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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 0:50:41 GMT -5
Omg, I feel like the worst ferrent ever.
THREE people quit and walked out mid-shift at work on Friday at the same time (work has been a mess ever since we got a new manager, lol). I decided to cover some of the open shifts and make some extra money since I've had to pay a lot out of pocket for my car. I worked 12 hour shifts Friday, Saturday and today. I didn't have a four - five hour period to do the raw soup. I would have just taken out the kibble and left the soup in the cage all day for a meal, but Jaxson doesn't eat it on his own yet like Jazmine does so I didn't want him to go hungry all day.
But some good news, I got my car! I named her Ruby and she is glorious.
I think I have wasted the last little bit of soup I had (I put it in the fridge Thursday night to defrost for Friday, and it's late Sunday night now). But since I have my car now I will be picking up some chicken mince tomorrow. I am going to defrost some of the lamb grinds tonight to do tomorrow because the mince comes frozen and takes a bit to defrost.
I will post their weights and a quick picture of their bodies tomorrow, I have class in the morning and need to sleep!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 1:00:46 GMT -5
Don't feel bad! Stuff happens. You have tons of time to work with Jaz and Jax so don't stress if you find you have days where you can't do the soup. I can't believe three people quit on the same day. Wow, it must have been rough. Congratulations on your new car! That will really help you a ton with getting around easily. ^^ Good luck with your class tomorrow. I also look forward to hearing how Jax and Jax are going. ^^
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 13:53:29 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Jazmine. 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb. 13.9 ounces. -1.7 ounces 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: This week, I was not able to do the mince Friday, Saturday, or Sunday so mostly kibble. Yesterday, she only ate about .5 ounces of lamb grinds. Today, she ate about .7 ounces of chicken grinds mixed with a quail egg. I bought 2 lbs of chicken mince so we will be back on track shortly! 4. Stools on various proteins: Her stools look normal with the chicken mince and lamb mince. 5. Activity levels: Have stayed the same. 6. Weekly menu: Kibble down 24/7 except when we try the mince.They get a quail egg three times a week and 1/4 teaspoon of salmon oil the other 4 days.
1. Ferret's name: Jaxson. 2. Ferret's weight: 2 lbs 12.2 ounces. -.5 ounces 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: This week, I was not able to do the mince Friday, Saturday, or Sunday so mostly kibble. Yesterday, he only ate about .4 ounces of lamb grinds. Today, he ate about .5 ounces of chicken grinds mixed with a quail egg which he would only eat when I held him and spoon fed it to him. 4. Stools on various proteins: Stools look good with both the lamb and chicken grinds. They have gotten a lot less runnier when I stopped adding so much water to the grinds. 5. Activity levels: Have not changed. 6. Weekly menu: Kibble down 24/7 except when we try the mince.They get a quail egg three times a week and 1/4 teaspoon of salmon oil the other 4 days.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 14:01:38 GMT -5
I will post dangling photos tomorrow! My computer at home keeps restarting for a Windows update and then says it can't install it, and then it says it's "reconfiguring" to the old Windows. I haven't been able to use it since last night so I am at my school's computer lab now, lol. I took this photo this morning before I left for school while we were doing the chicken mince but forgot to take dangling ones.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 1:31:11 GMT -5
Everything is sounding great. Both Jaz and Jax look really nice. I love the winter coats! I might give you a lesson later so you can read it in your free time. ^^
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Post by katt on Feb 1, 2017 20:52:26 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 22:54:35 GMT -5
Okay! Jax and Jazz both did good today. Each ate exactly one ounce of the mince with 1/2 tsp. of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salmon oil.
I only had to spoon feed the last 1/2 teaspoon to Jazmine and the last teaspoon to Jax.
I think tomorrow I will try doing the soupies in their cage. Jax has been hoarding mouthfuls to underneath the dresser. :/
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 3:38:43 GMT -5
Hi @jaxandjazz77,
I will be away for a few weeks. Don't worry though, The other mentors will pop and and help you out in my absence. ^^ I have given them a basic summary so they are up to date on your progress. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask them.
I'll be back soon~
Machan.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 12:21:45 GMT -5
Today I mixed 1.5 ounces of the chicken mince with 1 tsp. of water and a quail egg (for each ferret).
Jazmine ate an ounce by herself and I spoon fed the other .5 ounces to her.
Jaxson ate around .5 ounces by himself. I was able to spoon feed another .5 ounces to him but he wouldn't touch the last .5 ounces.
I gave Jazmine his leftover .5 ounces with the spoon and she ate it without hesitation.
So Jaxson will only eat like an ounce tops and then he goes to bed. Jazmine ate 2 ounces today and licked the bowls clean afterwards -- she really seems to have a big appetite. I will try to see if she'll eat more than 2 ounces tomorrow.
I guess I am just still confused as to how to know if they are really full or not and how much is enough to start doing full meals of the soup. Jaxson will not eat over an ounce. Not sure if it's because he's full or just being a diva. Jazmine seems to loose interest in eating out of the bowl but then she'll eat whatever I give her from the spoon -- she wouldn't be overeating, right?
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Post by katt on Feb 2, 2017 23:03:46 GMT -5
Today I mixed 1.5 ounces of the chicken mince with 1 tsp. of water and a quail egg (for each ferret). Jazmine ate an ounce by herself and I spoon fed the other .5 ounces to her. Jaxson ate around .5 ounces by himself. I was able to spoon feed another .5 ounces to him but he wouldn't touch the last .5 ounces. I gave Jazmine his leftover .5 ounces with the spoon and she ate it without hesitation. So Jaxson will only eat like an ounce tops and then he goes to bed. Jazmine ate 2 ounces today and licked the bowls clean afterwards -- she really seems to have a big appetite. I will try to see if she'll eat more than 2 ounces tomorrow. I guess I am just still confused as to how to know if they are really full or not and how much is enough to start doing full meals of the soup. Jaxson will not eat over an ounce. Not sure if it's because he's full or just being a diva. Jazmine seems to loose interest in eating out of the bowl but then she'll eat whatever I give her from the spoon -- she wouldn't be overeating, right? Awesome work. Keep it up - slow and steady wins the race. Keep hand feeding them and working on getting them to eat more on their own. How long are you picking up the kibble for before doing soup? You don't need to worry about overeating - at least not at this point. Most raw fed ferrets self regulate very well. As for how much they should be eating, it varies very widely by ferret, and by season, but on AVERAGE an adult female will eat 1-3oz per day, and an adult male will eat 2-4oz per day. Often that means spread throughout the day - but a meal would be about half or a little under half that.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2017 0:16:35 GMT -5
I take their kibble away when they are sleeping. Wake them up about an hour after, play for 1-2 hours to build up their appetite, and then do the raw soup. I replace kibble 2-3 hours after the soup but they usually aren't hungry and don't eat it right away.
So maybe the reason Jax doesn't want anything to do with the soup is because he's full after an ounce? I'm only doing the raw soup once a day, so he's only getting one meal out of it really. I wish I worked from home so I could be more persistent about it throughout the entire day.
I defrosted an extra meat cube to see how much Jazmine will eat tomorrow. She often eats all of her portion and then Jax's leftovers. She ate 2 ounces today in the matter of 30 minutes. I'm guessing that she'll be eating over the average 1-3 ounces daily, lol. Which seasons do they tend to eat more / less?
Bringing them both to the vet on Monday for the implant. Our regular vet doesn't really approve of a raw diets unless it's whole prey (she says she's seen to many complications from an unbalanced diet). Going to this new vet because their prices for implants are considerably cheaper... I hope they approve!
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Post by katt on Feb 3, 2017 0:49:28 GMT -5
I typically try not to mention diet unless I have to - but it inevitably comes up anyways. Hopefully the new vet is more pro raw. A lot of the issue vet's have with raw is many people don't balance it properly, so hopefully over time as they learn that you know how to balance it they will come around.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 0:37:27 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Jazmine. 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb. 13.9 ounces (literally the same from last week). 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: This week, she is eating on average 1.5 ounces of chicken mince mixed with salmon oil or a quail egg once a day. Kibble replaced a couple hours after. 4. Stools on various proteins: Normal. 5. Activity levels: Slight increase (maybe because we've been going on a lot of walks this week). 6. Weekly menu: Orijen&Wysong down 24/7 except when we try the mince.They get a quail egg three times a week and 1/4 teaspoon of salmon oil the other 4 days.
1. Ferret's name: Jaxson. 2. Ferret's weight: 2 lbs. 11.0 ounces (-1.2 ounces) 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal: This week he is eating on average 1 ounce of chicken mince mixed with salmon oil or a quail egg once a day. Kibble replaced a couple hours after. 4. Stools on various proteins: Normal. 5. Activity levels: Slight icrease. 6. Weekly menu: Orijen&Wysong down 24/7 except when we try the mince.They get a quail egg three times a week and 1/4 teaspoon of salmon oil the other 4 days.
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Post by katt on Feb 5, 2017 5:31:58 GMT -5
You are doing a great job! They are eating pretty decent amounts for still getting kibble the rest of the time. How have the last few days been RE eating on their own vs hand fed? If you can describe your hand feeding method that would be helpful info too. E.g. Do you finger feed, hold in your lap and spoon feed, spoon feed with them on the floor, etc? Our next step is to get them to eat the soupies on their own without hand feeding, so knowing exactly how you do it now will give me a better idea of how we can work on weaning the hand feeding to get them to eat it solo. Keep up the awesome work!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 18:18:45 GMT -5
How have the last few days been RE eating on their own vs hand fed? Usually they will eat about half of what I give them straight from their bowl on the floor -- sometimes less, sometimes more. After they are done eating what they want on their own I will put them in my lap and spoon feed the rest of it to them. I try to slowly move the spoon while they are eating from it into the bowl. Works sometimes.
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