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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2012 19:23:42 GMT -5
No, I had given them smaller amounts of beef before and had also given beef bones with meat on them. They hadn't snubbed beef before. My guess is they were to sleepy to eat and by the time they woke up, the meat was too stinky. The smell made the room unbearable.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2012 22:14:19 GMT -5
Yeah, that'll do that unfortunately. My ferrets don't smell much, but their chicken jerky... eesh. Could peel paint off of the walls. It sounds like they are doing well though.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2012 22:45:19 GMT -5
Mine are smelling better than a week ago (when you suggested they were purging their kibble). Loki just crawled all over me and I couldn't smell much.
That meat yesterday/this morning...dear lord it was disgusting!
And this comes from someone who is frequently in the same room as dead people. ;D
Anyway, 7.5 oz tonight. They both rushed to the bowl and ate a little before running out of the cage to play. I'm glad to see they're both eating.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 9:21:37 GMT -5
Excellent news on both fronts!
Are they eating the bowl in one sitting or are they leaving left overs? It sounds like they leave leftovers. I strive to try and keep the amount I put out as close to what my group will eat with just a tad leftover at a meal for a snack in case someone sleeps through meal time so that I throw less away. Some days though they demolish their 12 ounces of meat in no time and I end up feeding them an extra meal during the day.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 13:36:57 GMT -5
I feed them around dinner time (7:00p.m.) which also coincides with their "gaurenteed playtime period" of 4 - 6 hours. By the time I wake up in the morning, most (if not all) of the food is finished. This morning there was one or two pieces of heart left (out of 7.5oz) and nothing else. I tried introducing double-feedings (once in the morning and once at night) and it was a no-go. They refused to touch new food in the morning.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 16:31:41 GMT -5
Huh, that's weird. Mine eat twice a day, and some days the boys are so hungry I have to feed a third time. They eat about 8-12 hours apart, around 8 am and any time after 5 pm depending on how busy I am. 9 weasels go through 24 ounces of meat a day, plus bone in stuff to chew on.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 18:47:03 GMT -5
I know! Ugh. I really wanted to get them on a double-feeding schedule too. I might start putting a tiny bit extra in in the morning and seeing if they take to it. If not, nothing much lost (and hopefully it won't stink as much as a full 6oz).
They never enjoyed morning feedings even when on kibble. It was fine if they didn't touch the kibble all day but they will literally let the meat sit from morning until dusk without even touching it and it stinks to high heck. Then, of course, they expect me to give them fresh meat to eat that evening which they will gladly touch. ;D
I think they're just little gluttons with a schedule. Stuff their faces late at night, sleep for hours during the morning, play hard during the afternoon-evenings, repeat.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 19:55:12 GMT -5
Hmm mine wake up about 8 am right now, demand breakfast, play hard for a couple of hours, snooze through the day, (though sometimes the boys look at their empty dish with these big, sad eyes at me) wake up in the evening, demand supper and play a little more before bed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2012 20:32:44 GMT -5
I believe mine suffer from me not having a good schedule. One of my internships requires me to be up at 5:30 a.m. , the other at 8:00 a.m., and days when I have classes I often sleep in until 8:30 a.m. ;D
That combined with my (& the ferrets) tendency to go to sleep very late makes a very odd, irregular schedule.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2012 19:21:51 GMT -5
They ate all their food last night, though I'm actively avoiding them right now (so sadly looks like they aren't going to get much free roam today) as I caught some sort of bug (sore throat) and I want to make sure it isn't contagious or presents any other symptoms before I interact with them.
Would hate to have sick fuzzies for the holidays.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2012 20:09:16 GMT -5
I hear you, mine are still reinfecting each other with the flu after a month. Poor Stormy keeps getting it the worst with the runny nose and whatnot. He gives me this sad, snotty look I can't help but resist as I put him in the bathroom with the shower on to decongest.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2012 22:31:57 GMT -5
Feeling better today so they actually got out for a decent amount of time. Dexter is starting to feel a little fluffier and it looks like he might be gaining some winter weight finally.
They tore through TWO eggs tonight as a treat. Also ate 7.5oz today of small chunks (chicken, pork, liver, heart, eggshells). Going to give a small, scored chicken bone tonight and see how that goes over.
Loki did not want to share the eggs. He kept picking up the (heavy) dish and dragging it away from Dexter. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 9:03:08 GMT -5
Haha oh my, what a little piggie! ;D Sounds like Murder when I offer chicken hearts and he hides the whole pile from the group so he can dine on them alone.
Sounds like your kids are doing great. Their fur will feel softer within a couple of months at most I've found.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 9:54:41 GMT -5
Loki is already pretty soft (I guess because he has always had great kibbles).
Dexter, though, ewww. Needs some more fluff.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 10:54:45 GMT -5
I found that mine had very soft fur on good grain free kibble, but it gets so much THICKER on raw, you wouldn't believe it. Like, Chell as a young kit had soft but patchy fur, then we put her on raw and within weeks the patchy spots filled in, and now she has the thickest, fluffiest winter coat. Wheatley had a good thick coat on him when he came home with us back in August, but he's doubled in volume. And even Murder and Mayhem who apparently have their seasons swapped and went into summer weight/coats still have a very thick covering- it's just shorter hair. Also one thing I found is Mayhem had chronic digestive upset/intestinal problems on the kibble. She was always acting like she was blocked up every week, having thin, ribbon like stools that would clear up for a week, then reoccur. I suspected a floating blockage but she never vomited. We put her on raw and she never did it again, it seems to have cleared her out and calmed her system down, no more graininess or undigested poos. She also acts like she feels good now, is happy and playful all the time. She used to have days where she would curl up and sleep as if she felt awful.
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