|
Post by Sherry on Mar 18, 2011 23:08:51 GMT -5
If it's both, it's more likely too man blood rich meals. Leave out the heart for 2-3 days, and see if that makes a difference. Are you giving some pumpkin every day? If so, this should be helping. If you are, and there is still a problem, after leaving out the heart for 2-3 days, try giving them some cooked soupies, and about a tsp of full fat plain yogurt a day, for about a week.
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 19, 2011 12:55:42 GMT -5
alright, i just witnessed one NORMALY poopy from jaydon. i'm keeping my fingers crossed for sammy as well.
they have been getting pumpkin... which btw, is it possible to freeze that in ice trays or will it come out funny? i can only seem to find it in 16 oz cans. i don't know how long it would stay good in the fridge for
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2011 12:57:50 GMT -5
One method of storing the pumpkin is: 1) Put the pumpkin into ice cube trays 2) Once they're frozen, place in a ziplock bag and store in freezer. When you need some pumpkin, take a couple out a day in advance and they can stay in the fridge for until you use them. Some say they come out funny after being frozen. My solution is to heat them in the microwave until they're mushy again, add a bit of water, and back to normal I found that getting the pumpkin OUT of the ice cube tray is the hardest part. I have found a solutions to this. 1) Mix the pumpkin with some water so it's more like a gravy and less chunky. 2) Coat the ice cube tray with olive oil. I usually use a paper towel, get some olive oil on it, and rub the inside of the cubes with it. This makes the cubes come out easier and helps make the pumpkin last longer Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=newbies&action=display&thread=812&page=7#ixzz1H4MuLP28
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 19, 2011 23:57:04 GMT -5
awesome thanks! i just tried the water/pumpkin in the trays, we'll see how it comes out tomorrow
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 24, 2011 19:14:19 GMT -5
first, thanks a ton for the pumpkin tip, that worked wonderfully. second, the poop issue is all but under control. i gave sammy a heart today and she totally lost her mind. she was hissing and making a scene trying to keep jaydon from it, i guess she missed em all of the other kids are at a standstill with me. no one wants to make any more forward progress. jayjay on occasion will eat bigger chunks of stuff, but other days he'll flat out refuse. sammy is starting to blow her coat for the summer. i can't wait to see what grows in in it's place! hopefully jaydon will stay as soft as he is now.. i'm glad i did this when they were transitioning to warmer months instead of when they were bulking up for the winter
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 26, 2011 17:46:30 GMT -5
Ok, can you refresh our memories of exactly who is now eating what, and we can see where to go from there.
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 26, 2011 19:38:20 GMT -5
jaydon and sammy will eat whatever i put in front of them.
bandit will eat chunks of chicken, beef, and pork, and he's nibbled here and there on a wing with the others a few times. i'm going to start phasing out the kibble once he'll eat heart and liver.
jayjay eats "mush". not quite soup, but not quite thick enough he has to chew other than small bits here and there. he's eating mush of whatever meat i come up with, but anything bigger than a sliver sized piece turns him off and results in basically scruffing and stuffing so he'll bite into it, then spit it out, then repeat until it's small enough for him [but he WILL eat ground turkey 80% of the time if i feed him bits from my hand].
frankie is just playing hard to get. he'll only eat thin soup, and he goes liking only chicken for a few days, then only likes beef for a few days, then refuses the beef all over again and only likes kibbles some days. frankie is also the only one who wont even give a second sniff to the pumpkin, so i decided to hold off on that until he needs it.
i'm going to see if i can pick up some baby food tomorrow and at least if he doesn't like the texture i can thin it out easily. the consistent texture will probably be better for jayjay too and i can start putting bits in that without having to worry if they're not eating it because it doesn't taste 100% uniform [still using the hand mixer]
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 26, 2011 21:50:29 GMT -5
Ok, I do gather you are leaving the kibbles out for about 12 hours before offering Frankie and jayjay the raw soup and mush? Ok, for the interim, let's focus on getting bandit to eat bone, since he's doing so well on the chunks. Give him nothing but wings for the next three days. Segment them, cut between the two bones in the middle section, and if you can manage it(it's difficult), cut the large bone lengthwise in half to expose the marrow. With a bit of luck, he's be a pro at the end of those 3 days . Once he's doing well, we'll work jayjay up, and leave Frankie for the end. Keep those two going with what they are eating now. If you feel like pushing it a bit with them, go ahead, but not a rush right now. I'd like to do it this way because your Frankie is going to need your focus on him to switch him ;D And for all your kibble crunchers- leave it out of their reach for 12 hours prior to feeding the raw
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 27, 2011 14:06:20 GMT -5
most days i have been doing the 12 hours with no kibble, but sometimes it's hard because i don't have a consistent work schedule and i dont want to be starving them.. my goal is to get bandit there first and then move him in with sammy and jaydon in the downstairs cage and bring up the other brats to the smaller cage. it's easier to keep an eye on who's exactly eating what and how much because that one's in my bedroom so they'd still be with me when it's time to be caged for the night. i totally forgot the baby food today, but i've got some beef soupie cubes thawing for a bit later. i'm almost tempted to throw bandit in the cage with sammy and jayjay and see how he does, but my schedule this week is too much to have the three of them cramped up together for that long each day.maybe he can spend the night with them into my days off. i have a new poop issue! someone passed some pretty decent sized bone shards from yesterday's wings. am i right to be freaked out by that? the wing was just frozen, then thawed, and they ate it within 4-5 hours so it's not like it was sitting out getting hard... but still scary to picture it making it all the way through them. i'm going to have to start giving the pumpkin individually instead of putting it in with their food... whoever finds it first licks up every last bit before the other gets a taste.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 27, 2011 14:12:08 GMT -5
It's actually fairly common at the beginning of a switch As they get more practiced at breaking up the bone, and build up more jaw strength, they'll start chewing them into smaller and smaller pieces. The stomach acids wear the edges of the bone to a smooth edge, and that allows them to pass through easily, so not to worry And yes, the sooner you can get Bandit in with the other two, the more likely he will be to start eating "big ferret food" ;D It's frequently a case of "monkey see, monkey do"!
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 30, 2011 16:36:29 GMT -5
well, bandits almost there. he'll scrape every last bit of meat off of the bones, but he wont actually eat them. i tried breaking a few up so he'd get to taste the insides, but he just licks them like a lollipop. how small can i make the bone pieces without worrying about him trying to swallow them whole? i finally got the baby food. today we tried turkey with tiny bits of raw turkey mixed in, with a bit of tone for good measure. frankie actually ate it. he made some funny faces, but he seemed to enjoy it for the most part. jayjay didnt like it. he's never resisted so much as he did today with this baby food.. i also bought beef and chicken, so tomorrow we'll try another flavor. im going to try a few more times throughout the evening with the turkey to see if he'll change his mind since he liked it ground. interestingly, sammy and jaydon didn't want the baby food either. normally they dive into whatever i give the other kids but today they just stuck with what was in their bowl [liver and turkey chunks i cut off of a thigh]. sammy's fur is stunning. it's coming in REALLY thick and dense, just short for the summer. i can't say she's any softer, but it's SMOOTH. i can't stop petting her
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 16:58:20 GMT -5
I pulverized chicken wings for a while. I hit it with a mallet until all the bone and marrow was mixed in with the meat. That helped from then eating around the bone Have you tried any olive oil or fish oil? Some ferrets love the stuff - might help with your picky ones
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 30, 2011 19:25:40 GMT -5
i'll have to try the olive oil. i actually meant to but by the time i was settled with everyone/thing upstairs, the tone was on hand so i just used that. jajay changed his mind. he ended up eating more than frankie, and without making faces but then of course on round two, frankie decided it wasn't food anymore. i'll try mashing up a wing for him tomorrow. gotta defrost
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Mar 30, 2011 19:50:09 GMT -5
I'll be honest. The ONLY way I got mine to eat bone was to give them nothing but wings for 3-4 days ;D They decided eating those was better than going hungry ;D
|
|
|
Post by gnarlysalamander on Mar 30, 2011 21:16:32 GMT -5
well he eats the wing in the sense that he picks all the meat off and just leaves the bones behind. i'll try the mashing tomorrow... hopefully there's something in the kitchen capable of that.
|
|