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Post by Sherry on Mar 2, 2013 13:29:37 GMT -5
Updates?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 9:13:20 GMT -5
Sorry I have been offline for while. This is where my fuzzies are at currently.
Zebedee – eating chunks but I suspect him bolting his food is why he was sick the other day. Gizmo – is back on the preds. I was worried that he was whimpering a little in his sleep so he went in for a scan and the lymph nodes in his stomach were enlarged and there seems to be gut iteration. He is on ½ tab once a day for two weeks, then ½ tablet every other day for 2 weeks and then ½ tablet every three days for 2 weeks and then w’ll make a decision about whether he needs to stay on the preds long term. He was sick yesterday after I gave him is BNS (butternut squash), oil, bonemeal combo. He was getting really stressed as he was trying to be sick but couldn’t, he bought up the butternut squash but nothing else with his attempts after.
Pixie also visited the vets this week as she was very quiet, not like her at all. An x-ray showed that she had an enlarged stomach and what looked like a build up of food. She had an injection to help pass it through her system and has meds which she comes off today, she seems much brighter, back to her naughty self. She is eating chunks in a thin soup, I had to thicken again at one stage but I am thinning out the soup again. It gives me hope that she is eating the chunks in soup, but again, she only seems to touch it if I start her spoon feeding, but she will then carry on from the bowl for a little bit after. Smudge and Jasmine have taken a liking for Pixies soup but are still eating chunks, just less so. I gave them all a liver / kidney / bonemeal / BNS soup last night which they all had a little of, apart from Zebdedee who pretty much had half of the whole bowl – until I removed it to stop him eating it all. I am trying to get bonemeal into them by mixing it with their daily BNS and oil but it is probably only 1 ½ tsp’s bonemeal across them all. I am conscious that I need to up their bone, but if I add any more bonemeal to their BNS and oil, they won’t touch it. Obviously Pixie is having soup so she has bonemeal in her soup as well. It is Gizmo that I think definitely needs to bone, as firstly, he never touches the soup (which has bonemeal in) whereas the other do occasionally eat the soup. Secondly, he has runny stools so that to me is an indication of him needing more bone. He had runny stools before he started on the preds otherwise I’d suspect it might be due to the preds, unless it is because he is having an IBS episode perhaps.
They had the pre-biotics for a week, but I am going to start Gizmo on them again.
They had lost weight again when I weighed them at the start of the week but I will weigh them again on the weekend to keep an eye on it. According to the vet records Gizmo hasn’t lost weight so I am thinking I may need some more accurate scales.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 8, 2013 9:25:21 GMT -5
For a wider variety of bone, you can also use mice, quail, and sometimes those with a problem with chicken can still eat cornish game hen. Might be an idea to see if they'll do better with one of those. Duck necks are another good source. Glad Pixie is doing better now Those "almost" blockages are very scary! You may have to "prime" her for a while yet, but work to the point where you are just giving her a taste from your finger, then to the point of having your finger sitting on top of the meat. At that time, she *should* be willing to tuck into her food by herself.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 8, 2013 9:27:32 GMT -5
Also, it's the time of year for weight loss and shedding so don't be too surprised by that. I was really worried about one of our new ones as he has dropped a LOT of weight, but this is our first spring with him(adopted him from the local rescue last August) and he's still just as spastic as ever, so I have to assume he's just a small boy. Keep in mind that with shed coming, sometimes they can get a bit of fur stuck in the throat and that can also trigger vomiting episodes trying to get it out.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2013 9:06:07 GMT -5
For a wider variety of bone, you can also use mice, quail, and sometimes those with a problem with chicken can still eat cornish game hen. Might be an idea to see if they'll do better with one of those. Duck necks are another good source. Glad Pixie is doing better now Those "almost" blockages are very scary! You may have to "prime" her for a while yet, but work to the point where you are just giving her a taste from your finger, then to the point of having your finger sitting on top of the meat. At that time, she *should* be willing to tuck into her food by herself. They won't eat bone though hence the bonemeal. If they were eating bone then things would be soooo much easier and far less stressful. I give them another go with some mice to see if they have decided they will now eat bone. We don't have Cornish Game Hen in the UK - unless someone knows otherwise - and finding duck or turkey necks has been impossible. Pixie only needs me to offer her a spoon and then she tucks in - on her terms though, sometimes she will, sometimes she won't.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2013 9:10:29 GMT -5
Also, it's the time of year for weight loss and shedding so don't be too surprised by that. I was really worried about one of our new ones as he has dropped a LOT of weight, but this is our first spring with him(adopted him from the local rescue last August) and he's still just as spastic as ever, so I have to assume he's just a small boy. Keep in mind that with shed coming, sometimes they can get a bit of fur stuck in the throat and that can also trigger vomiting episodes trying to get it out. Yes it is a difficult time to tell if the weight loss is seasonal or due to them not eating enough. I am particularly sensitive as my boy Woody dropped lots of weight this time last year and it turned out he had cancer and we lost him under anaesthetic. I out heart in for them last night and then didn't look like they had touched it at all, I hand fed them some when I went into them but it is concerning that they are not eating themselves. I find the same when I am at work, they don't touch the meat, but then if I offer it to them by hand when I get home, they eat it. I am just really worried that they are not getting all they need to be healthy.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 9, 2013 14:06:29 GMT -5
Okay, different step. I hadn't realized they are literally eating nothing unless you start them. If you mentioned it, sorry- I must have missed it. That being the case it may be best for now to give them back kibble at night only. Remove it in the morning. Sometimes, you wind up taking 2 steps back for every one forward. To get them eating mice, sometimes you have to start with pinkies(tiny suckling mice, still pink). When frozen cut them in half and add to their meat. As they accept that, start giving them whole in the meat, then on their own. Gradually move up the size chain until you get to the ones with fur. Those you will have to cut open most likely to get them to understand there are goodies UNDER the fur. Once they accept weanlings with fur they will then also start to accept older mice.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2013 11:36:26 GMT -5
They are helping themselves, for example when they come into the house for playtime, they will self feed. But they don't seem to be eating much, but it is hard to tell how much they should be eating. They just seem to be sleeping in the cold weather we are having here in the UK, which I would have thought would mean they'd be eating more - usually they pack the kibble away in the cold weather. Anyway, I left their kibble in overnight as you suggested, they ate 19g unless Jasmine has done her normal stash where I can't find it routine ;D When I left kibble in overnight back in January they didn't touch it at all and now if I offer kibble to them they are not interested but someone has obviously had some overnight. Gizmo loves pinkies so think he ate the five I put in last night but I will try chopping them up like you suggested. I have bought some fuzzies too so will build up gradually. I have started Pixie back on her meds for 48 hours as although bright in herself, she doesn't seem to be passing stools very well, just little bubbly ones. Smudge seems to have seedy runs a little at the moment too. Gizmo stools are still runny as well They are still getting their 1/2tsp butternut squash mixed with fish oil everyday.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 12, 2013 16:58:09 GMT -5
I find for amounts mine at this point in time are eating anywhere between 2-4 oz a day, depending on size, gender, etc. For now, keep putting the kibble in at night and let them have raw during the day time. That way you know they are getting enough nutrition. Try to weigh how much meat you are giving them, so you have a better idea what's being eaten.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2013 17:29:56 GMT -5
OK I will weigh their meat.
Thy didn't touch the kibble I left in there cage overnight as I have been weighing that.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 13, 2013 18:17:02 GMT -5
Okay, it's not likely they are hungry then. I do know I was slightly shocked when I first started weighing their meat when we first went raw ;D I'd been feeding double the upper limit of what they could possibly have eaten!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2013 10:41:04 GMT -5
I'll continue to put the kibble in just in case - I don't actually think they like kibble any more? They haven't touched the kibble at all overnight, been weighing it every morning. I keep feeding them and not weighing I MUST do this so I can let you know how much they are eating. I'll report back ASAP
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Post by Sherry on Mar 16, 2013 18:35:06 GMT -5
Sounds good I think you *might* be surprised at just how little meat a couple of ounces are!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2013 9:51:28 GMT -5
OK so I am officially rubbish at weighing their meat I have been weighing, just not consistently. I would say that between the 4 of them (not including Pixie who has been on soup) they are eating around 6oz a day at a guess (the 2 meals I weighed were 3oz) BUT as this isn't 100% accurate I will monitor properly. Zebedee, Jasmine and Smudge also have been helping themselves to Pixies soup so not a true representation. OK so I have managed to get to this point of my post before I jump in excitement to say that rather than eat soup this morning, Pixie went for the others meat chunks.....yay....ate 3 or 4 pieces. I am SOOOO happy with her, finally, makes all the time and effort I have put into her one step forward two steps back all the more worthwhile. I suspected we might be near since the soup was pretty much chunks of meat now. That said, I may have just tempted fate as it is only one meal she has had so far but she has been taking the chunks out of the soup and eating them over the last week so fingers crossed. The others will go for the chunks in the thin soup over the bowl of chunks on their own so they must prefer the chunks marinated ;D So, shall I keep feeding her soup for now or take it away and let her help herself to chunks? She needs to be started off with the soup i.e. I put some on a spoon, lower the spoon down and she helps herself for a while, and then I repeat until I think she has got enough into her. The chunks however she helped herself too. I have been chopping fuzz mice up into their chunks too, I tried going a size bigger but it was too soon so put them back down to fuzz size. I am giving them bonemeal with their butternut squash but it isn't much between them, 2-3 tsps between the 5 per day is all I can mix before they aren't having any of it. Overall their stools are ok and Gizmo had some good stools after pretty much having runny stools during the switch this week which I was so pleased about, but yesterday and today they are runny again I am waiting for my vet to call me back as he has been a bit quiet the last couple of days. He is on his 2 weeks of 1/2 pred every other day after having had 2 weeks of 1/2 per day. I am not happy with the amount of stools Pixie is producing when I see her (obviously I don't know whose is whose stool in the litter tray half the time) so I am going to speak to my vet about possibility giving her the meds she had a couple of weeks ago to get her moving. Weights wise, I last weighed on 4th March (just under 3 weeks ago) and their weights have changed as follows; Zebedee +35 Gizmo +17 [glow=red,2,300]Pixie -49[/glow] Smudge +39 Jasmine +11
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Post by Sherry on Mar 23, 2013 8:51:57 GMT -5
That's fantastic that she's now taking the chunks on her own Yes, by all means try her with that for a meal at least. See how she does. If she misses one meal, it's really not going to hurt her With the mice, since they'll accept them chopped, if for example you chop them into thirds, start by simply cutting them in half and mixed in, then try just offering them alone chopped in half, then whole. If they hesitate at taking them whole, try just slitting the belly open. Once they accept that, then you can move up in size. And 6oz a day for the four isn't really very much. Do you leave the chunks in after you go to work, and is there anything left at the next meal time? We also need to work at having them eat heart, liver and kidney. Heart is normally accepted more easily so if they aren't already, try that with them. If they don't accept it you might have to puree and hand feed for a meal or two. Same with the liver/kidney. We have a link on here for raw food providers. One deals specifically with the UK. It would give you more variety. Here's the thread to read through: holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=rawwholepreyprov&thread=1032&page=1
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