tzari
Gnawing on bones
Posts: 91
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Post by tzari on Jul 31, 2010 22:44:19 GMT -5
In the petshop they sometimes have rodens, bird and animals like that who have died by itself. Would those animals be ok to use for food to a ferret or could they have problems ? Just a wondering since they froze these animals to snakes owners and sell them cheap....if they are ok to ferret i could ask to buy those if they are nok ok i dont want to ask
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Post by sherrylynne on Aug 1, 2010 0:56:07 GMT -5
I think it really depends on what they've died from. If it's from some sort of illness, I really don't know! I know that predators will take down sick animals in the wild with no ill effects that I'm aware of. And I don't think they'd sell an animal for prey if it died from a parasite. I honestly don't know that I'd trust feeding those to MY ferret, though! If it's an injury, and the staff had to kill the animal, those would certainly be fine. I sometimes buy frozen prey from the petstore, but they get them shipped in for that purpose.
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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 Aug 5, 2010 21:31:07 GMT -5
I personally feel it's natural, but agree with Sherrylynne that it can depend on what they died from, but you're rarely going to know that. I would only do it if it's a domestic animal too. There is a pretty nasty disease that ferrets can get from eating some wild animals, that was discussed at a veterinary conference I attended, but I'd have to look up what it's called again. They mainly get that one from owners feeding roadkill.
I do have my own mice colony and whenever I have found a dead mouse that died on it's own for whatever reason, I will feed it to my ferrets if I've discovered it in time. If it smells I don't feed it. I have also been asked by friends to euthanize sick animals, such as rabbits or chickens, with my Co2 chamber and then fed them to my ferrets (with my friends knowing I do so). I have had no issues come about because of it, but I also knew the animals. I prefer to feed healthy animals for the sake of my ferrets and that's mostly what they get, but I still see it as natural for them to eat one that died from an illness. I know the animals I've received from rodentpro haven't always been healthy as one of the bunnies had an abscess or something similar on its neck.
I also do bi-annual fecal parasite checks on my babies since being on a whole prey diet.
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