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Post by luci on Jan 12, 2010 17:59:44 GMT -5
If they'll eat the cubed meat, give it to them! There's nothing wrong with mixing it up. The more types of food they're exposed to the greater variety they'll be willing to eat and the more nutrition they'll have access to. Start offering larger and larger chunks. If they act like they're not sure what to do with it cut it up smaller. I bet they'll dive right in. Next we'll try some bony stuff. If you can get quail, cornish hen, small rabbit those bones are perfect. Ribs are easy to eat, but load bearing bones like leg bones might be too difficult right off the bat. Chicken wings smashed can work. Let me know what you can get your hands on. The only freeze dried I feed is dehydrated lamb lung and some Pogos as treats, so I don't have much experience with incorporating it into a regular diet. I would say maybe a couple of times a week replace one of their meals with the freeze dried. Or try offering it as treats. Then when you're gone, oh my gosh! we eat nothing but treats! I don't think fruits should have any part of a ferret's diet. It's the sugar in fruits that can lead to insulinoma. But as I said, I have no experience with those items, so if you start a thread in this forum: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gen you should get some experienced opinions about that. Remember that with commercial foods you have to be vigilant about label reading. These companies are in business to make a profit. Real, human quality meat is expensive. Many people won't pay high enough prices for them to make an all meat food, so they have to cut it with something. And then they make up reasons as to why cranberries, apples and blueberries are beneficial to a carnivore. |
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 12, 2010 19:53:57 GMT -5
ok that's what i thought but someone somewhere (don't remember now) had recomended it that's why i bought it without looking at the label...
ok so i like the treats idea that's what i'll do once i get them.
and i will keep on feeding what i have here until i can find either quail or cornish hen... i've been looking for those two for a few weeks in different groceries with no luck...
so i'll try the mashed up chicken wing until i can get a hold of those.
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Post by luci on Jan 12, 2010 23:43:53 GMT -5
You're doing an excellent job! Wait until you see them crunching on their first bones. You'll be so proud!
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 14, 2010 22:24:21 GMT -5
ok so here's todays update (unfortunatly still no bone eating) for breakfast i gave them a whole bag (what i was giving for two meals) of pork with egg shells and they devoured it before i went to work at 12pm so i gave them what was supposed to be for dinner for lunch lol  which was a whole bag again of ground beef with egg shells thinking it would last for lunch and dinner (boy was i wrong!) so when i got home around 8pm i gave them the only defrosted thing i had left which was beef heart with egg shells (they both still have really bad diarhea and it's been a few days actually like 4 days is this bad??) but glad to announce that they are completely off of kibble and ferretone! |
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Post by luci on Jan 14, 2010 22:57:15 GMT -5
What do you mean by really bad diarrhea? What color is it? Is it smelly? Have you checked their little bums to see if they're red and/or prolapsed?
Right now their bodies are adjusting to this new food and runny poo is par for the course. Their are also getting a lot more moisture in their food than they used to. Also meats like pork and beef have quite a bit a fat that their bodies need to figure out how to use.
Have you tried giving a little pumpkin in one of their meals?
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 15, 2010 13:23:36 GMT -5
yes the diarrhea does smell but so does their regular poop... i'm going to try the pumpkin if i have in my pantry i'll do it right now if not i'll go buy some tomorrow and start that tomorrow. with all the egg shells i gave them yesturday it looks like it helped a little so i will also try the pumpkin... i still can't find anything like quail or rabbit anywhere what should i try now? they are doing great with the ground and cubed stuff i'm so proud of them!
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Post by luci on Jan 15, 2010 13:46:01 GMT -5
Cornish hen. Chicken ribs. Smashed chicken wings. You could try frog legs, but that meat might be a little too weird for them right now. I can't recall if I ever got my ferrets to try frog legs. I know my cats like them.
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 15, 2010 21:15:08 GMT -5
maybe i can google cornish hen miami florida and find somewhere? ok if anything i will just have to buy stuff on hare today (it's just super pricey for me) is there any other good raw meat websites that you know of?
also how should i cut up a cornish hen or a quail or rabbit? say if i finally find a cornish hen what do i do with it?
sounds like a dumb question but i have no idea how big or little to chop it up for them...
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 15, 2010 21:24:45 GMT -5
ok i'm on the hare today website and they have rabbit and quail but for the quail they have them in different ages... now i'm REALLY lost lol
they have 1 day old, 1 week old and adult quails... i suppose they are dead and frozen?
what would you recommend i get to start? should i cut them up?
i thought i was on such a great path and now i'm lost again! lol
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 15, 2010 21:29:02 GMT -5
sorry i clicked send to soon by accident i ment to also ask i defrosted two delicious pieces of salmon that i was supposed to cook 3 days ago and it's in my fridge but we aren't going to eat it anymore. can i feed it to the ferrets?
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Post by luci on Jan 16, 2010 0:23:08 GMT -5
maybe i can google cornish hen miami florida and find somewhere? ok if anything i will just have to buy stuff on hare today (it's just super pricey for me) is there any other good raw meat websites that you know of? also how should i cut up a cornish hen or a quail or rabbit? say if i finally find a cornish hen what do i do with it? sounds like a dumb question but i have no idea how big or little to chop it up for them... I haven't ordered stuff online, but I know that people use www.rodentpro.com too. Have you looked at ethnic markets? I get my quail at an asian market. $6.79 for a 6 pack of jumbo quail. When they have them on sale I stock up. Ethnic markets are wonderful for cheap "alternative" meats. I get all sorts of funky stuff there like tongue, lips, heart, kidney, brains, goat, frog, duck... you name it. I try to get as much as I can from local organic farmers, but sometimes they don't have much for cheap variety meats for me. The asian market fills in those gaps. When I cut up a quail I cut it into quarters: cut up stem to stern front and back and then cut at the midway point through the ribs or thereabout. So you have two pieces with ribs, breast and wing and two pieces with ribs and drumstick. Cornish hens are about the same idea. Maybe instead of four pieces you'll get 6-8. Depending on the size of the rabbit you can cut it up roughly the same way. Bigger rabbits you might get 8-12 pieces or something. The main thing is... cut whatever size your ferrets are willing to eat. Start with a guess and go from there. If they look totally clueless about how to deal with it, cut it smaller. If they tear through it in no time, you can leave them with larger pieces. ok i'm on the hare today website and they have rabbit and quail but for the quail they have them in different ages... now i'm REALLY lost lol they have 1 day old, 1 week old and adult quails... i suppose they are dead and frozen? what would you recommend i get to start? should i cut them up? i thought i was on such a great path and now i'm lost again! lol From what I understand the 1 day old are worthless because they're so, so tiny. Have you ever seen a quail egg? Super super wee. One week old are still very small. You could get a couple to try out as a snack, but I would go with the adults. I think your guys will do fine with them. Now I believe that these are the whole animal from hare today. Like feathers and all. You may want to ask before you place an order. Not that it's bad to have the whole bird, but just so you aren't shocked when you get your order. sorry i clicked send to soon by accident i ment to also ask i defrosted two delicious pieces of salmon that i was supposed to cook 3 days ago and it's in my fridge but we aren't going to eat it anymore. can i feed it to the ferrets? Sure! I would give them just a little chunk though. If you want to freeze the rest to feed them later that would be fine. My ferrets haven't ever cared for fish, but every ferret is different. |
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 16, 2010 15:45:10 GMT -5
ok thanks! i will look for an asian market by here and go check it out i'm sure there are some near here i just don't know about them...
i just remembered i have a little chicken that i cook in the slow cooker i'll try cutting that up to see what they do with it (it's a good thing i bought them a big dog bowl when i first got them by accident now it's super handy for all this raw food)
i'll let you know how the salmon and chicken go...
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Post by luci on Jan 16, 2010 16:03:46 GMT -5
Excellent!
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Post by shirleyverde on Jan 16, 2010 21:14:46 GMT -5
so they hate the salmon... lol
but on a good note my husband went to a different winn dixie today and found cornish hen so i'm defrosting it to try it out tomorrow.
and i'm still going to find an asian grocery store to find other things for them there.
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Post by luci on Jan 16, 2010 21:42:19 GMT -5
Oh well. Did I ever tell you about the Fierra and sashimi ahi tuna? Everyone else loved it, but she gagged and spit it out. $22/lb fish and she gagged.
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