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Post by gfountain on Mar 3, 2015 11:56:18 GMT -5
Minnie is backwards because she was born in February. Babies that are seasonally backwards are usually born 'out of season'. However, my Leon was born in January and he has his right.
One of the greatest benefits of feeding raw is the bonding you get. Raw feeders are so much more in tune with every part of their pets' lives, from eating to pooping to activity and sleeping. When I first got Slinkee, I spent so much time with him, playing and snuggling. I really felt like I knew him. Once I switched to raw, I learned that I didn't know him at all. He has definite likes and dislikes that I had never noticed, and not just with his food. He has his own way of doing things that I had never taken note of. He has a definite preference about the order of his day that I never noticed when he was on kibble. My other 3 ferrets were never on kibble at my house and I see differences in each of them that I would not notice if I were not feeding raw. Each one has a distinct personality completely different from the others.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 23:58:57 GMT -5
Minnie is backwards because she was born in February. Babies that are seasonally backwards are usually born 'out of season'. However, my Leon was born in January and he has his right. One of the greatest benefits of feeding raw is the bonding you get. Raw feeders are so much more in tune with every part of their pets' lives, from eating to pooping to activity and sleeping. When I first got Slinkee, I spent so much time with him, playing and snuggling. I really felt like I knew him. Once I switched to raw, I learned that I didn't know him at all. He has definite likes and dislikes that I had never noticed, and not just with his food. He has his own way of doing things that I had never taken note of. He has a definite preference about the order of his day that I never noticed when he was on kibble. My other 3 ferrets were never on kibble at my house and I see differences in each of them that I would not notice if I were not feeding raw. Each one has a distinct personality completely different from the others. I agree with you that raw feeding makes you feel more connected to your fuzzies. They might just be viewing me as the source of food, but I feel that they pay more attention to me too. Leela and Mango stand on their back legs, put their paws on my leg and beg for food... They know when it's time for dinner. I kind of like it. If I'm standing in the kitchen, they know what it means... FOOD!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2015 23:50:01 GMT -5
I have to say, I am very impressed with my little girl, Leela. She has been making a huge progress so far. Today she ate two meals of sliver + gravy + FDR. Each meal was 1.0 oz. I tried to give it to her without the FDR, but she won't eat it. The smell of FDR must be somehow comforting to her. I used 2/3 sliver and 1/3 gravy. She has no problem eating this meal on her own. She got some salmon oil as a reward. What is our next plan with her? I can keep trying to get her to eat without FDR, or try other protein, maybe?
Flexie ate a little bit of kibble soup, and two chunks of FDR. I don't know if I want to do this kibble soup method anymore... It's so time consuming. Maybe it's the brand of kibble I'm using that does not want to dissolve in hot water. It just won't get soft enough to mush very easily, even in a smoothie blender. It takes a good half hour to 40 minutes to make it. I'm about to give up... I don't have 40 minutes in the morning!
Mitch did pretty good today too. ate 2.0 oz in the morning, and almost 2.0 at night. I think the key is to let him out and play first, and make him hungry. He didn't want to eat at first, but after he played for about an hour, he was ready to eat. I'm using the chunky soup that I made before. (I still have at least a week's worth supply of this.) What's next for him? bigger chunks, bone-in chicken or new protein?
Mango's poop is improving. I'm so happy! It has a form, and not black anymore. He ate 1.0 oz of quail in the morning and 1.8 oz of pork loin, and 0.2 oz. of chicken slivers that Leela left on her plate. He also accidentally had a few licks of Flexie's kibble soup.... Fortunately, I caught him right away and I took it away. Bad ferret... After 2.0 oz of pork, he was still hungry, so I sent him to bed with some quail. Oh my, he is really hungry today and I have no idea why.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2015 23:39:19 GMT -5
Great news, gfountain! Leela ate her first plate of soup without FDR today! She had her normal 1.0 oz meal with one chunk of FDR this morning, but I thought to give it a try again tonight. I helped her understand that it's the same food that she's been eating by scooping some gravy on a spoon and hand-feeding it to her. She started licking it, and she ate the whole thing! I think her next goal should be to eat this meal without FDR on her own. (Especially since Chewys.com stopped carrying the brand I use, I will have to pay close to $30 for a 12 oz. bag somewhere else. She's better start eating regular soupie!) She's a good girl. I'm very proud of her. Mitch ate 1.6 oz. in the AM and 1.7 in the PM on his own. I'd like to try some new protein, as he's been eating exclusively chicken for some time now. (Except occasional commercial ground rabbit and duck) Am I getting ahead of myself? Mango has been very hungry the last few days. He ate 1.7 oz. of CGH for breakfast, and 1.8 oz. of chicken hearts for dinner. After dinner he was still hungry and looking for more food. I thought they were supposed to eat less in the spring... He didn't want to eat much last week, and now all of a sudden he's eating more! Maybe Mango's got the seasons backwards, just like your Minnie... Come to think of it, he was born in February too.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2015 11:00:33 GMT -5
Ok, here's a dilemma. Mitch ate practically nothing yesterday, He ate about 1.0 oz of chunky soup all day and that's it. This morning when I let him out of his cage, he ran straight to the kitchen, finds Flexie's bowl of kibble, and starts eating it! I of course, took it away immediately and he gave me a dirty look. Then I started prepping their breakfast. Leela ate her sliver + gravy with one chunk of FDR (I tried without it first, but she didn't go for it today) and Mango ate some of his CGH and walked away. I prepared the same 2/3 chicken sliver + 1/3 gravy for Mitch, but that's when I saw this. This stinkpod (Mitch) is eating what Mango didn't eat! He's crunching on bone-in CGH... What the? He was hungry. I get it. But why doesn't he eat the chunky soup in his cage? I was so worried that he didn't eat much yesterday, and this morning he's eating bone-in. I usually give mango (+-)1.7 oz of food, so either one ate that much food right then. But they ate some. Now my question is this. Should I continue the soup or move on? I know he will eat chicken, CGH and quail. But he can't be on the same menu as Mango, because he doesn't eat pork or beef. This stinky boy.... this is an emotional roller coaster.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2015 0:46:14 GMT -5
Mitch's strange behavior continues...
So, it's Mango's gizzards night. I gave him some chicken gizzards, and he ate some, and walked away like usual.
For Mitch, instead of shaving some chicken thighs for his soup, I put some gizzards on his plate, and marinated it with a little bit of gravy. Mitch comes along, so I offered the "smothered gizzards." But he didn't want to eat it. He goes to Mango's feeding den, finds some plain gizzards, and FINISHES THE REST!
Ok, there's something weird going on here... He preferred easy-to-eat soup than chunky meat before, and today he would rather have the same food as Mango.
So my experiment tonight is this. Since I don't how how much food each one ate, I will put them together in their FN cage. I will put the rest of the smothered gizzards in the cage for anyone to grab.
It will be hard to calculate how much each one is eating per meal, if they are together. But I will read up on other people's threads and see how they are handling multiple ferrets. This is exciting!!! I am also glad that they can have someone to snuggle with in the cage.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2015 12:42:49 GMT -5
Weekly weigh-in time! Leela 1 lb. 12 oz. Flexie 1 lb. 15 oz. Mitch 4 lbs. 2 oz.(down an ounce) Mango 3 lbs. 10 oz.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2015 22:18:00 GMT -5
Ding ding ding ding! You chose the CORRECT ANSWER!!! There was a bowl of kibble for Flexie and a plate of soup for Mitch (the same thing she's having except no FDR) sitting right there, but she chose the right meal. Leela is such a good girl! She knows exactly which one is her dinner... She doesn't even look at kibble anymore. I could not believe what I saw... Mitch ate a few pieces of beef steak! He does not usually care for beef. I did prepare some chicken soup for Mitch, but since he didn't it much of it, I put Mitch and Mango in their cage together with Mango's dinner. Then I was pleasantly surprised to see this! Go Mitch! I think he'll be alright if I throw him out there in the real world and let him be on the same weekly menu as Mango. I will keep a close eye on their weight, so I will know if he's skipping too many meals.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2015 22:52:53 GMT -5
Today was the first day of Mitch and Mango being roommates again. They shared a breakfast of chicken wings, and dinner of chicken hearts and organs (chicken livers + pork kidney). They didn't finish their breakfast, so I'm leaving it there until tomorrow morning. Hopefully they will eat some more over night. Mitch is all of a sudden doing great with plain meat with no gravy. I have no idea what happened to him. I think space aliens may have kidnapped the real Mitch and replaced him with an imposer. He ate chicken heart halves! They are pretty good size chunks. I'm very impressed.
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Post by gfountain on Mar 10, 2015 9:37:03 GMT -5
I'm sorry to be absent for so long. I'm having to play catch up today so if I miss anything important I apologize in advance. Mitch is doing great! As I thought, once he stopped being babied, he stepped up to the plate, figuratively and literally. He should be fine on Mango's menu, just be aware that poops might be a little funny after new proteins. Are you keeping a food/poop journal? You were concerned with keeping track of how much each is eating. As long as you are serving enough for 2 and weights/poops/activity are all stable, they'll be fine. I feed 4 together in the cage. There is no way to tell absolutely how much each one is eating. My goal with each meal is to serve enough so that there is a bite or two left over when I serve the next meal. If there are leftovers, then I know they all got enough to eat. If there are more than a couple of bites left, then I know someone didn't eat and I watch to make sure everyone eats at the next meal. Leela next.. she's doing better about not needing as much FDR! Good! My first goal for her is to get her completely OFF of it. I've never fed FDR so I don't know anything about the texture of it, but I've heard people say that they can crumble it. Let's try giving her mostly slivers with a little soup gravy and then crumble some FDR over it. Then at each succeeding meal, reduce the amount of FDR crumbles. And little Flexie... What kind of kibble are you feeding her that is hard to make soup from? I've not known of any kibble that wouldn't mush! Since she's such a die-hard kibbler, it will be harder to switch her without the kibble soup tool. It can be done but it will take longer. Using the kibble soup and transitioning to raw soup shouldn't take too long. Other methods could take months, especially since she seems to be stubborn. We can try doing the raw soup and sprinkling it with kibble if you want. See if you can crumble the kibble. Put some in a bag and use a hammer on it. It should break into crumbles. Put some thin raw soup in a dish, stir in some kibble crumbles, and let it sit for a little while for the kibble flavor to go through the soup. When you serve it, sprinkle some more kibble crumble on the top. You may need to rub it on her gums and lips to get her to start and she may act like it's poison. Be prepared for dramatics. Their weights and pictures look good. Mitch and Mango are such big chunky boys... I'm so jealous! I love big boys.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2015 23:19:10 GMT -5
Welcome back, Gina! I hope you are feeling better today... Yes, I have a food journal in my notebook. I check their poop, but I'm not writing it down in my journal. Maybe I should start. Mitch and Mango did not eat much bone-in this morning. They ate 2.1 oz. together. I suspect Mitch didn't eat much of it. Mitch did not go for pork. He has never liked it before. I'm leaving some in their cage over night, so he will have to eat some or he won't get to eat anything else until tomorrow morning! Is there a good way to introduce new protein? It's getting really late... Sorry this was kind of a quick update. I will be back tomorrow night!
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Post by gfountain on Mar 12, 2015 15:21:34 GMT -5
I always just serve a new protein by itself to see what they think of it. If they don't like it, then I start by cutting it in chunks and mixing it with something they DO like, for at least 3 meals in a row. So if he doesn't like pork but does like chicken, cut the pork pieces a little bit smaller than the chicken pieces (so they're easier to eat and therefore more enticing) and mix some with chicken chunks. Then the next meal, you would increase the amount of pork and decrease the chicken. After a few meals of increasing pork/decreasing chicken, they should eat the pork by itself.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2015 21:26:16 GMT -5
Ok, I will try that method with Mitch. He likes chicken. I saw him eat some beef the other day, but he usually does not like beef. I will have to see it more than once to know that he actually eats it. It might have been fluke, maybe he was just starving and he wanted to eat anything he could find, you know. I will start with beef, since he ate some once. Then I will try pork. One baby step at a time, right?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2015 16:53:17 GMT -5
Weekly Weigh in! Leela- 1 lb. 12 oz. Flexie 1 lb. 15 oz. Mitch- 4 lb. (down 4 oz. since two weeks ago. I don't think he's eating enough at all. There's usually close to 1.0 oz. or more food left from each meal. My guess is Mitch is eating about two ounces a day. He used to eat 4 oz. when I hand-fed him. His energy level is still active, but he is always looking for a stashed piece of meat, and he looks hungry. What can I do?) Mango- 3 lb. 9 oz. (down one ounce since last Sunday)
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Post by gfountain on Mar 15, 2015 19:04:41 GMT -5
I have to apologize again for my absence. This has been a rough couple of months for me. I usually am a lot more present on the forum, but life has conspired against me this year so far. I hope to be able to check in every day now unless something ELSE happens... fingers crossed that I'm through being sick and injured for the entire rest of 2015! I love the weekly weigh-in pictures! They all look good. Mitch's weight is still good, even though he's losing. It is time for him to slim down for spring and for his appetite to decrease. Even though he's eating less than you think he should, his weight is fine, he is active, and his poops are good. I really don't think there's anything to worry about. Are you leaving meat out for them during the day? He should have access to food all the time so he can eat if he's hungry. What size chunks is he eating now? Once the chunk size is large enough to hook to the cage, you won't have to worry so much about stashing. How are Leela and Flexie doing? Is Leela still needing the FDR or have you managed to wean her off of that? What are you doing with Flexie's meals now? Have you tried crumbling the kibble like I suggested a few posts above this one? Mitch and Mango are on the same menu now, correct? Let's work on increasing the size of their chunks. Each meal, make the chunks a TINY bit larger. What about their bone-crunching? Are you still cutting their bones for them, or will they eat them whole?
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