|
Post by Sherry on Apr 11, 2013 14:39:16 GMT -5
It was quite likely off. That would be the cream. If not using it right away it Gould be frozen. Once they are reliably eating organ meals I'll get you to write up a formal menu and we'll get you graduated!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2013 14:26:15 GMT -5
The game is afoot So last night when the kits were winding down, I put food in their bowls and closed them up in the cage. Mo went to bed immediatly. Sherlock, after a few minutes, started banging on the cage door to come out. After a few we let him out. He wandered around a bit and then went back to the cage and started banging on the cage again. We had locked it so he wouldn't ferret food while out. I put him back in the cage. Few min later hes banging on the cage door again. This game went on a few times in-out-in-out, and finally I stopped and wondered, "is he wanting to ferret his food?" So i left the door open. Sure enough he spent the next 20 min carrying all his food to one of his spots, and as soon as he did his last lap, he climbed in to the cage and tucked himself in for the night. It was like he couldn't sleep without knowing it was safely put where he wanted it. Once he was asleep I picked it all up and put it back in his bowl as quietly as I could so I didn't wake him up. That lil boy of ours...
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Apr 12, 2013 17:36:52 GMT -5
;D Oh that is too funny! Silly boy. At least you know where to find it!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2013 8:59:40 GMT -5
Gave them each 2oz of liver last night, and mixed in just a little bit of gizzard to try to entice them to try it without the cream. They hadn't eaten much this morning, so we are leaving it for the day. Maybe if they get a bit hungry they will be willing to try it some more. Will see how they do today while they are home alone.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Apr 16, 2013 18:36:27 GMT -5
It's a start!!! Let me know how they do
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2013 8:48:56 GMT -5
They did decently with the liver. Probably about an ounce left over between the two of them. Only issue of course is not knowing who ate how much, but both had changes in their messes that showed they had taken in a new food source. His were dark like I would expect from ofal eating, and hers were some times dark, and some times light and liquidy.
We took them for their rabies shot yesterday. We have a new vet at the hospital we take them to because our other one moved. Our new one has been practicing for quite some time, and asked us a lot of questions. He was supportive of the raw diet which was nice. He did recommend making sure they are getting calcium even though we mentioned letting them eat the bones.
I asked if we should continue mixing in egg shell (which we had stopped doing after the soup and possibly should not have) and he encouraged it. Do we have a specific amount of shell we should be incorporating in to each meal? He had mentioned something about the protein in the meats can often draw out the calcium in their systems so we just needed to make sure we were giving them a decent suppliment of it. (I think he said the protein did that, but I may be remembering wrong).
They weighed in at Sherlock at 1212, and Mo at 830 so they are down just a touch but pretty close to what they have been.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Apr 18, 2013 8:54:40 GMT -5
Great that he's pro raw! That's wonderful. However- you don't want to overdo it on the calcium since that only leads to stone formation in the bladder and kidneys. It's one of the reasons we stress balance in diet. As long as he's getting 8-9 consumable bone meals a week, more would be too much. And great that they've taken to the liver. Okay, let's get a Monday- Sunday menu up to see where it may need to be tweaked
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2013 16:32:23 GMT -5
Will try to post daily this week to let you know what they are fed for breakfast and dinner the day before.
Sunday 4/21: Breakfast - Boneless chicken about 1.5 oz each Dinner - Bone In chicken about 1 oz. .5 oz chicken heart .5 oz chicken liver each
Monday 4/22 Breakfast - Bone In chicken about 1.5 oz with .5 oz beef heart
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2013 19:35:15 GMT -5
4/22 Dinner - 1oz bone in chicken .5oz beef heart .5oz chicken liver
4/23 Breakfast 2oz beef kidney
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2013 19:46:52 GMT -5
Also on their meals i put a bit of the beef fat we have from when I rendered about 2 pounds of it down in case the meal they have doesn't have much of a fat content.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Apr 23, 2013 20:26:18 GMT -5
Looking good! Are they finishing everything you give them?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2013 9:41:40 GMT -5
Most days they finish it. They ate all their kidneys pretty early in the day, with nothing ferreted in the food dens. Monday he spent a lot of time ferreting the bone-in chicken. Probably a total of 1oz between both of their bowls. Might be a bit less though as he was pulling her stash of food out of her hiding space and putting it in his pile while she was sleeping. Other than that we have trimmed down their amount of food per feeding to encourage them to eat it rather than hide it. We might need to be a bit more cautious with how much we cut back though as they have been a little short on energy recently. High bursts of play for just a bit and then they pancake a lot for the rest of the time they are up. Can't tell if they are tired or just plotting our demise for not giving them as much food to hide.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Apr 24, 2013 9:48:47 GMT -5
Ideally they should have 2 or 3 pieces of meat left when the next meal time rolls around. If there is more than that fairly consistently then either the pieces are too big for them right now, or they are getting too much. If the pieces are too large you'll notice they eat the smaller ones and stash the bigger chunks.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2013 12:20:30 GMT -5
The pieces are cut faily similarly. Small chunks for the most part, but the ones we often see ferreted are usually a bit bigger, or were not cut all the way through so they are two pieces stuck together. The last few meals the bowls have been empty and the feeding dens have been clear of food. As mentioned I was trying to figure the right amount to give to discurage so much ferreting, and have replaced some of the missing calories with the added fat. Will keep tweaking the amount of food till we get it right.
|
|
|
Post by Sherry on Apr 24, 2013 12:40:55 GMT -5
It does take a while. And then come winter you get to do it all over again ;D ;D ;D
|
|