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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2014 21:23:26 GMT -5
Okay so I cut up and portioned everything out tonight. I got him to eat TWO pieces of heart smeared with chicken sludge. Hopefully I can get him to eat more tonight. I also made up a two week meal plan. Tell me what you think, what I'm missing, etc.
Sunday: Pork cubes and soup. Pork cubes and pork soup Monday: Chicken and soup. Chicken and soup. Tuesday: Hearts, gizzards, chicken soup. hearts, gizzards, chicken soup Wednesday: Chicken and soup, chicken and soup (eventually I want to make this beef day, but one new protein at a time.) Thursday: Chicken and soup, chicken and soup Friday: chicken and soup, chicken and soup Saturday: Liver, kidney, half hearts. Pork cubes and pork soup
Also his weight is 2 lbs 10.8 oz
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2014 16:24:06 GMT -5
I think its fine to use the same meal for breakfast as dinner. I would like to see another protein in there. Remember, we need at least three proteins. Why don't you try a little ground turkey with an egg mixed into it.
I'm assuming your Liver, kidney and hearts are all chicken?
What size are the cubes now? With the soup, try to use less for the dinner meal. So, if you use a tablespoon of soup for breakfast, use half of that for dinner.
His weight is good. This will be his first winter right? Wait until you see his first winter coat and he will put a fair amount of weight on, also.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2014 20:13:43 GMT -5
Well, I thought it might be best to introduce only one new protein at a time, since he's not eating much as it is. He hardly eats anything and his energy levels are really low. Chicken is the only thing he will eat and even then it's not always guaranteed that he'll eat it. And when he does eat his cubes they're roughly 1x.5x.5 inches.
And the liver and hearts are chicken, the kidney is beef.
And yes this will be his first winter. I'm not exactly looking forward to it as it gets super cold in the basement (during the summer it's below 70 almost all summer long) and in the winter it gets even colder. I worry about him being to cold.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2014 20:04:06 GMT -5
The kidney is beef, so technically we're at three proteins. Like I said, we can take it slow at Loki's pace. Are you very worried at how much he is eating? The average male will eat somewhere around 4 oz in a day, according to the books. Honestly, my boys really only eat around 3 oz. Wynstan eats the most, and that's rarely at 4oz. That isn't very much. Let's move back a step. How about for the next few days, let's do only chicken soup with tiny, tiny slices in it. If you have to hand feed him, do so. Sit with him and try to get at least a tablespoon in him. Saturday is his organ day, so just use chicken liver and heart (and eggshell powder) and mix that with some chicken puree. Skid the kidney. Let's see if we can get him to eat a little more over the weekend. Don't try any new protein until Monday. After a few days of chicken, we may have him eating a bigger amount. Energy levels are important, and a good indicator of health. How much activity does Severus get during a day/night. Since he's an only ferret, he isn't going to get alot of running up and down, chasing and being chased around exercise activity. If he's in his cage alot, he's going to sleep and not work up an appetite. Mostly though, its kind of getting used to the amount of food, which is normal for Severus. That's why so many ferrents weigh the food intake. After awhile, you know how much they normally eat and if the food intake drops off (which it normally will in Spring) and there's no obvious reason, then the ferrent knows that something could be wrong. Don't worry about Winter. Ferrets do much better in the cold than the heat. If he has nice warm blankets, a snug little hidey hole to sleep in and its not obscenely cold in your basement, he will be fine. Its the heat, that they struggle with. You're doing fine and so is Severus. We're asking him to completely rethink his appetite and what he thinks food is. He really is coming along very normally, and we have plenty of time. So don't let this get you too anxious. We won't let him starve and we will make sure he is happy and healthy! Stef
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2014 21:58:17 GMT -5
See I was worried that his energy levels were down, because he wasn't eating much, maybe he's just bored and is sleeping more and doesn't have much of an appetite. I really wish he had a little friend to play with, another ferret, a cat, a dog, anything. I'm keeping an eye out for any ferrets in my local area who are young and reasonably priced. And since his cage is massive another ferret will easily fit (especially once I can do the add on.) It's a c+c cage. I'll have to take pictures of it one day. Once I do the add on though it will easily be the size and a half (maybe even twice the size!) of a double ferret nation. And that's all for him, though right now it's a bit sparse as far as toys go. He likes fuzzy rattly bits, but I worry that he'll bite something off and choke when I'm not home or sleeping. Do you have any suggestions on what I could do to spruce up his cage so he's not as bored? He's got three hammocks, three tunnels, a hide box, and his litter pan. And a homemade seal softie that he loved when it was attached to my back pack (though now he cares not for it).
On to the food in take of the day, he finished all of breakfast/lunch, and he's getting his evening meal in 10 minutes. I more measure out his food in advance (1 tablespoon of soup, 1 tablespoon of meat chunks) before I pack it, seal it, and then freeze it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 11:53:00 GMT -5
Good Morning A friend for Severus would be wonderful. I wouldn't get a cat or dog, it's not the same. Also, then you have to worry about leaving them alone together. Another ferret will play ferret games and they can snuggle up together at night. Call a couple of rescues or shelters and check out (?) your craigslist, I think its called Kiji? You might find someone whose ferrent really needs to find them a home and won't expect alot of money. PM @muchasbellas and ask her to tell you, just how happy Evanna is with her new friend. Getting ferret toys is tough. They don't really play with toys, like dogs or cats. They play by chasing each other, or by exploring. I have seen where some ferrents buy those bird puzzles and put treats in them. That gives their ferret something to think about and work at getting the treat out. Sounds like he was a little hungry yesterday. That's great. Just like us, their appetites go up and down. Sometimes, we're all just a little hungrier than others.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 19:25:06 GMT -5
I've been contacting the Ottawa ferret rescue since like March or April? Gah, who knows. And I check kijiji daily. I was just telling Bella how everyone was 200+ for their ferret plus all the stuff that they got for the ferret. I don't want to pay for a cage I wouldn't make a rat live in, let alone force a ferret into. There was one that was free, but of course, it was like 3 1/2 hours away. I saw some suggestions would be boxes with random stuff in them like scented paper tossed in with other paper scraps, things with rattles (like the crocheted rice eggs), stuff like that. 8kg rice bags were on sale again so I bought one, I figured once I extended the cage over the weekend I'll make him a rice digging box in there and switch it out weekly for his balls or tissue paper. What do you think, would he be safe to play with that unsupervised? I'm also thinking of adding more tunnels, another couple of hammocks, and a new cuddle cube (well rectangle lol).
He was a good boy today and ate all of his breakfast, though he didn't touch much of his dinner, due to sleeping all day. However he's in a silly mood this afternoon and is attacking, sniffing, digging, or stomping on everything.
For the organs tomorrow, does he get them just one meal or two? And should I blend them a little and then add bigger bits like with his regular meals?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2014 10:55:18 GMT -5
I've been contacting the Ottawa ferret rescue since like March or April?
Someone will find you. You could PM Heather. She is in Ontario and she might know of some rescues, or shelters closer to you. What do you think, would he be safe to play with that unsupervised?
I've never heard of any problems with rice boxes. I'll ask on the Mentors board, just to be sure. For the organs tomorrow, does he get them just one meal or two
The organs will be just the one meal. What will his organs be today? And yes, blend some into soup and then add a few pieces and hopefully, he will munch on them. It looks like I'm usually on during the day, and you're on at night. It's alot like my husband and I. (giggle) He's a night owl and I'm up super early in the morning and go to bed early. Maybe that's why we've been married so long. (giggle) How big are his pieces now and how much soup are you using? Does Severus like playing a plastic bag? Have you tried putting one on the floor, let him crawl into it and then pick it up and gently swing it. That makes mine go crazy and they pop out and dance all over the place. It's funny that we play with plastic bags with our ferrets and wouldn't let skin kids alone with them. Guess ferrets are just smarter.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2014 12:31:22 GMT -5
This week it's just liver and heart, like you said a few posts back, so I can see that he eats some of it. And he just loves with in and in the bags, he does not like it when they get picked up with him in it. It freaks him out.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2014 14:55:19 GMT -5
Let's move back a step. How about for the next few days, let's do only chicken soup with tiny, tiny slices in it. If you have to hand feed him, do so. Sit with him and try to get at least a tablespoon in him.
Saturday is his organ day, so just use chicken liver and heart (and eggshell powder) and mix that with some chicken puree. Skip the kidneys.
We have a little confusion here. I was talking about only doing chicken (without anything added) for a few days, so we could slowly increase the sizes of his cubes.
Saturday is still organ day, so on Saturday, Severus should still get his one organ meal plus his half meal of hearts. We don't want him to have Liver every day. Liver has vitamin A and that can build up in his system.
On Monday, we will try a new protein. You will puree a little of the new protein and pour it over the small pieces.
I checked on the rice box. Sherry said it was okay to leave it unsupervised. She did say check it for poops. Sometimes ferrets get a rice box confused with a litter box. Mjbez said to make sure that you don't use the quick cook (instant) rice.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 2:06:05 GMT -5
No! You misunderstood me, I meant't I was only going to give him chicken hearts and chicken liver for his organ meal since I know he likes it and I know he will eat it. I didn't mean he was going to get it every meal every day. Just the one meal on saturday, and then he got chicken soup with chicken cubes for his other meal.
And thanks for checking about the rice box for me, I wasn't sure if it was safe unsupervised.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 11:05:40 GMT -5
How funny. Well, we're on the same page now. (shy)
Is Severus eating a litter bigger cubes now? Less soup and more meat?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 14:15:19 GMT -5
The cubes are the same size, but we are doing slightly less soup. He ate all his organs and chicken soup and cubes yesterday. And he ate all of his breakfast too. So he's doing very good as far as food these last couple of days.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 15:46:35 GMT -5
Very Good! (dance)
Would you like to try a new protein tomorrow? We can work on getting the chicken pieces a little bigger or try a new protein, tomorrow. Do you have any other poultry? I know you're having trouble finding Quail, but if you have Cornish game hen or turkey, we could try that. It's similar to chicken and shouldn't upset Severus too much.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 21:57:33 GMT -5
He absolutely HATED turkey. Like more than he hated trying beef or pork. I was going to make pork for dinner tomorrow night and since I'm home tuesday and wednesday give him more pork and his heart meal on tuesday. Then back to chicken for thursday and friday then on Saturday pork and organs (cow kidneys, chicken livers and hearts), sunday more pork. Rinse repeat until I can faze out soup and it's all just cuts of meat. Then once he's eating pork (with soup) and chicken (no soup) I figured we can introduce another protein. I'd like to get him to eat fish. I can get four different types of fish, cod, rainbow trout, and two others I can't remember. Are cornish games hens different from chicken? I'd like to get him eating those, eventually, bone and all.
Oh, also how are we going to introduce bones? I realize it will be after he's not on the soup, but how will we get him to take bones?
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