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Post by LindaM on Feb 17, 2017 0:28:32 GMT -5
How are they doing today? Any more luck with the organ meats?
If the new soup mix isn't helping to incorporate the new protein taste well enough, you can also try to blend up some meat of the new protein into a puree form, and just dab a little of that on their gums so they can get the taste of it in their mouths. Try doing this every 5 minutes for about 20-30 minutes in the day. Just be gentle, grab a ferret, rub on their gums and let them run off. This is the "Grab n Dab" method, and can be rather helpful. It might help Charlie realize that it's food.
Pork is a new protein in my house, and I'm going to have to revert to that stage with my boy to introduce the pork, he's pulling his nose up at slivers, and is iffy about a pork puree now too, but my girl will happily eat chunks.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 19:10:12 GMT -5
Things are progressing pretty well. They seem to be eating the soup with the 1/4 pork, 3/4 chicken. I'll try offering slivers again later today and see if anything has changed. If not, I'll try the soup as a half and half mix next.
I tried the brain/kidney purée. Both sniffed the bowl and ran away. I had some success getting them to lick tiny bits off the spoon or my finger. They were too busy playing to take much. I put them away with it and put half an egg on top. It would be pretty impossible to eat the egg and not the thin mix. Both dug in to the egg. Later lots was gone and even later I caught Opal eating the purse. I'll try that again soon and see if they're both eating it now.
I gave chicken necks last night and wing tips this morning to firm up the yucky organ poos.
So question - I know I've read that they can get quite smelly for I think it was 4-6 weeks. How early in the process does that start? They smelled pretty bad (like kibble ferrets I guess) before, but I'm sure it's got worse! I haven't noticed anything I would think was stinky detox stools yet. I can tell this is good for them because I was surprised how quickly the amount of poop reduced heaps. I'm also not sure if my energetic kits needed More energy!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 19:54:01 GMT -5
It's the poops that smell, detox poops but it does get better! If anything they might get grape tail, sniff the base of their tail occasional and see if it smells like grapes. Only one of mine it did but it was pretty cool : : Sounds good for the kidney/brain puree! Keep doing it! And keep making them try it even if it means sitting in the middle of the room and grabbing each one as they run past Bone in meals after organs are a must, bleh black sticky organ poops are so gross lol. I would def keep working on the slivers in the soup! Sounds like a good game plan, offer them the slivers, if they don't want to eat them by themselves keep putting them in the soup. They're not working around the slivers in the soup right? Have you tried heart or liver by itself yet? ( I can't remember )
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 20:26:10 GMT -5
No, I haven't tried them by themself yet. To begin with I didn't have very much. I have plenty now, so I could do that. Maybe I should try the heart tonight?
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Post by LindaM on Feb 17, 2017 20:48:35 GMT -5
Hmm, well before I switched fully raw, my ferrets got a mix of high quality kibbles. This already made them smell better than crappy kibbles. And on the raw, mine smell even better still, I keep huffing them, lol. I've not noticed grape tail on my own before, but have heard of it, though both my ferrets smell yummy all over, kinda like something sweet and sugary.
And yes, keep doing the organ puree for now and get that taste in their mouths so they can get used to it. I don't blame them, organs are stinky, and definitely strong smelling, but they have to have them. Just like kids with their veggies.
And yes, give the hearts a shot, either cut up tiny.. and see if they'll try it, if they do you can leave pieces a bit bigger. If not, well, you can always puree that one at first too and just get them accustomed to the taste.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2017 20:56:59 GMT -5
When I asked the people I got them from what they fed them, they happily told me just dog biscuits (kibble) and a bit of mince. I already knew at that point they should be having at least cat food, not dog, and it was probably cheap dog food too. I only had them on the better cat kibble about three weeks before starting the switch, so there's probably all sorts still working it's way out of their systems.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 17, 2017 23:17:46 GMT -5
Ouch, were they rather stinky? Though it's sometimes hard to compare if you don't have one on raw to smell first. The petstore ferrets stink some to me now because of how used to mine smelling nice I am. The worst kibbles mine were on was the Marshall's nonsense they have them on when you buy them from the store. Once home, it was straight to better kibbles, and then for a while I did partial raw feeding, still mostly following a raw menu, with partial kibble for in the middle of the day. But it was just easier to take kibble away entirely and just do raw. Less stress and hassle of needing to keep everything extra balanced and controlled, so there wouldn't be bacterial overgrowth and what not. Raw just does them sooooo good, the differences always astound me.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 3:54:42 GMT -5
I think they smelled bad, but I don't have much to compare to. Mum thought they smelled like rodents, so I guess that's an answer.
In other news, success!! Chicken heard = food! I cut it into little pieces. My picky girl Charlie dig straight in and took some. She's been back several times in between playing. Opal ate some from my hand, but not too interested from the plate right now. I think she'll eat it when she's not so excited.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 9:14:08 GMT -5
Yessss! A win!!! I'm so glad Charlie decided heart is good 😊 If opal ate it off your hand it sounds like a good start for her! My poppy adores beef heart, you can see it in her face when she smells it 😍 Goes to town immediately as she normally ignores food until I put them in their cage for bed time, By the way - since they are young with no health problems, if you come across something that they just absolutely will not eat, you can feed only that for several meals until they realize that's all they're getting. They will eventually stop being stubborn 🙃
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 17:55:28 GMT -5
Just a quick update. It's been a crazy couple of days. The plan was to intro the liver yesterday, but ended up having a really sick horse. I was with her most of the day but unfortunately she had to be put down. So yesterday was a lot of chicken because I know they eat that. I've purred some liver this morning and after a tentative start, they're both eating it. Opal hasn't had much because she's busy, but she licks it when I offer it to her. Charlie was licking off my hand ok and then suddenly decided it was good, because she started digging in to the plate on her own. She's been back for a little taste a few times in between play, so woo hoo!! I'm going to offer some giblets today too and see if they want to chew on those. Oh and aren't purred meats fun? Opal was dooking away and bounced right onto the plate. I'm going to have to clean my bathroom floor
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 20:14:03 GMT -5
I am so sorry for the loss of your horse my thoughts are with you this evening That's so exciting the liver introduction went well! They are such good girls. And the pureee is just soooo fun to clean off the floor and from little ferret feet when one goes bounding through it
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 20:39:16 GMT -5
Thankfully that one wasn't my horse or I'd be devestated. I knew her some, but she was my friend's horse. Watching any animal go through what she did is horrible though. I was glad for her when it was over.
I wasn't expecting the liver to go so well. I'll try pieces next time. I was surprised when Charlie dived in and gobbled it.
Now to clean the floor...
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Post by LindaM on Feb 20, 2017 20:45:52 GMT -5
My deepest condolences to your friend, that's just awful. I'd be a crumpled mess for weeks, I just love horses so much, I can't handle see them go through bad things, and to lose one is like getting your heart ripped out. On the other side of things, you and your babies seem to be doing great. It's wonderful that Charlie just went at it, and Opal isn't doing bad either.. we know how busy, busy the little lives of ferrets can get, lol. Be sure to clean up all of it and not miss a spot.. you do not want to walk in on dead meat smell.. drying out meat, that's a breeze.. soup/puree and especially one that has organs in... phewee! Your nose will jump right off and run away crying.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 22:09:23 GMT -5
Yes, speaking of that, I think there might be something in my lounge room. No idea where though.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 20, 2017 22:33:10 GMT -5
Haha, yep, with the raw you're gonna have to keep an eye out for stashed meats.. though I've found most of the meats will just dry out in the air without issue of rotting (of course, depends on the temperature of your home, I keep ours regulated to never higher than 72F). In South Africa, that's pretty much the process used to make "biltong" a similar item to jerky, but still quite different.
So yeah, my little Athena practices a very old method of making her own little meat treats some days. Luckily I know all the places she stashes meat to eat. I really need to get her to use a new feeding den of my choice, versus the undersides of my bedroom furniture.
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