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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 11, 2011 12:54:53 GMT -5
thats the problem i ran into... the blender, er, EXPLODED for lack of a better term.. so all i have now is the hand mixer so even if i cut everything up TINY it's not the same. he was licking at a drumstick this morning so i haven't given up hope. he'll also RANDOMLY take a tiny bite of something, then look at me like "you didn't see that" and refuse to eat any more. i'm going to have to try something new, because even when i tried the holding/not scruffing he still freaks out. he doesn't mind if i pick him up and CARRY him somewhere, but he doesn't like to be held in place. ill have to pace around the living room while i shove the bowl in his face
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Post by Sherry on Mar 11, 2011 22:46:06 GMT -5
Ok. That would definitely cause a problem ;D Just a suggestion- check and see if you have a freecycle in your area. You would likely be able to get a blender through that if you do. Next best thing I can think of is using ground meats. That, at least, you can mush up with a fork to a semi puree anyway. Especially the chicken. When you say "freak out", do you mean twisting to get away, whimpering, retching, or what? Some of their behaviour is simply a ferret being a little drama queen, some really have a problem with it. Boris would twist, gag, retch, and sometimes actually vomit small bits up. He was being a drama queen, which is why it took me almost 6 weeks of the methods I described above Vincent, on the other hand, whimpered quite a bit while twisting to get away over beef organ, only to find out he's extremely sensitive to it!
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 12, 2011 0:05:06 GMT -5
oh, he's definitely throwing a temper tantrum. it's not just with food; in general he doesn't like to be held unless i'm moving around. he'll climb up my back and sit on my shoulders for a while, but he has to be in control of the contact and yes, the beef "soup" i made was just ground with water, kibble, and a touch of ferretone mixed in. but with the hand mixer i probably could have skipped the kibble cause it was still whole. ground chicken never occurred to me... probably because i've never eaten it.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 12, 2011 0:07:55 GMT -5
Hey- not a problem! And if he's still used to having the kibble mush included in the soup, I'd not take it out yet. You want to wait til he's accepting(somewhat at least) what he's already eating. While yes, you do need to push them a bit, if you push too fast, they'll rebel and just quit eating
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 13, 2011 19:56:51 GMT -5
its not really mush... it's more... soaked lol. i was hoping he'd just take the plunge like jaydon did because he's still young oh well. we'll get there. i finally got the canned pumpkin. already i can tell the difference and [thank god] it's helping with the poopy smell too [it was getting HORRID]. they [sammy, jaydon, and bandit] took to it like it was nothing. actually, sammy likes anything sweet, which makes it very difficult to eat snacks around her because she can climb right up my pants all the way to my shoulder and everywhere in between. jayjay ate his mush all on his own, and frankie ate a few bites before escaping and hiding out under the dresser. the way he eats i think he likes it but is just being a brat because he knows i want him to eat it
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Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2011 20:19:44 GMT -5
Why would that not surprise me ;D
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 16, 2011 12:15:56 GMT -5
what am i doing wrong?! i keep hearing about how on raw everyone's poop gets smaller and hardly smells. well the poo is smaller, and the smell of their urine is nonexistent [probably because it's not so concentrated], but sammy and jaydon's poop smells TERRIBLE. absolutely 100% horrible. i'm scooping the box every time one of them goes because the cage is in my bedroom and i just can't stand it. everything is well formed and the fact that it's so much smaller gets me as to HOW it's even possible that it smells this bad. it's been getting consistently stinkier from the beginning of the switch, and now that they're off the kibble it's just taking off. it's not one particular food either, everything they eat produces some variation of the same atrocious aroma. what can i do??? i don't want to have to demote them to downstairs living
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2011 12:22:15 GMT -5
Hmm, it could be some bacterial overgrowth. Have you fed liver/heart/organs anytime recently?
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 16, 2011 12:27:45 GMT -5
they each get a heart every day, they love that stuff lol. they had liver last wed.. should i skip giving it to them for dinner? is heart every day too much?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2011 12:38:57 GMT -5
You can't really overdo it on the heart, but it could be leading to some sticker stools. Liver also makes fowl smelling stools. You should be feeding about 2 heart meals a week and about 1-2 liver meals a week. Liver should make up 5-10% of the entire diet in a week. You can figure out an estimate of how much they should get by:
Calculate how many oz a week each ferret eats.
Ex. Ferret A eats 4 oz a day 4 oz a day * 7 days a week = 28 oz a week 10% of 28 oz is = 2.8 oz
So, a ferret that eats 4 oz a day should have about 3 oz of liver a week (if you have no other organs in their diet). If you have another organ, cut the liver in half and replace it with the other organ.
You should feed about 2 full heart meals a week (or you can spread it out, whatever you like).
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 16, 2011 21:39:49 GMT -5
alright. i'll have to cut out the heart for a few days and see if it makes any difference. i dont think it was the liver because they'd been having this progress since before i had them try it for the first time.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 17, 2011 0:00:20 GMT -5
Good rule of thumb with liver? An average chicken liver weights approx. 2 oz. So, one chicken liver, or two ounces of another liver once a week is good. Mind you- they *should* be getting the same amount of another organ weekly as well. If not, the 2 oz of liver will do nicely, and add in kidney, etc., as you find them. And as far as the stool goes, don't forget that they need to basically go through a "detox" of their bodies. But not giving the heart daily will also help. Anything that is blood rich is going to smell more. Which is why beef poopies will stink more than chicken ones.
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 17, 2011 18:41:39 GMT -5
the detoxing makes sense. someone scooped the box while i was at work today, so i didn't get to asses the situation [but i'm guessing it was bad if someone else went out of their way to clean it]. we'll see what happens with the rest of tonight and the next few days.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 17, 2011 20:11:21 GMT -5
Keep us posted! He just could have a bacterial overgrowth(more likely the heart, though), and if he does, we can get that dealt with
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 18, 2011 21:28:30 GMT -5
how would i know the difference? it's both of them, not just jaydon
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