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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2013 13:15:52 GMT -5
I will get that info to you tomorrow. I'm on my TN trip. But we get home tonight. It's been a blast! Got so many cool things
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2013 0:06:41 GMT -5
Perfect, thanks! Glad it's been fun!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2013 8:24:56 GMT -5
Home and all settled in from the trip? how are the ferrets doing? Did you end up taking them or did you leave them at home with a sitter? If you could get me those weights and activity/stool reports that would be great.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2013 10:31:19 GMT -5
Yes, everything is back to normal! No I didn't take the ferrets. Since it was only 4 days and it was a vacation, I didn't wanna have to spend it worrying about ferret proofing an area, scooping the litter, spoon feeding, and making sure they're safe from dogs....on a 4 day trip. So they stayed home with my (tolerant of them) step-dad. He fed them their kibble. And apparently he had let them out in my room an shut the door...and forgot. So they got two days of out of cage time! Haha no complaints from them!
They're doing great though. We have a screen room to the side of the house, and I got to take the ferrets out there the other day! They were so excited with all the new things to explore and smells to smell!
As for raw updates...everything's the same. Loki is getting better. I picked him up and dabbed it on his nose and he ate two fingers worth!
Their stats!
Layla is 1 lbs 11 oz, her poops have always been a bit smaller and lighter brown. I thought it might be because she eats less than the boys? She's been playing as normal. There was one day recently where they had practically no play time because I was so busy.
Bear is 2 lbs 14 oz, his poops have been pretty normal. A little bit runny occasionally...cause of the soup? Activity is normal. He's the laziest.
Loki is 2 lbs 17 oz, poops normal. Probably the best of the three. And he's been playing as normal!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2013 10:34:21 GMT -5
! That was not supposed to post three times!! Crazy phone! I'll see if I can delete it
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2013 12:00:56 GMT -5
My phone does that too, do you use the pro boards app? It's been acting up lately.
Glad to hear you got to enjoy your vacation! Sounds like the ferrets didn't have too bad of a time either!
That's great that they are still taking to the soup the same even after 4 days off!
Thanks for the updates. Don't worry about their stools right now. They will be pretty funky for the first part of the switch. 1 thing you can do to help them be a little less icky is to make sure you leave 1-2 hours between them eating raw and kibble.
What's your schedule like? Are you working during the day right now?
When you are home for most of the day, ie. a weekend. I would recommend taking their kibble away first thing in the morning. Then wait 2 hours. Then feed them the raw soup throughout the day (like every couple hours if you can). Try to get 1-2 tbsp into them at a time if you can. You should also leave a plate of raw soup in the cage. Keep finger and spoon feeding every couple hours.
Then remove the soup 2 hours before bed. Replace the kibble before you go to bed so that have the kibble all night.
For days that you work, remove the kibble when you get home from work. Wait 1 hour. Then hand feed them raw soup for the rest of the night. Then give it about an hour before bed with no raw soup. Then put the kibble back in.
I know that sounds like a lot of work, but by hand feeding them raw soup more than once a day you will get them eating the soup much quicker!
Let me know if that is doable for you. Or let me know something that works for your schedule!
Leaving an hour between feeding raw and kibble will help with the stools though. So will making sure you have 1/2 tsp egg shell per 8oz chicken meat.
Have you ordered the hearts yet? Definitely do that ASAP! Hearts have taurine, which is critical to a ferret's Heath. So definitely don't go too long without hearts in the soup!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2013 20:26:08 GMT -5
I've thought about downloading it, but as of now I just use the mobile site! But I will be phone less until Saturday, so I'll be posting through my laptop of iPad. Well my schedule is a little crazy. It's different every week. But it all stays on a basic line. I'll give you a look at it. Monday and Tuesday I am free in the morning. I go in for work at 1 (pm) at the earliest. And can work as late as 9is. Wednesday is a busy day. I'm off work on Wednesdays but I have First Priority in the morning (a lunch time worship service at my local high school that goes from 10 am to about 1 pm.) and I help out with that. Feeding and sometimes leading the music. And then I'm free from then until 6, when I leave for church and wont be back until 10. Then Thursday is the same as Monday/Tuesday. Then Friday I usually go in at 7 am, and get off at noonish. Saturday...usually I either have them off...or they're just like Fridays. Sunday's I have off. Church in the morning and night but it doesn't take a huge chunk if my day. I've thought about leaving a plate in the cage! But I feel like Bear will immediately flip it over....I shall try though! UPDATE. I put three cubes worth out for them this afternoon and they ate it up! Same as usual....Bear pigged out. Layla eats more and more each time. But runs away when she's done Loki eats the soup just fine now! He eats it off a spoon now, but only of I hold him. Getting somewhere!!!!! I'm gonna admit....I haven't ordered hearts yet. I know I'm supposed to! I can just never convince myself to call the butcher because (I'll admit) it still really grosses me out. It was bad enough chopping up the liver any encouraging words?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2013 23:11:11 GMT -5
It sounds to me like you are home often enough that you could remove the kibble completely when you're at home, and put a plate of soup in. If you get a heavier plate or a bowl, they usually don't tip it over Just replace the kibble when you leave for work / church. As for the heart, it's actually not gross at all compared to liver. If you handled liver, you will laugh at how easy heart is it cuts up really nicely and is quite solid inside because the heart is a muscle. Do go ahead and order some. If you don't feed hearts, you can't feed raw. Otherwise you get taurine deficiencies, followed quickly by death. Again, it's really not bad at all That's really great progress though! The next step is to slowly lower the spoon towards a plate just keep working on it as many times a day as your schedule allows, it will come!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2013 13:42:03 GMT -5
Can I have an update on the following: -weight -activity level -poop report -the weekly eating report (ie what was fed for the PAST week) I will get you to update me on this every Sunday / Monday
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 9:27:44 GMT -5
Updates please, need you posting every 2 days!!!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 17:52:32 GMT -5
Every Sunday/Monday, got it now! Haha sorry it took so long. Loki is eating soup MUCH more willingly now! I think I'll keep feeding soup out of cage right now. Until Loki is eating it from the plate. But Layla and Bear both had an ice cube a piece and Loki had two whole (baby) spoonfuls! (dance) Ok...at Walmart they have a "Chicken Gizzards and Hearts" pack. I can buy that (freeze the gizzards for later) and see how well I can do with hearts. Since there aren't many in the package. BUT...do you think, if I try them and am still really not good using them, that I can replace them with taurine powder? I believe I can get some at my local health food store...I wanted to know if you thought that would be a good choice? I won't do it if you don't approve! NOW! The updates. The scale I got is a little bitty square...and they don't fit well. So the recent weights might have been a few ounces off. However I did fix the issue. If you put something on it (like a bowl)...THEN turn it on, it detects that current weight as zero. So I put a pan on it to make it bigger. So these weights are accurate! Layla is 1 lb 10 oz, she's been playing as normal, and her poops have been a little gloopy. But they don't stay that way. Loki is 2 lbs 12 oz, he's been having a few sluggish days as of recently. Is it because of the soup? His poops have been normal. Bear is 2 lbs 15 oz, he's been active! Not hyper really a whole lot. Just exploring and stashing. For hours! I do wanna say when I was scooping the litter the other day, one of the boys poops was green. Bright green. it was very obvious that it was something one of them swallowed they shouldn't have! (headwall) Luckily it didn't start a blockage! I just thought you might need to know! I'm sorry again for being late!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2013 10:50:27 GMT -5
No worries about being late, It just helps the switch move along smoother and quicker if you post every second day (or every day if you want to) That is awesome progress! Very good work! Just keep doing what you are doing. If the spoon feeding is going well, you can start trying to Slowly lower the spoon onto a flat plate of soup. If this works, then you can slowly sneak the spoon off of the plate of soup and hopefully that will lead to eating off the plate! It may takes a few tries though so keep working at it Thanks for the updates. It sounds like everyone is doing well. Did you find any foreign objects in the green stool or did you just mean that someone must have eaten something that didn't agree with them? As long as they aren't skinny poops, it's probably not blockage related. In fact, green poop can be caused by something as simple as stress, so as long as it was only a one time thing, I wouldn't worry about it. If green poop continues though, it is something to get looked at. As for the hearts, go ahead and pick that bag up, if you can't find hearts on their own. Gizzards are great for their teeth and chewing so definitely freeze those for a bit later. Give the hearts a try, they really aren't gross compared to liver. They are solid and meaty and not goopy or stinky like liver. Let me know how that goes. I will check into the taurine for you. I know many give it as a supplement on top of the heart they feed. I'm just not 100% sure about just using it, and no hearts. Obviously natural sources are always better so if you can handle the hearts, that would be best. However. I will let you know.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 23:28:21 GMT -5
Okay, so you CAN uses taurine supplement in place of heart. But you MUST give at least 500mg EVERY DAY, never missing a day. That being said, I really really really recommend that you use hearts. Not only is it a natural source and easier and better for them but it is way way way less expensive. Also in order to feed raw you must be okay with feeding this kind of stuff. You absolutely HAVE to feed 2oz of liver per ferret per week, and 2oz of kidney / other organ per ferret per week. Other organ includes things like brains and spleens and pancreas. This is honestly just part of the raw diet. So pick up some gloves and a mask if you need to. And suck it up I promise I mean that in the kindest way possible
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2013 12:57:39 GMT -5
Haha well thanks! Really. That was encouraging. I have 5 brothers, so I'm used to tough love. I will give the hearts a shot I ran out of soup, so I went and got more ground chicken last night, and I did pick up the hearts/gizzards. So I'll be mixing a new batch this afternoon (I'm off at 9)! Do I need to get the hearts up? Or just put em in the grinder whole, and it'll do the rest? And sorry for being so uncooperative with the organs. I'm just such an animal person. I love a chicken or goat as much as a dog. And I am ok with meat eating. I'm not all for hunting for sport though. I just never like hurting an animal. If we could go to a perfect world where animals and people don't eat each other: yay! Haha so I think it's just I'm used to growing up with chicken wings and burger so I guess it just doesn't feel like it was an animal. So I guess when I'm dealing with organs...it's just a big reminder that it used to be an animal..that died so it could be eaten. But I'm getting with it! I'm just gonna have to remind myself that that stuff is already in the kibble. I'm just hands on with it now. That they would eat it in the wild. I'll tell you how the hearts go tonight! AND give you update on weights and such! Thought ahead this time
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2013 18:35:52 GMT -5
Not a problem, that's what I'm here for The chicken hearts are pretty small so the grinder should handle them no problem if not, just cut them in half. That's understandable, just keep in mind that ferrets are obligate carnivores, meat is what they are designed to eat and yes kibble has organs and feet and feathers and a whole lot of other nasty animal parts in it, and you can pretty much bet that animals slaughtered for kibble companies aren't exactly treated well. Not that human consumption ones always are either, but for the most part we do have some ethical treatment laws in place. Let me know how it goes! Remember you only need 2 chicken hearts per 8oz of meat (and 0.5 oz liver and 1/2 tsp eggshell)
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