Questions About Bones

[katt]

How do I get baby to eat bones? Right now Koda will eat the meat and skin off of the bone, but then he stashes the bone (and whatever meat is left on it) in his litter box! It is really gross bc the litter sticks to it and then it has to be thrown out (waste!).

How do I teach him that he can actually eat the bone?

[katt]

Oh yes, and I have pure calcium powder that I use for my reptiles. I put a little in his food tonight since he isn't eating any bone right now and I don't have any eggshells at the moment. Is this an okay alternative to egg shells and bones until he starts to eat the bones? Like, can I put it in his food every day? It is pure calcium, no D3 or Phosphorus or anything like that.

[sherrylynne]

Start him off with wing tips chopped a bit. They'll be the easiest for him. He's still got to build up his jaw strength to be able to crunch through regular bone.

[katt]

Well I do not have a food processor or a very good blender (and I like my blender and would rather not wear down the blades). My knives don't seem to do the trick, and my hands can't grip on the slippery meat well enough to break any bones well. I sawed partially through a few smaller bones and the joint ends but that was about all that I could manage.
Also, How do I get him to try new foods like bone that I can't put in his mouth? So far the only way I have convinced him to taste new foods by putting it in his mouth until he eats it and then he will eat it. I can't really do that with bone, or later rodents. How would I convince him that a live mouse was food? I think I might try gizzards tomorrow (still chicken).

[sherrylynne]

To get mine on bones, I gave them split wings for a few days in a row, with nothing else. I segmented the wings, split the middle between the two, and cut the drumette bone lengthwise to expose the marrow. But they'd been eating decent sized chunks for a while first, as well as the wing tips.
Once he willingly starts eating the chunks without having to pop them in his mouth, he'll be fine.
With the mice, I started with pinkies chopped up in their regular meat. He'll need to learn that mice are indeed a food group before he'll eat them, most likely. He may kill right off the bat, because that's instinct, but won't realize to eat it. And I'd start him off with a juvenile first. An adult mouse is possibly going to be too much for him at the beginning, because it will fight back.

[vkoslin]

If they're at the stage where they aren't chewing bones and aren't getting bone as a result, try Hare-today.com and look at the ground meat/organ/bone. It's a little pricey for shipping but a great way to get your guys to eat all their nutrients without actually biting into bone, which is hard for newbie raw eaters.

If you don't feel liek doing that, check out cornish hens or quail. Mine go crazy for quail. Those bones are much smaller and i think they break easier. If you take a piece of quail, for instance, and chop it up (pretty easy, bones are tiny), i think they might try it. When you break bones, the marrow is exposed. Idk if you have ever seen a dog go crazy for a bone with marrow, but ferrets are the same. Marrow is soooo tasty to them. Once they like that edge of the bone and taste that marrow, it'll be tempting to eat that bone.

Start small and move up. Good bones to start with are cornish hens and quail. Next, maybe some chopped chicken wing tips. Then wings, chopped. The hardest, in my opinion, are drumsticks because they are so big. Even my guys don't have the strength to bit into that.

[katt]

But how do you chip through the bone? I even tried buying new knives and sawed at the bones for forever and could barely cut through... a coworker suggested going to a nearby natural store (Natural Pantry) and getting poultry scissors or I could find an Ulu knife really easily here but they are expensive. How do you guys cut the bones?

[weloveourweasels]

I use poultry sheers but they can be bought at wal-mart or some place like thatyou don't need to buy them from a fancy store.
They don't do all the work for you though, you do have to use a bit of strength to get through the bone.

[katt]

That's fine, as long as they are sharp enough, and won't break. haha

EDIT: Just Kidding! I don't have a spare $60 to spend on heavy duty scissors right now! That money is reserved for Rent, ferret shots, food and such! :S Any less expensive alternatives?

[vkoslin]

I have an all-purpose-slicer thats a saw-like little knife that takes some work to cut through. It's easier to cut slightly frozen.

Cornish hen and quail bones are realllllyyyy fragile and easy to cut through.

[Lynxie]

I use a plain, cheap kitchen knife. The trick is to slice through the meat, and then use your hand to apply pressure to the back of your knife. Don't slice so much as pound or chop.

[Kerit]

I also use poultry shears... they were about $30 and do a pretty good job. Whatever I can't cut through with them, my husband can.

[Heather]

I use poultry shears. I've cut turkey bones with it (not the legs obviously), I use a hammer on those
ciao

[katt]

Dec 23, 2009 19:41:09 GMT -5 Lynxie said:

I use a plain, cheap kitchen knife. The trick is to slice through the meat, and then use your hand to apply pressure to the back of your knife. Don't slice so much as pound or chop.

Hmm I will give that a try and see how it goes!

[sherrylynne]

I use an inexpensive cleaver! Interesting to watch first thing in the morning- just don't get too close