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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2013 5:43:54 GMT -5
Activity level= Very active. Weight- 850grams (He's put a lot on?! lol) Stool- Black/Dark Brown.
Monday AM- 2oz Chicken with Cartilage PM- 2oz Chicken and beef Mince Tuesday AM- 2oz Chicken with little bits of bones (he choked?) PM- 2oz Beef Mince Wednesday AM- 2oz Beef Mince Pm- 2oz Chicken with cartilage Thursday AM- 2oz Chicken PM- Offered Beef Mince and egg yolk, licked egg yolk but left mince. Friday AM- 2oz Chicken PM- 2oz Pork with fat. Saturday AM- 2OZ Chicken, Pork,Beef steak,kidney. PM- Same again Sunday AM- 2oz " SAME AS ABOVE"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2013 5:44:18 GMT -5
Trying to get a picture lol he's so fast!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2013 5:56:38 GMT -5
Best I can do lol
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2013 19:17:42 GMT -5
Thanks, don't worry he looks nice and plump so as long as he keeps eating well you don't have to send me anymore pics unless you notice him dropping weight at all, then please let me know! For the menu, do any of the "chicken" meals include bone? Or are they just chicken meat? I'm just trying to figure out how many bone meals you have versus muscle meat meals. How are the wings going? How big of bone pieces would you say he is eating? Lets try work him up to bigger bone pieces now. As for the choking, yes occasionally they get bone stuck in their mouth and gag a little. Nothing to worry about. It's far more likely for a ferret to choke on kibble than bone!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2013 3:37:56 GMT -5
Okay some bone but mainly cartildge as although it doesn't contain as much goodness as bone does, he loves it and has to crunch haha. and the wings aren't too bad... he ate tiny chunks of bone which were smaller than 1 cm.. and the choking was pretty bad, was constant for a good 5/10 minutes until I had to get him out of the cage and check his mouth and throat
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2013 14:55:06 GMT -5
Okay thanks If that's the case then it looks like this is what you did menu wise last week: Monday AM - Muscle Meat Monday PM - Bone-in Meat Tuesday AM - Bone-in Meat Tuesday PM - Bone-in Meat Wednesday AM - Bone-in Meat Wednesday PM - Muscle Meat Thursday AM - Muscle Meat Thursday PM - Bone-in Meat Friday AM - Muscle Meat Friday PM - Muscle Meat Saturday AM - Kidney / Muscle Meat Saturday PM - Kidney / Muscle Meat Sunday AM - Kidney / Muscle Meat Notice how you only have 5 bone in meals and the rest are boneless? Lets aim to increase that number. Ferrets actually need 8-9 bone meals a week, with 6-7 of those meals being heavy in bone (ie wings or necks) and the remaining one being lighter in bone (more meat than bone). The kidney is great but you only need to feed organ for 1 - 1.5 meals a week, and HALF of that organ meal must be liver. Liver is extremely important to balance the raw diet. You also need at least 1 full meal of just hearts. 1.5 is better. So for this week, look at what you have already fed and then try balance out the rest of your meals for the week so that from Monday - Sunday you fed: -8 bone meals -3 meat meals (chicken, pork, etc with no bone) -1 organ meal (half liver, half kidney) -1 heart meal -1 meal that is half heart and half organs That will give you a more balanced week If you aren't able to get those numbers exactly this week, no worries! Just wanted to give you a template to work towards! Also you want to balance out the protein variety as much as possible. So try feed equal amounts of chicken, beef, pork and lamb if possible.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 9:01:34 GMT -5
He's gone totally off the wing bones? I've bought a calcium supplement for now until he eats more as I don't want him to lack considering his age... What I've done now is i have made a load of bags of raw meals up and put 1 piece of each meat so he has a chunk of steak, chicken, pork, fat and kidney all together? he seems to like it? lol
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 9:03:24 GMT -5
Also, I'll be getting liver too lol sorry forgot to add
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 17:45:40 GMT -5
Hmmm they do occasionally take backwards steps during the switch. Especially if he had that awful choking experience, it's possible he now associated that with bones.
Would you mind posting a picture of the calcium supplement's ingredients / analysis? Or just type them up or post a website link if that's easier.
And how much of it are you giving?
Are you still giving the crushed egg shell in the soup?
I just want to make sure the calcium ratios are all good.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 17:49:57 GMT -5
Mixing the meats is fine too, just make sure he is also getting 2 ounces of liver per week (liver has vitamins which are essential to their health and are very very important in the raw diet) and that the kidney amounts equal about 2 ounces a week too.
And then make sure he is getting at least 1.5 meals of hearts, as the taurine in hearts is essential and a shortage can cause major problems and even death (why they add taurine to all cat and ferret kibble).
We definitely need him eating bone soon too though. As bone contains more than just calcium as far as nutrients go.
Can you pick up a different kind of bone perhaps?
You can get something called "pork button bones", they are little tiny round thin pork bones that look like buttons. They are very easy to cut through with scissors and cat be broken into small pieces with the meat still attached. This might work better. You can also get something called pork end bones that is similar. Just make sure they are thin enough for the ferret to eat.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2013 22:51:20 GMT -5
Hey,
Any updates? How is doing? Did you manage to pick up some new bone sources or get him eating any bones?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2013 14:26:43 GMT -5
Just a forewarning, it's been 6 days since your last post and I need you posting every 3rd day at this point in the switch.
Pleas also note that Milo is NOT on a balanced diet right now. If you stop the mentoring program at this point he will get VERY SICK from not eating enough bone.
Please post soon so I don't have to move this switch into the vault!!
Thank you!
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Post by Sherry on Aug 15, 2013 19:20:57 GMT -5
Hi Chantelle. Sherry here You really need to keep your mentor updated on what's happening in your switch. You are at a VERY dangerous place for him right now and have to keep pushing forward. To get him back on bone, feed him nothing but segmented wings for the next 3 days running, both meals a day. He WILL eat them, and it won't hurt him. But he needs to get back on track.
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