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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2014 12:23:00 GMT -5
Hi everyone, I'm currently waiting for the mentoring programme so figured I may as well start documenting it here. I have 2 very picky ferrets. George who has just had an op for insulinoma will only eat chicken strip treats and esmerelda loves her kibble. I'm starting them on moist kibble today to see how they both go. George will get some chicken strips mixed in with his to try and coax him into eating a bit. Meanwhile our first meat delivery has arrived, lots of minced rabbit and 6 mahoosive turkey necks! As a vegan it feels very strange having a freezer full of meat again! Here's a picture. You can see my little Linda McCartney sausages at the front!  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2014 15:49:14 GMT -5
Good news, Esmerelda will eat the soaked kibble which is a brilliant start!
Bad news, George won't eat any of it and spits it out when I put it in his mouth. With keef trying using the scruff and stuff or just putting it on his nose if it's runny enough. Gave him some chicken bits for overnight so at least he's eating something.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2014 11:14:07 GMT -5
So I think today I'll try esmerelda on the kibble soup but mix in a bit of chicken baby food. Is that the usual next step when transitioning?
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Post by Sherry on Feb 23, 2014 10:41:29 GMT -5
Hi  great idea getting a head start! Okay, with George(amazing just how far they can spit, isn't it?), start by dabbing the kibble soup on his nose every 5-10 minutes while they are out. Sooner or later he will start to accept it from your finger. Then start him with a spoon and finally the dish. When they accept this start mixing in the raw puree SLOWLY. Start with maybe 1/2 tsp well blended and move up daily from there until all raw. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2014 11:08:45 GMT -5
Great thanks Sherry, Esmerelda is liking the kibble soup with the small amount of chicken baby food as far as I can tell! George is still being stubborn, but will persevere and keep dabbing it on his nose |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2014 12:56:52 GMT -5
So Esmerelda is doing well and is eating the kibble with even more chicken baby food in it and seems to not mind at all. I even tried her with just some baby food and she was apprehensive at first but then decided she liked it as long as it was on my finger. We only have 1 more small pot of baby food left so I think I'll get some chicken tomorrow and start to blend some into the kibble mix instead of the food as it was too pricey to get online with the shipping (£10.36 for 3 small jars!).
George is still acting like I'm trying to poison him everytime I pop some kibble soup on his nose. So he's still getting the treats in the morning and at night, but inbetween those times I'm tryng to get him on the soup when he's out and running around. Such a stubborn little thing!
So that's where we are, and also Es is now back in the cage at night with George which means myself and my partner can once again get a decent nights sleep with Es shuffling all over and trying to play at 2am!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 3:45:17 GMT -5
So George suprised us all this motning and ate some chunks of a chicken heart that we thawed for esmerelda. I'm so excited as that's the first proper food he's had in weeks!
We are defrosting some rabbit right now to see if he will have some of that eeeee!
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Post by Thérèse on Feb 26, 2014 8:19:13 GMT -5
Some ferrets do seem to prefer to jump straight to chunks so maybe that's what George wants, something he can sink his teeth into!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 13:39:07 GMT -5
tried him with rabbit and no deal I'm afraid. Will try him again with hearts tomorrow and pick up some chicken to cut up see what happens.
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Post by Thérèse on Feb 27, 2014 9:13:45 GMT -5
Rabbit may be too far away from his terms of reference...don't recall any rabbit kibbles back when I fed kibble.
Persistence is the key, he will get there
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2014 13:51:54 GMT -5
Yeah you're probably right, can't hurt to try though ey!
So I went and bought a chicken breast, chicken gizzards and chicken liver today to see how the fuzzies felt. I've seperated them into portions of a mixture of all that and the hearts.
Esmerelda is not so keen and just wants to hide it everywhere and george ate some and then tried to hide the rest, so I've retrieved it and put it in his cage for when he goes back in.
Looks like we're finally getting somewhere, but Es is still on the soup and not keen on the heart just yet!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2014 14:45:35 GMT -5
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Post by Thérèse on Mar 1, 2014 7:48:12 GMT -5
Is that George? Go George!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2014 11:15:03 GMT -5
Thérese, it certainly is! He's mostly all about the chicken hearts, but he's wolfing them down like there's no tomorrow. I've managed to sneak in some gizzards, liver and normal meat but it has to be cut up small or h*ll just hide it all over. Still- definite progress! I'm over the moon!
When I let him out in the morning now he's lively and bothers me for food. it's so cute!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2014 12:00:50 GMT -5
Tried them both on quail eggs today as they weren't interested in standard eggs at all, and I have to say thy were a hit!  Also here's a cute picture of myself and the beautiful George...  |
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