When you say there is no good or medium quality commercial food
available - what are you comparing it to? Commercial pet foods
available in which other country? From what manufacturer? What
parameters define "medium"or "Good"? Simply dismissing the benefits
of live or raw because of parasites doesn't mean that a slurry cooked
up will be any less free of parasites or contaminants. Reading the
responses about being ok to add plant products completely misses the
boat for being "good" ferret food.
Nell is basing her diet on chicken & beef at a 2:1 ratio - apparently
2 parts chicken to one part beef. Then adding Gold Medal Bone Meal.
Interesting - the only thing available branded "Gold Medal" in our
neck of the woods is flour! Is this bone meal meat for fertilizer? Or
a dietary supplement? I'd avoid fertilizer bone meal for sure.
Are cuttlefish "bones" available? Locally or by mail? These are great
sources of edible calcium I pulverize them into powder form by using
an electric coffee grinder.
Egg shells - toasted first before grinding offer excellent calcium.
Toasting helps make the phosphorous more bioavailable. You don't
mention if you are using skin on chicken, which you should. Calcium is
extremely important to ferrets and usually overlooked. If you aren't
offering them raw edible bone then shoot for about 1/2 to 1 teaspoonful
per ferret per day.
Tums are NOT an advisable source of calcium for any carnivore! Tums
calcium is derived from Limestone - Tums also contain corn starch,
talc, mineral oil, sugar, artificial flavors and dyes and sodium
polyphosphate!
I'm confused that you say that parasites are a concern from these raw
sources - so does that mean you are not using human grade sources?
Are you using store bought sources or farm raised or market acquired?
Considering the phenomenal benefits to the ferret by eating a raw diet
vs a cooked and congealed diet - parasites can easily be taken care of
by using Revolution.which is available by mail.
30% fat content is too low and probably based upon percentages offered
in most kibbles - shoot for 40 to 50 % of their diet! UNsalted butter
or lard works well, as does whatever renders from the boiled meats.
Chicken backs are loaded with fats as is the chicken skin. Chicken
backs also have lots of edible bones. If you cut the back down the
middle by starting at "the pope's nose" you'll open the marrow center
of the spinal column. Pork neck bones will boil down and can be blended
or ground up. I can't speak highly enough of chicken necks. Preferably
raw - but if you insist these have lots of cartilage and sinews as well
as edible bone that boils down decently.
Cow shank slices offer great sources of marrow but the bones are
inedible and do NOT boil down. Ox tails are another decent source of
cartilage, as are pig tails and feet - but my guys won't touch 'em.
Chicken paws are good for edible bone, cartilage and some fats as well
as sinew.
Because you are cooking all this together you do need to add organ
meats like liver and heart - but this may make the mixture very strong
smelling and not appealing to feed daily. You may want to try cooking
these items separately and feeding them separately; and in their whole
form too instead of blended together. My guess is your muscle meat
content far outweighs your edible bone, fat, organ, cartilage and
sinew content. This will leave your ferrets diet short.
Having fed thousands of raw meals to my multiple ferrets these past
several years - I've only run into one instance of tainted food - a
pack of prekilled frozen rodents from "Arctic Mice" from a pet store
chain - probably improperly shipped and stored. This source did cause
2 new raw converts to get sick as well as a long time raw feeder. Some
green diarrhea for a few days and then all was well. There are no
guarantees in food sources - even human grade food sources have their
problems - which is why the individual's immune systems need to be up
to par. Offering a wholesome raw diet bolsters this immune system in
the way nature intended for ferrets. Unless you are out scraping up
road kill, "parasites" aren't really as big a concern as you'd think.
Other items to consider feeding: eggs - the whole thing, raw is fine,
pulverize the shell into the beaten egg. Occasional fish, skin on.
Earth worms. Crickets. Superworms. Butter worms. - All these are
available fresh and by mail or freeze dried.
You may consider freeze drying many of the meaty items too; any that
are low fat, or cut into thin pieces - that will certainly eliminate
parasite concerns and will still leave the item intact for great oral
health and can be reconstituted (or not) for feeding. A simple frost
free freezer, ice cube trays, flat sheet pans and patience work well.
Except for batches of soup - you may want to NOT mix all these
together - offering the food sources separately gives your ferrets
variety that keeps them interested in mealtimes. Even prisoners get
variations in their meals - not the same stuff day in day out meal
after meal. Food is balanced over time - not in every mouthful. Food
should be fun not boring.
As for the ferret deposits - if you feed a variety of foods in
different compositions you'll get a variety of deposits in different
compositions! The more calcium or edible bone - the more "Dry" and
formed the deposit. High moisture meals mean sloppy poopy puddles
sometimes. Organ meats mean dark gooey deposits. High fat as you've
encountered means blobby, seedy looking light colored deposits. Knowing
what went in will determine what comes out. As long as the color
doesn't vary wildly from the intake (like say output is green, orange
or bright yellow) - then there are no worries. Rainbow colors that
persist after a couple days and with a change in meal input usually
means an upset in gut flora. As long as the ferret is eating, drinking
and active - this will self regulate and normalize. If it continues
more than three or four days - and you've changed the meal input -
then change the meal input again, offer more calcium and observe and
re-analyze the meal input that upset the digestive system.
Hope this helps. Cheers, Kim
[Posted in FML 7190]
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