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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 2:48:30 GMT -5
Oh yeah! I forgot to put that in....it took nearly the entire 12 hours, but they gave in and cleaned their plates! LOL YIPPEE!! I feel much better about bones now by the way...glad to get off that crutch! WOOT!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 3:12:48 GMT -5
Oh, good idea about the hamburger meat. That'd give Daisy something to lick up if I'm going to stop the rad cat. LOL The brains did that for her tonight too....they make it a little mushy, so I also added a capsule of salmon oil...no rad cat, and I'm having to think outside the box a little bit that way. The liver will make it mushy too. That stuff is icky too. hehehe
Thanks! I was really having a hard time figuring out what I was going to feed them in the way of edible bone. I've searched all the stores around and the butcher shops. I saw chicken feet too...but those don't have much in the way of meat on them. And they are icky. hehehe I can get hamburger meat, chicken, cornish hen and pork livers at the grocery store any time so that Is good. I won't have to take the long trip up to the asian market all the time. And the next time I'm out by the butcher, I'll buy a few tubs of the pork brains to keep in the freezer...they can have some strange hours so I don't want to run out. I would like to try the beef liver if I can find it..I'll have to keep an eye out for that.
This whole process has been a little overwhelming, but now that I'm off the rad cat mostly (oh, I mean THEY are off the rad cat hehehe) I can concentrate on getting a variety of meats for them. And also keep up on the preparation of the meats. Two weeks ago I was up late at night cutting up raw meat..I was tired and careless and that's when I cut myself.
tomorrow I will weigh them again just to double check everything but I check to make sure that their tummies are full all the time so I really don't foresee any problems with getting them to eat and maintain their weight. I just really want to use the new scale! hehehe
Thanks so much for all the encouragement!!!
--C
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2013 0:48:57 GMT -5
Ugh...my s computer fried tonight. Might have to wait to find a genious at the apple store before I can get it fixed. I'll try to get on with my nook or my husbands computer during the week. I'm on my nook now but this totally sucks! Darn it anyway!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2013 0:42:24 GMT -5
Okay, I've gone 24 hours without another crash so I think I might be in the clear for now. Only going on the internet as I have a feeling that some graphics on a game I've been playing might have something to do with my previous crashes.
Update: Made up all my meals for the week. I weighed out hearts, livers, brains enough for the three ferrets for one week of meals. Then I made up 14 meals and got all the hearts, livers and brains in several of the meals. They are still having some issues with the hearts so I spread those over a few meals rather than half. Tomorrow I'll try the livers again (I totally forgot about the beef liver I bought....gonna get that frozen so it doesn't go bad) and there has been no problem whatsoever with the brains. I did as you suggested and took out about 3/4 cup of fatty ground beef when preparing dinner the other night and put it in with the rest of the meats to make up all the meals.
One question about having meals with just muscle meat. In the meal plan it said like 3-4 meals of muscle meats (hearts included of course).... I've been cutting up whole animals like the quail, cornish hen and chickens. They are eating the entire thing and I'm trying to get at least some bone in each meal. Sometimes I throw in some turkey meat but almost always have some chicken or hen ribs or back bones in the same meal. Should I be giving them meals with no bone in them or is just mixing some muscle meat in with bone meals enough to satisfy each requirement? It's just that I was a little overwhelmed again when I was trying to baggy up this weeks meals. I had a lot of bones...probably because I've been a little worried about getting enough bone choices...and now I have tons of it! hehehe Along with the bone meals is a lot of muscle meat as well. for example, I took the cornish hen and cut it up into roughly 4 ounce meals until the hen was all divided up. Is that a good ratio of bone and muscle?
Hope things are going well with your family! talk to you soon!
--C
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Post by katt on Jun 12, 2013 0:58:13 GMT -5
That should be okay. Remember you have the ground beef and stuff too. If they seem to be a little constipated, straining, or you are noticing a lot more undigested bone bits than usual, then cut back a bit. You can always add in some meals of meats like pork chop and ground turkey as you go too. Make some pork chops for dinner and give them one or two, notice a pack of ground turkey at the grocery store and grab it for their dinner... You can always mix it up when you come across other meats. If this helps think of it this way. They need 7-9 bone-in meals. These meals should be heavy in edible bone. If they have 12 meals with a smaller amount if edible bone, it should balance it out a bit. I hope that makes sense?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2013 1:03:16 GMT -5
yep! Thanks! That does help. I might need some help when it comes time to do up a formal meal plan for graduation, but we are a ways from that I'm sure!
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Post by katt on Jun 12, 2013 1:12:39 GMT -5
That's what I'm here for! And you are definitely getting closer! How are they doing on crunching the bone bits? As for the brains and slime, try to not give even that. Otherwise you are just going from one crutch (RadCat) to another (pork brains). Have you tried giving them JUST meat chunks yet with no slime coating of any kind?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2013 1:26:01 GMT -5
Oh yes... They are eating everything I give them....eventually. hehehe Last night they ate their whole bowl and were looking for more. That bowl was only bone chunks. They have had several now since we stopped feeding the rad cat. They've been doing just fine. They ate their whole dinner in about 2 hours so I gave them another bowl of food to keep them occupied in case they got hungry in the night. That one was hearts and bones. They scattered some hearts around and a few pieces of the bone but had the majority gone by the time i got home from work. Tonight was another meal of just bones with chunks of meat. They have slowed their eating down this evening so there is enough to get through the night now. They've been doing so good! Everyone crunches away with whatever meats I give them. hehehe It's so cute! At this point, the way I mixed the meals, I have about 5 meals that have the hearts and brains in them. I measured about 4 ounces of hearts and mixed it into 3 meals. The brains I split in half and mixed with two meals of bones/meat. The liver I did the same...mixed it over 2 meals along with bones/meat. the rest of the meals are all bones. I'm trying to space out the hearts/brains/liver because the runny poo was really icky! hehehe
Thanks for the kick in the pants about the rad cat! I really needed that! Now they don't really hesitate when they go to their bowl and it's fully of chopped up chickens or something. We haven't bought any more rad cat since we ran out this weekend. Only the first meal did they take a while to eat it...after that it's been business as usual. (bounce)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2013 2:00:42 GMT -5
I just cleaned the potty box and cage and put them to bed. I see what you are talking about with more bone in their poo than normal. Their poos were hard as rocks! Poor babies! I'm going to bring the bone level back a notch and add in some more muscle meats tomorrow. The meal in their cage now has turkey meat and hen with bones...and a few left over pieces of heart. The meal on deck in the fridge is half chicken liver and half chicken with bone. I might cut that with muscle meat tomorrow morning...I would right now if I had some thawed out, but the meal in there is about half turkey and half hen with bones. I think that should be okay until morning.
I have to admit that I'm pretty tickled to see them eating so much bone. Now not to overdo....
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Post by katt on Jun 12, 2013 12:30:14 GMT -5
They are doing great! How big or bones and how big of meat chunks will they eat? My suggestion for the bones is to buy some pork chops (Freddie's has the mega packs with the big Save $4! Stickers), some boneless beef (stew chunks, hamburger), and then a pack or two of boneless chicken breasts. Ground turkey is a good one too, but it is a bit speedy. Package these up, and add them into your rotation for about 4 meals a week. Now that they are eating everything, you don't have to worry so much about waste. You can just buy in bulk and freeze and eventually they will eat it all.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2013 20:20:14 GMT -5
The chunks (with and without bone) are about the size of my thumb nail...so maybe 3/4 inch long-ish. Sometimes I make the chunks smaller out of habit, but I'm trying to make them bigger. They would be smaller than the stew chunks would be. I have to work into larger chunks now, I'm thinking. LOL Okie dokie, I will start mixing in some other foods. I go grocery shopping in the next few days so I'll see what they have! Thanks!!!!
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Post by katt on Jun 13, 2013 11:39:50 GMT -5
Yep, mix in more boneless meats and increase chunk size. They need to work up to eating whole bones and meats! The min size to shoot for is a whole chicken wing, though once they can handle that they will often take on bigger prizes too. Remind me - is whole prey something you were wanting to feed as well? If so we can work on that next while you simultaneously work on increasing chunk size.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2013 19:45:25 GMT -5
No, my ultimate goal is frankenprey. If we can get up to whole chicken wing size, that would be fabulous! Much less chopping to do then! hehehe And per my track record now.....chopping is not exactly my forte! LOL I don't want them to fight over food but if they would eat larger chunks that would be helpful...I'm working on it!
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Post by katt on Jun 14, 2013 3:06:39 GMT -5
Haha Aww! As for the food fights...you will get those no matter the food size. All we have left then is to get them eating bigger pieces, make sure they are 100% ok with heart and organs fed independently, and complete your menu!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2013 23:07:35 GMT -5
Hahahaha well it would be fun to watch a food fight anyway lol. Tonight I'm chopping this weeks menu. But I'm making bigger pieces for them to eat. I've seen them take bigger pieces and work on them till they are gone so I don't see this being too difficult. So far I've measured out and chopped 4 quail, half a chicken, 4 oz of chicken hearts, some pork button bone, a turkey leg, some chicken gizzards, some chicken livers, a ball of fatty hamburger meat, and a bit of pork brain. Still thawing a stewing chicken. Now to measure it all out and package it up so we have the right mixture and enough heart, liver and brains for the week.
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