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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 2:39:09 GMT -5
Pogo actually ate some of the soupie tonight OUT OF THE BOWL AND WITHOUT A FIGHT!!! Granted, it was only like half a teaspoon, but I didn't even have to pick him up or anything! That is amazing! That is such a good sign. It means he recognizes it as food and will eat if he's hungry enough. And glad he didn't get sick or anything. And Bandit, bless him, still gorges himself on the soupie. It's like he's eating the biggest bowl of icecream and he REFUSES to give it up. He even cleaned Pogo's bowl after he finished his own HUGE bowl. Now that is such a relief to hear, considering all his medical issues. For the time being, feed him as much as he will eat. He is going through a stage most raw fed ferrets go through where they EAT EAT EAT. And then eat some more. It's like their bodies are making up for lost time. The amount will gradually taper off. Which really is a blessing as we received bad news from the vet today - Bandit also has bladder stones. Oh my gosh, no I am so sorry to hear that, but I'm glad its soon enough to correct. I am just thinking, this has got to be diet related or maybe environmental? (but what would cause stones - water ? ). This is such a bizarre situation. Anywho, because of Bandit we are going to plow thru this soupie stage as fast as we can, so tomorrow my beau is going to pick up a couple of rabbits and some organ meats. However, my work schedule is going to dictate when I can feed them an organ filled soupie as I still need to watch Bandit with every new thing we add, and my schedule is the heaviest Friday thru Mon. Sounds great! Now that everyone is (sorta) on board, you should be able to push them and get results with it. So my question of the day - I'd like to keep Bandit off of the kibble as best we can to help with the stone issue. However, until we add the organ meats in (and he accepts it) I know the soupie isn't nutritionally balanced. That being said, how long can he eat a soup with no organs while also not eating kibble for the nutrition??? Okay, so you really won't see any deficiencies for a while. A ferret can sustain on baby food alone for almost 6 months. That being said, I think as long as we get some organ/heart introed within the next month you should be fine.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 22:13:54 GMT -5
So only Bandit got soupie today (and that is ALL he ate) as we didn't have enough to feed the other boys, and we are beginning to think Bandit's situation might be worse than originally thought and I want him off the kibble ASAP! My BF got more meat and organs today, but I didn't have time tonight to make the soupie (and I work EARLY so couldn't feed it anyways). So, gonna make the new soupie tomorrow and see how they all do with the organ variety, but until then Bandit will unfortunately have to eat kibble as we are out of the last batch. I do worry about Bandit eating enough though as I have noticed that over the past few months Bandit won't eat dry kibble (like what is in the cage). He only eats the kibble when I put it in warm water. So every time he gets up (which isn't often) I have to make him kibble water. So if he goes to soupie I'm afraid he'll be in his cage all night and while I'm at work with no soupie. How long can we keep a bowl of soupie in their cage before it goes bad? Also, I never asked before, but I add a LOT of water to the soupie (8oz meat, etc etc) and I wanted to make sure I was doing it right. Is there a specified amount of water you add to make it a true soupie or do you just eyeball it? AWESOME day at the beach for Nyx and Pix btw!!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 23:18:28 GMT -5
OK, so another question. I just saw a couple of Bandit's poopies and there were actual (small) chunks of rabbit in it (my blender SUX). Is this normal??? Should he not be processing the meat better than this?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2012 23:42:59 GMT -5
You can usually leave soup for about 4-6 hours. Maybe a bit longer depending on the temperature.
As for how much water, use however much you need to get them eating it. You'll eventually slowly decrease the water amount.
And it isn't uncommon to see some undigested food. Their bodies have to learn to process the raw.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 0:12:25 GMT -5
K. Thanx! As for the soupie - my BF and I work as long as 10hrs or so in a shift so the boys are often locked up for 6 to 9 hours or so (not including when Mom and Dad are sleeping and they are locked up). THat being said, would we still be able to leave the soupie in the cage, cause I'd hate to leave them without food for that long. They shouldn't eat it if it goes bad right??? As for the temp, it would stay at room temp which is about a reg 74. How does anyone switch ferts over when it seems you need to be feedin them CONSTANTLY?!?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 0:24:26 GMT -5
If the soups gone bad; they won't mess with it. You should be just fine Yeah, I remember when I was switching my girls. LOTS of early mornings, late nights, and tons of time on the weekends. One day though it finally seemed to just click (after a 3 month switch that is lol). Don't worry, well get them there!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 23:21:49 GMT -5
Good news and bad news... Good news - Even though Bandit refused the organ soupie at first and kept running from it and me, after a few tries he started EATING IT FROM THE BOWL He still is a bit unsure about it but I think we are mostly good to go with it. And I've learned that when you add organ meat for some reason it really makes a nice soupie, vs the kinda chunky stuff I've been making. Bad news - Pogo of course won't try it, and neither will Mischief unfortunately. So they are gonna be startin from square one it appears. Good news - we made a LARGE batch of soupie that should last us a few days (trying with Pogo and Mischief, and for feeding every meal with Bandit), and we have another rabbit and bag of organs in the freezer for the next round! Hopefully we will have Bandit just on soupie as I don't think he'll bother with the dry kibble as long as we feed him enough. Only problem with that might be when we are sleeping or at work as he doesn't often eat when he's in the cage. I just hope he doesn't make himself go hungry.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2012 23:42:22 GMT -5
Also, forgot to ask, but how do I know when enough is enough when it comes to Bandit and the soupie? Will he stop when he's full or will he possibly overeat? I ask because EVERY time I put a bowl of soupie in front of him he cleans it out, and FAST! I don't want to waste the soupie, but I also want him to eat his fill, but every time I have to make another bowl I can't tell if he is still hungry or if he is done but still eating it to appease me since I made him another helping?!? To help with how much he is eating - I typically put 2 heaping tablespoons in a bowl for him, which comes out to roughly 1.5-2oz (his special soupie bowl holds 5oz and this comes to about 1/3 of the way up the bowl). Almost every time he'll eat nearly 2 of these and I think he might would eat even more if I made him more. And I have fed him this amount as much as 3 times in a day so far, but you have to remember we haven't had a siingle day where he was COMPLETELY on the soupie. I know they eat a lot when they first start on the soupie, but this seems like a WAY LOT!!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 0:42:00 GMT -5
Good news - Even though Bandit refused the organ soupie at first and kept running from it and me, after a few tries he started EATING IT FROM THE BOWL He still is a bit unsure about it but I think we are mostly good to go with it. And I've learned that when you add organ meat for some reason it really makes a nice soupie, vs the kinda chunky stuff I've been making. Sounds great as far as the organ meals go. I'm sure once Bandit is used to the organ flavor he'll get better with it. I'm sure the smoothness will also help with the other fuzzes. Bad news - Pogo of course won't try it, and neither will Mischief unfortunately. So they are gonna be startin from square one it appears. Aw they are going to get there. Just keep up with. Whenever you can just try to get them to taste the soup. Soon they'll realize it's not poison and is good stuff Good news - we made a LARGE batch of soupie that should last us a few days (trying with Pogo and Mischief, and for feeding every meal with Bandit), and we have another rabbit and bag of organs in the freezer for the next round! Hopefully we will have Bandit just on soupie as I don't think he'll bother with the dry kibble as long as we feed him enough. Only problem with that might be when we are sleeping or at work as he doesn't often eat when he's in the cage. I just hope he doesn't make himself go hungry. Wow that is wonderful! Especially considering Bandits stone issue. I think if he is eating the soup the way Bandit is, he'll eat the soup if he's hungry. Also, forgot to ask, but how do I know when enough is enough when it comes to Bandit and the soupie? Will he stop when he's full or will he possibly overeat? He will stop if he's full. I know it might seen like a lot of food, but let him eat as much as he will. If he starts throwing up or something like that, then we would want to maybe help him slow down. But from the sound of it, he's just a hungry little boy! Another thing you might be able to do with Bandit is add some skinny pieces of rabbit to the soup and see if he eats those. The chewing would help him eat a little slower if you're worried about it. Hopefully the others will hop on the bandwagon like Bandit soon!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 23:46:10 GMT -5
Okie, just a quick update. We had Bandit on soupie ONLY today. MAN was he a piggie! He ate 3oz for breakfast, 1.5-2oz for lunch about 7 hours later, and another 1.5-2oz for dinner about 5 hours after that for a whopping total of 6-7oz all day! And honestly, he would probably eat more if he'd stop sleeping so much. OH, and we did leave kibble out part of the day for his brothers but as far as we can tell he didn't touch any of it. Also, we did manage to get BOTH Pogo and Mischief to eat a little soupie off my fingers, which is def progress as they wouldn't TOUCH the stuff with a 10ferret pole yesterday! And I'm off for the next couple of days (barring any MORE problems like our fridge and health issues) so I should be able to work Pogo and Mischief out pretty well. But we are pumping the pumpkin thru Mischief since he still isn't pooping quite right.
On a side note - I feel silly asking this as I feel I should know the answer, but I'm a little concerned. Neither Pogo or Mischief, especially Mischief, have eaten much in the past week or two. I give them kibble water (just kibble and water to keep their water intake up) several times a day and even though they both drink all the water, they hardly touch the kibble. In Pogo's favor, he actually prefers the dry kibble and will eat at the bowl when he's hungry, but on the few occassions Mischief eats the dry he only eat a few pieces at a time then stashes a bunch of it all over the house. Other than sleeping a bit more than normal, they both seem fairly normal. I'm at a loss on this one but I'm concerned about whether they are getting enough food or not.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2012 23:59:51 GMT -5
Are you able to track their weights? If theyre maintaining weight, they are probably eating enough. It is summer and appetites are much lower for those who haven't switched to raw yet. I saw some really cheap kitchen scales on amazon the other day, if you don't already have one.
And that is awesome about Bandit! What an appetite! It will eventually level off but keep feeding him whatever he'll eat!
And as for the other two stubborn boys, that is great progress as well! Congrats! I think with the extra time they will start progressing too.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2012 0:05:17 GMT -5
DUH, weighing them, DUH! I actually have 2 scales that I bought for the boys before I joined the Program. And I forgot to mention about Bandit - I will try the slivers, but it will take a little longer for acceptance than the soupie did for him I think. I say this because tonight he found a rabbit chunk in his bowl, picked it out, spat it to the side, and ignored it ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2012 0:33:37 GMT -5
Silly boy I found it was easier to slip in skinny pieces of meat vs small cubed/chunky pieces.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2012 23:51:20 GMT -5
Okie, so last time I said the boys would be gettin worked barring any crazy life stuff, which of course SHOULDN'T happen yet again so soon...I shouldn't have opened my big mouth! Of course, that night (Tuesday nite) Pogo had to hack himself to death, so much so he almost made a trip to the ER; Mischief stressed Bandit out so much he threw up; and Mischief had a bit of a coughing fit/reaction after I have him some RR to calm down - and all this happened between 2:30am and 4am (I wrote a thread on it). And of course I slept on the couch next to the cage worried they might be sick or something and didn't get to sleep til nearly 6am, to THEN be woken up at 8:30am by some CRAZY lady screaming at the top of her lungs walking down my street and going up to people's houses SOOOO, by the time Momma actually got some sleep and dealt with all her normal errands the day just got away. OH YEAH, and I forgot to mention that while doing laundry my washer died and I had to spend an extra hour at the laundromat drying the clothes. So now we ALSO need both a new washer and a new dryer Wow, so so so sorry for the rant........ Anywho......... Bandit has been strictly on soupy for most of the week now. We don't even have to worry about leaving the kibble out for the other two as he doesn't touch the stuff (although, to be fair, he didn't typically eat dry kibble before anyways because we had him spoiled on wet kibble since he got really sick last year). He's doing great, and even though he'll occassionally eat some small slivers, the smaller chunks my blender leaves he def won't touch. And with every new batch of soup it takes him a few tries to actually accept it. For questions regarding Bandit - 1) I know I'm being silly, but because it takes him a few tries to like new batches it almost has me worried that something is wrong with the meat, but that he just eats in anyways because it is all I'm feeding him. This isn't the case right? 2) I swear he would eat himself sick if I'd let him because EVERY time I put a bowl in front of him he cleans it out. In the past 3 days alone he has cleaned out nearly 30oz of soupie (mind you only about 16oz were actual meat)!!! He will stop when he's full right??? 3) I know ferts on a raw diet poopie less than kibble fed ferts, but Bandit has hardly pooped at all these past few days. He might poo 2 or 3 times a day and they are small and semi-loose. Is this normal? Pogo ate about 1/2tsp off my finger today. That is good as he wouldn't touch the organ soupie before today, but it is still very little progress. I even made him and Mischief go about 10 hours without kibble today (mind you that is kibble meal to kibble meal with a couple of raw tries in between). I will say though that I was by myself today and Pogo didn't really fight me, so that is REALLY good as it usually takes me and my BF and Pogo still fights. Mischief, surprisingly, didn't want the soupy. I thought he would be any easy switch considering he switched from his previous kibble to our kibble the first day AND on his own. I did manage to get him to at least lick my finger a little, MAYBE getting 1/2tsp down him, and he didn't really fight me. But he just won't eat from the bowl or the spoon yet, much like his brother Pogo. I'm gonna keep doing what we are doing and HOPEFULLY we can have them all on the soupy in a week or two. But I gotta say, it's gonna be PRICEY. Right now, for Bandit alone, we are spending $18 for a week's worth of soup. Multiply that by 3 and we got $54 a WEEK, $216 a MONTH!!! We were spending $50 a month on a bag of kibble. AND we don't have them on the organic meat I wanted them on yet. I think Momma's gonna have to get another job
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2012 0:54:45 GMT -5
Okie, so last time I said the boys would be gettin worked barring any crazy life stuff, which of course SHOULDN'T happen yet again so soon...I shouldn't have opened my big mouth! Of course, that night (Tuesday nite) Pogo had to hack himself to death, so much so he almost made a trip to the ER; Mischief stressed Bandit out so much he threw up; and Mischief had a bit of a coughing fit/reaction after I have him some RR to calm down - and all this happened between 2:30am and 4am (I wrote a thread on it). And of course I slept on the couch next to the cage worried they might be sick or something and didn't get to sleep til nearly 6am, to THEN be woken up at 8:30am by some CRAZY lady screaming at the top of her lungs walking down my street and going up to people's houses SOOOO, by the time Momma actually got some sleep and dealt with all her normal errands the day just got away. OH YEAH, and I forgot to mention that while doing laundry my washer died and I had to spend an extra hour at the laundromat drying the clothes. So now we ALSO need both a new washer and a new dryer Wow, so so so sorry for the rant........ Oh, wow. I am so so sorry. That sounds absolutely stressful. Is there anyway a repair guy can fix them? For questions regarding Bandit - 1) I know I'm being silly, but because it takes him a few tries to like new batches it almost has me worried that something is wrong with the meat, but that he just eats in anyways because it is all I'm feeding him. This isn't the case right? If it's bad and he was still eating it, you would see some really bad poos (green, diarrhea, etc). I think it's just fine. He is probably just spoiled, and knows that mommy will get him started. 2) I swear he would eat himself sick if I'd let him because EVERY time I put a bowl in front of him he cleans it out. In the past 3 days alone he has cleaned out nearly 30oz of soupie (mind you only about 16oz were actual meat)!!! He will stop when he's full right??? Yeah, he will stop. I have never had a mentee or heard of a switch where a ferret eats til the point of vomiting. 3) I know ferts on a raw diet poopie less than kibble fed ferts, but Bandit has hardly pooped at all these past few days. He might poo 2 or 3 times a day and they are small and semi-loose. Is this normal? Kibble poos will be very small. There is no filler. Absolutely nothing (besides any pumpkin added in). And the food he's eating can be actually USED, so there is much less waste. I would say 3 times a day is about normal. And they will be much more moist. If they seem too loose, you can add a little extra pumpkin or eggshell and see if it improves. Pogo ate about 1/2tsp off my finger today. That is good as he wouldn't touch the organ soupie before today, but it is still very little progress. I even made him and Mischief go about 10 hours without kibble today (mind you that is kibble meal to kibble meal with a couple of raw tries in between). I will say though that I was by myself today and Pogo didn't really fight me, so that is REALLY good as it usually takes me and my BF and Pogo still fights. That is still progress! I think he will catch on really soon Mischief, surprisingly, didn't want the soupy. I thought he would be any easy switch considering he switched from his previous kibble to our kibble the first day AND on his own. I did manage to get him to at least lick my finger a little, MAYBE getting 1/2tsp down him, and he didn't really fight me. But he just won't eat from the bowl or the spoon yet, much like his brother Pogo. That's okay, don't get discouraged. One thing you could try is making a separate batch of soup that has a little kibble soup in it and see if the familiar taste of kibble makes him more likely to try the soup. Then we can decrease the kibble amount. I'm gonna keep doing what we are doing and HOPEFULLY we can have them all on the soupy in a week or two. But I gotta say, it's gonna be PRICEY. Right now, for Bandit alone, we are spending $18 for a week's worth of soup. Multiply that by 3 and we got $54 a WEEK, $216 a MONTH!!! We were spending $50 a month on a bag of kibble. AND we don't have them on the organic meat I wanted them on yet. I think Momma's gonna have to get another job O.O Wow that rabbit must be expensive. I think we should try branching out on some new (affordable) proteins. One thing I always do with buying meat, is shop at Publix. They normally have a really good coupon policy and accept a lot of competitor coupons. My fav coupon to use is $5 off $25 from Save A Lot. You can see a list of Publix's in your area that accept Save A Lot coupons here. truecouponing.com/publix-stores-competitor-list/And you can get the facebook coupon here via facebook www.facebook.com/savealot/app_529263463769992I normally print off about 3 of them (I know it says one per household, but lol oh well). That's a 20% savings on all my meat. Pork might be an good next option (unless you've tried that and it didn't work? I can't remember).
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