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Post by katt on Jan 19, 2012 5:37:30 GMT -5
Ellie and Pippin each ate a cube of the thicker soup, but won't actually touch the goopy part of it. That's progress! They are both doing very well. While I think they are ready to move on to the next step, I want to give Goomba a little more time to catch up before moving on with them, to make things easier on you schedule and feeding wise. The less of a gap there is between their meal types, the easier it will be for you. Goomba was sleeping half way out of his cave with his big pink tongue hanging out so i put a tiny little bit of the soup on the tip of his tongue. Then I clipped his nails, and he woke up. His little eyes got enormous when he pulled his tongue in to yawn and realized there was some yuck on it, but since it was in his mouth he swallowed it. He looked like he was trying to chew peanut butter ;D Of course, he proceeded to take my hand in his mouth, throw it out of his cave, and retreated back into the depths. He is quite the character! lmao He was VERY pleased about his kibble soup, though, and was butting heads with the others when they tried to join in. I guess he forgave me for the soup, because he let me pet his back, which he usually gets annoyed about. Or maybe he was just too preoccupied with his kibble-soup Good! Continue your current feeding routine. When you are home leave out two bowls, one raw soup one kibble soup, but no dry kibble. Keep an eye out and make sure they are all eating. As long as all 3 are eating, then when you are gone (in class, work, etc), leave the same in their cage. If you aren't sure they are all eating you can leave a small dish of dry kibble in the cage, but I'd like to remove dry kibble if possible. Now that Goomba will eat the kibble soup, we can get sneaky with him. Start mixing a little bit of the raw soup the other two are eating into the kibble soup. Start VERY small. Try a little and see if he notices. Experiment and see what his threshold is. Try to find the greatest amount of raw mixed in that he will still eat. Judging by his current attitude, you will probably have to start with a teensy amount and increase it very slowly. lol But you will gradually (over days) increase the raw soup mixed into his kibble soup. Also, next time you have some of the breast meat thawed out, cut off a little sliver and try hand feeding them each a piece for the heck of it. They may surprise you. Don't get discouraged if they don't take it though. Throughout the process never be afraid to try jumping steps. Here and there as you make a new batch of soup, cut off a few little slivers of breast meat and try offering it. It doesn't have to be something you do daily, or even weekly really. Just here and there as we go along. If they take it sooner rather than later, Great! If not, don't stress over it, they will get there.
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Post by kpaz on Jan 20, 2012 0:16:27 GMT -5
I did try seeing how much he would take tonight. I used the same spoon I stirred the soup with for Goomba's food and he didn't notice, so I dipped it in soup again, poured it out, and stirred with what was still on the spoon. I did it three times before his little nose started curling up, but he still drank it.
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Post by katt on Jan 20, 2012 3:13:43 GMT -5
I did try seeing how much he would take tonight. I used the same spoon I stirred the soup with for Goomba's food and he didn't notice, so I dipped it in soup again, poured it out, and stirred with what was still on the spoon. I did it three times before his little nose started curling up, but he still drank it. Good, keep slowly increasing the amount of raw in there each night. Keep me posted. I hope you are feeling well!
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Post by katt on Jan 20, 2012 22:40:21 GMT -5
Updates?
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Post by kpaz on Jan 21, 2012 1:48:04 GMT -5
Hey, thanks I'm feeling well. Sorry I haven't posted as much, school is very hectic. Ellie and pippin are still on the soup but I'm adding a tiny bit less water each day. Today I got up to four spoonfuls of soup into goomba's soup, he drank a lot of until noticing. I have realized that he doesn't want to eat the soft kibble, though. He just drinks the soup. I am weighing them tomorrow morning to see how it's going. I am getting kind of low on soup. Should I make the next batch the original recipe or put less liver?
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Post by katt on Jan 21, 2012 2:17:12 GMT -5
Go ahead and put a little less liver; it might make it a little easier where Goomba's involved. That's fine if he only wants to eat soup, let him have it. He's making some progress now so let's keep that going. Keep slowly increasing the raw in his soup and decreasing the water in Pippin and Ellie's. When you go to make the new soup try hand feeding them each (including Goomba) a little sliver of chicken and see what they think.
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Post by katt on Jan 21, 2012 2:19:35 GMT -5
Sorry my phone is being stupid. lol 2 posts for 1 message. I just wanted to add that I understand completely about school. I just like to pop in with a reminder is all. I know you're busy with life. Been there, done that, and have more to do! What is your major?
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Post by kpaz on Jan 22, 2012 0:18:20 GMT -5
I'm a horticulture major with a minor I'm fine arts. Goomba ate a lot of soup mixed in today, but Ellie and pippin didn't like their thicker soup and just ate goomba's. I weighed them today and the boys have lost weight while Ellie has gone up. I'm not surprised, she eats all of what I leave out except for the chunky parts. Things are super crazy, I'm going to make more soup in the morning and give them the last bit of what they have. They all seem more active, despite not eating as much. I'm worried they aren't eating enough, though.
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Post by katt on Jan 22, 2012 2:10:11 GMT -5
I'm a horticulture major with a minor I'm fine arts. Oh cool, what do you plan on doing with your degree? Are you planning on going into farming? I'd love to have a small ranch some day and be semi self-sufficient, but I'm pretty terrible with plants. Goomba ate a lot of soup mixed in today, but Ellie and pippin didn't like their thicker soup and just ate goomba's.How much did you change theirs? Is it the same thickness less liver, or more thick, how was it different? I weighed them today and the boys have lost weight while Ellie has gone up. How much weight? A little weight loss at the beginning of the switch is normal, but definitely keep a close eye on them as you want to make sure they are eating enough. I'm not surprised, she eats all of what I leave out except for the chunky parts. Good girl! Things are super crazy, I'm going to make more soup in the morning and give them the last bit of what they have. They all seem more active, despite not eating as much. I'm worried they aren't eating enough, though.Them being more active is a good sign. How much soup are they eating each day, and how much kibble roughly? Also, when you give them soup do you take it away, or leave it out? Do you let them eat until they are done? Also, when they are done, is the bowl empty, or is there soup left over? If the bowl is empty, they should be given more soup. It is very very uncommon for a ferret on a raw diet to overeat, and in the beginning they usually eat more than usual as their bodies try to make up for the nutrients they weren't getting before from the kibble. Thus Ellie gaining weight. If she is able to eat all of the soup though to the point where none is left for the boys, they need more. There should always be enough soup/meat that there's just a little left over when they are all done. For now, keep the raw soup about the same thickness for a few days and let them eat that while Goomba catches up. OR if it is easier for you, feed them all what Goomba is eating as long as you know all 3 will eat it. As long as all 3 eat it, feed them a bowl of the kibble/raw soup a few times a day, but remove the bowl of kibble entirely. So a good sized bowl in the morning (leave it in the cage/room), another when you get home in the afternoon/evening, and one right before you go to bed to hold them over for the night. Again, this is as long as you know all 3 will eat it. Then, you can work on slowly increasing the raw and decreasing the kibble in the soup for all 3 of them together. It might make it a little easier for your schedule. Let me know what you think. Otherwise, continue with the 2 separate soups, but be sure to offer enough (preferably on the 3x day schedule) that there is always that last remaining bite when they are all full. Let me know if I'm not making sense or i you have any questions.
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Post by kpaz on Jan 22, 2012 12:26:36 GMT -5
I would love to have little farm one day, but I'm not sure what will happen in the future. My family owns 88 acres of field and woods in Missouri, just sitting there with no one on it and nothing happening in it. I'm going to see if I can pull some strings , but you never know. My boyfriend of four years is in physics/engineering, so the dream would be him working in a scientific setting, which he loves, and I would grow our food, take care of the land, hopefully have enough leftovers to sell at a local farmer's market. If that doesn't work out I would like to start my own nursery or go into landscape management. (The artsy part of me is still set on landscapes ;D). I also plan on selling art on the side, just for fun. For Ellie and Pippin I've been using thicker cubes and just adding some water to make it more like soup. Yesterday I added about half the normal amount of water, but i guess that was too drastic. For Goomba's soup, I would just mix in little spoonfuls of the chicken soup into the opposite side of his bowl so he didn't get too much of a whiff of it before it was mixed in. Weighing them is sometimes a challenge, I have to bribe them with tone and oil to keep them still, and that doesn't always work. Here are the last most accurate readings (before yesterday) compared to yesterday's readings, which should be pretty accurate,also. Pippin:1068 g, 1034 g = -34 Goomba: 1281 g, 1269 g = -12 and Ellie is up 9 grams since last weigh-in As far as feeding goes, I offer it to Ellie first, because sometimes she'll drink almost the entire thing before being done, and I have to thaw more for Pippin. Pippin eats from a third to a half of the bowl before abandoning it. He's tried Goomba's soup, he sounded like he was gulping it down like he'd never seen food before, and he always sniffs the regular kibble, but seems to never actually stop and eat it, he just turns around and leaves the cage. I don't know if his appetite is just down, or he only eats when I'm not around, or if he's just not really eating. If he's adrenal, would it affect his appetite? When he grew in his winter coat his tail just lost fur. It's not a rat tail, but is certainly thin. I've been watching it, hoping it will grow back in the next season change. It doesn't seem to be getting any thinner on his tail, but now I'm paranoid and I can't tell if his fur on his lower belly is getting thinner or I'm just thinking it is because I'm paranoid Is there an easy test for this at the vet? I watch them eat, and when they leave there is always still chicken soup in the bowl, and Goomba's bowl always has leftover liquid, so I leave it in there for a few hours. When I come back the chicken soup always is lower, but not empty, and the kibble soup is just fat, swollen kibbles (None of them eat the kibble after drinking the soup out of it). I don't know if they're drinking it while I'm gone, or if the kibble just absorbed the rest of the water and the liquid in the soup evaporated. Also, the bowl that the chicken soup goes in holds about a cup. So they get one to one and a half in the morning, depending on how much ellie drinks, and the same in the evening. Since I'm gone most of the day I leave a little kibble in a different bowl on the highest shelf in the cage. They seem to drink the soup first, though. I think I'll keep offering Ellie and Pippin the chicken soup individually, but give more of the kibble/chicken soup while I'm gone, since I know they all will eat it. I'll slowly add more chicken to the kibble soup until Goomba catches up. Sorry about any weird misspelling in any previous or future posts. I usually have to do it through my phone when I'm at school or working.
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Post by kpaz on Jan 22, 2012 17:56:41 GMT -5
I posted a new thread in the med section, but to give you a briefing, Goomba is pooping green and there is hair in his poo. His back left leg had a tremor when I was brushing him, this is after 2 hours without any food (as I was making the new soup) and after presenting him with his kibble soup he didn't eat any. Could this be a sign of insulinoma?
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Post by katt on Jan 23, 2012 4:48:10 GMT -5
I posted a new thread in the med section, but to give you a briefing, Goomba is pooping green and there is hair in his poo. His back left leg had a tremor when I was brushing him, this is after 2 hours without any food (as I was making the new soup) and after presenting him with his kibble soup he didn't eat any. Could this be a sign of insulinoma? I'll reply to your threads in backwards order. Yes. Unfortunately, those signs do stink of insulinoma. It may not be, but it is certainly worth having a vet check him out. Now that being said, continuing with the switch should not be a problem, it just means a very minor change in strategy. It might make things take longer, but that's of little concern. As a forum we have collectively switched many, many insulinomic ferrets to a raw diet with great success. I have personally worked with a small hand-full myself - including Tablefor3Ferrets who is now another mentor. So it CAN be done. Being on a raw diet is SO much better for ferrets, but particularly for insulinomic ferrets. Think of it as being similar to diabetes - take away the sugars and carbs in kibble, and you face far fewer problems. Less blood sugar spikes, means fewer falls, and falls are not as far from peak to trough. Insulinoma in its early stages can be controlled for awhile with diet. Unfortunately, you can only control it through diet for some time and eventually Pred is needed. Over time, the dose of pred will need to be increased until it eventually becomes ineffective too. Goomba is young and IF it is insulinoma, I'd say he's likely in the very early stages. By catching it early, switching to a better diet, and managing his diet carefully, you can do a lot to prolong his life for quite some time. There is no cure for insulinoma, but when managed properly ferrets can live happy, comfortable, relatively normal lives for years. Miamiferret (Sonny's mom) is a very good person to go to for insulinoma questions. Go to the Health and Medical board and look under the insulinoma board. There are a few threads in there with a lot of info... www.holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=insulinomathis is a very good overview: www.holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=insulinoma&action=display&thread=2702symptoms, crashing, and treatment: www.holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=insulinoma&action=display&thread=474
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Post by katt on Jan 23, 2012 5:31:32 GMT -5
For Ellie and Pippin I've been using thicker cubes and just adding some water to make it more like soup. Yesterday I added about half the normal amount of water, but i guess that was too drastic. For Goomba's soup, I would just mix in little spoonfuls of the chicken soup into the opposite side of his bowl so he didn't get too much of a whiff of it before it was mixed in.Okay. Keep mixing more of the raw soup into the kibble soup. Monitor all 3, but especially Goomba, to be sure that they are eating. Also, for now keep a bowl of kibble in the cage/room available at all times, as well as a bowl of soup available at all times. What is your schedule like? If I have an idea of what your daily schedule/routine is, I can help you come up with a plan for monitoring Goomba's diet. Weighing them is sometimes a challenge, I have to bribe them with tone and oil to keep them still, and that doesn't always work. Here are the last most accurate readings (before yesterday) compared to yesterday's readings, which should be pretty accurate,also. Pippin:1068 g, 1034 g = -34 Goomba: 1281 g, 1269 g = -12 and Ellie is up 9 grams since last weigh-inI understand the challenge of weighing them. Here's a tip. Put a large bowl on the scale first and zero the scale. Then put the ferret in the bowl (still while bribing with Tone). It can still be a challenge, but that makes it a little bit easier. That amount of weight loss is negligible. Convert the grams to ounces and you'll see that even Pippin's weight loss is barely over one ounce. Here are a few things to keep in mind... One: Spring is coming. It's a ways off yet but not all ferrets' seasons are in line. Koda has always been spot on with his seasonal changes, and this year he has gone into spring shed abnormally early as has Kenai, and my mom's dogs are doing the same. In the spring they can and will lose a LOT of weight - up to 40% of their body weight I believe it is. Two: it is common to see some weight loss in the beginning of the switch. This is why we are having mentees take pictures to track the ferrets' weight, sometimes appearance and activity level can reveal a lot more than the numbers. As an added note, adrenal can cause weight loss. This all being said, continue to keep an eye on them. Your daily posts should include activity levels so that we will have a record to look back on at any point in time and can track changes in behavior. Right now I don't think any of them have lost (or gained) enough weight to be of concern, just continue to monitor them. As far as feeding goes, I offer it to Ellie first, because sometimes she'll drink almost the entire thing before being done, and I have to thaw more for Pippin. Pippin eats from a third to a half of the bowl before abandoning it. How many times a day are you feeding them like this? I have the impression that with your school schedule you are doing it twice (breakfast and dinner) but I want to make sure I've got that right...? How much is in a "bowl?" (A picture would be helpful, perhaps with something for size reference). And how many ice cubes is in a "bowl?" That will give me a better idea of how much they are each eating. He's tried Goomba's soup, he sounded like he was gulping it down like he'd never seen food before, and he always sniffs the regular kibble, but seems to never actually stop and eat it, he just turns around and leaves the cage.This is good and bad. Bad because it simply says he likes his soup, but not as much as the soup with more kibble in it. Which is to be expected at this point in the switch. lol It is good because he likes the soup, and because he obviously likes the soup more than the dry kibble enough that he'll fill up enough on soup to not be interested in kibble. It's progress. I don't know if his appetite is just down, or he only eats when I'm not around, or if he's just not really eating. If he's adrenal, would it affect his appetite? When he grew in his winter coat his tail just lost fur. It's not a rat tail, but is certainly thin. I've been watching it, hoping it will grow back in the next season change. It doesn't seem to be getting any thinner on his tail, but now I'm paranoid and I can't tell if his fur on his lower belly is getting thinner or I'm just thinking it is because I'm paranoid Is there an easy test for this at the vet?Honestly, I don't think he is adrenal BUT he very well could be. As far as a test for this - the only test is a blood panel called the Tennessee panel, and I recommend (my vet does as well) not wasting your time and money. It is a VERY expensive test that has a very high rate of false negatives, there are many ways the test can go wrong and produce a false negative. Typically if a ferret is showing signs of adrenal the best thing to do is treat it. If he responds, he's probably adrenal. If not, then you are looking at something else potentially. Has he been showing any other symptoms? Increase in aggression? Excessive mounting? Hair loss on his hips? Yes adrenal can cause weight loss, but as I said before he hasn't lost enough weight to be considered really significant yet. That doesn't mean that he isn't going to or that adrenal isn't the problem. See what your vet says. Personally, the lack of other symptoms (that *I* know of), and his young age make me want to lean towards not-adrenal, but follow your gut. Koda is adrenal and he is VERY young. His symptoms were severe sexual aggression, weight loss, and flare ups of his IBD (IBD and adrenal often go hand in hand). He had no hair loss, but he would mount Kenai to the point that I had to separate them many times, and often for extended periods (days). The symptoms all went away with Lupron. I stopped the Lupron, and they returned, and then we finally got a Des implant and Koda is now symptom free. So, go with your gut - Mom knows best. I watch them eat, and when they leave there is always still chicken soup in the bowl, and Goomba's bowl always has leftover liquid, so I leave it in there for a few hours. When I come back the chicken soup always is lower, but not empty, and the kibble soup is just fat, swollen kibbles (None of them eat the kibble after drinking the soup out of it). I don't know if they're drinking it while I'm gone, or if the kibble just absorbed the rest of the water and the liquid in the soup evaporated.Good! And it could be evaporation, but it's likely they are eating some. Why not test it? Put a bowl of soup out of their reach, and check it at the end of the day. This will give you an idea at least of how much evaporation occurs. Also, the bowl that the chicken soup goes in holds about a cup. So they get one to one and a half in the morning, depending on how much ellie drinks, and the same in the evening. lol Um disregard my earlier questions. So if they are each eating about 1/2 of a cup twice a day, that isn't a bad amount of food really. Each ferret is different of course as to how much is "enough." I'd like to see them all, but Pippin especially eating a bit more. But overall, not too bad, esp considering it sounds like they are eating at least a little bit in between meals. Since I'm gone most of the day I leave a little kibble in a different bowl on the highest shelf in the cage. They seem to drink the soup first, though.This is good. Fill them up with soup whenever you can, but keep the kibble available in case they get hungry. Esp. little Goomba. I think I'll keep offering Ellie and Pippin the chicken soup individually, but give more of the kibble/chicken soup while I'm gone, since I know they all will eat it. I'll slowly add more chicken to the kibble soup until Goomba catches up.For now this is a good plan. Keep feeding them the soup twice a day, and get them to eat as much as you can. After feeding them, leave a fresh bowl out for the day, while keeping a bowl of kibble as well. For now. Once we have Goomba eating the soup more consistently, we will remove the bowl of kibble and keep nice full bowls of soup available. I know it is probably not possible with your schedule, but is there any way that you can feed Goomba (even a small amount) every 2-4 hours? Perhaps on breaks between classes or lunch time? The more small meals a day you can get into him, the easier it will be to control his insulinoma if that is indeed the problem. I understand if you can't and we can still do what you can to manage by diet. Just putting out feelers. Also, once I know your rough schedule it will help - but does this sound possible? I'd like to see them get 3 soup meals a day. The 2 you give currently, plus one more. So breakfast in the morning and leave soup out for the day. Then offer more soup when you get home. Go about studying, dinner, etc and your nightly routine, and then offer a little more fresh soup right before you go to bed, again leaving a bowl out at all times for them to snack on free-range. Let me know if that's feasible or not. Just feeling it out. Sorry about any weird misspelling in any previous or future posts. I usually have to do it through my phone when I'm at school or working.No worries. I'm on my phone a lot too.
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Post by kpaz on Jan 23, 2012 10:32:12 GMT -5
Here is my schedule for school Monday/Wednesday: 7:30-3:30 Tuesday: 3:30-5:50 Thursday:12:00-5:30 Friday: 10:30-1:30 I also have an online class, but try to get most of the work done while on campus and in between classes, and a student working internship, but the hours are flexible and unspecific. On Tuesday, Friday, and sort of on Thursday, my schedule is pretty manageable for feeding. Unfortunately, going home in between classes isn't really an option. I go to the state university, and it's about a 45 minute drive either way. So I won't be able to refresh Goomba's soup every 2-4 hours each day, but I will on the days it's possible. I finally got Goomba to eat some soup last night, and afterward I held him with back legs hanging, but there was no more trembling. And he moved around a bit after eating. He definitely was less active yesterday, every time I would try to feed him he would ignore me and crawl away to sleep in a box or a hammock or a blanket. And he just didn't look well. His little eyes were squinted and he looked exhausted. As for Pippin, his belly was bloated right before and as he lost the fur on his tail, but I'm not sure if that's significant as it's fine now. He's also about half of Goomba's size, but I don't know if that's significant either. I'm going to try and get an appointment for tomorrow morning just to get him a check up and to check Goomba's BG, but if there aren't any appointment times open I won't be able to go until Friday afternoon. Good idea about leaving a bowl out of reach, I didn't even think about that Oh, I tried giving Goomba some pumpkin in case he's shedding..he looked at me like I was trying to feed him orange arsenic. So I just had to settle for some lax. Is this dangerous in the event that he does have insulinoma?
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Post by katt on Jan 23, 2012 13:21:55 GMT -5
Here is my schedule for school Monday/Wednesday: 7:30-3:30 Tuesday: 3:30-5:50 Thursday:12:00-5:30 Friday: 10:30-1:30 I also have an online class, but try to get most of the work done while on campus and in between classes, and a student working internship, but the hours are flexible and unspecific.That's not too bad... Would something like this work...? Monday/Wednesday: Feed in the am before leaving, class: 7:30-3:30, feed when you get home at 4:30, feed Goomba (and others if you'd like) again at 6:30 and 8:30 (a small snack, think of it as a 2 min break to give him a treat - you can have pre-made thawed soup in a small dish in the fridge for his snacks), feed all 3 before bed and put a fresh bowl in for overnight. Tuesday: 3:30-5:50 Feed in the am when you get up (I'll use 10:30 as a random time), give Goomba snacks at 12:30, and 2:30 before you leave, leave a bowl of fresh soup out for all 3 while you are gone. Feed all 3 when you get home (about 6:30ish?). Give Goomba snacks at 8:30. Feed all 3 before bed and leave a fresh bowl out overnight. Thursday:12:00-5:30 Feed in the am when you get up (I'll use 10:30 as a random time), give Goomba a snack before you leave, and leave a bowl of fresh soup out for all 3 while you are gone. Feed all 3 when you get home (about 6:30ish?). Give Goomba snacks at 8:30. Feed all 3 before bed and leave a fresh bowl out overnight. Friday: 10:30-1:30 Feed in the am when you get up. If you're a super early riser, give goomba another quick snack before you take off, leave a bowl of fresh soup out for all 3 while you are gone. Feed all 3 when you get home (about 2:30ish?). Give Goomba snacks at 4:30, 6:30, 8:30. Feed all 3 before bed and leave a fresh bowl out overnight. It doesn't have to be exactly like that, but something roughly like that. And to clarify, Goomba's snacks don't need to be a big, time-consuming ordeal. Keep a small dish (1 cube?) of prepared soup (put some aside when you make their food in the am) in the fridge. Just dip your finger in it and hand feed him a few finger-licks until he is done. It doesn't necessarily to fill him up (though if he wants to keep eating, certainly let him) as a bowl of soup will still be out for him to get whenever he is hungry. It just needs to be enough to keep his BG levels up throughout the day. It's a quick snack is all. You could even hold him in your lap and hold the bowl in front of him while you study, just enough to ensure that he's eating a little something throughout the day. Also, you can play with it a bit. I only mentioned 2 hours for Goomba because you said he was trembling after 2 hours of not eating. Normally with a newly discovered case of insulinoma I'd start with every 3-4 hours, and increse the frequency if that didn't seem to be enough. I finally got Goomba to eat some soup last night, and afterward I held him with back legs hanging, but there was no more trembling. And he moved around a bit after eating. He definitely was less active yesterday, every time I would try to feed him he would ignore me and crawl away to sleep in a box or a hammock or a blanket. And he just didn't look well. His little eyes were squinted and he looked exhausted. Poor little guy. I'm glad he ate today though. Maybe/hopefully he's jsut feeling under the weather. Could be he had a bad hairball(s) and some related GI upset, though I'm not sure that would explain the trembling. Let me know what the vet says, and keep me posted on how he's doing this week. As for Pippin, his belly was bloated right before and as he lost the fur on his tail, but I'm not sure if that's significant as it's fine now. He's also about half of Goomba's size, but I don't know if that's significant either. I'm going to try and get an appointment for tomorrow morning just to get him a check up and to check Goomba's BG, but if there aren't any appointment times open I won't be able to go until Friday afternoon. Size is individual. It sounds like Pippin is just a smaller boy. The bloated belly is probably unrelated to his fur-loss. Oh, I tried giving Goomba some pumpkin in case he's shedding..he looked at me like I was trying to feed him orange arsenic. So I just had to settle for some lax. Is this dangerous in the event that he does have insulinoma?Anything with carbs/sugars should be avoided with insulinomic ferrets. Including pumpkin. If you are concerned about a hairball, I'd try a little Vaseline. A better option than pumpkin for a fiber source is iceberg lettuce. However, it is VERY important that the lettuce is frozen and/or blended, preferrably both, to ensure that the fiber is broken down enough to pass through. A good way to do it is to blend up some lettuce (shouldn't need water as the letuce has a lot in it and should blend very well) and then freeze it (you can make ice cubes for ease of use). This can be used mixed into soupies as a fiber source to firm up poops, help push through hairballs, etc. It's a lower sugar substitute for pumpkin. On head of lettuce should give you enough to last a long time. haha About 1/2-1 tsp per ferret per day is usually sufficient.
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