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Post by miamiferret2 on Oct 24, 2010 21:59:11 GMT -5
i feed my ferret the wysong ferret archetype I freeze dried raw. it smells awful but he likes it and he looks good and has alot of energy, etc. however, the bag does not indicate how much of this food you are supposed to feed each ferret per day. so i have no clue how much i am supposed to give him. i also give the dream treats from wysong 1/4 patty twice a day. i go through about 1 bag of the wysong archetype I per week. is this too much? am i overfeeding him?
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Post by mustelidmusk on Oct 24, 2010 22:33:32 GMT -5
That is dependent upon your ferret. Just like people, some eat a lot and stay slim & trim while others (like me ) take one bite of food and gain weight. when you scruff your ferret, the body should feel relatively straight along the side - no love handles (bulges around the lower waist/hips. Your ferret should not feel bony with excessively sunken in sides behind the ribs and hind legs that look prominent - like a grasshopper. If you feed the Archetypal I dry (like I do), you can leave some extra out during the day. I put out enough freeze-dried raw to sustain my brats for 3 week when I go on vacation for 2 weeks. So, the stuff doe not spoil. You may want to try leaving out a little extra to see if it disappears. I do recommend that you add some variety to your ferrets diet. If you can get some stella & chewys freeze-dried raw, you can provide some different sources of meat such as duck/goose, lamb. (The wysong's has beef and chicken.) I do not recommend the freeze-dried raw Nature Variety since it contains large chunks and/or whole pumpkin seed. (Obstruction potential. Alo, many of the freeze-dried treats can be used as snacks between meals. Lamb and bison lungs are a favorite. dried liver, hearts, salmon, pork, elk, and other meats are also available as treats. -jennifer
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Post by miamiferret2 on Oct 25, 2010 21:34:26 GMT -5
ok. wow! that is unbelievable! i had no clue that it stays good for that long! i have been giving him new freeze dried food every 12 hours. whatever he does not finish after 12 hours i just give to our border collie. the dog LOVES the ferret archetype I. but the ferret does not like the canine/feline archetype that we give to the dog. go figure. he is not fat at all. i also feed him 1/4 Dream Treat twice a day alternating between pheasant, beef and chicken. i buy him AFS also but he likes the wysong much better. i worry that he will run out of food so just in case i leave out some innova evo ferret, petcurean go (grain free) and serengeti cat. but he barely touches his kibble. he mostly just eats the wysong. not to be gross. but here's another thing that i wanted to ask about the wysong --i have been a "ferret poop inspector" for about 20 years now and i find that this freeze dried food causes him to have alot of pieces of bone in his poop. will this harm his intestines? do you also find pieces of bone in your ferret's poop? thanks again!
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Post by mustelidmusk on Oct 26, 2010 7:53:02 GMT -5
The bone in the poop is normal - In fact non-digestible in the form of bone and fur are healthy for the intestines. The bones get etched and eroded by the stomach aciids, and the ronded-off, larger bits of bone go through the intestinal tract wher the nutrients from the bone can be absorbed. we're all poop freaks on this site, so I don't think you can gross us out with poop descriptions and pictures -jennifer
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Post by miamiferret2 on Oct 27, 2010 19:27:48 GMT -5
i will try the stella and chewy's. are those anything like the AFS? i cut the AFS patties into little chunks about 1/2 inch thick but my ferret does not seem to eat them. he prefers the wysong freeze dried over anything else that i put out. figures the little booger likes the more expensive one. thanks again.
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