You live!
I am glad it was just phone errors! I was beginning to worry that you might actually disappear this time when you are SO close to graduating! :/ I am glad you are back and that my posts finally came through!
That is what the end of the program is all about!
I am sure that you will still have questions here and there as they pop up even after graduating, but we'll work out all of the remaining kinks and questions that we can before then. Even after you graduate, you can still PM me anytime, and/or make a thread about your question as well.
Ok so you have 4 sources of protein, 2 sources of organ, and 2 sources of bone, plus eggs. Not too bad. If you can perhaps find one more organ type, like kidney or spleen, that would add a missing piece. If you can't find it, he should be ok, but if you can find it it would be good to have. Are you able to find chicken and/or turkey gizzards at all? Those are good to include. Also for variety any other parts of the above animals that you can find would serve as good add ins say every now and then. Such as chicken feet once every 1-3 months, and pork fat once (like get it once and feed the whole package over the course of the week or month) every few months, etc.
The ratio should be roughly 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, 10% organ. The organ should be at least half liver, which you have covered and the liver from 2 different sources is very good as well. To make sure that you are getting a good balance, when you write up a menu try to be as specific as possible about what amounts of what foods he is getting. Like 2 chicken wings, one liver or 1/3 cup liver, etc. Really the guideline is a minimum of 3 protein sources, more is always better but 3 is the base. You have 4 so don't stress too much. Use that as your basic diet, and then when you can add in other meats here and there as they pop up. You might want to look for a pet store or grocery store that sells commercial ground raw. That is a GREAT Way that I have recently discovered to add a little variety for decent cost. Also, you might look into freeze dried raw. You can order online (not sure if Casey's Hidden Pantry ships internationally, or what Austrailia laws are, but it is worth a try). It is expensive, but you can find some meats you might not get otherwise. It is very very good to have on hand as well if you ever are in a situation where you need a pet sitter but can't find someone who will feed raw, or even if he needs to stay at the vet - most won't feed raw but they should be ok with freeze dried raw. It makes a nice little addition to the diet here and there as a special treat.
Also, during the holidays look around. Often you will see different meats that you don't get other times of the year. I know in most places, Duck is seasonal and can only be bought at Christmas time. Lamb might pop up around say Easter as well. If you see something that is not usually in stock, grab it up and freeze it. You can save little bits to feed over the year like once a month, or just give it to him say over a few weeks. Either way. Also, check out the expiring section of the butcher/deli area of the grocery store. A lot of times they will have meat discounted that is say "expiring" that day or the next day. I have found that his meat, as long as it is not obviously ad, is usually ok for the ferrets. I mean they often stash it a day or two anyways. You can freeze it to prolong its expiration and kill any bacteria as well. But usually the meat is not bad it is just not "fresh" to human standards. Obviously I don't recommend this as your ONLY source of meat, but say if you see some kangaroo there or some quail kidney or unicorn heart or just whatever that you might not normally find.
That is fine. Every ferret is a little different and their diets need to be tweaked accordingly. The only concern I would have would be the organs. Are you feeding organs whole or in a soup? If whole, does he have an "organ: meal where that day for a meal he gets just liver, or do you say, mix chicken liver with chicken muscle meat?
If feeding whole I would not recommend feeding an entire meal of just organs as that is very rich and can potentially cause tummy upsets. If he picks around things too much still, then you can do organ soup in which on organ days, you make a soup of the organs, and some other muscles and pumpkin. This will get some fiber into him on occasion (pumpkin) and is a great way to give him a little treat
and also to keep him enjoying/remembering (in case he ever decided to be picky lol) soup. Then if he ever gets sick and has to have soup, it will be easier to feed him. You can also freeze the organ soup and give him ice cubes of it as treats or fill his bowl and let him have it frozen and he can eat it as it thaws at his leisure.
Awesome. If you can crush the eggshell that is great. Do try to get it powdered if you can though so there are no sharp pieces. It seems funny the shells would bother them when they eat bones, but i have heard of some ferrets having issues with it.
Good boy!
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Aw, I would love to see pictures! I forgot to tell you that I could never open up the last picture you posted.
It sounds like he is doing fantastic!
To graduate, you need to submit a week's scheduled menu with what you will feed, and the rough amounts of each item (so we know it's not like one chicken wing and 3 cups of liver - I'm exaggerating here but you get the idea haha). For example:
2 Meals a day
Monday: Chicken wings; 1/3 cup cubed beef
Tuesday: 2 cups organ soup (soup contains approx: 1/2 liver, 1/2 chicken breats, tablespoon pumpkin); turkey neck, turkey breast
yadda yadda. You don't have to be super specific on the amounts, just enough to give an idea of what the proportions are. Then we will tweak anything that needs tweaking.
