Hocus and Pocus's Raw Diet

[meli]

Alrighty.

[meli]

Okay so day 2. The boys got a wingette each and a hand ful of chicken thigh peices. They ate all the chicken thigh and left the wingettes. I'm defrosting another handful of chicken thigh for them which will be given in about an hour.

I don't know if its just me and I know they have only been on a raw diet for a day now, but these guys seem heavier to me. Am I losing my mind? Anyhow without the zupreem there is almost no smell!

[buzzonesbirdie]

I love switching babies they are so easy. Congrats on your meat eaters

[Forum Administrator]

Babys that are that age grow FAST lol. But one thing you can be sure of is that on a raw diet, they are going to grow to be alot bigger then if you kept them on kibble. When you see other ferrets, your babies will look like monsters compared to them! Mizu and Fugue were raised on raw/whole prey, they make Samson (who was raised on kibble) look like a midget!

I think the reason for this is not necessarily that the raw makes them bigger then genetic potentiall allows, but that it helps them grow to their max potential, whereas they might not grow to their "fullest possible size" on kibble because it doesnt provide supreme nutrition. This is all opinion, not necessarily fact, but I HAVE noticed a difference in ferrets when they were raised on raw, whether or not they were from a private or a commercial breeder.

[meli]

These guys love love their meat. The wingettes are lasting long..they nibble on the ends, tear off some(not all) of meat and then leave it. I woke up to an empty bowl with an untouched wingette and one that was partially eaten. The handful of chicken thigh I gave them last night was gone.

Today they got another handful of chicken thigh. In about an hour they will have two chicken hearts, a fresh wingette and some gizzards.

I'm also going to see about picking up some turkey for them and seeing if there are any chicken necks, if not I'm going to buy some turkey necks and cut them in twos. Should I be worried about them not eating the wingettes?

I'm also going to try mice in about two weeks. What do you guys think?

[tss]

I wouldn't worry about them not eating the wingettes, most animals prefer one part of the animal better. The thigh that you've been giving them has more flavor and is higher in fat.

If you could try the mice sooner that would be even better because they are completely balanced.

[meli]

I'm sayin two weeks because of $$ haha I did get them some turkey necks, and turkey breast. I also got the freeze dried steaks and sprinkles I ordered from stinkweasels.

I sprinkled some stinkweasels.com/product.php?productid=16182&cat=258&page=1 on their meat and they loved it as well.

Now my stores near me don't sell any organic beefs, lamb or pork and the nonorganic is not cheap either. So I'm wanting to stick with chicken,turkey,freeze dried meats, and mice. Once I start working and bringing in more $$ I'll add more stuff to their diet.

I bought those fish oil caplets Giuli told me about a while back and have ground egg shell as well. How often would I give them some fish oil or ground egg shell?

[Forum Administrator]

I only give fish oil once in a blue moon. When I do, I poke the capsule and give each ferret half. I dont give them anymore fish oil for the rest of the week. I try not to add supplements to their diet. I really only use it as a treat or if I am trying to cut nails. As for the ground eggshell, if they are only eating bonless meat right now, put it on the meat 4 days a week. 2 days a week they get boneless, plain meat, 1 day a week they get organs.

Chicken and turkey will be okay (for now) just vary the parts that you give. Ferrets can crunch up the bone in chicken, so you can give chicken legs, wings, thighs, necks, tails, etc and expect them to eat the bone. With turkey, I usually only consider that a "boneless meat' I tear the meat off the thighs, legs, and wings. The bone are too dense for them to eat. But turkey necks ARE okay though.

As long as you offer a variety of meat parts, you'll be okay. I usually recommend ATLEAST 3 types of meat, BUT if you are feeding mice too you'll be okay. Be sure to order a variety of ages of mice. Pinkies and fuzzies make good treats, and occasional additions to the diet, but stick with the bigger mice. I get weaned- the largest size available. I get 1 bag of fuzzies and 1 bag of pinkies as occasional offerings.

[meli]

This helps! Thanks

Ya I have the necks, and turkey breast strips. I'm giving them peices of the necks right now with some meat sprinkles. If they don't eat them tonight I'm going to give them some turkey breast tomorrow with eggshell. They had their organs this week. Gizzards yesterday and hearts today. I might given them a liver tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm going to give them a stella and chewy beef steak in the morning. I give them fresh food about 4-5 times throughout the day or when I see their bowl empty (which is in the morning) I let the wingettes stay for about 24 hours or less.

Mice will be on order in two weeks. I'll get some fuzzies and hoppers.

So their diet is going to consist of (for now until I start working) Chicken(all parts), turkey (necks and boneless meat),mice,freeze dried beef. Treats/Snacks will soon consist of mealworms/superworms, occasional NBone and raw egg(if they like it).

I'm going to make me a schedule just to visual what I have readily available and what I'm going to give them on a daily basis. I'll post here when I'm done with it.

I was going to buy salmon, but its so expensive here! They do sell whole sardines (frozen) for about 1.65 if I recall. Is that okay to give?

[meli]

So this morning is left over turkey neck peices(just nibble on the meat), boneless chicken thigh with eggshell sprinkles, and two stella and chewy patties sitting under the chicken absorbing the juices along with some chicken broth to make them interesting once the raw is gone. I tried sprinkling meat sprinkles on their turkey necks, but hocus wants his raw meat not sprinkles I created a monster! A healthy monster at that

[Forum Administrator]

Whole sardines are good (as long as they are frozen and not canned)

Salmon is okay, but be careful. Some northern pacific fish can carry a parasite (?) Try to find salmon that is NOT from the northern pacific.

Post your schedule when you make it. I can help you to tweak it. It wont be some much (feed this meat, not this one. It will be more like "feed more raw meaty bones, feed less meat chunks, feed more organs, etc. This is just an example btw)

When you DO order mice, DONT get fuzzies and hoppers. They are "baby ferret sized" but 1.) they arent that high in calcium 2.) you will have to feed TONS of them to fill your babies up. Get some hoppers, small adults, and the biggest adults they sell (if you are going through rodent pro).

[meli]

Okay Giuli I'll do that. Ya I'm going to order from rodent pro. They're the cheapest and have large quantities. Here at petsmart they have 10.99 for 5 mice The sardines are frozen whole. I thought it was a good price for the amount and large size. The salmon was atlantic. I have two other stores that I can go check out tomorrow and see if they have a better variety of meats. Hey I was looking at rodentpro and their chicks are pretty cheap. Would you reccomend ordering some of those and say some extra large mice?

I'll work on my schedule tomorrow. They're eating good, but they don't seem to like turkey breast much. They have been eating the stella and chewies beef steaks with the natural juices of the chicken and watered down organic chicken broth. So I'm glad their getting the bone. Tonight I gave them a whole chicken thigh with bone cut up for them and they still have their turkey from this afternoon with the stella and chew patties which is almost all gone. Hopefully they'll finish their stuff because last night all they did was nibble on the necks I gave them..I think they're not quite use to eating them whole. They're prefering chopped chicken.

[meli]

Today is chopped turkey neck,chopped chicken wingettes in a few hours, a stella and chewy patty with some watered down organic chicken broth, and tonight will be some turkey breast.

They ate the chopped chicken thigh I gave them last night. All of it and chewed on some bone. They ate some of the turkey and finished a SC patty. Hocus feels so heavy to me. Pocus is a piggie when it comes to chow time. He's a good good eater. Poops are starting to become a little more solid with a brownish/Deep orangish color.

[Forum Administrator]

Im glad to hear that poops are firming up. It happens as they start to ingest more bone (from the fiber in the bone). Babies grow like weeds, its nuts! Fugue was a midget 5 minutes ago and how he's a monster. Okay, so maybe it was more like he was a midget in april and NOW he's huge, but you get the idea.

[meli]

Ya Hocus is HUGE but then again Pocus is the runt so he's smaller by nature lol I hope he surpasses what I expect him to be at now that he's on raw. He's a small guy but boy does he hold his own ground.