For those of you who feed the raw meaty bones, can you leave me a daily feeding schedual? what you feed each day of the week and when, how much, ect? and let me know if things like egg yolks, bugs and mice are somthing I can skip over? ive got no place.. confined enough for them to do bugs and mice and I cant feed somthing breathing somthing that still has eyes and fur (im a veggie.. no red meat or pork... so feeding things that still look alive bugs me)

thanks a bunch!

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Mommy of 5 lovley ferrets- Kiba, Sable, Amon, Aphrodite and Titus

Over the Bridge- Podo, dec.06

Darklight and ferretgang, you might wanna join the forum below in my siggy. They'll help you switch your kids if thats what you really want to do. It WILL take ALOT of determination, but you can switch your kids if that is what you want. I've switced 4 of my crew over to a raw diet when the ferrets were 4months, 6months, and 2.5year and 2.5 years old, respecively. I tried switching Samson (5 years) but his cagemate (Delilah) wasn't eating the meat, so I had to put them BOTH back on kibble. But even 5 year old samson was eagerly eating the food.

Basically you feed a meal of organ meat once a week. so sunday for breakfast my crew gets 2 gizzards, 1/2 chicken liver, and 1 chicken heart each. They also get egg yolk, crushed eggshell, and beef chunks (just a little) for dinner on sunday. The rest of the week I feed as follows to my four ferrets:

Monday: 1  HUGE turkey wing or leg (bugs)

Tuesday: 1 chicken wing and 1 chicken leg (bugs)

Wednesday: 1/2 a cornish game hen (bugs)

Thursday: 1 chicken wing and 1 chicken leg (bugs)

Friday: 1/2 a cornish game hen (bugs)

Saturday: varying meat: duck, quail, etc (bugs)

Sunday: 8 gizzards, 1 liver, 4 hearts, 1/2 cup of beef chunks, 2 egg yolks and 2 crushed egg shells

Every day I also offer some bugs (crickets, mealworms, nightcrawlers, or earthworms) We started on whole prey, but had to stop because we moved. BUT once we get our apartment they will go back on whole prey. When I was feeding whole prey the ferrets got a mouse or two tossed into their cage each day, along with their chicken. I'd feed the mice for breakfast and the chicken for 'dinner'. I feed twice a day.

Whole prey and raw meaty bones and organ meat are crucial in this diet. Do your research definitly join NaturalFerrets (Josiesmom, myself, MaryMary, Gerardo, and TheSlappy are all members there so you'll see some familiar faces).

I just wanted to add, just because I feed my crew a natural diet DOESNT mean I dont have to still be careful about Melamine. If the chicken or mice they are eating was fed melamine affected food, then theoretically my ferrets could still get sick.

Ugh...I've had to call the grocery store to get the phone number of the chicken provider and find out what they feed their chickens, if there is a chance they could have been fed melamine tainted food, etc, etc. Same for any mice we feed. While the risk is lower, its still there. Some pork has been tainted with melamine (heard it on the news). So just because I feed naturally does NOT mean i can sit back and gloat. Yes, I am glad I DO feed naturally because I control what goes into my ferrets mouth, but if you think about it, I also have to be in control of what goes into the mouth of the prey that my ferrets are eating, and that can be tricky.

Good luck guys. If you need help, I'm at your service!

Now, For the actual switch you are gunna need a different approach. If you throw them a chicken wing they will think you are nuts lol! What I did was this (for willow and weezie). I made sure none of my ferrets was insulinomic. Then i took their water bottle and filled it half with flaver-free pedialyte (less sugar) and half with water (to keep them hydrated). Then I removed ALL KIBBLE from their cage for four hours. After four hours I took chicken breast tenderloins that I had chopped up into teeny tiny pieces, I coated them with ferretone and took crushed up kibble and 'breaded' the chunks with a good coating of kibble. I put the food into the cage and I waited. The ferrets didn't touch it for almost a day. I replaced the chicken after 24 hours. Soon the ferrets realized that this was all they had to eat and they started to check out the food. Once they were eating the chunks I switched to wings with gashes in them (so they could grab ahold) then to whole prey.

Lugnut and Hendrix were different. After 24 hours they STILL had not touched their meat. I took a little bit of babyfood and a squirt of ferretvite and put 2.5ml in each of their mouths. The purpose of this was to keep them from getting sick from not eating and at the same time remind them that they were hungry. Sometimes when you are hungry and you don't eat your body is just like 'fine...im not getting food, so I'll stop worrying about being hungry' when I squirt the food in their mouths it jump starts the body and they say "oh! wait! I AM hungry...now I want MORE food." AFter I did the babyfood thing, I  put a little bit on the meat (still breading with kibble and ferretone) Usually they will start to lick the meat and the eventually they should start to chew the meat.

This is just one of DOZENS of ways to switch. With an animal as stubborn as a ferret, hungry is really the best motivator but ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY (did I say only?) if they are NOT insulinomic.

Join NaturalFerrets for alternative ways of switching. The one thing that all ways have in common are perserverence. All my ferrets must have felt pretty silly when they finally tasted the meat, cuz they went to town like it was the best food they've ever had (and to think they acted like I was trying to kill them!) lol. Hang in there, and email me if you need help.

Love, Giuli

Check out my pictures/videos of all my "furkids" by clicking on the links below!

http://lugnutandhendrix.myphotoalbum.com (The cats album is also here)

http://samsonanddelilah.myphotoalbum.com

http://willowandweezie.myphotoalbum.com

http://apollopuppy.myphotoalbum.com

Interested in natural feeding? Join NaturalFerrets! (Just click on the button below)

1- can I skip the mice and bugs? I dont eat red meat and cant stand seeing animals eat other animals while they still look like they can get up and run away (ie, frozen mice or even live ones in pain while being eatten) and I have issues with bugs and no place closed up enough for them to eat them without them getting all over the place.

2- how many times a day do i feed them? and what about inbetween feedings if they get hungry.. im gathering I cant leave a small bowl of kibble in there for light snacking

3- how long is the longest i should ever leave chicken, ect in the cage?

4- should i take chicken bones away when they get down to them with chicken legs/turkey legs?

Im keeping a notebook with the "menu" and notes from everything im reading on here.. im hoping to pick up chicken this weekend to try and start them up.

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Mommy of 5 lovley ferrets- Kiba, Sable, Amon, Aphrodite and Titus

Over the Bridge- Podo, dec.06

So I talked to mike and he's up for trying this raw meat thing. a few questions- 1- can I skip the mice and bugs? I dont eat red meat and cant stand seeing animals eat other animals while they still look like they can get up and run away (ie, frozen mice or even live ones in pain while being eatten) and I have issues with bugs and no place closed up enough for them to eat them without them getting all over the place. Technically yes. However its really best to feed mice and bugs if possible. I wouldn't completely cast that aside. You'd be suprised but you get 'used' to seeing the mice and bugs after a little bit. At first it can certainly be daunting though! You can start out with just raw meaty bones though if you really decide you can't do mice and bugs. Feed one meal of organ meat, once a week, and raw meaty bones the rest of the time. Also, be sure to include a variety of species and a variety of ages in your meat. I feed chicken, cornish hen, duck, quail, rabbit, beef occasionally, etc. You don't have to supplement the diet with a vitamen, but I reccomend that if you aren't gunna do who prey that you feed 8-in-1 vitasol (a daily multivitamen) just to be safe. The whole prey really helps to round out the diet, and without it you might wanna consider the vitamen supplement. 2- how many times a day do i feed them? and what about inbetween feedings if they get hungry.. im gathering I cant leave a small bowl of kibble in there for light snacking I feed twice a day. Four of my kids are raw fed and share a cage. In the morning I sanitize the bottom of their cage with Clorox Anywhere hardsurface spary (the one WITHOUT added bleach). Then I put a chicken wing in their bowl. I leave it in there all day. When I come home at night their may be a piece of bone left, but usually not even that. I go in and I sanitize the cage bottom one more time and feed them a chicken leg for dinner. You can leave meat in the cage for up to 24 hours. 3- how long is the longest i should ever leave chicken, ect in the cage? As mentioned above, 24 hours tops. 4- should i take chicken bones away when they get down to them with chicken legs/turkey legs? Nope, they NEED to eat the bone. The reason why I feed twice a day is because it makes my kids eat the ENTIRE wing. Then I put in another piece of chicken and they eat the WHOLE thing. If I put in a wing and a leg at the same time, then they would probably just eat the meat and leave th bone. This is bad. Without the bone they can devleop ricketts and other calcium deficiencies. Sometimes if there are bones leftover I will rinse them in hot water, freeze them, and then take them out, dribble them with ferretone, and then offer them at a later time as 'treats' Im keeping a notebook with the "menu" and notes from everything im reading on here.. im hoping to pick up chicken this weekend to try and start them up. Good luck! Stay determined. Its easy to get frustrated at first, but if your ferrets are healthy then a little tough love along with hunger will motivate them to try the new food. You might wanna buy that marshalls probiotic along with some unflavored pedialyte. These things will help make the switch easier on your kids. Do you have any additional questions Darklight? If so just ask away. If you dont' have questions now, I'm sure you will have them soon! oh! and one thing I found is this! Having a remote litter box makes feeding MUCH more sanitary. I feed on the bottom floor of the cage and since the litter box is no where near by there is no litter bits stuck to the meat when they are trying to eat. while it is by no means necessary to make a remote litter box, you may find it a helpful tool when it comes to the cleanliness of the cage, something thats pretty important when you feed raw foods.

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Love, Giuli

Check out my pictures/videos of all my "furkids" by clicking on the links below!

http://lugnutandhendrix.myphotoalbum.com (The cats album is also here)

http://samsonanddelilah.myphotoalbum.com

http://willowandweezie.myphotoalbum.com

http://apollopuppy.myphotoalbum.com

Interested in natural feeding? Join NaturalFerrets! (Just click on the button below)

I just started working at a kind of grocery store (its a party/resteraunt supply store) and they have a a few butchers that work there. they set up, cut, ect cases of ribs and chicken legs and stuff so I can talk to them about where I can livers and organs and such. I think we sell chicken gizzards or livers anyways. all the meat is pretty cheap too as its all in bulk. I'll be able to buy 1 bag of chicken and keep it frozen for like a month before i have to go get more.

I just thought of somthing else- Can they eat red meat? like if i cave them beef ribs or hamburger? the ribs have bones, thats the only reason i thought of it.

lol.. i told my mom that I was going to be trying to switch them over to this diet. when mike went "yeah, and I can give them live mice and watch them hunt it!" mom freaked out. she told me I had better not scar Sable with having to try and catch her dinner.

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Mommy of 5 lovley ferrets- Kiba, Sable, Amon, Aphrodite and Titus

Over the Bridge- Podo, dec.06

As for beef, beef is ok. But not beef bones, they are just to hard to eat. Realistically the only time a ferret would ever eat a large animal would be if they found a carcass and they had a few nibbles. They wouldnt eat those bones, so......I give a little bit of beef chunks once a week (the same day as organ day). Same goes for Bison, Venision, or any other LARGE prey animal. NEVER ground. Grinding meat exposes it to more bacteria and doesn't give their jaws a decent workout. Joisesmom feeds ground 'meatball' type things, so if you do feed ground your ferret isn't gunna die by any means lol, I just choose NOT to do the ground foods except for special occasions (like b-days when we (yuck, I mean they!) have hamburger cupcakes with ferrevite icing [] )

As for organ meat the most efficient way to freeze them is to bag them into weekly portions for my crew that means ONE ziploc bag per week containing: 8 gizzards (2 per ferret), 4 chicken hearts OR 4 one square inch chunks of beef heart (1 per ferret), and 1-1.5 chicken livers (ferrets split).

I buy organs in bulk and I seperate them into these bags, then I freeze all the bags. Also the way I freeze the wings and other foods is that I put one leg and one wing into a bag and freeze. I thaw overnight in the fridge and then I put one wing into the cage in the morning, and one leg into the cage at night. Make sure you freeze daily portions together, otherwise you will have a HUGE package of frozen organs or legs and it will be impossible for you to break only one gizzard or leg off of that chunk (speaking from experience here lol)

Something I will do, not always, but from time to time, is wrestle with the ferrets with a wing. This allows them to feel as if they had a chance to "take down" and "kill" their food, without actually killing anything! Its just a good way to provide enrichment.

Do you have anymore questions Darklight?

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Love, Giuli

Check out my pictures/videos of all my "furkids" by clicking on the links below!

http://lugnutandhendrix.myphotoalbum.com (The cats album is also here)

http://samsonanddelilah.myphotoalbum.com

http://willowandweezie.myphotoalbum.com

http://apollopuppy.myphotoalbum.com

Interested in natural feeding? Join NaturalFerrets! (Just click on the button below)