|
|
Post by Heather on Nov 3, 2010 22:39:02 GMT -5
Name: Laura Etheredge ☺
HF Forum Username: Lozza
1. Where did you first learn about natural diets for ferrets?
Through a friend i have met on another ferret forum, Mary :-).. i love her!! :-)
2. Please describe the type of diet you would like assistance in switching your ferret(s) to. Be sure to include if you are interested in feeding whole prey (live or frozen-thawed) and if you are wanting to FULLY switch to a natural diet or PARTIALLY. If you are unsure what kind of diet you want to put your ferrets on, please express that and we can help you find the best type of natural diet for your ferret.
At the moment I have started switching to raw food for my ferret’s main meals (Rufus) and I have high quality kibble in his cage for other times for him to snack on.
3. Why are you interested in switching your ferrets to a natural diet?
Because I have heard that it makes for a much healthier and happier ferret.. I love rufus with all my heart and I want to provide the best care for him that I possibly can ☺ I want him to live as long as possible and be as happy as he can possibly be! He is my little man!! ☺
4. Do you understand that switching your ferret to a natural diet can be a lengthy, arduous process? Its not an overnight switch. It can be a commitment of several weeks or even months. Your HF Mentor will be more then happy to assist you in switchng your ferret(s) to a natural diet, but you need to be equally as commited. If you aren't willing to tough out a potentially lengthy switching process, or if you have major life changes approaching (baby on the way, moving, starting school, getting married/divorced, etc) then it might be a better idea to wait on switching your ferret's diet until you have more time. Are you willing to make the commitment?
Yes I am aware, and am willing to make the commitment! Anything for rufus! ☺
5. How many ferrets do you currently have? What are their names? Ages? Genders? Do they have any health problems? Are they overweight? Underweight?
Rufus is rough;y 3 – 4 years old. He has been desexed (I did so when I adopted him)… he is quite the fatty (hehe) but has no health problems that I am aware of.. I do not know his history prior to him being seized by the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Protection and Care of Animals) 2 years ago!
6. What diet do you currently feed your ferrets? (Please include all treats, supplements, etc)
When I first got Rufus I was feeding him cat food as this was what I was told to feed him. I have now changed to a high quality kitten kibble (with a high level of protein) and am feeding him one meal a day of raw meat (a mixture of different things that I am happy to discuss in greater detail)
7. Have you ever tried to switch your ferrets to a natural diet in the past? If yes, what happened?
Yes I have, so far it seems to be working.. rufus is not fussy AT ALL so is eating everything I have given him… I just need guidance to make sure I am doing the right thing, in the best possible way I can ☺
8. What additional information about yourself or your ferrets would you like to share?
My name is Laura.. I have never owned ferrets prior to Rufus, but I am so happy that I am now a ferret owner, and would like to adopt another ferret when the time is right (for me and rufus) I am a sponge! I am willing to absorb any information you are willing to give me =oD and I will do anything to make sure rufus is happy and healthy. I am very passionate about animal care (I have two dogs) so finding out more about ferret care is very important to me
9. How often during the week do you have access to a computer?
Every day! ☺
10. Please post a picture of each of your ferrets (if possible).
I will attempt to figure out how to do so!
Hi and welcome to the mentoring program. In a little while your mentor (Hurricanekatt) will introduce herself and you can get started on a new adventure in natural ferret care and diets. Please remember to post regularly (daily or as per arranged with your mentor) so that your mentor can assist you move along safely in this adventure. If you experience computer difficulties or are going to be away, please notify your mentor and most of all relax and have fun . Your mentor is here to help you on this journey.
ciao
|
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 3, 2010 23:50:54 GMT -5
Yay! I have a mentee again!  I am excited to get started. Here's just a little about me... Name: Katt HF Screen Name: HurricaneKatt Location: Anchorage, Alaska About Me: My favorite hobby is... studying. Just kidding. I like to do different types of art including drawing and painting. I recently started making dream catchers too. I enjoy horseback riding, playing with my critters, and enjoying time with my boyfriend. I am a premed student in Alaska graduating this May 2011 with a Biology degree. I’ll be taking a year off to enjoy myself, work on my application, and visit Africa before applying for Medical School in the next round. I became a mentor because...I really like helping people (hence the whole wanting to be a doctor thing  ) and animals. I am a strong supporter of a natural diet and probably bore most people that I meet to death ranting about raw diet and why it is the best way to go…this way I can rant to someone who actually cares! About My Ferret: Koda – male, Real Canadian, not quite a year old (was about 8 weeks old when I bought him in December 2009), Sable. I gave him raw the second he came home and neither of us has ever looked back. He is a real trouble maker and is pretty well known around the forums as such. He is my first, and so far only, ferret and though I have not had him long he has forced me to learn and learn FAST! He has managed to eat several rubber objects (had to have surgery!), and is constantly finding new trouble to get into. Loves digging the carpet up, has a very serious oral fixation (if his mouth can stretch wide enough for his teeth to touch it – he will chew it), will rearrange the room to reach things, has learned how to levitate, and is anal around little monster. He is also very strongly bonded to my boyfriend and I, and can be a huge love bug. When the endless energy is finally burned off, he will curl up in our laps, give us kisses, and fall asleep. As you can tell, I have this problem where I can’t stop talking about him or taking pictures of him… We recently discovered that he has IBD and I am actually working with Mustelidmusk on adjusting his diet to keep his belly aches under control. Sometime this winter I plan on getting a second ferret, I am just waiting until the right one comes along, and fidgeting with Koda's diet in the meanwhile. About My Natural Feeding Experience: I've been feeding raw since December 2009 when I brought Koda home. Thanks to this forum, I was ready for a fuzzball to come home with my freezer stocked with meats! I gave him a raw chicken wing his first night home and that was the end of that! He is fed frankenprey, f/t roents, and live prey. Right now he gets mainly lamb, rabbit, and rodent because of his IBD, but we are working on adding different meats back into his diet one at a time. I still consider myself fairly new to raw diets compared to a lot of the other people on this forum who have been doign this for years. However, I have been reading and learning since before I brought Koda home. I am always on the forum, and various websites trying to learn more about ferrets in general, and especially raw diet. Koda is healthy, energetic, has super soft fur, and smells so good that people regularly comment, asking me what perfume or spray I sprayed him with! I love telling them: Thanks to a raw diet - he just smells that good naturally!  Type of Mentor: In Training! I feed frankenprey, raw meats, bone-in meats, ground meats, frozen/thawed rodents, live prey, and recently added (for treats and supplemental) freeze dried raw. I have never fed kibble so I can’t help a ton there on picking a good kibble… but hopefully we can get rid of it entirely anyways. My Specialty: Trouble makers! Especially only ferrets. |
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 3, 2010 23:54:51 GMT -5
The hardest thing about this is going to be the time difference, as there will be a bit of a delay between each others posts. Let's start with a run down of Rufus' diet. You mentioned that you already started him on some raw, so I'd like to get a better idea of the details. Feeding schedule, how much (roughly) of what is fed when, and what raw meat(s) are you feeding? Also, do you leave kibble in his cage all day, or just as a single meal? The more details you can provide, the better. And welcome to the HFF mentor program! |
|
|
|
Post by lozza on Nov 5, 2010 0:24:05 GMT -5
YAY =oD So glad i have been accepted.. it is lovely to meet you.. Koda sounds gorgeous and very similar to rufus!. I have the same problem, i love him so much its so hard because no one really wants to listen to me talking about him constantly and showing pictures of him to people hahah.. and i really dont understand why not either because he is just sooooo cute!!!! =o) hehehe All good about the time different - I will understand if there is a delay.. OK, i cant remember how much i have written about rufus but i shall write it all out from the start to the finish so you have allllllll the information Previously Rufus was amongst a group of animals that were seized from an elderly couple by the RSPCA as they had a large number of animals and were not caring for them. The RSPCA handed him over to the current Rescue Coordinator for the Ferret Assocation in my state....... I got rufus from this rescue lady who was, at the time, the 'rescue coordinator' for the South Australian Ferret Association. I had not planned on getting a older ferret, nor a male, but i can still remember the first time i saw him, lying on his back with his arms and legs up in the air, deeply asleep... it was love at first sight... i sold a whole heap of stuff to get some money together to get a cage and supplies for him, and brought him home 3 days later. I just knew then and there i had to have him in my life.. he was adorable.. and I wanted to provide him the best possible care! I never expected he would become such a huge big part of my life.. but he has the most amazing little personality.. it is impossible to be around him and not be happy.. he makes everyone laugh and is such a happy little animal! When i first got him home i (on the advice of his previous owner) i was giving him wet cat food and a (pretty poor quality) cat kibble. I was also occasionally giving him chicken necks, hearts, egg yolk, and lactose free milk. Up until a couple of weeks ago i was following that diet and feeding him twice a day (morning and night) and not leaving food in his cage at the other times) He seemed happy and healthy enough... but i found even though i had him out of his cage a couple of times a day he seemed restless and was often scratching at his cage and being a general pain in the butt! I just figured it was because he wanted company (he is an only ferret as he does not get along with other ferrets!) A couple of weeks ago i joined a chat group and started speaking to people in America and Canada who have ferrets....They helped me out by changing a few things i was doing, and explaining some stuff to me... since then i have made the following changes: Rufus now has a HIGH quality kitten kibble in his cage at all times and always plenty of fresh water. I have stopped feeding him cat (wet) food and am feeding a LOT more raw food.. Currently his diet is this (on a daily basis) a bowl full of high quality kitten kibble in his home at all times for him to nibble on whenever he wants. (Optimum Kitten Kibble) - as ferrets really are not very popular in my state of australia there is no ferret food available, so if i wanted ferret food, i would have to import it, and unfortunately i cannot afford the high costs, so have chosen the best possible kibble that is available to me with a high fat/protein content. He has a big bowl of water in his home at all times (of course!) At dinner time (usually after dark before my bed time) i feed him his raw meal.. it is a combination of the following (i rotate the food regularly as i have been told it is important to give them different type of meat from a wider variety of animals) chicken necks and chicken hearts - when i feed him this for dinner i give him two small hearts and one small neck - the ones i have are really really tiny which is why i combine them... if i get larger chicken necks then i give him a neck and a heart, or just a neck if its a big one! Chicken Liver - I have seperated the liver up into a palm-full lots of liver, he has this by itself and really seems to love it. Chicken Giblets (internal organs and bits and peices of chicken) rufus absolutely loves this! Same with the chicken liver, a palm-full amount.. he usually eats it up pretty quickly as he really seems to enjoy it! That is it for chicken... onto the other meats.... Beef!!! Here is where i need some help, as im not sure what types of beef is best. At the local supermarket i have bought casserole beef chunks that had a lot of marbling in them - he wasnt sure at first but is now eating them. I also found some beef cheek (*shudder* hehe) which i have been feeding him (again, palm-fulls of this). Today i bought some low quality steak (with lots of marbling of fat through it) which i am going to cut up into small bits (big enough for him have to chew them but not too big that it is too big of a meal for him!) and he will have that also. I try and switch between the chicken and the beef every night and am keen to know what other types of meat i can feed him to give him even more variety. OK, treats... I feed him a raw egg every now and then (maybe once or twice a week?)..originally i was told the egg white was bad for him unless it was cooked, but i have been told something else now so am just giving him a whole raw egg. Someone told me to try and give him some shell as well, but all he did was play with it and make a huge mess, so we wont be doing that again hehehe! I am waiting on someone to send me over some NBones and once they arrive i shall see if he likes them.. and if he does, he will get one every now and then as a treat. Lactose free milk - now i know this is a topic of controversy (or seems to be on forums) as to why give this to a ferret "adult ferrets don't need milk!" but it is lactose free, causes no ill effects, and he really really loves it, so i am giving him a very very small amount once or twice a week (he gets less than a 1/4 of a cup at a time) So i think that's it! He doesnt get any fruit or veggies, i've heard they are bad and have no value to a ferret so i havent bothered with them! Did i miss anything? Am i doing absolutely everything wrong? I am very open to anything you want to teach me - i have so much to learn and really would love to get to a point where i know enough to help others..i love rufus and am very passionate about providing care for him :-) if you have read through this all THANK YOU and i hope i didn't bore u to death :-D |
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 5, 2010 4:16:44 GMT -5
haha You are talking to the Queen of long posts! Besides, I;m your mentor - of course I read it all. haha And it was by no means boring. I like hearing about other people's ferrets almost as much as I like showing off mine! hehe Rufus sounds fantastic he has had quite the life it seems. He is lucky to be in a good home where he will be spoiled rotten. And you are doing a great job with his diet so far. If he is eating chicken hearts and necks, let's move up to chunks of chicken meat. Breast meat works well. Just mix in a few chunks along with the hearts and see if he will take them. If not, we will work him up to it but you are quite honestly already past the hardest phase - convincing them meat is not poison.  Also, try to offer him a little more raw, and less kibble. We want to phase out the kibble and get him eating enough variety of raw to be on raw only. The key to a raw diet is getting the proper balance of muscle meat (the part we usually eat), organs, and bone. Right now you have some of each which is good. When he gets the chicken necks, does he eat the bones too? If not we might have to work on that a bit later. For the beef, any human grade beef will do. Some other parts that you could look for are: beef tongue, beef liver, beef heart, and any cuts of beef meat. The liver is a good organ source as you need a variety of organs. See what you can find in your area and let me know. Some other meats you might want to keep an eye out for are: pork (any meat cuts), pork kidney, liver, heart, etc. Beef tripe - ONLY the REAL stuff - actual green tripe (not the bleached and died green, the still green from the cow's last meal green). It's supposed to be good for them on occasion, but I guess it STINKS. Just an option to consider. I personally have no future plans to ever feed the stuff. haha Turkey anything is good. If you can find whole turkeys, innards still in tact that is great as it will have the organs, bone, and meat all in one package deal. Otherwise, as far as parts: necks, wings (turkey and chicken wings are some of the best, easiest foods as they are small enough bones - chicken anyhow - for the fert to eat, and loaded with tasty meats), heart, liver yadda yadda. Um chicken feet make good chew toys/bone sources. Game hen, rabbit, lamb, buffalo, venison, and fish. Oh and quail, and chicks, Pretty much any meats you can think of. The more variety the better! Each one though will have to be worked into his diet so that he recognizes it, and then you can mix and match as you choose. It sounds like he is the world's least picky ferret though, so hopefully there won't be any issues there. Have you considered feeding whole prey? It is a great, healthy, completely balanced meal that is part of their natural diet in the wild. You don't have to feed live (though it is done by many people, myself included), but you can get frozen rodents and thaw them out. Or give them frozen - Koda loves micicles! lol You can also feed whole rabbit, Though for an only ferret, I recommend portioning the rabbit out into smaller meals of course. Let me know if you have any questions! I don't want to skip over anything that you want to address. Let me know what you think about adding in some small chunks of chicken meat for his dinner, and how he does with it. Add the chicken in addition to what he would normally get, but decrease the kibble in his cage. A healthy ferret can go 12 hours without food and be completely fine and he will still have kibble (for now), just not as much. So don't worry about him starving. Keep me posted! |
|
|
|
Post by lozza on Nov 5, 2010 4:54:21 GMT -5
oh wow i was just copying and pasting my ESSAY of a post just out of curiosity to see how many words it was and then noticed you had replied.. YAY! (i had typed over 1000 words oh dear!) I'm glad you didnt get bored.. I'm also glad i have found a mentor who could talk about their fuzzy forever! OK so just to recap... The more different types of meat the better.. no type of meat is bad as long as its something a human would generally eat (i.e human grade quality).. well.. i personally wouldn't eat heart.. hahaha! More raw, less kibble. - I think the only issue.. well not really issue, more, concern that i have with this is the raw food going off - That is why i keep the kibble in there during the day as it doesnt tend to go stale/off , and i am noticing that he, especially lately, is very rarely eating it. OK... I know this is *my* issue and i feel bad because rufus is missing out because of me.. but i've had pet mice and rats in my life, and i'm not sure i can do the whole feeding whole small animals thing to him... I just can't see past the fact that they are cute little animals - and i know that is silly because all the other types of meat he (and i!) eat were also animals at some point.. but i guess its different in my mind, therefore easier to deal with that type of meat! In regards to the other meat - turkey and pork - i shall speak to the butchers and see what i can find! When i give rufus the chicken necks he eats almost all of the bones - i noticed he was leaving them behind at first, but if i leave them in the bowl for him he will knaw on them., so i shall do that in the future.. he hasn't completely eaten ALL the bone, only left a little bit behind.. but i guess that is better than nothing. Yes i am sooooo lucky that rufus is such a little pig - i have spoken to people who just cannot get their ferrets to eat any raw whole meat and rufus just seems to be willing to eat everything, its great!! Oh! i saw beef liver at the shop today so i shall have to get some.. i am running out of room in my freezer (i portion the food up and put it in small freezer bags, and then freeze it... and thaw it out as i need it) I think that's everything!! Oh.. the chicken giblets... they are ok to give him too? if they are i shall get some more, they are cheap and he loves them :-) |
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 5, 2010 13:47:21 GMT -5
haha Like I said, I'm the queen of long wordy, rambling posts around here so no worries. ;P I think that you will find most people around here are like that. Yes. I forgot to add: duck! Duck is a great meat, but it is pretty fatty. It can be great for skinny ferts, and is a great wintertime meal. But if Rufus is ever looking overweight (which isn't as common on a raw diet as on kibble), I would keep the duck minimal. He is rarely eating the kibble, or the raw after it sits in there? Raw, eat will stay good for a lot longer than you think. And keep in mind that, in the wild, they often stash their food for days to weeks before eating it. Unless it is flat out bad, like rotten, it won't hurt him. That said, obviously fresh is better. You can leave whole raw meat in the cage for about 24 hours usually (give or take a little depending on the temperature of the room, if it is a really cold place, a little longer, if it's pretty hot, not so long). Ground meat is usually good for about 12 hours, and soupies for 6-12 hours. After a while you get a really good feel for when meat is bad or not. It will actually dry out (jerky! yum!) well before it goes bad. You'd have to leave it in there a few days for it to really go bad. What I do is give fresh food in the morning. I see what Koda has eaten when I get home at night. If there are leftovers, I look at them. If the leftovers stink at all, they go in the garbage, if they are a little dry but not smelly (which is usually the case), I leave them in there and add more fresh food for the night. If it is bad, or if it is ground meat or something mushier, I toss it and give him all new food for the night. In the morning, all meat that does not look fresh still (I go to bed late and am up early, so the meat from the night should still look moist typically) I toss it. If there is a little bit that looks really fresh I leave it, but usually at that point I just refresh his entire stock of food. I also do vice versa of the above and refresh it all at night, and refill in the morning, depending on my schedule. Either way though, he gets new meat every 12 hours or less (sometimes I add some more in he afternoon). The meat is never in there longer than 24 hours except for the occasional morsels that he stashes and I miss. Usually there aren't leftovers, or the leftovers are very little, so I don't have much of a problem. After a while, you get a good feel for what meat is good or bad, and how much of what things he will eat. I have it down so that I know what to give Koda each meal so that he will have enough, and not still be hungry, but will not have a lot leftover too. You will develop this sense as you go. To start, you want to make sure he has enough so I would give enough that there is just a little leftover after each meal. Also, so that you are aware, ferrets will not eat bad meat. I believe it must be a throwback instinct from their wild ancestors - eat bad meat, get sick, and your chances for survival drop. *shrug* If you change the meat out every 12-24 hours there should not be any problem with the meat going bad. Not a problem. A LOT of people feel that way. Totally understandable. I have a snake (soon to be snakeS I hope) so I am used to feeding f/t rodents. I swore I would never feed live. You don't feed snakes live as the food can fight back. Well, after a while I realized that it is really good enrichment for Koda, and that his bite to the spine is a much quicker, more painless death than the way they kill them otherwise. Feeding frozen rodents is very different from live. They don't seem like what they are as they get squished and distorted when they are frozen and look less animal-like. That said, I can completely understand not wanting to feed whole prey. If you decide you want to try it at some point, let me know. Otherwise we'll just stick to frankenprey. Don't feel like Rufus is missing out at all. He will be getting a good , balanced raw diet - 1000% better than most ferrets get! Ok, just let me know what you have access to so that we can work out his diet. Oh good. Just be sure to take out any uneaten bone pieces after 24/48 hours. They start to dry out after 24/48 hours and can increase the risk of chocking. Within 24/48 hours and they are just fine for him to have. haha You are VERY lucky! Some ferrets take months to switch, and some years! I do the same thing! That is the best way to do it! Just be careful with the liver because you want to keep organs down to about 10-15% of the diet. Muscle meat should be the majority of his diet, and then bone should be another 10% or so. Yup, they are fine! I do believe that they fall into the category of organs though. However, gizzards, and heart are muscle meats. So just be sure to keep that in mind when you are balancing his diet. Which we will work on as well of course. |
|
|
|
Post by horse656 on Nov 5, 2010 18:43:35 GMT -5
i have something too add. haha. i was bored and decided to read katts posts lol.
"The more different types of meat the better.. no type of meat is bad as long as its something a human would generally eat (i.e human grade quality).. well.. i personally wouldn't eat heart.. hahaha!"
nothing like spiced, smoke or anything altered should be feed to ferrets.
i just thought i might add that, just incase. lol.
|
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 5, 2010 22:26:49 GMT -5
i have something too add. haha. i was bored and decided to read katts posts lol. "The more different types of meat the better.. no type of meat is bad as long as its something a human would generally eat (i.e human grade quality).. well.. i personally wouldn't eat heart.. hahaha!" nothing like spiced, smoke or anything altered should be feed to ferrets. i just thought i might add that, just incase. lol. Lol thanks! I guess I just assumed that Lozza (or anyone else reading the thread) would know I was referring to strictly plain, unprocessed, unseasoned raw meats. You make a really good point though, I'm glad you brought that up. Thanks! |
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 7, 2010 21:07:31 GMT -5
*bump* Any updates, questions? |
|
|
|
Post by lozza on Nov 8, 2010 23:31:10 GMT -5
Hi! I am still alive :-)
That is good to hear about the raw food, i have begun smelling it and leaving it in there for longer.. and it is really reassuring to know that he wont eat it if it is bad. So, should i just leave stuff in there until it gets eaten generally? How many days is generally too long? its usually pretty cool in here - when it warms up i have the a/c on so its normally around 20 - 25 Degrees C (sorry you will need to convert that to F!)
I think i will stay away from duck (just for the moment) because he is a but chunky at the moment (i did notice that since having him on his mainly raw diet he is slowly starting to slim down!) but it is definitely something i shall consider in the future :-)
Yep i definitely know that there is to be NO seasonings etc etc on the meat that it is meant to be plain raw meat
Ok... so.... chicken wings - i bought some for him yesterday thinking that he would like them and he just is not interested at all.. I put them in there yesterday afternoon, and have just left them there (it is now 2:30pm).. Whilst i had them in there i actually took out the kibble because i wanted him to be more interested in trying the chicken wings.... He has had a nibble overnight but the majority of the wing is still there.... i have 4 others which i will freeze and will try him again another time..
Should i just leave the wing in there for the rest of today and see if he eats anymore, or should i take it out and give up? Also, if i maybe attached them to the side of the cage so he can pull them apart do you think that would make them more appetizing? if so.. what with... wire??
I have some chicken thigh fillet here that i was going to use myself to make a curry, so i am going to try him with a bit of that (obviously the raw meat, not the curry ha ha!) is thigh fillet ok? its the same as breast, except fattier generally :-)
I shall continue to make sure i feed the muscle meats (steak and chicken and turkey and lamb/pork meats as much of the time i can) and give him liver/necks/hearts/giblets maybe every 3rd or so meal... ... does that sound ok?
Also i ordered a copy of the books ferrets for dummies and it finally arrived YAY =oD I don't know if you have read it, it is meant to be a good book for general ferret care.
|
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 9, 2010 0:20:06 GMT -5
Oh good! haha My last mentee disappeared, so I was starting to wonder. I figured you were probably busy and such. 20 C = 68 F haha I would not keep anything in there for more than 48 hours tops, 24 hours is usually the tops, but it technically can be in there for up to 48 (no longer though) as long as it is whole meat (not ground) and be okay. I usually remove meat after 24 hours, but occasionally I miss some and find Koda munching it later. They seem to like jerky on occasion. haha Yes, the more raw he eats and the less kibble, and the longer he is raw you should start to notice him losing flab and gaining muscle tone. Duck is a good winter meat for putting on heat-storing fat, but obviously you don't want him to be too chubby, so holding off on duck now is just fine. haha Good. I figured as much. Try this. Will he eat small slices of chicken meat? If so he recognizes the meat as food, we just need him to eat bone. What I did/do that works well is to start out by really chopping and pulverizing the bone so that a lot of marrow is exposed, and it is in more manageable sized pieces. It will take some time on raw meat and bones to strengthen his jaws so the smaller pieces will be easier, and the marrow will entice him. I use an Ulu knife (others use poultry shears, bone saws, strong knives, hunting blades, etc) and smash the bone to bits (not too small, but crushed lengthwise to expose the marrow, and chopped into shorter lengths on top of that). I leave the meat attached when I do this, and then cut the pulverized wing into small pieces of mangled marrow/bone/meaty chunks. That was the only way I was able to get Koda to eat bone. I still have to smash them on occasion for him to really eat it. He is a picky fellow. haha It sounds like he is eating the meat somewhat, so we just need to get him eating the bone and meat in small pieces, and then work up to bigger pieces. Go ahead and leave the wing in a little longer and see if he munches on it more. Don't put the kibble back in (so he is hungry - don't worry, they can go 12+ hours w/out food - barring illnesses - and be just fine and try chicken again the next feeding, but only chicken (try just the meat to start, we can move back up to the bone once we know he will eat the meat ok) so that he can't pick out only the good parts. If he still won't eat it, give him something else in addition to it of course, and we will try another approach. You can try clipping it to the cage.. If nothing else, after we do get him eating it it will be fun for him. Most people use metal kabob sticks, and clip them to the cage bars. Can you find metal kabobs there? Like these...  If not, you can use big binder-ring clips...like these.. and run them through the meat.  ![]() I have some chicken thigh fillet here that i was going to use myself to make a curry, so i am going to try him with a bit of that (obviously the raw meat, not the curry ha ha!) is thigh fillet ok? its the same as breast, except fattier generally :-)[/img] Any and every part of the chicken should be just fine. And yes, chop up the meat and see if he will eat the chicken meat. Sometimes they will be ok with small pieces but more stubborn about the larger pieces. Heart is a muscle meat, not an organ. It is also high in taurine which is important. You can give that several days a week if you like. Of course variety is key so you can also rotate it, but I would give heart more often than the liver and such. AS for the actual organs, you can go a few ways. You can have "organ days," where you give him organ every third day or every other day or yadda yadda. Or you can give a smaller amount of organ every day - or close to. I prefer a small amount of organ each day, but that is personal preference. When I prepare the freezer-baggies, I try to put a small amount of a variety of organs in each bag. Each bag is a 2-4 meal portion, so with say 2 meals a day, he might not get organs the first meal (depending on the handful of meat I grab out), but he will get some the next meal. That way, he gets a little every day, or every other day at the least (with occasional breaks in between as I do prepare a handful of bags without organs). I find that this makes for a more well-balanced diet each day, as opposed to balancing it over say, the week. Again, both ways work just as well, so long as the organ meat stays at about 10-15% of the overall diet. Just let me know which method you prefer and we can plan meals around that method. I own it but sadly, have not had the chance to read it yet. I do intent to read it soon, but honestly, I can find anything I want to here on the forums. If people here don't know, they will usually find out or tell me where I can find it. I'm also on the ferret.com forum and Ferret Harmony. And various other forums too...I've become a bit of a forum junkie...it it a wonder I get any studying done at all! hahaha Of all of the forums I am on though, for various animals and other things, this is by FAR the best forum on the internet that I have come across yet. That said, Ferrets for Dummies is supposed to be a great resource and I am still excited to read it. It is good that you got it - it is supposed to be one of the best ferret-care books. The Animal Planet book is also pretty good. |
|
|
|
Post by lozza on Nov 9, 2010 8:57:16 GMT -5
I've seen those clip things, i shall find some!
WE HAD A BREAKTHROUGH!!! I went to take the chicken wing out tonight and he had eaten almost all of it..I was so impressed it was really good for his first try. Next time i will try smashing it up next time still to see if he takes to it quicker
*does a little dance* goes to show you that if he is hungry enough he will eat things :-) it was the same with beef - took a while to warm up to it but then the next time he had it, he ate it quickly
OK something bad (well i think bad) happened.. i was defrosting his beef chunks out in the freezer tonight and they cooked a little bit on the outside.. they were still a (LITTLE) bit warm when i gave them to him.. is this super bad? I would normally try and avoid cooking his food at all but it was an accident this time as i was trying to hurriedly defrost his food :-(
OK, so what i might do when i run out of the current food i have, is make up bags containing different meats so that way he is getting a mixed diet.. is that something i can do? or should i only be feeding 1 type of meat at once?
I was thinking of making some bags up maybe with some mixed muscle meats for 4 days a week and then some mixed bags with more organs in them for other days?
:-)
|
|
|
|
Post by lozza on Nov 9, 2010 9:01:13 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by katt on Nov 9, 2010 16:35:27 GMT -5
Yaaaay! That is good to hear! You sure have one non-picky little fur brat! Lucky you! (And lucky me for being your mentor hahaha) I am glad that he ate it. How much of the bone did he eat? If he managed to eat a good portion of the bone on his own, I don't know that I would bother really chopping it up. Maybe Chop it once or twice tops, but chewing on the bone will help clean his teeth and strengthen his jaw, so if he eats it fine whole, go with it. It won't hurt to have a few mangled wings though. And if he is not eating the whole bone, then I would for sure chop it just a little so the marrow is exposed to entice him a bit. No worries! There is nothing wrong with that, especially since it was slow-cooked, and only partially cooked. Some ferrets with IBD actually do better on cooked or slightly cooked meats because it breaks down the protein a bit to make it more easily digested. In kibbles there is sooo much processing, and the stuff is all superheated, so it completely destroys the structure of the proteins and other nutrients. It is actually good to try serving food different ways to give him a little variety. Kind of like sometimes you want hot cocoa, and sometimes you want a chocolate milkshake. You can give meat warmed up (nice on a cold day!), room temp, cold, or even frozen. I know Koda looves frozen mice. Putting in frozen meat gives them some entertainment (they have to work harder to eat it and seem to have a lot of fun thrashing the frozen meats around lol) and it will allow you to leave the meat in there longer. Since it starts out frozen, you have the whole thawing period to add onto the lifetime of the meat. Also, to keep it good longer here is a tip from Heather that I just read on another thread. If you have 2 stackable food dishes, fill the first with water, and put the second on top so you have water sandwiched between the two bowls. Stick it in the freezer. Then when you serve meat in that bowl, it is like an ice pack and will help keep it good longer! I might give that a try this weekend! Anyways, don't worry at all if the meat got a little cooked, and especially don't worry if it was still warm. It is more like live prey that way (warm). Absolutely. You are on the right track! What I do (or did before we realized Koda had IBD lol now he has a special diet for a bit) is I get all of the meats I want for the next few months - I buy in bulk where I can. I get chicken and turkey and beef and whatever else I want to feed. I chop it up into different sizes (again, a little variety in his meals' um, structures lol). Then I divide the meats semi-randomly into little serving-sized bags. Each bag contains a different proportion of the different meats, but each still has a variety. One bag might be all chicken, but it will have different parts, say a mangled wing, some hearts, liver, chopped breast (I buy whole chickens and turkeys when I can - saves $ And you get a more realistically balanced meat:bone ratio), gizzards, etc. [Oh yeah, and giblets are organs, but gizzards are a muscle meat - they are both really good for them]. Then another bag might have some chicken parts, a little bit of beef, some turkey, and some beef liver. Then another might have chicken liver, beef liver, chicken hearts, and beef meat. Yadda yadda. I mix them up so each has a slightly different variety, but so that most of the bags have a good balance. Some have more organ, some have less, some none. They all have muscle meat, and I try to get a little bone in each to prevent his poop from being too soft. Some bags don't have bone though. Then each bag is about 1-2 days worth of meat, so I grab a random handful of yummies and then each meal out of each bag is even a little different. Sorry if I am blabbering too much. haha And yes, that is the book! It has some decent info on raw in the diet section, not a whole lot but what it has is pretty accurate. The other info in it is really good too. I skimmed it in the pet store, but haven't read it. There are a few members on here who have though and they said it is good. |
|
