ok, I got some liver... now what?

[hillarythechicken]

I was at a grocery store today out of the town I live in and saw they had chicken liver, so I picked some up, even though my guys aren't eating anything more than ground yet. Its not something I can find close to home, so I thought I may as well grab it.

Well, I should have payed a bit more attention to what was on the label- apparently its already been frozen. So now I've got these chicken livers I'm not even sure my guys will eat yet, and I guess I can't refreeze them, right? Or can I?

Also, I was thinking on liver in general and got myself all freaked out about it- I mean, it's the part of the body that filters toxins, right? And these chicken livers are not organic or anything, so won't they be full of nasty stuff? Should this freak me out, or am I being paranoid? Plus it says "may contain heart" on the package. Is that bad?

Advise is appreciated! If they are ok, what should I do get the fuzzies to eat them? If they are not ok, they were pretty cheap, so I guess I can toss them, though I cringe at the waste.

[sherrylynne]

They are fine. And certainly they can be refrozen. Just portion them out, one to a ferret per week, and baggie accordingly. Heart is something they need as well, so no worries there.
I can't afford organic very often(although they do seem to prefer it), and I've had no problems so far

[shilohismygirl]

Yeah-don't worry hillary! I sometimes get organic, but seriously, I rarely can, since the only health foods store near me is about the size of a postage stamp and soooo expensive. Often, it's whatever I can buy (which is much better than kibble, so you're doing the best you can!!). Heart is good for the furkids, so if your livers contain heart, well, that's no problem. To get the fuzz faces to eat them, perhaps start with chopping it up into small pieces and mixing it with something ground, and mix in a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Mine love this, as a special treat sometimes. Then, keep on chopping the liver courser and courser until it is no longer chopped and without other stuff mixed with them.

[hillarythechicken]

yay! Thanks so much! I am going to try to entice them to a little bit tonight- wish me luck! We're going about this whole raw thing veeeery slow- they still get a kibble meal in the morning, but I take away the kibble when I get home from work and feed them a raw meal before bed. I know they need stuff like liver and heart in their diet soon, though- I don't want them to get all nutritionally deficient from eating nothing but ground muscle meat in their evening meals. Very glad to hear what I bought is going to be ok. I was especially worried about the pre-frozen thing. I myself don't eat meat, but I know I've heard somewhere that you're not supposed to refreeze it...

Once I get them going on this stuff, what will be a good next step? Heart? Or larger chunks of chicken/turkey/beef (maybe get some other meats in there too?)

[sherrylynne]

With the liver, you might wind up having to mix some in with the ground meat for them for now. It is a stronger tasting meat, and some don't accept it as easily. Others simply adore it.
Personally, I'd start upping the chunk size they are getting. You want them to start building up the muscles needed for chowing down on bone, and meat chunks are how they'll do that.

[hillarythechicken]

so, liver was not a big hit- but they did eat it, cut very fine and mixed with turkey. We'll try a little more next week, but for now- chinks it is- starting with chicken, cause I think my fiancee has some in the freezer (he, like the ferrets, eats meat, so we have some hanging around that isn't the ground I bought for them)

[sherrylynne]

Hey- that's a major step!!! I had to make a "liver soup" for a blasted year(AND spoon feed it weekly) before mine would eat the chicken liver by itself