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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2013 21:23:57 GMT -5
I am having trouble with them eating this week...They just don't want to eat much at all....I don't know what to do. And last night Donut choked on a piece of food..Good thing for the facebook page, the people on there helped me out right away with that.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 2:09:14 GMT -5
My little YOgi had to have surgery on Friday. Poor little one. With all his issues I haven't had much time to come on here in a bit.
First, if it's warm outside, you will see a decrease in their appetite. Mine aren't eating much right now. Don't worry, they will eat. Mine missed a whole meal yesterday. I barely got them to finish their breakfast at dinner time. They love to cause you worry! Don't be too concerned. The hand feeding..I've noticed the same with Daisy. She will eat some if I force her to. And I think that, to her, hand feeding is forcing. I'm glad she will take anything I give her on my finger but it's frustrating to have to do it when she should be eating on her own. See? it never ends! LOL Sometimes they just get that way. And just when you really start to worry, they will start eating again.
Donut- he was choking? On a piece of meat? One of the things we are doing with starting with the small chunks is getting them used to eating all over again. They will sometimes try to swallow but the piece isn't small enough yet, so they chuck it back up and continue. It was one of my biggest worries when they started on bones, but they also did it when they started on chunks. It's like re-learning how to eat. Go slow and don't worry too much! I'm glad the fb people helped you!
Glad the poops are good! It's nice to see good poos! You know that things are going well then.
What is your fb name? How hot has it been at your place? do you expect the weather to start to cool dow soon? We are on the cool down now and it's raining here again. So nice to have some cooler weather...the ferts are very happy when it is cooler.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 2:21:21 GMT -5
I just saw your post about the choking. IMO it sounds like fur still. Daisy is doing the same thing. But if you see something in his throat like a sore or ulcer, best to get him checked out by the vet. It doesn't sound like a blockage to me, he would be vomiting. The gagging thing while he's eating is exactly what Yogi does when he's got a build up of fur. Start the pumpkin and increase the amount of eggs with their food. Sounds to me like things are ramping up with the shedding! What you described is just like where I was last week. I had two ferrets puking and yogi gagging while he was eating. I gave pumpkin and ferretlax to stop the immediate symptoms and then upped the egg amount regularly. haven't had many problems since, but it's been only a few days.
Let me know what happens!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 2:34:14 GMT -5
I was wondering where u went! Hope ur lil guy gets better soon. Surgery is scary. I thought Donut was choking at the time, but I'm positive it was the beef liver I added that caused an allergic reaction. I'm NOT feeding that again. I'll stick with the chicken liver. Because I made the slivers even smaller so that's another reason why I don;'t think he was choking on a piece. I'm keeping him separate from the others tonight and going to watch his poops and make sure he's ok.I'm also giving him pumpkin to make sure there's no possible blockages. My facebook name is Natasha Deis. It was fairly warm all week...between 25-31 celcius, but we do have central air conditioning we keep on all the time for the ferrets. To be honest...I'm scared about going raw now...I don't want them to get sick like he did...I don't know what to think Especially when the closest ferret vet is over 3 hours away.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 2:36:37 GMT -5
I gave him an egg yolk and some pumpkin tonight. He pooped a kinda normal looking poop so that's good He seems very very tired after his little episode, he's been sleeping all night now.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 3:01:09 GMT -5
I completely understand. There are alternatives to beef. I've heard that allergies to foods present by violent throwing up, so I'm inclined to think that it wasn't an allergy. But you know your ferrets best! You are doing the right thing and if he's doing better, it sounds like whatever the episode was has passed.
that really sucks that the nearest ferret vet is so far away! Just let him nap and he should be better in no time. Poor little guy! They do get tired when something like that happens. Daisy was throwing up and running frantically all over her room on Tuesday. I tossed everything they ate and completely cleaned their room to make sure that there wasn't any stashed foods left anywhere. Only two of the four were getting sick so I don't think it was the food, but I got rid of everything anyway. Daisy and Yogi both slept for quite a while after the whole puking episode.
Chicken liver is fine....we can get other proteins in them another way. And chicken liver is fairly easy to find, so we can stick with that. I know it's scary. I was scared the whole time I was going through the switch. I totally understand. Give them a kiss and get some rest!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 10:42:26 GMT -5
Well he did throw up a little bit both nights, but not a whole lot. I literally thought he was dying the way he was acting. Fed him his breakfast without the liver and he's fine today! He didn't want to each much tho i had to spoon feed him, he only ate a bit but he's probably scared he's going to be sick again. He's actually playing too. (He doesn't play much, he's more of a dopey goofball laid-back type ferret lol) I'll get some chicken liver today and use that. The pork I haven't added for a couple days since he was sick there, but I'll start that maybe tonight again or tomorrow. I want to make sure he's good for sure. Oh and his poops from over night were good. There was a big pumpkin one, and the other one was half pumpkin half a slightly darker poop. which could have been the liver possibly? I'm not sure.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 18:52:28 GMT -5
I"m so glad that he's feeling better. I don't have much experience with allergies, as mine are just finicky...but nothing makes them sick. I asked some of the other admins and mentors and they agreed that the reaction he had could be an allergic reaction. But that's okay, we can work around it. There are tons of other things they can eat to get a variety of proteins in their diet. One idea that I discussed, in addition to allergies, is that sometimes they can choke on small pieces because they think it is smaller than it is. I've seen mine do that before. The solution is bigger chunks, which we are working towards anyway.
Yes, sounds like you have a good plan. We can hold off and see how everyone is doing for a few more days, let them settle back in. Great that his poos are good again. The pumpkin one is great and the other one that had other stuff in it is pretty normal. Sometimes they have multi colored poos...start out as meat, end up as egg or pumpkin. Makes it like a guessing game...hmmm, this one is half this and half that. LOL
So when they are eating, are they leaving the chunks out or are they eating those too now? When you are comfortable with it, you can slightly increase the size of the chunks you are giving them. But give Donut a little time....throwing up and choking on something makes their throats a bit soar. He should be back to okie dokie in another day or so.
I'm so sorry you had all that happen. I'll tell you what my set back was in my switch: About two or three weeks in Yogi got really, really sick. I took him in to the vet because he had violent diarrhea.....shooting out of him straight back and hitting the wall like a foot! And the smell was HORRIBLE!!!!! Like, gotta move out and buy a new house horrible. He had a bacterial issue in his intestines. I ended up finding out where it came from...bad water. I had an old cat little box that I kept their big water bowl in so they wouldn't spill it all over. There was a pool of water behind the bowl that was stagnant and had nasty stuff in it. When I found it and cleaned it out, the water smelled so bad! Oye! It scared the crap outta me until I figured out what it was. Anyway, we all have setback but you know that we can get this done and your sweet fuzzies will be healthier and happier because of it. Hang in there, we can do this!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 0:51:47 GMT -5
Ferrets ate really well tonight! Had to resort back to putting salmon oil on it tho, but that was for Donut and Alto. Mika ate it all by herself. Donut and Alto wanted to be spoon fed half way but still ate good. Plus no reaction from Donut since I cut the beef liver out. When they are eating, they do eat some chunks and they leave some. They left about 1.5oz tonight but once I put them away for the night I'll put the rest in the cage, and they might eat a little bit more.
I had a ferret pass away a month after I did the switch, and that was kind of a step back then because we really didn't know why she passed at the time. Vet kept saying something about toxicity or something. And I thought I killed her with the raw food. But sitting down and thinking of it for awhile, we think it was her adrenal disease....just her time. She had it for 3 years and Lupron wasn't working and then the des implant worked for a few months but that was it. U might have read about it on the holistic facebook page about 2 months ago or so, I was talking with muliple people trying to get help from them and while I was at the vets. It was an all night thing trying to save her. It was horrible. Anyways sorry I just rambled on there.
Is it normal for them to eat and occasionally "forget" to chew and cough it back up? Alto does this every so often the booger. I don't know why he does that. Maybe it's like u said...they think its smaller than it is.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 2:07:05 GMT -5
Oh girl, I'm so sorry you have had to deal with that. It was not the switch that killed her. Honestly, it was a coincidence. I think I do remember. Gosh, I'm so very sorry. My Mickey is adrenal...and it started after I made the switch. After I lost Jimmy, I swore that I would give the rest the very best of everything...the best chance to live. I knew it was a crap shoot with the bad genes, but if I fed them raw, it would give them a better chance at a long life. I really, truly believe that. We can't do much about genes, but as far as our influence goes, we can do something.
So as far as our current switch goes, lets take it slowly...keep on the same schedule. They will get hungry and eat those little chunks. If you want, scale it down a bit and go with slivers for a little while. Right now is the hard part. They have to get used to the feel of the chunks. If they resist, you have to roll it back a tad and go back to just slivers. What we are waiting for is them accepting those chunks, but that can take a while. Once they do, they take off....but until then, it's the waiting game. The funny thing is that when they do get it, it's a crazy thing. They go nuts for it...like they've been waiting for this their whole lives.
It is totally normal for them to "forget" to chew. That's part of what we are doing. They have to get used to it before we can move on. They are used to something totally different. This is a whole new world for them. Eating is a response for them...but the thing that they are eating is a different size and texture. They have to get used to it. They will. It will be okay. They are able to adapt quickly. After a day or two we can keep moving then along. I just want to make sure that Donut is on the same course.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 13:50:28 GMT -5
Ya that's what I was thinking after we lost 3 ferrets...I was tired of the food recalls from Evo and I wanted them to live longer healthier lives. Donut and Mika ate so good this morning all on their own but Alto just has a couple licks so I hand fed him. It's so weird cuz when I first did the switch at the start, it was Alto that was the first to eat the chicken. Now he wants me to spoon feed him. Oh well, whatever works for him for now. I really am looking forward for them to start going crazy for their food. I've watched videos of ferrets going crazy for it, and I always think..will my ferrets ever be like that? haha Mika still tries to steal the dog food, she looks for that more than she looks for her food lol She's still looking at kibble as food. can't wait for that to change. I'll weigh the ferrets a bit later today and post it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 19:01:17 GMT -5
Good for Donut and Mika! Alto is just being stubborn hehehe. He will get it. And it is nice to see them excited for their food. Don't worry, they will get there. Mine aren't excited about anything right now. I think it's the season change. They are barely eating and gaining weight, but they are not being very active so the food needs aren't as high. And mine go CRAZY for the kitty food! I don't think that's going to change. Mika sounds much like my Mickey. hehehe Two peas in a pod, those two!
I stayed up waaaay too late last night so I'm going to go take a little nap. I'll check back in later!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 21:02:21 GMT -5
Ya, as soon as I let Mika out she literally runs as fast as she can to the kitchen to where the dog food is and grabs a piece and takes off into my bedroom under the bed to eat it. She is so bad lol Ok so the ferrets weight is
Alto: 1020g Donut: 1012g Mika: 820g
OMG Alto just pooped the best looking poop I have ever seen since eating raw! wow! It was nice and firm and the color was a light brown color. I think upping the eggshell is working. It didn't smell the best tho haha
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2013 21:32:01 GMT -5
Ha! Good news! Yay Alto!
So it looks like we hit our stride with Alto and Mika, both have gained some weight since their last weights. Donut, however, is still loosing. But since he is eating good now, we will hopefully see that turn around.
LOL Mika sounds exactly like my Mickey! Mickey runs as fast as he can to tip the kitty water over and grab a mouth full of kitty food and hide under the dresser. All you can hear is crunch, crunch, crunch. He's not allowed in that room any more....none of them are. LOL But they are soooo persistent! Sometimes they slip through and we have a made chase across the room. hehehe
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2013 22:05:38 GMT -5
So, I bought some more chicken thighs to cut into slightly larger chunks, and the chicken smells like fish....I don't know why. It's brand new just bought. I'm cutting it up anyway but I'll just keep it separate from the chicken I grind up. Can chicken sometimes smell like fish, or is it bad?
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