Duck Soup Recipe and Instructions

[K10Widow]

Why you need duck soup:

When your ferret gets sick, is recovering from surgery, or just plain isn't feeling well your ferret may not want to eat kibble. Hence the need for duck soup! You want to get your ferrets used to duck soup while they are happy and healthy because most ferrets imprint on food at a very young age and will not accept new food sources, especially when they don't feel good.

Duck soup is also a good way to slip in some medications so they will take them more easily than syringe feeding. And since duck soup is so good for them it is the best daily treat you can give to them.

My duck soup recipe:
1 lb. of chicken thighs or leg quarters with skin
1/2 cup main kibble (the less kibble the better)
1 tablespoon ferritone
3 tablespoon Nupro (suppliment for digestion - can be made without it)
www.ferretstore.com/nu-100.html
1 tablespoon Uncle Jims Duck Soup Mix (suppliment for digestion - can be made without it)
www.ferretstore.com/9ozunjimordu.html

**Note: the most important part of duck soup is the chicken. So even if your recipe is only chicken and kibble it's still great! Mine is just more comprehensive.

Grind up kibble (add Nupro and Uncle Jims) in blender or food processor put in large bowl. Boil the chicken thighs or leg quarters for 20 minutes. Cut the meat and skin off the bone and put the small pieces and put into your blender or food processor in small sections (add about a 1/2 cup to a cup of cool water with each blending). Put all the blendings into a large bowl and stir. Add all other ingredients into the bowl.

Add water for soupy consistancy, so it's not clumpy. And it should have a creamy, smoothe consistancy. Pour into ice cube trays. Repeat until finished. Freeze one day in the ice cube trays and then transfer cubes into a freezer safe bag. Frozen duck soup cubes should be good in freezer up to 3 months.

One defrosted ice cube of soup is the perfect serving for one ferret.

Your ferret may not think you are good cook the first time you offer it to them, as I explained they imprint on food at a young age. If your ferret wont take duck soup directly out of the bowl here a few things you can try.

Try offering some on your finger. A lot of ferrets love to be hand-fed and this might work. If not, scruff your ferret and then dip your finger into the soup and gently rub it on his/her lips. Do this a few times (in one sitting is fine) until they will lick it from your finger willingly. The two main things that you need to remember are: be patient and persistent.

YOU NEED YOUR FERRET TO LIKE DUCK SOUP NO MATTER WHAT!!

This process could take up to 6 months but the importance of duck soup out weighs not giving it to them at all. Just keep on them. It took me 3 months for my picky Meko to take duck soup and lax after I adopted him. But now he goes crazy when I show him his duck soup dish or the tube of lax.

Duck soup is also a good stabilizer for insulinoma. Duck soup contains more proteins and less carbs for less sugar highs and lows. It won't prevent insulinoma but it aid in controling blood glucose fluxes.

If you have questions about duck soup - post them here. My 3 favorite ferrety subjects are duck soup, treats and food.

[itznic32]

i have a question. why is it called duck soup? lol yea im slow, i know.

[K10Widow]

It's a great question!

The first ferret that this slurry was made for was named Lucky (Lucki) Duck.

[izzyboldsmom]

If you don't feel like cooking and grinding up the chicken, can you use baby food chicken? I know it probably would cost a lot more, but it would make it easier. Thanks.

[K10Widow]

Actually we did a comparison awhile back with baby food (Gerber #2 Chicken and Chicken Gravy) compared to real meat chicken.

The baby food was not complete enough to sustain life in a ferret like real meat chicken is. Baby food can be used in a pinch but its much better to get your fuzzy used to real chicken just in case they really need it.

Does that help?

[izzyboldsmom]

yes, thanks

[brittany]

I have 2 questions... first, on the 2 ingredients 'Nupro' and 'Uncle Jims duck soup mix', it says they're supplements for digestion and the soup can be made without them. What exactly are they used for? I mean is it something a sick ferret would need, but a healthy ferret doesn't need in their daily cube? And my second question is about when you said 'the less kibble the better'. Is that because they don't want kibble when they're sick? If so, why include the kibble at all? Thanks!

[K10Widow]

Great Questions!!

The Uncle Jims is going to be removed from my list. It's not worth the money.

Nupro on the other hand is a wonderful digestive additive for ferrets. We add Nupro to our soupy. We also use plain Nupro and drinking water for dehydration. Our ferrets wont take plain water out of a syringe but they love Nupro Water! It's a much safer alternative to pedialyte as there is no sugars.

We include kibble in the recipe to help ferrets who are trying ducky soup for the first time or first few times get a taste for it. By adding something they are familiar with it helps ease in the change. At this time I make 14 cups of soupy at a time. I'm currently using a 1/2 cup of kibble. So my kibble ratio is less than 4% of soupy mixture.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you still have questions. I love to talk about soupy!!

[brittany]

Okay, maybe one more question. Exactly how ground-up should the kibble be? Maybe you could post a picture? Also, you said to add water for the consistency... I have no idea what this stuff is supposed to look like... if you could tell me about how much water you add, or post a picture of the final product, it would really help!!

[K10Widow]

For the kibble in soupy I use about a 1/2 cup measured.

You want the consistancy of the soupy to be similar to a clam chowder type consistancy or even a little more watery.

[rikka]

Is it true that I should have some ready for when I first bring my ferret home...?

[K10Widow]

rikka said:

Is it true that I should have some ready for when I first bring my ferret home...?

You can't start ducky soup too early. ;D

Remember to stay with the same recipe each time you make it so that your fuzzies can imprint on that recipe.

[zachoboogaboo]

Ok so I will have 3 ferrets...what should I be doing to feed them their soup? Frances can probably tell me what she is doing now....should i feed them 1 cube 1 ferret at a time so that I know they are each getting their fair amount? I am guessing from the article that I unthaw it and put it in a special duck soup bowl they can recognize then give it to them? Maybe they each need a duck soup bowl? Dont want to have to hold back 2 fuzzies while 1 is getting their duck soup LOL Any input here would be appreciated *adding chicken to the shopping list*

Rebecca

[xVelvet_FuzzButtx]

zachoboogaboo said:

Ok so I will have 3 ferrets...what should I be doing to feed them their soup? Frances can probably tell me what she is doing now....should i feed them 1 cube 1 ferret at a time so that I know they are each getting their fair amount? I am guessing from the article that I unthaw it and put it in a special duck soup bowl they can recognize then give it to them? Maybe they each need a duck soup bowl? Dont want to have to hold back 2 fuzzies while 1 is getting their duck soup LOL Any input here would be appreciated *adding chicken to the shopping list*

Rebecca

at the grocery store in the pet ise, they had split plastic bowls for $0.97 it works great because i know how much my two eat. I know you don't have four though. you could also look for condiment dishes, normally cheap.

pictures of what others use:
everythingfert.proboards36.com/index.cgi?board=Soup&action=display&thread=1135794207

[K10Widow]

zachoboogaboo said:

Ok so I will have 3 ferrets...what should I be doing to feed them their soup? Frances can probably tell me what she is doing now....should i feed them 1 cube 1 ferret at a time so that I know they are each getting their fair amount? I am guessing from the article that I unthaw it and put it in a special duck soup bowl they can recognize then give it to them? Maybe they each need a duck soup bowl? Dont want to have to hold back 2 fuzzies while 1 is getting their duck soup LOL Any input here would be appreciated *adding chicken to the shopping list*

Rebecca

You should ask Fran for her recipe. That way they are already imprinted and should transission very well going to your home.