switching Gizmo, Loki and Oscar

[ferretdude]

1. Ferret's name:  Gizmo
2. Ferret's weight:  1091
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal.  2 oz of chicken at the moment.
4. Stools on various proteins.  normal
5. Activity levels:  normal
6. Weekly menu:  chicken chunks

1. Ferret's name:  Loki
2. Ferret's weight:  1465
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal.  2 oz. and last night he ate a chick 
4. Stools on various proteins. normal
5. Activity levels:  hyper
6. Weekly menu:  chicks, mice and chicken chunks


1. Ferret's name:  Oscar
2. Ferret's weight: 1135
3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal.  2 oz
4. Stools on various proteins.  normal
5. Activity levels:  normal
6. Weekly menu: soupie

[Sherry]

Hi, looks like you've gotten them moving right along! With Gizmo and Loki what size pieces are they eating? And is Oscar eating the soup on his own, or does he still have to be fed?

[ferretdude]

hi Gizmo and Loki are eating full sized chunks ... maybe an inch across. they come frozen in a bunch of mixed size bits and I don't really measure them just weigh them out. as for Oscar sometimes he eats a bit of soup on his own, sometimes not. also Gizmo tried to steal a chick from Loki last night but when he got it off Loki he just left it and how can i convince Loki that mice are food. with the chicks i just left one in the cage, showed Loki where it was and a bit later i found him eating it but with mice he just looks at them like hes saying what do ya want me to do with that?

[Sherry]

What I'll need you to do is buy some chicken thighs, wings, heart(any protein), liver(any protein), and another organ(any protein). Since they are eating decent chunks we need to get their diet balanced. We can work on other proteins after that.
As for the mice, try opening up the belly so he knows there is something in there. If that doesn't work you will likely need to start with pinkies mixed into the raw and work up from there. Also some ground meat to start working Oscar up the stages to full raw.

[ferretdude]

here's their current menu:

Monday am Mouse Pm Chick.

Tuesday am Chicken wing pm Beef chunks

Wednesday Am Chick pm 1/3 heart, 1/3 liver, 1/3 kidney

Thursday Am Duck neck Pm Mouse

Friday Am Mouse Pm 1/2 liver 1/2 heart

Saturday Am Chicken Wing Pm Beef Chunks

Sunday Am Turkey Neck Pm 1/2 liver 1/2 heart.

is this ok? the heart, liver and kidney is either lamb or beef i'm not sure. as for Oscar his soup is currently the consistency of canned cat food and i could try just not adding any water to thin it out as its made of commercial raw cubes. is this an ok substitute for ground meat as this is pretty much what the cubes are. and he ate a chick head earlier

[Sherry]

Oh cool! I was under the impression they were eating only chicken meat chunks, and chicks lol. So let me make sure I have this straight.
Per your first post, and third:
Loki easts chicken wings, turkey necks, beef chunks, mice, duck necks, and chicks(these should only be max one meal a week btw)
Gizmo the same except for mice.
Oscar eats soup made of ommercial frozen raw.

[ferretdude]

not quite... thats their weekly menu and yes Oscars soup is commecial raw. at the moment Loki eats the chicken chunks, chicks, and both adult and fuzzie mice. Gizmo eats the same just not the adult mice and Oscar eats soupie and today he ate a chick. i'm giving them a mix of heart, liver and kidney tonight but i don't know if they'll eat it or not

[Sherry]

Okay good Let me know how they do with the organs/heart. If they don't take to it, you may have to puree instead, and spoon feed to get them used to it.

[ferretdude]

they didn't eat it... and i don't know how to puree it as i don't have a blender/food processor. i tried Oscar with some chicken instead of soup and he ate that and this morning he ate a small bit of chicken wing

[LindaM]

If you can't puree it, you might be able to get away with just cutting it into very small slivers at first, think like half a pinky fingernail size. Try it like that, if they are still being fussy about it, then try finger/spoon feeding them some of it, and if that still fails, you can also try mixing a little of it in with some food that they are happy about eating, that way they can still get some of the taste of it in their mouths, and you can then just increase the amount of heart/organs and decrease the other as you go along.

[ferretdude]

ok i'll try that tomorrow evening as thats their next organ meal and if that fails i'll try mixing small bits of organ with a chopped up chick as chicks are their favorite food at the moment and although they eat them whole if i chop it up  and then mix it together  they will get the taste of the organs and hopefully like it

[LindaM]

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

[ferretdude]

just tried them with the organ/chick mix... and they were not impressed. i tried scruff n stuffing all 3 but no one took the bait so i have left the mix with them and will try again in a few hours

[Sherry]

You may actually have to resort to buying a cheap blender. I found a magic bullet was great for this.

[ferretdude]

maybe when i have the money