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Post by carlin on Aug 2, 2008 1:29:51 GMT -5
How do you travel with ferrets fed a natural diet? I don't see my great grandma letting me use her freezer for mice or chicks...MAYBE the one out in the Florida room. And how do you bring their food with you? Just a plain ol' ice chest? AND, if I couldn't bring my ferrets with me, any people that I would trust to watch my ferrets would have no part in feeding them. Maybe if it was raw foods(or anything without a face), but I would like to eventually feed whole prey.
Also, I live in a hurricane prone area. Biloxi was the main target of Katrina. Our house(which is kinda near the water) wasn't hit at all. Just a couple shingles lost. In an emergency, what would you do? Obviously, you wouldn't sit there filling an ice chest with ice cubes from the ice maker on the fridge. And what if you are away longer then the food that you have with you lasts? In an emergency, I can't really see finding a place to buy frozen feeder animals. And if you were in a shelter(which I probably wouldn't be, but just wondering) how would you store the ferrets food?
Sorry I type so much, but I'm just curious.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 2, 2008 2:18:01 GMT -5
Well feeding naturally in an emergency situation (ie there is a hurricane and you must evacuate) or feeding naturally in a travel situation is ALOT easier then you'd think. Lets address the travel scenario first: I want to forward this by saying I have traveled AND moved cross country with natural fed ferrets. It was very simple. For travel you have several options: 1. Dont bring any food with you, just find a local petshop (if you want whole prey) or a local butcher (if you want raw foods). You can get a meal "to go". At the petshop you can buy 1 live or frozen feeder and at the butcher you can ask for 1 chicken wing, or single servings of meat so that you dont have to buy a 12 pack of chicken wings. If you have access to a fridge you can buy about 3 days worth of meals and keep them in the fridge. If you dont have access to a fridge you can swing by the petshop or butcher once a day and pick up their meals (its "take out" for fuzzies lol). 2. Bring along their meals. Pack a cooler or ice chest with frozen meat or mice. Use ice packs and regular ice. Be sure everything is insulated. Depending on how long you are traveling you might be able to just use the ice chest and not have to add any new ice. If you are on a longer trip it might be a good idea to transfer the foods to a freezer unit (if you have access to one). 3. Bring along a freeze-dried commercial raw food. Here is a short list of some options: holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=raw&action=display&thread=202These are much better then kibbles. In case of an emergency evacuation you would just follow the tips above. If you have time to pack up meat and mice do that, if not, look for meat and mice when you relocate to the new area. If you have the freezer space you could have an "emergency bag" already packed with frozen meats/mice and ice cubes. Just grab and go. But this might not be practical, and if its not, thats okay. Its probably wise to keep some freeze dried on hand in case local butchers are closed because of the storm/earthquake/tornado/huricane/etc. Here is a post I made regarding traveling with natural fed fuzzies or dealing with emergencies with natural fed fuzzies (its post #16): forum.ferret.com/tm.asp?m=59579&mpage=1&key=Oh and Im going to scoot this post over to the "Newbie Questions" area of the nutrition area
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Post by josiesmom on Aug 2, 2008 11:18:40 GMT -5
I too live in a hurricane area and my ferrets are fed naturally. This is one reason why it is IMPERATIVE that you get your ferrets used to eating dried meaty items as well as freeze dried! I freeze dry my own and this is what I take along on outings.
During a hurricane it is quite possible to be without power for not just days, but weeks! You should have a disaster feeding kit set up at all times in your freezer and cupboard and be able to grab and go with it in a heart beat!
Bottles of frozen water and ziploc baggies with their freeze dried and dried meaty items - enough to feed them for two weeks. While your power may get restored within several days, the roads may not be cleared enough to travel, and your favorite supply store may have been hit harder than your own home!
At least with a hurricane you do have several days to prepare so it hadn't ought to catch you off guard. Just don't wait until the last minute to get supplies and don't think for an instant your ferrets will automatically eat something new just because they are hungry!
Get them used to the dried meats and freeze dried items well before it may become necessary and keep feeding these items throughout the normal weeks so they don't "forget" they are food! Feeding the dehydrated and freeze dried regularly while on day trips is a great way for them to associate fun outings with the dry food and it won't add stress to them if they aren't good travelers.
When having other people feed your ferrets it is easier to get them to feed dried meaty items than it is a mouse!
Hope this helps! Cheers, Kim
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Post by tss on Aug 2, 2008 18:41:11 GMT -5
Even a nice grain free canned food would be good, as long as your ferrets will eat it. There was something that I posted a while back, that might work. It's dry meat in a cup, all you do is add water. That would be very simple if you had to leave quickly because of a hurricane or something. It's meant for snakes, they are also strict carnivores like ferrets so it would work as long as the ferrets will eat it. www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/238608/i/10/product.web
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