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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2014 4:00:53 GMT -5
So far so good! (giggle) Glad that they're all on bone and no longer needing any bonemeal/ eggshell powder. How are they're stools so far? Pretty normal? So happy that they're all eating bone on their own!
We just need to work them up to a bigger size, then you take a short final exam ( I can give you the 5 topics and if you don't feel confident in any of them we can review before you take the exam) and a final feeding schedule for the admin whos in charge of the switches and You and the kids graduate ^_^ Let me know if you want to get working on the exam or if you want to just continue with the size of the bone and then take the exam and write up a final feeding schedule. Your choice =)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2014 10:22:37 GMT -5
All stools are normal. I'm really happy they're all taking to the bone without much trouble. They even ate the chicken feet. I forgot to mention that with that they didn't much like the hands as much as the fingers. Since the fingers are smaller and I kind of left the hands in a big piece minus the fingers hoping they would at least try but next time I'll just smash the big part into smaller chunks and I'm sure they'll do fine with that. I didn't know there were exams! Scary! lol So you'll give me the topics that the exam is on and I'll make sure I know about them? That sounds good. And I can work on that and a final feeding schedule this weekend
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2014 16:59:27 GMT -5
The exam isn't scary nor is it very hard. Its just to make sure that you know some of the basics about their diet, in case you run out of something what can you use as a replacement, their overall health, Etc.
The topics include: Taurine, Bones, different proteins, balancing, overall health, general questions. Those are 6 topics, of the 6 I pick 5.
We can review some of the topics if you're not comfortable with one or any of them. We've gone over most of the questions. If anything we'd probably need to review on taurine, but let me know if there's an area you want to learn more about.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2014 14:47:34 GMT -5
Just checking up for an update on bone size and whether you wanted to review a few of the topics.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2014 1:29:52 GMT -5
I would appreciate some information on taurine and anything else you think we may not have covered. I can do my own research as well but I want to make sure I'm getting accurate info. I made a new schedule. My schedules always have a lot of chicken meat because it's always super easy to find. That's ok as long as I'm also incorporating a couple other animals like teh pork steaks and ground beef on a couple days? Otherwise, I think I'm getting the hang of this and the kids are eating everything no problem Also, sorry for the late response. Things are getting a little crazy over here with finals approaching.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2014 3:00:22 GMT -5
Sorry for the delay. I was chatting up with the other mentors regarding this menu. The feedback was good, the only not they said was to cut back on 1/2 of a meal of liver. It should be 1/2 meals of liver and another organ, not 1.5 meals of liver and .5 of another organ. My apologies. What you can do is just do .5 kidneys and the remaining .5 of the heart together. This will free up an entire meal. It could be a bone-in meal or it could be a boneless muscle meat meal. Depends on their stools. Go ahead and correct that and we could submit it as your final schedule. Glad the kids are still eating with no problems! That's great. Keep on increasing the bone size for sure. I'm sure it's a pain having to crush all the bones. The more bigger bones they crush the more they're strengthening their jaw muscles. Now, Taurine lesson: Heart: Since this is a blood pumping organ, or some call it a muscle, it's full of taurine. This organ is needed because ferrets, like cats, are suceptible to cardiomyopathy (congenital heart failure or CHF). There are 2 different kinds of cardiomyopathies- One where the heart walls thicken (hypertrophic) and the other is where the walls of the heart thin out (dilitative). The first one, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is caused by taurine deficiency while dilitative cardiomyopathy is where the walls of the heart begin to die. Why, I'm not exactly sure why but, this was the form of cardiomyopathy Pinky had. Cardiomyopathy (dilitative) is believed to be a genetic trait while hypertrophic is caused more by a deficiency. It's also more uncommon than dilitative. Cardiomyopathy is something that is hard to deal with. It's heart breaking to watch the personality traits your baby had begin to disappear as the months pass by . This is also good in Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron, Omega-3 and -6, and has some Vitamin A, great source for vitamin B. [Taurine is found in dark meat (weight bearing bones... so the legs), brain, and lungs.] Moreover, taurine helps fat digestion of fat soluble vitamins, helps growth, and keeps the brain hydrated and active. When it is given with zinc it also helps keep eyes and vision healthy. *Now Should you run out of hearts or the store does not have any, do not panic... add 500 mg (250 mg during breakfast and 250 mg for dinner) of taurine. You can find taurine at a health store or online. I've used NOW brand, 500 mg Taurine capsules found on amazon. If you go looking for taurine at a store, you'll find something called L-taurine. The L pertains to the rotation the amino acid does under polarized light. There are two types of polarized light rotation, D (right) and L (Left). Thing is, these companies fail to realize that taurine has NO rotation in polarized light because it does not polarize. -facepalm- Sorry for the chemistry lecture but wanted you to be informed of this should you encounter it. When you look for taurine at a store, like vitamin shoppe, look at the ingredients as some companies add on other things such as vitamin b6, calcium, etc to name a few. Look for one that says taurine only. You don't want them to have too much of something. Also, buy the ones that come in a capsules not the tablets. The capsules are easy to slip off of one another and just sprinkle half of this and reclose it for later. The tablets you'll have to cut and grind into powder. Hope all of the taurine lesson makes sense, if not ask questions.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2014 13:23:58 GMT -5
Is this schedule correct? And thanks for the lesson on Taurine. Would that be 500 mg per ferret? Also, is that 500 mg per missed heart meal or would that cover the entire week? I will do some shopping on Amazon for Taurine in case of an emergency
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2014 3:46:17 GMT -5
Regarding the schedule... Where'd the 0.5 meal of Kidneys go? The menu looks good just need to add in 0.5 of another organ. So you can cut down one of the heart meals (since you have 2) to 0.5 and then do 0.5 of kidneys.
Example: Thursday AM: 1/2 Veal Heart, 1/2 chicken kidneys. Thursday PM: Chicken wings.
You need 1.5 heart meals and 1.5 of a mix b/w liver and another organ. other than that, looks great.
Regarding Taurine: It's 500mg per ferret per day, should you not find hearts. But that's only IF you were not able to find hearts. Another good source of taurine, although dunno if it's available in your area, is tongue, lungs, and weight bearing legs (Like the hind legs of a turkey. During thanksgiving, you'll notice that the turkey meats coming in different colors. Usually the legs have darker meat while the breast of it has a lighter meat color. It has to do with the circulation of the blood).
Sorry for a delayed response, Twas my birthday yesterday. Yay I'm getting too old haha.
OOOH, How about an update on the kids. Still eating the stew mix? Bigger bones? How is everything overall? Poops looking normal?
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2014 3:55:21 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in the lesson, but it's 500mg total per day. 250mg in the AM meal, 250mg in the PM meal. The thing with taurine is that they won't overdose on it. They're just pee out any excess of taurine. It won't cause them any harm. Just wanted to add that. =)
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2014 21:27:34 GMT -5
Happy belated birthday! Thanks for clarifying on the taurine. I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing the math for all my little guys so I get it right if it's ever necessary. With the schedule... I still haven't been able to get kidney so I tried to modify the schedule to something I would be able to do now without it. But I think this one will be good. And the stew all gone so I've been following the schedule I made that didn't include stew. They're doing alright with the bone meals. They eat the cornish hen and the chicken feet alright but they don't like to eat the bigger pieces of the chicken wings. They have no trouble eating the middle parts of the wings but the big jointy parts they always leave. Next time I prepare I'm going to make those a little smaller and I think it will be ok. I thought they might at least try them but I guess it will just take a little while. All their stools are normal.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 17:02:58 GMT -5
Oh I didn't know that you couldn't find kindeys. I thought you did. When that happens, just feed them 1.5 meals of liver until you can find another organ for them to eat. It take several months until they start to show any sign of a deficiency.
Glad the stew mix was all used up! This schedule looks great! But since you're out of kidney feed a 0.5 meal of liver, but only when you're out of kidneys. Have you tried getting over to the asian market? They usually have a lot of unusual organs and different protein like rabbits. That could be an experience. lol. Just a thought.
Regarding bones, you can do what you said.. chopping up the joints smaller than the bones. We just want them at a level where they'll eat the bone on their own without you having to come over and chop it into smaller pieces. But overall, you're doing great. (dance) Keep trying to make the bones bigger until they get accustom to it and then maybe you could take your final exam. Don't want to leave you while they're not eating whole bones just yet =)
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2014 2:07:25 GMT -5
Oh, I totally forgot about the Asian market! I will definitely go there, hopefully early next week. Thanks for reminding me about that. So, for dinner today I didn't use the pre-prepared meals I usually use but made this one right before meal time. I did it so I could make the bone pieces a little bit bigger and give the large joint parts a good smash. I also left more meat on the bone pieces than I normally would. When I fed them I put them in their cage and watched them as they ate. Callisto ate the larger bones no problem after he ate all the meat off it. He broke it apart and seemed to really like the marrow. Portia went to sleep... so not sure about her but I don't think she would have made too much fuss anyways. Rhea did most of the eating and she avoided the bone pieces as much as possible. She went for the pieces that were only small pieces of chicken and then I handed her a big piece that had meat and bone and she ate all the meat off of it and left the bone. So she has no problem eating the meat off of the bone or eating bone when it's smashed up really small. What should I do about her avoiding the bone? I don't want her filling up on the meat without the bone but so far the only way I've gotten her to eat the bone all by herself was when it was smashed into tiny pieces. Even when the bone is in the size it has been for the last week or so (a little smaller) she seems to avoid the bone as much as possible and only eat it if she has to. But I should mention this is only a problem with the bigger chicken wings bones. When I give chicken feet she seems to eat that along with the boneless meat in the bowl. edit: Just wanted to add that this morning Portia was munching on some bones and seemed pretty happy about it
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2014 3:24:20 GMT -5
Let me know how the asian market goes when you do go over there.
Regarding the larger bones and rhea... I want to say try hand feeding her the slightly larger bones but since she's just eating the meat off of the bone, I almost want to say feed a mix of both large and smaller chopped bones. Let me poll other mentors and see if they had a similar issue with any of their mentee's ferrets in the past. Give a day or two to see what they all suggest.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 0:36:19 GMT -5
Ok, can't wait to hear what they say! I will hopefully be over at the Asian market sometime in the beginning of the week and I'll be sure to let you know what goods I find.
I am having surgery on the 15th but I will only be spending (hopefully) one day in the hospital afterwards. I will be back online after I'm discharged but it might be a couple days before I will be feeding my little ones on my own. I will be portioning out each meal and my boyfriend will be feeding them. Just letting you know I will be disappearing for a day or so but it won't interfere with the kids meals.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2014 3:00:05 GMT -5
So far I've gotten one suggestion. Here it is: "Can she get chicken necks? Those are almost impossible to miss bone with. Alternately she can feed JUST wings for 2-3 days every meal. Segment, cut the middle part between the bones, cut the drumette lengthwise as much as possible to expose the marrow along the length. At every meal, remove all old food and put in fresh."
Don't think you've tried feeding chicken necks or I'm not sure whether it's available in your area. I'll keep asking around as I come in contact with the other mentors. =D
Hope your surgery goes well! I had surgery 2 yrs ago, I thought I was going to spend the night but I made sure everything regarding my kids was on paper should something happen. Vets numbers, meal schedule, med schedule, a few symptoms of their illness (Tiny had insulinoma), etc. But I know what you mean. I spent the day comatosed in bed while I had my bf feed the guys and give them their meds. I couldn't bend down. Let me know how the surgery goes when you're feeling better and thanks for the heads up.
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