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Post by Sherry on Mar 31, 2011 1:40:04 GMT -5
What a little beggar ;D You can always use the back of a chef's knife, or even a hammer to smash the bones Or- you can segment them, cut between the middle bones, and try to cut the larger one in half lengthwise to expose the marrow.
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Post by crazylady on Mar 31, 2011 16:27:31 GMT -5
Secateurs ( like rose pruners lol ) work well for cutting up bones ( steal your husbands from the garage lol ) heck on bigger bones I have even used bolt cutters lol where there is a will there is a way lol take care bye for now crazy lady
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Post by Sherry on Mar 31, 2011 22:47:08 GMT -5
Now that's a great idea! Thanks Bev ;D
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 3, 2011 16:03:29 GMT -5
well i think it's time to try something new with jayjay and frankie. i realized i'm running LOW on kibble and have no intention on buying more. i chopped up some freeze dried into kibble sized pieces and mixed it in with their kibble yesterday. when i watched, they were eating around it, but today i caught frankie actually sorting out the kibble/freeze dried into opposite sides of the bowl and then eating the freeze dried! the only drawback was this made it easier for jayjay to get to his kibble. i'm going to stay this route until they're totally on freeze dried so i don't have to spend money on the stuff i don't want them eating anyway, then from there i'm going to wet it and hopefully transition to chunks that way. i'm making sure they have a dish of water in addition to their bottle so they hopefully don't get messed up with the freeze dried. i only have 3-4 days worth of kibble left, so i've been giving them breakfast,lunch, and dinner with progressively more of the freeze dried. it's hard to see who's eating what this way, but the bowl is always empty. i'll feel better when i see jayjay actually eat a piece so i know he won't starve. i also mixed freeze dried in with their kibble in it's bin so it will pick up the smell their used to, and mix in freeze dried from it's own container when i give it to them. *fingers crossed*
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 3, 2011 16:04:56 GMT -5
oh, and the mashing kinda worked. he seems to spit out the pieces, but every once and a while i'll hear him crunching so he is eating SOME.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2011 16:07:17 GMT -5
My kids like the freeze dried all crumbled up when dry. They also love it blended smoothly to the consistency of yogurt (maybe a bit thicker). As for the chicken wing mash, that's progress! Their jaws need to build strength, and the bone pieces help them recognize that it's food
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 3, 2011 16:46:34 GMT -5
i thought about making it into dust, but i figured it'd be easier to hide if it didn't sink down to the bottom of the bowl... mine go on and off eating it wet, but as long as we're making progress i'm happy.
oh maybe you were thinking i had freeze dried patties? i'm using the afs "nibblets" or whatever. [lost the bag, now it's just in a ziplock] i tried the patties, they're easier to work with but for now i'm going to stick with this until we're past the phase of wasting food.
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Post by Sherry on Apr 3, 2011 16:52:22 GMT -5
Hey- as long as they are eating it, that's what counts And good for Frankie! That's some pretty major progress for him. Another tact you can try with him. Have you ever given baby food? It's a really good substitute to have them accustomed to in case they become ill. You can also make your own, just using cooked meat pureed. It's also a great transition tool. Only reason I'm mentioning it is that it seems both Frankie and Jayjay appear to need a multi-pronged approach. And- it would get them used to one more taste and texture
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 3, 2011 18:31:05 GMT -5
i did finally pick up the baby food. so far we've only tried the turkey [also bought beef and chicken] and they'll both eat it as long as i hold them, but nothing once i let go. i had to water it down a little. they didn't like it straight out of the jar. frankie's hilariously frustrating. i went to give sammy and jaydon their dinner and when he saw them rushing over he joined in and licked at everything in the dish. he started gnawing/tugging at the tip of the chicken wing. of course i sat down and held my breath hoping he'd eat a bite, but when he saw me looking at him he ran away. he's done that once before, and that time he tried to drag it off and stash it under the bed but i didn't want him dragging it across the carpet. should i just suck it up and let him do it, and hopefully he'll eat it, then shampoo the rug after the fact? i wish i had more cages to separate them into singles. it would be a lot easier to test their limits and see who'd be willing to budge without worrying about starving the other.
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 3, 2011 19:15:57 GMT -5
OH MY GOD!!!!!!
so i'm sitting here watching tv, and i hear the normal nomnom ferret squishy sounds, look over, and it was FRANKIE EATING THE CHICKEN WING! and of course he's now running away cause i looked over, but i'm so excited!
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Post by Sherry on Apr 3, 2011 19:31:06 GMT -5
OMG!!!! That's fantastic!!!! Congrats- I think you've just had a breakthrough
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2011 23:22:49 GMT -5
Oh yay! What a good boy! Congrats!!!!
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Post by Sherry on Apr 4, 2011 9:49:47 GMT -5
You can also tie the wing to the cage with shower clips, etc. That way, they've also got something to work against.
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 5, 2011 22:06:34 GMT -5
tonight i cut up the end of a chicken wing for frankie to try [best dollar store scissors i've ever bought]. he ate a few pieces, no problem, then stashed a few for later lol. i had it mixed in with the last bit of turkey baby food and some kibble to hopefully get jayjay to eat some on his own since i was going to leave them with it for the night. i ended up deciding to let them spend the night in my room with me, so i put that bowl in next to sammy and jaydon's. what i find very amusing/awesome, is that both of them went up to the bowl and sniffed it, and then instead went back to their own and didn't eat the kibble. bandit loves soup. any soup. anything that even slightly resembles soup. i think he's just lazy and doesn't want to chew. jayjay is impossible. he won't eat anything other than kibble without me holding him. i haven't found even ONE food/soup he'll eat on his own. it drives me nuts because the other kids i push a lot harder but he's my baby and i can't stand his "mommy, i'm hungry" look
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Post by Sherry on Apr 6, 2011 0:47:36 GMT -5
Jayjay sounds like my Boris ;D When I was transitioning him, he was hand fed for almost 6 weeks I finally got him to a point where he would sit on my lap and eat off a plate, and started putting small bits beside his meat mush, and one day, he grabbed a piece and started chewing With Bandit, you might want to simply keep thickening the soup to a heavy wet mush, and start adding in little bits. He'll get used to it after a while! And again- fantastic news about Frankie!!!!
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