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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2014 12:18:20 GMT -5
Hello again! I am waiting for a mentor, but wanted to start documenting my journey with raw feeding in the mean time, since it seems like my fuzzies are making steady progress. My babies are Finley, Oliver, and my new kit, Cooper. I know there is a form you have to fill out weekly or something with weights and what not, but I'm not sure if I have to do that yet or can since I don't have a mentor yet. Anyway, our journey with raw feeding is moving along. My boys are slowly starting to take to the soup, all except one anyway. Finley laps up quite a bit (sometimes 2 icecubes worth) and my new kit seems to like it as well (he eats about 1 icecube). I have to Oliver, however, squirms around and freaks out a bit when I try and get him to try his soup. He is definitely the stubborn one in the group. I try to give him some every day. I let him sniff it out himself, I try to put some on his tongue, in his mouth, dab some on his nose, everything lol. I am at a loss with him so far lol. I am also wondering how long the fuzzies should take the soup for before taking away their kibble and before they can move on to slivers of meat. I tried to put a few slivers of liver in Finley's soup, since he seems to be moving a little faster than the others, and he only ate about 1-2 of them and I think it was accidental while he was lapping up the soup lol. Thanks for the help everyone! I really love the support on here. I didn't know anything about raw feeding when I got my first fuzzy about 6 months ago, but I feel like I'm learning so much. Everyone here is super helpful and kind. My biggest fear is that I will somehow mess something up and get my fuzzies sick. I know their diet has to be carefully balanced and what not, so I'm really thankful for the guidance. Also, I just wanted to mention that I started a Youtube channel recently to sort of document my journey with my ferrets. I linked a video of Finley eating his soup, but there are other videos on my channel as well if anyone is interested.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2014 16:33:59 GMT -5
Yay! So today I gave my new kit, Cooper, a chicken wing because he seemed like he really needed to chew on something. He is chewing on toys, bedding, etc. soI figured maybe he'd chew this and it's good for him so it works out for both of us lol. Anyway, I gave him the wing and he went to town. Not sure if he is really eating or more just chewing on it to ease his gums/teeth, but he sure does look like a natural lol. I linked the video here if anyone is interested in watching him tear it up. You can hear him crunching the bone, too! I never thought I'd want to hear that particular sound lol but it makes me happy to hear it. I tried giving Finley and Oliver a chicken wing each but they're not touching it. I also tried drizzling olive oil on it...but nothing lol. I have had their kibble removed for a couple of hours now (they've been sleeping mostly) and I left the wings in their cage where their food would normally be. Just wanted to see if I could gently and carefully take away the kibble to get them hungry enough to at least try the wings. So far they are still sleeping and haven't touched them. Should I just go ahead and give their kibble back or make them stick it out a bit longer in hopes that they'll get hungry enough to try it? Stubborn fuzzzies lol! Thanks for everyones help. It is very satisfying when they do what you want them to lol.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2014 8:39:14 GMT -5
So several hours after the chicken wing fiasco my fuzzies were pretty hungry and finally ate some soup. Finley eats soup anyway so I wasn't worried about him. I knew Oliver must have been pretty hungry since he hadn't had kibble for a few hours, and sure enough, he ate the soup lol. He's been fighting me on the soup. And then Cooper finished off the rest of the soup after having eaten his entire chicken wing lol. That little baby can eat! I feel like now that all 3 will take soup, it might be a good time to start taking kibble away/having them eating the soup full time or leaving the kibble in the cage at night or something. This is where a mentor would be helpful lol so many questions! I think I'm just trying to figure out what our next step should be.
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Post by Heather on Feb 19, 2014 13:55:15 GMT -5
Give them a couple of days to get the "feel" for it. The baby, just feed it...they're just furry tummies with teeth anyway. Look at a regular menu and feed the baby...let him go to town. You never know, he might induce the others to eat real food too. When your guys are comfortably eating the soupy and you know they're eating enough then you can remove the kibbles. Make sure that your soupy is basically balanced by following one of the soupy recipes here on the forum or posting your recipe so we can have a look at it. If they're really comfortable eating their soupy then you can start thickening it up (removing some of the water). Depending on how well they receive that then you can start adding tiny slivers of meats (no bigger than the tip of your fingernail) and just a few. Good luck
ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2014 15:22:27 GMT -5
Thanks Heather! I using the recipe from here on the forum for the soup. They all eat about 1 ice cube of it. Cooper will eat whatever I give to him pretty much lol. Is 1 ice cube enough for a meal or is it more typically?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2014 13:00:04 GMT -5
Cooper is progressing very quickly. In fact, I'm starting to believe he'd probably eat whatever I give him lol. Last night I put a whole chicken heart in his soup and when I came back to the cage some time later he was sleeping and the heart was nowhere to be found! I looked everywhere to see if he stashed it but didn't find anything. I think he ate it! Makes me happy lol. He also loves chicken wings, but I'm not sure how many I can give him and what not. He seems like he's way past soup, but my other two aren't at that stage yet, so I'm getting kind of frustrated/confused at this point lol.
I feel like in order to move forward I need some kind of a scheduled meal plan. So far I've only been giving them soup like once a day and at different times. Should I be giving them multiple meals of soup a day? Not sure where to go from here lol!
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Post by Sherry on Feb 23, 2014 10:49:34 GMT -5
Give them as much as they will eat Since they are accepting it well try removing the kibble completely on a day you are home and just keep feeding them. That will give you an idea of how much they will actually put away for the day right now. With baby try offering him a segmented chicken wing to see how he does with it
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2014 11:24:34 GMT -5
Thanks Sherry. I think Cooper might have decided he doesn't like the kibble anymore. I haven't seen him eat any at all. He's been eating soup, hearts, and chicken wings, and when I leave him with his kibble in between eating raw he doesn't seem to bother with it. Instead he goes crazy chewing on the cage and running around restless. I think he really wants the meat and is over the kibble. That said, I feel like I need to come up with a balanced meal plan for him, as I don't want him to miss nutrients and things he needs in his diet. Right now I only have chicken breast, chicken liver, chicken hearts, gizzards, and chicken wings. I am going to the market to see if I can get him some different things.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 23, 2014 11:27:48 GMT -5
Head to raw feeding, to a sticky called "meat, bone, organ, and basic menu plan. That will give you an idea of where to aim at.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2014 8:38:20 GMT -5
Thanks! Here is what I've come up with: Monday AM: chicken wing Monday PM: chicken gizzards and heart Tuesday AM: chicken liver and pork kidney Tuesday PM: chicken wing Wednesday AM: ground pork Wednesday PM: bone-in chicken thigh Thursday AM: chicken wing Thursday PM: bone-in chicken thigh Friday AM: chicken gizzards and heart Friday PM: turkey breast Saturday AM: chicken wing Saturday PM: bone-in chicken thigh Sunday AM: pork liver Sunday PM: chicken wing Totally just a rough idea and I definitely would love suggestions on anything that should be changed or added and what not. I also know I need to find more bone-in meats for bone meals, which I'm working on!
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Post by Sherry on Feb 24, 2014 18:24:50 GMT -5
I would definitely change to at least one full meal heart a week. More if you like. I do a single one week and two the next.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2014 18:49:04 GMT -5
Awesome thanks, will do! How many chicken hearts would be considered a meal?
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Post by msav on Feb 24, 2014 21:49:13 GMT -5
you may want to space out the liver, heart,and gizzard meals with a bone in. Their poops may be runny and the bone in meal in between will help firm them up. if you do a back to back heart followed by a liver it could get really messy. although yours may not have that bad poops, mine sure do.
btw on the chicken hearts, I feed 3oz of chicken heart per ferret. and every last one is gone. though 2 of mine are 4 months and one is 8 months.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2014 18:57:23 GMT -5
Hmm so today everyone seemed to backtrack a bit. Cooper, who was devouring meat for a few days there, hasn't been too interested the last 2 days. I've offered him a chicken wing, a turkey drumstick, pork neck (which he was a tad interested in), but he's not eating as much as he was. He was eating me out of house and home a couple of days ago lol. He is still eating his soup, but it seems like that's all he wants lately. I did get him to eat a little ground pork though. I'm not sure what happened, as he was doing so well. He seems fine other than that and isn't showing any concerning symptoms that I know of.
Finley and Oliver are in the same place. Still taking soup from a spoon. They eat about 1 ice cube each still, sometimes more or less. I still have to get them started by dabbing some on their mouths. Finley gets started eating pretty quickly, but Oliver gets very concerned and spooked when I start trying to get him to eat it. He's been dojng this since the beginning, like he thinks it's poison lol which is weird because I've been giving them soup for weeks now lol.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 9:33:30 GMT -5
I am not so worried about Cooper now. Last night he ate a whole chicken wing, some pork shoulder, and some soup. Today he ate more soup and is currently gnawing on a chicken gizzard. He seems right back to his old self. I've noticed he eats better when he gets lots of play time and burns off his energy. Those couple of days he wasn't eating as much I wasn't playing with him a lot (super busy). But yesterday he played for quite awhile with his brothers and worked up a great appetite!
And here is my second attempt at a meal plan for Cooper. Right now my meal plan for the other two is soupies twice a day (about 1-2 icecubes per feeding, usually 1). And then they have access to their kibble in between during the day/afternoon.
Monday AM: Pork kidney Monday PM: Chicken wing
Tuesday AM: Chicken gizzards (with 1 chicken heart) Tuesday PM: Chicken or turkey drumstick
Wednesday AM: Ground pork Wednesday PM: Chicken thigh
Thursday AM: Chicken wing Thursday PM: Chicken hearts
Friday AM: Turkey breast meat Friday PM: Pork neck
Saturday AM: Chicken wing Saturday PM: 2oz of chicken liver and 2oz pork kidney
Sunday AM: Pork neck Sunday PM: Pork shoulder
Also, I took their weights again today. On February 14th, the first time I weighed them, these were their stats:
Finley: 2lbs 12oz Oliver: 3lbs 5oz Cooper: 15oz
These are their weights from today: Finley: 2lbs 13oz Oliver: 3lbs 1.5oz Cooper: 1lbs 8.5oz So Finley gained an ounce, Cooper gained about half a pound, and Oliver lost a couple of ounces. This isn't surprising to me because Oliver is the one who seems to be fighting me the most on the transition.
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