This post was inspired by Hahnbee Choi at GSDstormy (seriously- check her out!!) buckle up and prepare yourself for all my raw feeding mistakes when I first started... Mistakes are normal, and okay. While I do believe it's important to reflect and learn from our mistakes, they are nothing to feel shame about (I still do- but whatever...).
I was stressed...ALL THE TIME Okay this one may still apply to having ferrets in general, BUT I was really bad when I first started feeding raw. I have a 50+ page thread somewhere on the internet documenting every little thing I did while switching Pazu and Howl. When Momo came into my life, I experienced something I never had before. VOMIT EVERYWHERE!! It took me many months to realize what was bothering her. I chalked it up to all hooved animals and stopped feeding pork, beef, venison and lamb. No one online, veterinarians, could figure out what triggered this reaction with her. I wasted a lot of meat (and sleep) trying to wrap my head around what was going on. Now, I think I have it nailed down. She can't handle most hooved prey but can enjoy all pork. She can also sometimes tolerate beef organs as long as they're light in color (and only sometimes!). Tripe from hooved animals appears to be fair game. My anxiety with Momo may have been warranted, but nowadays I'm much more chill when it comes to feeding raw. Too much of a good thing In the beginning, I was not concerned about variety of cuts of meat. I was only focused on making sure they got their minimum of 3 different proteins. I didn't understand I had to rotate through cuts of meat, too. For raw meaty bone, I mostly fed a lot of necks to the point where the ferrets got tired of them for a period of time /facepalm. Turns out, feeding too many chicken necks can be bad! I now make sure to follow a rule of 3s. I aim to never exceed more than 3 meals of a certain cut of meat. This way, the ferrets are getting a variety of nutrients (ex: chicken liver has a different nutrient profile than rabbit liver etc.). I was really bad at prepping I remember the first time I attempted cutting chicken wing. Key word: attempted. I didn't succeed that first time. I was using a hammer and was sitting on the floor with my cutting board, trying to get the bones small enough so the ferrets would take to them. It took a lot of trial and error before I built a solid meal prep arsenal (tip: don't forget to replace your plastic cutting board when it gets gross!) Stashing woes Brian can really attest to this one. The house was starting to get nasty. I couldn't keep up with the amount of stashing my ferrets were doing. I couldn't help myself and felt I needed to feed the same amount of food for each meal all year round. Ferrets adjust their food intake based on the season. In winter, ferrets eat more. In summer, they eat less (vice versa if a reverse season ferret). This change can be quite dramatic. I wasted so much food doing this! Now, I adjust their intake each coat change (2x a year) and base it off of my individual ferrets. For example, Pazu is eating more going into winter and the other 4 are on reverse season, so they are eating less. I create their winter meal plan based on that information. I also provide them with safe stashing spots, like fabric cubes and tunnels. This post brought back a lot of unpleasant memories but hopefully you can learn from my mistakes as have I. It's only natural due to the rampant misinformation and lack of information found online on ferrets! I truly hope to help eradicate this issue for ferret parents, and provide you all with up to date, tried & tested tips.
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