bigger bone. As for other meats, get whatever you want/can....the more variety the better, although 3 different types is the minimal that is substantial...maybe see if you can get rabbit or quail or pheasant too...these are good game meats for them which are hunted sometimes in their natural habitat (well at least by their ancestors and such ) Oh and another good meat that ferrets tend to like is cornish game hens....but they are pretty boney so you may want to wait to get those until you know they like bone  |
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 7, 2009 19:19:26 GMT -5
I don think we have any stores that sell unique meats. But im going to look in the phone book and call around tomarrow. They are finally of kibble!! I havent introduced bones just yet  i couldnt go to the store but when i do ill get chicken wings, beef, and what ever else i can get my hands on. So are they going to start eating more though? |
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Post by cristina on Jun 8, 2009 15:31:19 GMT -5
YAAA!!!! good for them!!! They eat what their bodies need, like for instance in the wild they hunt and eat their food so they may only eat once a day...and when they are on a raw diet its the same thing....my ferrets eat very small portions! I cut up about 8 pieces and (twice a day) and there is almost half left over....so dont worry about it unless their weight decreases a significant amount. (mine also get dehydrated liver treats and dehydrated duck strips daily so this may be the reason they dont eat as much) still its all very good for them and they are very healthy Another thing is that raw meats are much more rich than kibble and have much more nutrients pound for pound than kibble as well, so they dont need to eat a ton of raw (like they used to for kibble) to get everything their bodies need But some ferrets can be piggies and will eat until they stuff themselves, it really all depends on their personalities but usually they dont need alot to eat |
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Post by cristina on Jun 12, 2009 14:49:59 GMT -5
Hows everything going? Was the tummy upset just a one time thing? |
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 14, 2009 23:14:06 GMT -5
What tummy thing?  i've feed them chicken wings for two days now and they tear the meat off but leave the bones. I need help re-introducing it. maybe go back a step........ is feeding them bones like part of them getting the right nutrition? can you feed them raw eggs? Raw feedings awesome! i know i havent been feeding it long but today i noticed a big difference............. I went to my friends house who has one ferret today. I steped in her room and it was yucky! her ferrets odor was really strong. When i came home today my room barely smelled off ferrets and my ferrets dont smell like ferrets!!  i was so happy im trying to confince her to switch also what about feeding them fish? we haventalked much about that lol like when they start eating bones can i justcut up the fish and stick it in their cage? |
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Post by cristina on Jun 15, 2009 20:35:17 GMT -5
Oh sorry I think I must have pasted that part of the sentence from a different thread, that was kinda weird I didnt even realize it haha!  I was talking to someone about an upset tummy and I must have copy and pasted it by accident....yea I am still learning how to use my macbook for over a year now lol Anyways....yes you can feed eggs, actually its good to feed them every so often....I feed them once a week.....its hard to get them to like it though so I usually mix it up in some soup! Fish are great to feed! again may be kinda hard, only one of my babies will eat them raw....so I get some dehydrated and grind them up and mix it with the duk soup mix....they can eat anchovies, sardines and smelt (make sure the anchovies and sardines are NOT canned because they are extremely salty and full of other seasonings) I find it hard to find fresh raw anchovies and sardines so I usually get those dehydrated then I just buy some small smelt from the grocery store and my little mimi LOVES them lol ( I also incude these in the soup sometimes for the others too) I know! ferrets dont smell as much like ferrets when they are on a raw diet its greaat!!! Ok now for the bones.....what I did was I got a large package of chicken wings from the store and I cut all the tips off them (like the most pointy part so the last knuckle to the tip) then I would freeze the large parts for later and I would leave about 4 little tip pieces out in the mornings for about a week (for night feedings I would feed something else, didnt matter what) and by the end of the week they loved the wings and now when I put out cut up wings they still to this day, always take the tips first lol so if you start with this method, let me know if and how it works out....dont get too frustrated at first, it may take a litttle time for them to get use to bone! |
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 16, 2009 17:38:56 GMT -5
lol we got one of the new macs a few months ago......i dont use it much bc its SOOO confusing but its really cool compared to a regular PC ;D Haha i bet the fish stinks ill feed it anyway even though i HATE fish as long as my babies enjoy it ill get over it. ill try the tips thing i really hope they eat the bones. i can probably get some cyuteee pics of them eating it. last night i made soup and i put some ground turkey and raw eggs all in a mixture and they LOVED It!! theyve gained a lot of muscle!!!! i noticed last night when i was playing with them theyve lost the fat and traded it for muscle.  |
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Post by cristina on Jun 16, 2009 19:02:36 GMT -5
yea their bodies really change for the better and get very healthy looking! its just great! Try the tips and see how they take to it....it may be frusterating so just hang in there, it may not happen over night The fish I get dehydrated doesnt smell at all! and I grind them up into a powder with some dehydrated liver as well and put it in the soups I make so you can do it that way too! (its better if you dont like fish lol) |
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 17, 2009 23:50:21 GMT -5
saybor eats bone and all but the other two are still dont know about it yet....its okay ill give them time. theyve done very good through this whole process so im sure they will catch on soon! ill see if i can get my hands on some dehydrated fish...doubt it but ill try |
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Post by cristina on Jun 18, 2009 14:13:26 GMT -5
yea it might take a little time but the other 2 will come around! I actually get my dehydrated fish online....Ill have to see where I saved the website, and Ill post it when I find it. |
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Post by briannahurst on Jun 19, 2009 12:11:50 GMT -5
okay sounds great Saybor has really bad food agression. Last night i got a a chicken wing to feed to them. In the morning before i went to work i fed them ground beef&turkey and 2 raw eggs. They were alll really hungry when i was going to feed them the chicken. i set the chicken in their cage and they all went up to go eat it. so i turned the lights off and went to bed.then i heard lots of hissing and then i heard them squeak like something was hurting them. so i got up turned the lights on and saw gracie and asher in one corner of the cage and saybor in the opposite corner. i grabbed saybor and had to pry the chicken wing outta her mouth and i put her in her carrier so the other two could eat. i kept her in her carrier for like 10 mins and the other two were eating really slowly. saybor was going crazy trying to get out and eat. so i put her back in the cage with the others and she bit them if they came close to her chicken and shed pull it away. so again i put her in the carrier and the other two wouldnt eat. i think they were scared to eat and they went to the bottom level. so i let saybor back in to eat. i didnt have anymore wings so i put some ground turkey in their cage for the other two incase they would get to eat that night. and i went to bed i heard a little more hissing but no more squeaking. shes only aggressive against whole parts of chicken. what do i do? |
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Post by cristina on Jun 19, 2009 13:29:43 GMT -5
Thats normal to have somewhat aggressive tendencies around food (hissing and stashing from the others), but it seems its too much for saybor....what alot of people do actually for feeding time is let them out into a pen or some sort of enclosed area (other than the cage) and let them eat....then after when they are in their cage you can put in extra for just in case they get hungry. I also suggest putting in a shoe box or 2 (or even the long pop can cardboard box) and put a little in each box so saybor can have her privacy in one box and gracie and asher can also have some privacy while eating since they seem to be ok with eating around eachother. I would really take them out of the cage though just to eat for a little and see if the behavior continues, it gives them space to be comfortable and they can go off with a wing if they like and eat it instead of backing into a little corner trying to fend the others off, you know. If you usually feed them then leave for work or whatever then I would try to maybe get up an hour earlier to feed, to make sure they wont fight while your gone....I really do think its just a space issue, which is why many people take them out of the cage for feeding....after meal time you can still leave some extra while your gone for snacking, its just the main feeding time which is important to give them their space. Let me know how this works out! |
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