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Post by Desiree on Oct 13, 2015 12:16:14 GMT -5
I would weight out the chicken wing and just give them their allotted portion. You can cut them in the middle joint and then in half if you need to lower the portion. You can always start off with a chicken wing or chicken wing section a piece if you wanted to but I don't want you wasting to much food either.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2015 4:24:01 GMT -5
Ok. I will cut them into fourths (hopefully... if I can - I am saving for some impressive prep shears which will help with this ) and feed them a whole one each and then see how much of it they are going to go for
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Post by Desiree on Oct 14, 2015 21:38:17 GMT -5
Awesome!! Lenme know how it goes. Once they are eating a good amount of bone, we can move onto different proteins and menu building!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2015 2:45:06 GMT -5
Ok, so they are eating the wing bones... they go at it slowly, so I only feed them the one wing as a meal, and then the chicken muscle and hearts/liver as the other meal. I accidentally got a couple of packages of wingettes and they came with drumettes which I didn't realize at the time... is it safe for them to consume all chicken bones? Or are the wings special because they are cartilige?
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Post by Desiree on Oct 18, 2015 13:49:14 GMT -5
They can eat both but you might need to mash it up for them. They are going to be a little bit tougher but shouldn't be a problem. I'm glad they are eating the bone. Why don't we start by sourcing some of the other meats you will use. We can either start with other bone in meats or muscle meats, it doesn't make to much of a difference which you choose. Just whichever you can find. lemme know when you find it, we will start by mixing a little bit of the new meat with a lot of the old meat. Every day, you will add more of the new meat and less of the old meat until it's all the new protein.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2015 2:21:15 GMT -5
When you say new meat, do you mean like a new animal?
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Post by Desiree on Oct 21, 2015 10:20:23 GMT -5
Yes. A new protein type, so quail, pork, rabbit etc
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2015 1:03:21 GMT -5
Ok. Well, they are still struggling with the bone... and when I say "they" I mean Ink He's so sweet, but that boy resists change. I figured out that they lose weight each time they try something new, because they don't quickly adhere to it, but if we took time to allow them to regain a little weight after they accept the changes, I think it would do better. I know I haven't in a while, but I am going to upload their weights and pics tomorrow (it's my first day of in a whiiiile) (twitch)
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Post by Desiree on Oct 25, 2015 21:15:18 GMT -5
We will do what you and the ferrets are comfortable with. They are going to have issues with change, the whole process is to get them to accept the change. We can most certainly wait till they get used to chicken with bone before moving ahead. They may imprint on this food as well and that will mean another big change to come ahead. I don't want you to feel like the ferrets are losing to much weight though.
With the weight issue remember that when switching to raw, ferrets will lose all that kibble weight (fat) and gain good muscle. They are going to look leaner and possibly weigh less.
They are on a balanced diet (with the chicken livers and hearts) so we don't have to worry about that right now.
For now, lets let them eat the chicken wings until you feel comfortable to move forward.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2015 3:21:35 GMT -5
That's a good thing to know. The bone replaces the egg shells, correct? So I am feeding them the meat and heart and liver for one meal and wings for another. I don't have pics in my email for some reason, so here are the measurements by themselves for now. Ink is currently 2 lb 4 oz ( 2 lb 5 oz ) Mage is at 2 lb 2 oz ( 2 lb 2 oz ) Kisses is 1 lb 6 oz ( 1 lb 4 oz ) Annie is 1 lb 8 oz ( 1 lb 8 oz ) So, everyone is staying the same, although they look thicker. Maybe after another week they will weigh a bit more
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Post by Desiree on Oct 28, 2015 8:05:29 GMT -5
That's good. They might not ever get back to their kibble weight though. It's more about body size and condition than weights. Some ferrets are leaner, some are chunkier. It just depends. Let's see how they do this week. Keep my updated on How they are doing in the bone.
And yes bone replaced the eggshells
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2015 15:41:59 GMT -5
Soooo... I discovered that Ink has two different food hiding spots with differing purposes. One is where he hides all of the yummy food for later and encourages me to give him more sooner. The second is where he hides food he does not want so that I will think he is done and give him something he does want, sooner! I laughed and kissed him and no longer allow the door to be open when he has unfinished food. It's either in or out for him :3
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Post by Desiree on Oct 31, 2015 19:39:34 GMT -5
HAHA! Oh such crafty ferrets! They will try and trick you. Ink is a smart boy though.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 3:04:32 GMT -5
Yes. He is the love of my life Speaking of whom... he hasn't been his normal self today * He is acting lethargic and his poopies smell like raw egg, look like maroon oil spills. I tried to get him to eat egg and he threw it up later, eating his throw up as soon as it came up (only a little bit, but still...) Could it be a piece of bone??? Or maybe some meat that went bad that I missed??? I tried to get him to eat coconut oil to help his belly. He wouldn't touch the stuff, even though he's crazy about it! Is this something that will blow over by tomorrow? Are you used to hearing about this sort of thing? I have had a stomach ache all day, and I thought he was snuggling near me bc of that, but then I realized he just needed his mommy
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Post by Desiree on Nov 2, 2015 8:53:03 GMT -5
This sounds like something that could be serious. It could be a blockage, Is there anything he could have chewed on and swallowed? I would take him to the vet. Normally I would suggest the protocol, 1 tbsp pumpkin for the first hour, then 1tsp Vaseline next hour and alternate till you see bright orange poops. But he's already thrown up which is a sign that he really needs a vet. You can try the protocol above until you can get to the vet.
It's unlikely this is from raw.
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