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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2013 21:02:02 GMT -5
LOL, gotta love those Big Boys that are SO laid back. In the 25 years of being owned by ferrets, Sanuk is the largest of them all. His daddy is 5 1/2 lbs. Sanuk is Solid Muscle, just a Love & his feelings get hurt easily. I have never had a ferret that had such sensitive feelings & when they are hurt, you know about it. I'm still debating if I want to show him, part of me does & then a part of me not so much. None of the shows are very close to where we live, I think the closest is Chicago. We drove thru there to get Sanuk, I was a nervous wreck! We drove 19 1/2 hrs. to get him. SO WORTH IT!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2013 5:52:41 GMT -5
Wow! Think I would have had him flown in. We have no breeders within a 6 hour drive of us. The closest ones to us breed show animals anyway, which I do not want. Someday I'd like to be breeding my own when we have a better house. Zar-Zar was 2.5 lbs at 12 weeks old when we brought him home. Crazy!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2013 21:15:28 GMT -5
(dance) Sanuk had Bravo Basics Turkey with chicken neck & bones........ALSO, a tsp of PORK small chunks!!! He ate it all!!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2013 15:58:46 GMT -5
Woohoo good for him! Sounds like you're really branching out with new proteins for him. Have you been working up on the size on the bones/chunks?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2013 10:16:06 GMT -5
I will be upping the size on the chicken neck bones, on Sunday. I was holding my breath on the pork while he was eating, hoping I wouldn't have to force them on him, but he did awesome.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2013 16:21:31 GMT -5
Awesome! (dance)
Are you feeding all pieces at this point, no mush?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2013 20:52:17 GMT -5
I'm mixing the chicken neck & bone & pork in with his bravo basics or Rad Cat with hardly any water. Just enuff water to warm it up. The meat chunks seem to be going well, it's the bone pieces that are still going slow. He had a couple bigger chunks of bone & chewed them a little, but not like I would like to see him do. I think I will keep the bone the size it is for now & keep working with him on that, the meat chunks I will increase a little in size. I'm guessing that I chose the difficult part first & that is bone??? I don't want to rush him on the bone & he seems to be doing ok right now, I will increase the size however when I see him eating the bone easily. I'm thinking once he starts eating bone with no problems, everything else should be a breeze?!?!?! I ordered some Bravo Duck feet online as I couldn't find them locally(not surprising tho)& some chicken & turkey breast for a treat also. I did however find some Bravo Turkey hearts, would you say 1oz of the fd would equal 2oz when wet? Just wondering how much I can give him everyday, along with or instead of the Taurine?? I also had to order more of the Wysong Dream Treats in Beef!! HE LOVES THE BEEF!!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2013 22:09:45 GMT -5
You can't overdose on taurine with ferrets, excess is simply excreted through their waste. Feel free to give him as much heart as he or you want him to have. I don't really know the math equivalent of dry to wet matter well, I'd err on the side of caution and give him more heart than less or supplement with capsules if you're worried. I think 500mg a day is the recommended amount for a ferret.
Some ferrets jump right into bones fine, others not so much. Couple of my boys were fighting over chicken legs 3 days into the switch, others had to be nursed along. Try offering him a larger bone like a wing or leg maybe now and tie it to the cage or something for him to pull at. Had to do that for some of mine.
Also, does he eating in the open or a feeding den like area? Mine adore eating their chunks in card board boxes or tunnels.
Hopefully he likes his organs, I find those to be the challenge in my house.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2013 11:13:21 GMT -5
I will try the larger bone idea. He eats his meals in the open, but when it comes to the bone or sometimes a chunk of meat he goes in a den like area. I watch tho, cuz when he goes to his den area, there are times he goes in there & just spits out the bone or meat. When he does that, the next time he heads for the den with a mouth full, I hold him & make him eat it in my lap with my hand under his mouth & tell him to chew, he squirms a lot & I don't give in, but I praise him like crazy when he does eat it & then I let him go in his den again with his next mouthful & repeat the process if he spits it out again. Gotta be consistent with these goof balls for it to sink in.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2013 6:12:58 GMT -5
Sometimes they put a chunk of bone or meat aside to snack on later.
Would you mind posting a week's menu when you get a chance?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2013 19:26:58 GMT -5
Here is my weeks menu, I change the proteins up so they are not the same every week, but mix them up.
Sun: AM: RC Chicken & pork small Chunks(kibble size)& chicken neck & bone PM: Same Mon: AM: Bravo Basic Turkey PM: Bravo Basic Turkey pork & chicken neck & bone
Tues: AM: Primal Rabbit PM: Bravo Basic Duck pork, chicken neck & bone
Wed: AM: Bravo Basic Duck PM: RC Chicken, pork, chicken neck & bone
Thurs: AM: RD Chicken PM: RD Turkey pork, chicken neck & bone
Fri: AM: Primal Rabbit PM: Bravo Basic Duck: chicken neck & bone
Sat: AM: Bravo Basics Turkey, chicken neck & bone
**all meals I give Taurine**
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2013 21:05:37 GMT -5
I forget, is the Bravo basic just meat and bone? Main concern is if it has organs in it. I see that you're supplementing taurine for now which is great. We may want to consider trying to get him to start working on some organs now that he's trying new things like a champ.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2013 21:15:48 GMT -5
Some of the Bravo Basic's have meat, bone & organ in them. The rabbit, ostrich, & Chicken have them in already, I believe. They are working on adding organ to all of the basics. I didn't want to get the Original blends because of the veggies, but just learned that they are less than 5%, so I may order some of them. I was thinking of that tonight & what I should order. I got the Bravo FD Turkey hearts & have given him chunks of them, but I need to check his "stash" zone & see if they have been eaten or not. I will get back to you on that. I'm still having a hard time finding fresh organ, would it be ok to stick with the bone & meat for now since I'm feeding him commercial with them in there? I know the Rad Cat has organ in there as well. I will keep looking for the organs too.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2013 6:13:30 GMT -5
Yes that's fine, we just want to make sure he will have enough in the future. Do you have any local asian or hispanic markets? That is the only place I've been able to get organs here.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2013 20:29:24 GMT -5
Sounds good. No we don't have either of them here I'm afraid. The only thing I have seen in the places that I have looked are chicken livers & gizzards. I checked the "stash zone" & looks like he ate the FD Turkey Hearts. He has been eating so good the last few days. When I got home after work today he had thrown up in his cage, twice & looked like some food. He is acting normal, poo is normal, I'm not too worried, but he is shedding again & kind of has been having that dry coughing, so I got some eggs tonight at the store & will give him some egg yolk later. He is sleeping right now. He ate his supper pretty well, but not all of it. He had Bravo basics duck & ostrich, pork chunks & chicken neck & bone. I got my order today from chewy.com so he is now stocked up on dream treats beef & I got some Bravo duck feet & gave him one. He has it in one of his other "stash" spots. I will keep an eye on it & see if there has been some nibbling going on.
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