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Post by Sherry on Jun 4, 2011 20:01:38 GMT -5
Most pet stores that sell whole prey sell various ages. I can pick up pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers, and two sizes of adults. Let me know how he does with it
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Post by acodlin on Jun 5, 2011 12:14:26 GMT -5
Well the mouse was torn into pieces.. I'm not quite sure what he did or didn't eat. i'm sure he had to have eaten atleast some of it... he made quite a mess, had to wash his bedding! Then he preceeded to eat half of a turkey leg. I swear the little guy waddles like a penguin when he walks, he so chubby!
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Post by Sherry on Jun 5, 2011 14:19:19 GMT -5
;D Some will leave behind parts of the mouse, especially the guts. Usually all over my walls ;D But- he did eat some at least, so that's good! And he's still got his baby fat, he's supposed to waddle ;D
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Post by acodlin on Jun 5, 2011 19:12:54 GMT -5
I think Dexter and Maggie were playing tug of war with it. I'm ferret sitting for a friend for a while until she finds a new place to live, so I let her three in with Dexter and her little girl Maggie has taken a liking to raw. The tally for the day is atleast half a mouse, one whole turkey leg (minus the bone) and three drumettes lol..
Dozer did a little better today, the other three are about the same.. they ate a little but not a ton, I caught Gizmo eating cat food! little bugger scaled my entertainment center and was up there chowing down. Leiloo ate half of a drumette herself today which is awesome for her because she wasnt liking bone too much.. Church, Kodiak and Tasha ate a turkey leg and some soup. Naobi chewed on the turkey leg today too but didnt eat much off of it that I saw. So all in all a pretty decent day.
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Post by Sherry on Jun 5, 2011 21:12:43 GMT -5
That actually does sound pretty good! As for Gizmo ;D I guess where there's a will, a ferret will find the way What a brat. Any way to either keep him away from there(not likely now!), or moving the cat's kibble?
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Post by acodlin on Jun 5, 2011 21:33:51 GMT -5
It's difficult to find a place where I can put the cats food (and litter boxes!) where the ferrets can't get into them. My oldest cat is 15 and he's got some arthritis in one of his front paws and its hard for him to jump very high. I've tried baby gates but he can't jump those very well and if I put a box or something in front of it to give him a boost, the ferrets use it! I'll have to try and think of a new place
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Post by Sherry on Jun 5, 2011 22:32:15 GMT -5
Do what you can. Sometimes things just don't work the way you want them too. Have you thought of trying some glucosa-pet for your cats? It has helped our older cats tremendously with their arthritis.
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Post by acodlin on Jun 7, 2011 18:03:08 GMT -5
Still working on getting the stubborn 4 to eat on their own. I'm still hand feeding them, I'm having more luck with Sasha and Dozer. Gizmo ...ugh I almost feed like he's a lost cause, he fights me every chance he gets, he'll take a couple of licks and struggle to get away, if I let him go and try again a few minutes later, sometimes he'll take a couple more licks but usually he just fights me again to get away. We do this all day long, I dont want to push him too much and then have him be afraid of me, but hes SO stubborn! Sam went to the vets, I didnt get a chance to bring a poo sample with me... and he was gracious enough to supply one at the vets office... a perfectly NORMAL poo. The vet wants me to watch him, I bring him home and he poops a nasty green/yellow jelly mucousy pile. I think the vet thinks I'm crazy or making it up lol. He goes back next week and this time i'll have a sample, and today I noticed Anks peed green urine.. this cant possibly be related to eating raw can it? I know it could be kidney infection or something related to her liver but she acts 100% normal otherwise, eats fine, poops fine, pees a normal amount.. no weight loss, not lethargic.. but that urine was grass green
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Post by Sherry on Jun 7, 2011 20:19:14 GMT -5
What sort of protein are you trying with the 4? Maybe switch up to a different type, see if they take to it better. With Gizmo, he sound EXACTLY like my Boris Only way I got that boy onto raw soupies even was slowly mixing the raw soup into the cooked. But if I remember correctly, Gizmo doesn't even take that? And he won't wind up afraid of you, so no worries there. He is SO freaking stubborn! Ok, so which of the four do you think most likely to cave? Whichever one it is, try them with some small chunks covered with the soup if necessary. Some will leap straight to tiny pieces when they don't like the soup. Worth a shot! Later on, I'm going to go back through the entire thread, and if I can't come up with a new strategy, I'm going to talk to some of the other mentors for new ideas.
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Post by acodlin on Jun 7, 2011 20:53:08 GMT -5
Sasha I think will cave first. I do hide chunks and slivers in their soupies, she will eat those but if theres no soupie on the chunks she wont go for it. I've tried to reduce the soupie part and make everything mostly chunks but It gets to a point to where some of them wont eat it without the soupie.
The majority of protein comes from chicken (breasts and thighs) but they get quite a bit of pork and usually some duck blended in if I've got it (I did run out, waiting on the duck I bought to thaw) and rabbit. Most refuse beef, and its hard to get anything else around here. I can try and make it more pork than chicken.
I've never tried to cook his food, i've offered him cooked piece of chicken but he didnt take it.. i'm not sure if he'll eat it or not, I know dozer and hannable love cooked chicken and ground beef though. Gizmo did the best when his soupie was half (completely ground) soupie half kibble.. I've removed all the kibble, it's hard to keep up with certain foods for everyone so I just give him what I make for the majority.. even if I sprinkle crushed kibble on it he still wont go for it now. I could go back to making his special mix and try to wean the kibble out of it slower than I did last time. I'm not sure if he'll do any better or not, I reduced it from 50 to 25% then to 10% and then none.
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Post by Sherry on Jun 7, 2011 23:04:24 GMT -5
If you go back to what Gizmo used to eat, will the others steal it on him, or will he be able to eat in peace? I'm thinking your best bet is going to get all the rest switched first, and work on him when he's the ONLY one to focus on. Try giving Sasha some in a dish apart from the others, and slowly increase HER slivers and bits to soup ratio. Keep going til you are just topping it with a bit of soup. And it won't hurt to try to focus on a different protein. They might just be getting tired of the chicken. Any way to leave it off the menu for them for a week?
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Post by acodlin on Jun 8, 2011 11:44:10 GMT -5
The only problem with not switching him at the same time is if there is kibble out, they will all eat it.. if his soupie has kibble in it, they will all eat that too. I don't want to isolate him away from the others if I dont have to.. theres no good way to do it really. He can eat his in peace if I'm there hand feeding him, I usually take him in the bedroom away from the others to minimize distractions.
I'm trying to decide what to change the soupie to. I don't make small batches or i'd do nothing but make soupie all day long lol, I don't want them to refuse it. I can add more pork and less chicken and see if that does the trick. They do like turkey but when I tried ground they refused it. Maybe I can get a couple of breasts and mince them up. They are such picky little boogers, usually if I change something too much they wont eat it.
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Post by acodlin on Jun 8, 2011 12:47:32 GMT -5
I'm excited! I just caught Sam chowing down on left over mouse bits and then he went on to chew on a chicken wing!
Today was suppose to be duck day but it still was a little frozen so I was waiting to chop it up, meanwhile I just gave Dexter a wing to chew on and I let Sam out because he gets along with Dexter and he went right up to dexters cage and found the mouse and wing!
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Post by Sherry on Jun 8, 2011 20:08:18 GMT -5
Looks like Sam just graduated himself ;D Next time, try putting him in with Dexter again, whatever Dexter is having, just to see how he does. And try to do it before Sam eats. For the soup, can you make two batches? One of pork, or turkey, or what have you, and the other their normal? That way, you can blend it to whatever they will eat. You can also try a small amount of ground turkey mixed in with the soup.
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Post by acodlin on Jun 13, 2011 11:29:16 GMT -5
Sorry for lack of replies, been working. Sam is bunking with the kids at night and he's doing pretty well eating whatever I put in with them. He ate some pork and I think threw it up later (thats what it looked like atleast), but he seems okay and he ate the soupies that had ground pork in it just fine. I did make three batches of soup today, one with chicken as the base as normal, then two smaller batches one using pork, one using turkey. The pork seems to go over better than the turkey so far.. I set out three dishes, one of each. I've had issues getting them to eat ground turkey in the past.. they will eat turkey breats/thighs/necks/hearts but actual ground turkey ..they are not so sure of. Hopefully they will like it. I also made a batch for gizmo with crushed kibble mixed in and I froze some of it. He still is throwing a fit over having to eat it. I think he would be happiest if I'd just let him eat dog food lol I did get a little more down him than what he's been eating so I'll keep giving him his own special mix for now.
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