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Post by fertsru on Sept 11, 2009 0:10:23 GMT -5
I am giving my new dooker whole mice, chicken wings (not from KFS , hen wings, and cooked chicken sometimes. He also has kibble available which he eats in between the meals. I was naive at first to assume that he'd need some small mice and ordered some really tiny hairless frozen babies. After watching him gooble them in three bites, I think he'd need 4-5 at a time in order to get full. Luckily I also ordered some average size white micecles. So, the question is: am I breaking some laws of some diet by giving both raw and whole pray? Could you guide me to some chart how much he needs to have a day and what? Oh, and the major question. Does all ferret poop stink if they are on raw diet? Besides his slight musky smell, his poop and pee stinks so bad, that I can tell he used the litter box from just walking within 4-5 feet. I'm just hoping to tolerate the smell for a few more months until neutering, but if it's the diet that's causing the smell, I'd like to fix that now.
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Post by Heather on Sept 11, 2009 0:32:36 GMT -5
Hmmm stinky poopies...sounds like the kibbles to me or maybe it's just he needs to be altered . I know that Odin smelled a little funky and his litter box wasn't much better and his pee was down right raunchy Don't feed kibbles along with your protein sources and things won't smell quite as bad...at least with my guys it's not as bad. If your guy are eating raw, why the kibble?? You've got mice and chicken, so all you need is another couple of meat sources and you will looking really good. We normally say about 3 but a couple others help round things out. Why cook the chicken?? I hope that there's no bones in that cooked stuff right?? Whole mice is good, a variety of ages is really good and yes, the smaller they are the faster they disappear You should try some ratcicles too, my guys love them. Whole bunnies work really well too. I think that the amount depends on size, activity level, age and season. I"ve got some who will out eat the cat during the fall months, but eat very little once summer rolls around. The easiest manner is to feed him his food and if quite a bit of it gets stashed then he needs less. I find that on a whole we have a tendency to feed more, than less. Those with one or two ferrets will be better able to tell you actual numbers that their guys eat. My guys are free roam and have access to their food 24/7 and I fill the bowl as it empties. Ferrets are very good at limiting their amounts. They also eat huge amounts when they're first switched over from kibbles.... Good luck ciao
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Post by fertsru on Sept 11, 2009 9:58:32 GMT -5
The new dooker, which eats raw, lives with my two older ferrets. They have been on Evo and Natural gold forever. I am not going to try to switch them on raw again. Already had several failed attempts. So he eats their kibble sometimes. Besides that he is a big boy and he is only 4 months, he eats a lot! Yesterday he had two white micecles in the morning and 6 hairless babies in the evening, and one chicken wing at night (I heard it ) , with kibble in between the meals. Watching him eat the chicken makes me worried about my fingers. My dookers don't stink at all on the kibble. But his poop makes me gag. That's why I asked if it's the whole pray/raw diet that's causing the stink or just the fact that he is not neutered yet. About cooked chicken: I had some left over from my son's meal. No bones, just good white meat. His breeder said he can have cooked sometimes. It's not a part of the routine, more like a treat. I don't know where to get a rabbit, besides letting Kirby out in the yard to catch them. I already ordered 800 micecles and not planning on another order in a while, so no ratties for now. The only other addition to mice/chicken diet is Cornish game hens. Will that suffice as an element #3 or is it too close to chicken nutrients?
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Post by sherrylynne on Sept 11, 2009 21:51:47 GMT -5
Too close, I'm thinking. You could go for pork, beef, turkey, emu, bison- basically whatever you can get your hands on!
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Post by fuzzymom on Sept 12, 2009 8:10:53 GMT -5
It might be the fact that he is eating kibble AND raw, not that he's eating raw. This guy's digestive system is probably going crazy because it is having to switch from something easily digestible and full of nutrients it can easily absorb, to something very hard to digest and not as nutritious. Your other ferrets eat kibble constantly so their digestive systems are not being shocked by the sudden change in diet every day. Kind of like when they tell you to gradually change your dogs diet so his digestive system has time to adjust to the new kibble. The same thing is happening here only he's not having time to adjust to eating the kibble and then suddenly eating meat. That is my guess anyway. I'm not an expert.
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ferretfreke
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder[/b]
Posts: 235
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Post by ferretfreke on Sept 18, 2009 1:37:24 GMT -5
I know my babies stools stunk really bad during their transition and after a few months of being on raw foods only the odor went down immensely. But I would have to agree with the rest that maybe it's because he still eats kibble with the raw. I wouldn't think that not being neutered would affect his stool odor, but just his overall body odor. I've been around plenty of unaltered ferrets and I noticed a big difference in the smell of their "poofing" from not being descented, but not their stools, but maybe their poofs over-shadowed their stool odor. I've had altered unscented ferrets and man their poofs are no where near as smelly as unaltered ferrets. They can bring tears to your eyes.
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joan
Gnawing on bones
Natural Ferret Breeder
Posts: 57
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Post by joan on Jan 21, 2010 20:42:23 GMT -5
I agree that it's the combination of eating both raw and kibble that's resulting in the bad stool odor, as they have different digestion processes, enzymes, etc. I had the same experience with mine several years ago when I was feeding both (the kibble was Natural Gold and Evo Feline), as the stools were loose and very stinky during the day when they had access to kibble. I removed the kibble several hours before they were fed raw and whole prey in the evening...the litter pans weren't nearly as stinky in the morning and the stools were firm.
I finally got fed up with the horrible odor and mushy stools, and took them off kibble altogether about 5 years ago. Their stools were fine almost immediately, and the stool odor gradually diminished over the next week or so to virtually none at all. Wish I could say the same for the hobs' urine odor during breeding season. <G>
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Post by Lynxie on Jan 21, 2010 22:05:04 GMT -5
Gotta agree with everyone else here. His problem is probably the combination of kibble and raw. Your best bet would be to remove that element, if possible.
I read that you have tried to switch your other two before, but aren't willing to try again. Why? I know that it can be frustrating at times (trust me - I've got a stubborn one I'm working with right now), but with some patience and a little help from the mentor program, I bet you could get them crunching bone before you know it.
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Post by fuzziesr4me on Jan 28, 2010 17:20:06 GMT -5
I'd personally like to caution about not feeding any kibble. You need to make sure there is a responsible person to take over in the event you can't feed. A lot of people would not feed raw or prey for anothers animals (whatever the reasoning). My ferrets do have kibble available at all times for that reason. Oh and plus I have some finicky eaters that wont touch prey. I feed high quality kibble and prey (no raw) and I don't have a problem with poops
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 28, 2010 22:01:56 GMT -5
actually, I've never had a problem getting others to feed. I just make sure everything is baggied and labeled, and they just dump it in the cage!
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