Monday, August 23, 2010

Fox Food Recipe: Maintenance Diet

Nutrient Requirements of Mink and Foxes,: Second Revised Edition, 1982 (<i>Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals:</i> A Series)There are many excellent home made diets out there for dogs and cats, but they suffer from one main problem when it comes to feeding your pet fox--they were designed for dogs and cats. I was unable to find any home made diets specifically made to meet a pet fox's needs, so I did a great deal of research and created my own.
This diet was carefully formulated for Gizmo, based on recommendations from Nutrient Requirements of Mink and Foxes: Second Revised Edition. Food nutritional values were taken from USDA National Nutrient Database. This diet has been a staple for Gizmo for the past two years, and he is in perfect health and at his ideal weight.

This is intended as a maintenance diet for an active, adult red fox. Portions given are for a medium-to-large male fox (12-to-15 lbs). Smaller foxes will need to have their portions adjusted accordingly, and intact females will have different dietary needs depending on the time of year.

So, without further ado...

Maintenance Diet for Red Foxes (AKA “Gizmo Burgers”)
Intended for healthy, active animals.

3 lbs 80-20 Ground Chuck, raw
2 cups rolled oats, cooked
3 chopped hardboiled eggs
3 powdered eggshells
150g boneless pink salmon, cooked.
450g green beans, cooked. (If you use canned, choose "no salt added")
1 tsp whole ground flaxseed
3 tbsp Brewer’s Yeast
1 tsp Wheat Germ Oil
1 tsp Anise Seed (Optional, but Gizmo loves it)

Mix it all together evenly. Makes 16 portions. As this diet contains raw meat, it should be kept frozen, and thawed out only as needed.

A large male fox will generally eat 2 portions a day (Sometimes 3 if he’s been very active that day or it’s cold, or only 1 if he’s been laying around and it’s hot out). Only offer 1 portion at a time, or they have a tendency to eat half then hide the rest for later.

If the fox seems to be intentionally eating “around” the oats, blenderize the salmon or green beans until liquid and add to the oatmeal before cooking. This will flavor the oatmeal and make it much more appealing.

28 comments:

  1. Harry and Elspeth shall be trying Gizmo burgers tomorrow, shall let you know what they think.
    I feed them most of the things that are in them already so it will be interesting to see if they like them all mixed up together.
    -
    Elina

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  2. Harry- "Nom nom nom thanks Rags!"
    Elspeth- "Yay it's mixed together so I can eat it faster!"

    It's a hit!
    -
    Elina

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  3. I'm glad they liked it! Be careful to watch what they do with it, though. The burger form makes it very easy for them to divide it into itty bitty bits to hide in the furniture if you're not watching.

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  4. We decided not to serve it in burger form due to that exact reason and we watched them eat it and it was all eaten up in no time! Normally they dig through for their fave bits but using a blender got us around that.
    Thanks for posting this. :-)
    -
    Elina

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  5. Hi I plan on getting a pet red fox soon as i've been creating my own daily diet, I wanted to know if you would rate it and tell me any ajustments I should make please. Here it is fish twice a week, nuts everyday, bugs 3 times a week, meat change kind everyday 5 times a week, fish oil twice a week, fruits everyday change,veggies everyday change, milk little survings once a week, peanut butter once a week. how much given will reliye on his weight, age.

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  6. You haven't given me nearly enough information to evaluate the diet. I need to know the exact amounts of each ingredient, the specific kinds of fish, specific kinds of fruit, etc.

    If you want an analysis of the diet, please send me a list of the exact amounts of everything that will be fed in the course of one week. By everything I mean specific meats, fruits, veggies, kinds of fish, type of milk, kinds of nuts, etc. (i.e. "400 grams pink salmon, 150 grams almonds, 15 mealworms, 1 lb chicken, 1 lb turkey, 2 cups whole milk" etc. Exact measurements)

    Send the information to admin@thepetfox.net, and I will respond with an analysis of the diet, letting you know if there are any deficiencies in it.

    (If you don't have a specific meal plan and are just planning on a little of whatever meat or veggies you happen to have on hand, please do not get a fox.)

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  7. Could this be done with chicken instead of beef?

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  8. Chicken has different nutritional qualities than beef does, so it cannot be directly substituted for the beef in this diet without causing some nutrient deficiencies.

    However, I do have a chicken-based diet available here: http://www.thepetfox.net/2010/08/fox-food-recipe-recovery-diet.html

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  9. Ah thank you. Should I ever get a fox, I think I will just go with this diet as it the commonly used and recommended one for pet foxes it seems :) Thank you for taking the time to create it and share it with all of us.

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  10. Do I need to supplement this diet with taurine or does it have enough in it already? Sorry if that is a stupid question.

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  11. Don't worry, the only supplement needed is powdered eggshell for calcium, and I included that in the recipe.

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  12. How do your foxes behave? Mine was trapped so it wouldn't get in a mink farm, it's just a baby but she's always so scared and just hides? Will she get better when she grows up? We're wanting to train her to be kinda like a dog, is this even possible? Thanks!

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    1. If it's eyes are open, it's too late for it to imprint on humans. That developmental window has already closed, so the likelihood of it being a good pet is very very low. The kindest thing you can do is take it to a wildlife center to be rehabilitated and released once it's old enough.

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    2. Where would you get a fox with closed eyes?

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    3. A USDA licensed breeder of red foxes. Anyone breeding for the pet market will take the kits from the mother before their eyes are open, and bottle-feed them.

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  13. Would this be a good diet for dogs? My dog has been on an all kibble diet since she was a puppy, so if you do think it would be alright to feed her, how should I switch her off of the kibble without upsetting her stomach?

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  14. Ive been taking care of the foxes owened by others for many years. They seem to be very healthy and are getting up there in years (at least 9 now). There diet consists of a very high quality organic cat/kitten food, which I assume takes care of the taurine, but I feel i would like to give them some other options as in vegetables and such. I see eggs listed, would it be appropriate for them to eat these raw, and also what do you reccomend as far as "crunchy green" vegetables to add a little curiosity to their diet? I'd was thinking of trying celery. Obviously i would introduce anything new very limited as the diet has been so confined for many years.

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  15. I'm getting a pet fox in about a year and I wanted to know if I could rotate what I feed her? Like 2 days of the week give her kibble and 5 days give her raw meat along with beans, eggs and ect??

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  16. I plan to get a pet red fox in the future. My roommates aren't objected to it in the least and have agreed to help me take care of it. I would like to know if "Gizmo Burgers" can be recommended for kits, preferably vixens, and if so how much they should be fed. That is my only question for now, but depending on whether or not other questions I have are not answered in these topics you may hear others from me.

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    1. They're fine for kits and vixens. :)

      As a good rule of thumb, offer the kit as much as it will eat in one sitting, several times a day. If you try to give them the entire day's worth of food in one sitting, they will try to stuff half of it in the couch to save it for later.

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  17. Ive seen a wild fox in my neighborhood if I put this out will the fox find it and partake? I'm sure cats would chow on this also or would the fox run them off.

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  18. Would this be good for grey foxes as well as reds? Or should they have a different regime entirely?

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  19. How much is a portion? About 1 or so cup? (for an adult) Also can I get an esimate price for these ingrediants?

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  20. HI there! I would like to know how exactly to make this? Do you just mix it up with a beater of some sort and serve it? Or is there some special kitchen tool you use to mix it all together? And how much is one portion? A cup I suppose? And the oats have to be cooked? Or do you serve it all raw? Thank you :-) Please reply asap!

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  21. Hello! I know this topic is old, but I was wondering for (very) future purposes, if this recipe would also suffice for an adult, female, gray fox? Thank you very much!

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  22. I was wondering would this recipe work for a artic marble fox that's. 3 months old and how much would a serving be ?

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  23. Hi can this be used for fennec foxes?

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  24. do you have a list of safe fruits and veggies for foxes im doing my research before getting one and cant find much on that

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