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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 18, 2014 22:31:19 GMT -5
2 oz is not bad. usually big boys eat 3-4 ounces a day. sometimes more during winter. by "big" boys i mean ferrets that are over 3 pounds. my boy is almost 4 pounds. he is 3 pounds 13 ounces. he eats roughly 4 oz a day.
you have to remember that since he is kibble fed he is used to having to eat like every 3-4 hours. it is more of a mental thing. plus they ARE carb junkies when they eat kibbles. so you have to get them used to eating their natural diet.
if you see seedy stools sometimes that is a fat absorption issue. he is still in the transition phase so i would not worry too much. i would worry if you see diarrhea, phlemy mucousy stools, green foul smelling stools (smell like rotten fish).
remember that raw fed ferret's poops look NOTHING like kibble poops. they are smaller, more compact. no two are alike.
keep up with the thinner yogurt like consistency soup and adding the slivers and chunks. do this for about 3-4 days then try making a more course soup with the next batch that you make. more course grind.
you are making progress. you are doing fine. i am sure it seems that you are not, but from where i am sitting you are progressing just fine. every ferret is different. he is being stubborn but we will get there with him.
once we get him gnawing on actual muscle meat (chunks) then we may have more success with the wings. for now, just concentrate on getting him eating all of his raw soupies (at least 3 ounces a day) and increasing slivers, then the chunks. then we will work on the bone part.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 19, 2014 10:43:21 GMT -5
So he definitely thinks he's supposed to have soup at night, lol. He went to the fridge at 7:00 and sat there scratching at the door until I got his soup out. And then attached himself to my leg until I got it ready for him. I didn't have any slivers ready, and he didn't want to wait for me to get them cut (he was climbing up my leg), so I just tossed in some frozen chunks (about a quarter inch), stirred it all up with hot water, and plopped it on the floor for him. I didn't have a chance to weigh it, but it was probably right at 2 oz. It took him a few minutes to figure out that the chunks were edible, but once he got started, he didn't raise his head until it was gone. Then he climbed into my lap and passed out for the night. He looks & feels heavier to me, but his weight is still 2 lb 12 oz. He has had a few mucousy poops, but then they go back to more normal looking, and only 3 or 4 a day now... unless he's putting them someplace special for me to find later
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 19, 2014 21:54:16 GMT -5
awesome. well he just may be gaining more muscle bc he is getting more protein now. somewhere on this forum is the poop chart which shows all the different looking poops that you get when you feed raw. the poops are nothing like when you feed kibbles.
i will find it and post here. kind of gross but helpful.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 20, 2014 9:12:11 GMT -5
Last night wasn't so good Slinkee took a fall last night while I was fixing his food. He had climbed up me again so I set him on my shoulder (where he frequently rides). I took him & his dish into the other room to sit down with him, but before I got to the couch, he decided to take a flying leap over to it, but he misjudged the distance. His front feet caught the edge of the cushion but he couldn't hold on & hit the floor pretty hard. He jumped right up and ran away to his tunnel for a few minutes before coming back to eat, but he didn't eat very much, maybe 1/3 of what I gave him. I put the rest in his cage for him to finish through the night. This morning he hadn't eaten more than a couple more bites of it and his nighttime poop was very runny and mucousy. I offered him some fresh soup but he didn't want it. I was afraid to leave him for the day without knowing he'd eaten, so I refilled his kibble bowl. He was picking at it when I left, but he doesn't seem to be feeling too good. I'm going to go home and check on him during my break today, probably around noon.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 21, 2014 10:39:29 GMT -5
I started another thread about yesterday's worries here if you want the full update. Short story is he seems fine. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/14390/advice?page=1&scrollTo=200057I forgot to thaw his raw for last night, so I ended up giving him baby food with 1/4 inch raw chunks. He picked out the chunks first and left part of the baby food, so I think we're making progress. He still REALLY wants his kibble though. I'm just giving him a tiny bit at a time now instead of letting him free-feed, so he's gradually getting used to eating at certain times of the day. His weight was 2 lb 14-15 oz (he wouldn't sit still long enough to be 100% on the ounces). He feels really solid around his rib cage, and I can't feel individual ribs so much anymore. His fur is getting really thick & long. I know there's a change in fur when eating raw, but I'm kind of wondering if maybe he's also got his seasons mixed up and is just now getting his winter coat
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 21, 2014 13:11:00 GMT -5
omg is he okay then? that is so scary.
as long as you keep offering him the kibble, he will keep wanting it.
he seems to be eating enough of the raw mush. after he eats his raw mush tonight, leave out an extra ounce- ounce and a half in his cage for if he gets hungry. remove the kibble bowl over night. let's see how he does. hopefully he will eat what you leave for him during the night. if he does that, then i feel comfortable removing the kibble entirely. as long as we add organs, hearts and calcium to his raw soupies, he will be fine. we just have to work on getting him onto real bone and a few different proteins.
it is trial and error as to how much you can leave out for in between meals as sometimes they eat more than others (summer they eat less than during winter). so you *may* end up throwing some out. after 6 to 8 hours, if there is some of the raw meat grind still left over in his cage that he has not eaten, just throw it out and replace with a fresh plate.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 24, 2014 10:23:37 GMT -5
He's not eating the leftover raw overnight I thought maybe he didn't like it left over, so I gave him fresh before I went to bed and he didn't touch it either. And he just won't eat the raw in the mornings yet, even when I have the time to try to spoon feed him. I really thought he would eat it if I sat down and fed it to him, but he spit it in my face. So he's still getting kibble once a day. He is, however, eating good size chunks now with his evening soup. I tried giving him JUST chunks, but he had to have the soup with them. As long as there's 'gravy' on them, he's eating chunks about half the size of dice. Still no interest in the chicken wing. Poops are fine, sometimes soft (from the raw, right?) and less seedy than they have been.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 25, 2014 9:26:36 GMT -5
I didn't get home until almost 11:00 last night, so my daughter was in charge of the zoo. She fixed Slinkee's soup, just like I do, and sat down with him to feed him, which she often does after I fix it, and he refused to even look at it, much less eat it. It sat in his cage until this morning and he never touched it. I guess it didn't have mommy's special 'touch', lol. So no raw yesterday
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 25, 2014 10:23:16 GMT -5
Did he eat at all yesterday/last night?
How long had it been thawed out for? Write the recipe that you are using here.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 25, 2014 10:24:50 GMT -5
Sometimes they get what they need with just 3 ounces per day. As long as he eats at least 1.5 oz per meal AND is not lethargic, not losing weight then i would not worry.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 25, 2014 12:33:21 GMT -5
Oh, yes, he did eat yesterday but it was kibble. He had his kibble early in the day. His schedule was exactly the same as usual, just without me. She took his kibble bowl away (just a few crumbs left in it) when she got home from school. He seems to eat just before we get home, because he's never hungry until around 6:30-7:00. He played happily until 7:00 when she fixed his mush for him. So he didn't eat after 3:30 or so, but he was still energetic when I got home at 11:00, wanting to get out and play with me. I didn't have time to spoon feed him this morning, so I had to dump the leftover raw & give him more kibble. He wasn't starving even then though, because he wanted to play rather than eat - definitely NOT lethargic! His activity level is way up and he's started dooking more now - I love it His weight is staying around 2 lb 12-15 oz. I can't wait for him to break that 3 lb mark!! Soup recipe is the same I started with: 8 oz thigh meat w/ some skin & fat, 1 oz heart, 1 oz liver, 1/2 tsp egg shell powder. Is that still right, or do I need to change something?
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 25, 2014 21:01:07 GMT -5
Ok. Well now that you are home try feeding him a good 1.5 oz of raw mush, then take kibble away overnight and leave about 1 oz in cage in case he gets hungry overnight. maybe he is just used to you feeding him.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 27, 2014 9:59:12 GMT -5
He is a stubborn brat and he's lucky that I love him. That is all.
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Post by gfountain on Feb 27, 2014 14:45:56 GMT -5
OK, sorry about that last post... it was a frustrating morning. Slinkee just absolutely refuses to eat raw in the mornings. After I got ready for work this morning, I sat down with him to try AGAIN to get him to eat some soup. He didn't want it. I scruffed & stuffed a couple of bites, then he stuck his head in the bowl, grabbed a huge mouthful, turned to me & spit it out - all over me. My clothes, my face, my hair, everywhere. So, needless to say, I was very late for work and nothing has gone right for me all day. btw... ferret soup does NOT taste good
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 27, 2014 23:21:47 GMT -5
omg. gross. try taking his kibble, soak it in water til it is soft, then mash it with back of spoon. add some water to it and make it into a thick gravy. then add some of that to the raw mush. see if he will eat it that way. of course, we will have to remove that later on. but we need to get him to stop being so darn stubborn. grrr.
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