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Post by shilohismygirl on Aug 13, 2010 23:56:41 GMT -5
Hi, everyone. It has been a couple of weeks since we made the switch, and though I have done tons of research and have lurked round here quite a bit, I cannot help but need reassurance. I am following the RMB model.
One thing I have reservations about, is that while I see that most people give one type of thing per day, I mix it up more. I know that they need bone, organ meat, and muscle meat, and that they need less bone than the others, and less organ meat than muscle meat. I feel like I do this, though I don't give them just one type of thing a day. Today, they had a chicken wingette, half pork steak, a handful of chopped steak a few chicken livers, a few hearts, and a few gizzards. I also give them small amounts several times a day. This means that when they finish what they have, they get more food, as much as they want. Does this sound OK? I know that they need at least three types of animal, and so I also use turkey, cornish hens on different days. I also give them egg, and a bit of ferretone each day.
Also, how long can meat stay in their bowl before I must dispose of it-I've been doing every 8-10 hours. For instance, they aren't as fond of turkey as everything else, so that often goes uneaten for the first 5-8 hours it is in their bowl.
I would love some feedback. My four have taken to this diet really well, especially the smallest, Hiro.
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Post by sherrylynne on Aug 14, 2010 11:39:14 GMT -5
I'm so glad you've shown the initiative to switch them on your own! Wow! As for only giving them one thing at a time, to start with, I introduced one meat for a week or more, so I could find out if there were any sensitivities to it. Then I went on to the next. Now? It's just laziness on my part I try to have all the food prepped and baggied, then it all goes into it's own shelf in the freezer. Muscle meats one shelf, bone in another. Heart and liver on a third. I separate the heart from the rest of the muscle meats so I can make sure to give it at least once a week. As long as your little ones aren't having any problems with any meats, the way you are doing it is fine! You can leave larger chunks in there for up to 24 hours. If it goes bad, they won't eat it anyway I tend to feed twice a day, and just leave enough to do them through to the next meal time. Think about it- in the wild, weasels will kill an animal, and feed off of it for a week. So no need to throw out perfectly good meat after 8 hours
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Post by katt on Aug 14, 2010 12:29:00 GMT -5
Sounds pretty good to me! I feed a variety each day also rather than one thing per day, and I free feed which means Koda has access to food at all times he is in his cage. He does not however, get access to food when he i out of his cage - I do not want to find meat stashed around my bedroom! haha I would definitely add more variety to your diet though. Beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, buffalo, rodent, rabbit, chicks, etc are all great meat sources. I have limited access to organ foods here it seems, but I can still manage to find pork kidneys, in addition to the beef and chicken liver. See if you can find some other organs in your area. (Note, gizzards and heart and delicious for ferts, but they are both muscle meats, not organ). Turkey necks are a great source of bone. Congrats on the switch!
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Post by shilohismygirl on Aug 14, 2010 12:28:33 GMT -5
Awesome! Thank you so much. Your organizational schematic for feeding is pretty cool-It sounds really easy to figure out what things to feed them each day without having to analyze everything you put in their bowl every single time you feed-just get it out and go! That's a great idea, and I will look into organizing my own freezer that way. It doesn't seem like my four have had any problems with anything. Their poops seem normal for a raw diet-not too lose or runny. I have also been feeding them a bit of pumpkin once a week, just because I've heard that it's good for them. I'm not sure if that's erroneous or not, as I could be mistaken, but they seem to have had no adverse reactions to it. It is also good to know that uneaten food doesn't need to be thrown out-Those silly kids know that if they hold out for long enough, they'll probably get something new, so now I know I don't have to change it. They've trained me as well as I have them. Thanks again for the advice! If you think of anything else, let me know. I absolutely want to make sure I'm doing the best job I can do.
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Post by shilohismygirl on Aug 14, 2010 12:38:23 GMT -5
Thanks, hurricanekat-It's nice to see a familiar face, as I am on the forum.ferret.com website, as firsttimeferretlover. ^_^
In any case, that's very good advice-and I will see if there are more meats and organ that I can get for them. As of now, I don't drive, and the most readily available store is Wal-mart-and there I can't find as much as I would like to however, there are also health food stores that have some other meats with a little more variety-and I've heard that rodentpro.com is a great resource for getting frozen prey, which I would also love to feed them. I have gotten them some frozen mice from the pet store a few times, though I did have to chop them up. I'll definitely look around in my area-I do want the furkids to have more, and have very good lives, filled with good food.
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Post by sherrylynne on Aug 14, 2010 18:15:23 GMT -5
The weekly pumpkin is definitely a good idea. It will clean out their system, as it were. Less chance of hairballs forming that way. Not that it's usually a problem on a raw diet, but it can happen. Some also add a little bit of cooked veg. matter to replace what they'd get in non-digestibles from whole prey, like the fur, teeth, etc. Pumpkin will do that as well. Squash is another good one. And hurricanekatt is right- the more variety, the better!
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