|
|
Post by weloveourweasels on Sept 11, 2009 22:45:39 GMT -5
I am planning on getting my babies eating frankenprey but would love them to eat freeze dried just in case. To humor myself I have been trying my damnedest to figure out how much my babies would eat per month. Well I e-mailed Stella and Chewy's because that is the brand I would be interested in feeding since there are enough varieties for them. I told them my girls both weigh roughly 1.5 lbs and the boys 2.5 lbs. Not sure exactly, they could weigh more or less. Given that estimate I was told the girls could eat 1/4 of a patty and up to 1/2 a patty per day and the boys 1/2 to 3/4 of a patty per day. I would be offering it to them re-hydrated. Apparently 12 patties equaling 6 oz altogether re-hydrates to 6 lbs of food. Stella and Chewy's didn't confirm this but said 95% of their customers feed the freeze dried dry. If it is true it would make sense that my babies would eat that much food because I estimated them to eat around 24 lbs of food per month if fed raw. That would meat 4 bags of freeze dried, 1 per ferret per month. That is actually pretty affordable. I'm not very good with math and numbers it makes my head hurt but I want to figure this out. Please help if you can make any sense of all this.  Thank you! EDIT: Stella and Chewy's said the girls and boys would likely eat less rather than more i.e 1/4 patty for girls and 1/2 patty for boys rather than 1/2 patty for girls and 3/4 a patty for boys but they *could* end up eating the more. |
|
|
|
Post by ccretarolo on Sept 11, 2009 23:12:20 GMT -5
Be very careful with estimates. I have 2 boys that weigh 2 pounds during the summer and about 3 pounds during the winter. During the summer, they can easily eat a rehydrated patty of S&C each daily.
Rather than taking weight into account, figure out how much they'll eat by age and activity level instead. Both of mine are under 2 years old and very active, I would feed them each a patty a day (if that was all I was feeding).
Another thing to take into consideration is that they will eat more when they first start eating raw on their own. The body overcompensates for the time that they were eating kibble by eating a lot more raw for the extra nutrients and I'm assuming for detox purposes.
So, for at least the first six months of the switch, plan on feeding twice as much as you would anticipate. It might seem ridiculous but you'll be surprised by how much they can eat.
|
|
|
|
Post by weloveourweasels on Sept 11, 2009 23:56:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. It would be horrible to not buy enough. I have heard all about them eating way more than normally when they first start the switch but had no idea they eat almost double for 6 months. Good thing is they are all adults except Edgar who will be 1 on October 7th. His energy level is pretty much a 10
Loki is 3-4 years old (female) energy 7
Rolo will be 2 in 4 days!! (female) energy 8
Mr. Bean will be 2 April 27th energy 9
I really need to get a little digital scale to keep up with their weights I know they aren't expensive.
|
|
|
|
Post by ccretarolo on Sept 12, 2009 0:21:53 GMT -5
Expect to be feeding each of them at least 2 ounces of food each meal for a while. My sister has a little one pound girl that can easily put away half of her body weight daily.
For the first few months, just feed them however much they want to eat. Kibble deprives them of essential nutrients so they will eat until their bodies are back to way they should be.
Since all of them have an energy level over a 5, you will start feeling like they're eating you out of house and home for a while... They'll also all become even more active since their bodies will be utilizing a lot more of the food that they get. For the most part, this will result in lean muscle mass but with the winter switch approaching, some of your ferrets will probably get a little chunkier than you're used to.
When Mogli made his winter switch (a little early but I'm not complaining), I knew that he would get big. What I wasn't expecting was that he would gain over a pound in a matter of 2 months... I still don't exactly know how big Ozzy will get since he's just now blowing his baby coat but he's already over 2.5 pounds... So I'm expecting him to weigh in at at least 3 pounds for the winter and around 2-2.5 for summer.
|
|
|
|
Post by weloveourweasels on Sept 12, 2009 1:07:51 GMT -5
Hopefully since they have always been fed top of the line kibbles (except Loki but I got her at 1 1/2 and she has ate good since I have had her) and have duck soup weekly, sometimes daily which is now 100% kibble free for the past 2-3 months they won't feel so nutritionally starved and won't eat like complete hyenas.
Their soup was from EVO duck but now its just plain raw meat blended. Before that when there was kibble in their soup I have put in raw chicken cut tiny (PITA!!), ground beef/turkey, EVO cat kitten, EVO duck and Before Grain quail. Each one of my ferrets have had some form of meat or raw supplement since I have had them. Perhaps that will be on my side.
|
|
|
|
Post by ccretarolo on Sept 12, 2009 1:19:12 GMT -5
Possibly.
When I got Mogli he had only been eating high end kibbles. During the switch to raw, I had him on a blend of EVO cat and Wellness CORE (both are grain free and around 50% protein). Even with that, he is still quite the piggy when it comes to his raw food. I guess it really just depends on each ferret as an individual though.
|
|
|
|
Post by vkoslin on Sept 12, 2009 6:17:11 GMT -5
I was recently into hare-today.com, and I still am. But after learning that I'd spend over 70 for just a coarse ground chicken, enough for all my babies (but no variety, variety would cost MORE), I want to try this stella and chewy's. When you figure out how much it is a month for yours, PLEASE let me know...I have 6 and I'm positive I want to switch from kibble...
|
|
|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Sept 12, 2009 10:26:22 GMT -5
That's why I like frankenprey  . Cost is a LOT less! |
|
|
|
Post by weloveourweasels on Sept 12, 2009 14:27:56 GMT -5
I was going to doHare Today as well and it would have cost me around $90 per month to feed my four with variety. From what I understand it would cost $40.55 for a month of Freeze Dried but I have no way of knowing if it will really last unless I buy it and find out. If I were to feed strictly freeze dried (which I'm not) I would have to get double that I think I need just in case they do turn into ravenous piggies. That would still be cheaper than Hare Today. Like I said i am going to be feeding Frankenprey (prepared at home raw meaty bones not premixed). But I can only feed them chicken, beef, Cornish game hen and turkey. I would like them to eat the freeze dried just in case of travel or emergency or them needing to be boarded and me not trusting the boarders to do the meals right. Also I'd like to get the lamb and duck duck goose perhaps for some added variety once in awhile because they love lamb (Ziwi PeaK, except Edgar who used to love it till he choked on it) and Duck (EVO 95% duck canned food).
So yeah I figured I would go ahead and TRY to figure out how much they would eat per month but each ferret is different and I won't really know unless I try which at this moment I'm not going to do. Especially since Erinn can feed her 5 fuzzies 2 of whom are breeder ferts and 2 more are boys and the other is a girl on just $30 a month and she says that is being lazy about sales prices and with the occasional commercial raw thrown in. With me having only 2 boys and 2 girls none of which are breeder ferts and if I got no commercial raw I would imagine it would cost me around $20-$25 a month maybe less to feed frankenprey. It's really not that hard. If you don't like preparing things like me don't get a whole chicken like I did first switch. Wow I hated cutting that thing up. This time I am buying everything pre-packed and separate. I won't be giving them the Cornish game hen until they are already eating bone and I can just cut the hen in half and stick it in the cage without having to do much.
|
|
|
|
Post by mustelidmusk on Sept 12, 2009 17:40:03 GMT -5
I started feeding freeze-dried raw and kibble before I even knew ferrets were being fed raw meaty diets. Contrary to popular belief, my ferrets ate kibble and freeze-dried raw together without any problems whatsoever. There were no tummy aches from fermenting/rotting kibble in the gut, no loss of nutrition from different digestion rates, etc. All I experienced was happier ferrets with better coats and more engergy to focus on mass destruction efforts areound the house . You can always try a mix of freeze-dried raw and high-quality kibble and adjust if you feel you're ferrets are having digestive troubles with the combination. Again, my 4 brats did fine on kibble freeze-dried mix. -jennifer |
|
|
|
Post by vkoslin on Sept 12, 2009 22:01:01 GMT -5
What's is frankenprey? I apparently have a lot to learn about my options. I'm not too picky as to what I switch them to, other than I want them off kibble. I feed Wellness Core, which I have researched and came to LOVE, with no grains and lots of meat-based protein, and my ferrets DANCE for it! They love it! But I've noticed them not being as muscular as I'd prefer, and some, like Munchkin, are kibble fiends and are downright fat. Anyways, I'll keep researching these other things... I really had no idea...
|
|
|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Sept 13, 2009 10:57:58 GMT -5
Frankenprey is whole raw meats, bones, and organs, in a ratio to mimic whole prey. It is balanced usually over the course of a week.
|
|
|
|
Post by weloveourweasels on Sept 15, 2009 3:48:18 GMT -5
Emily from Stella and Chewy's confirmed with me today that it sounds about right that my four would eat four 6 oz bags together a month. She said perhaps less or more but it should be right around that.  |
|
ls84
Going Natural
Posts: 102
|
Post by ls84 on Oct 3, 2009 17:16:51 GMT -5
My 7 month old is about 3.5 lbs and eats about one or two Stella and Chewy's patties per day, REHYDRATED! And he has been eating raw since I got him at about 2-3 months old. My newest addition is estimated to be about 2-3 years, 2.5 lbs and he was on Totally Ferret kibble when I got him, and is now eating at least one rehydrated patty per day plus eat picks from the bowl all day long dried patty pieces, Ziwipeak and AFS beef niblets. I dont know if I am over feeding or not, I just always offer the rehydrated patties a few times a day and they always eat it till its gone.
|
|
|
|
Post by jojodancer on Oct 20, 2009 8:12:26 GMT -5
I know I'm late, (once again), but I have 6 ferrets at home. I go through approximately 4 bags of ZiwiPeak and 3 bags of Stella and Chewy's/Wysong/AFS per month. I don't always use S&C, to add variety, and I mix and match the patties to make soupie blends (this morning's was 1/2 duck, 1/2 beef, a little AFS sprinkles)
I have 3 boys (all over 1000g) and 3 very active girls. Two of the boys are older and not as active.
|
|
