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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 9:01:28 GMT -5
I'm here, I'm here! So sorry for the delay. Do you know why I sometimes get email notifications for posts and sometimes I don't? Is there a way to set that up? Bea is doing great. Although, she is stubborn and inconsistent eating the chunks. Sometimes she will scarf them down and sometimes she will sort them out, and only eat the soupie. She has begun to shed her winter coat, but it's looking shinier than ever. her weight is 1lb 10oz. Her appetite has also subsided a little too.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 9:28:24 GMT -5
I was wondering, I think I saw someone on here mention a thread about what raw diet ferret poo is supposed to look like? I couldn't find it. I want to make sure Bea's are within the normal range. Sometimes they are just little puddles.
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Post by katt on Mar 26, 2014 22:30:50 GMT -5
I'm here, I'm here! So sorry for the delay. Do you know why I sometimes get email notifications for posts and sometimes I don't? Is there a way to set that up? I don't know how to work the notifications. To my knowledge there is nothing set up to email you on threads but i you bookmark it you will get a notification bubble next to Bookmarks in the forum menu. Honestly though, you should be checking into this thread regularly regardless of whether or not I have responded yet. :/ As per the mentoring application: "You are required to post every second day during the "soup" stage of the transition. From the "sliver" stage, through to large chunks, you will be required to post a minimum of every 3 days. Once you hit the large chunks, once a week will be acceptable." www.holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/61/sign-mentoring-program I don't want to sound mean or harsh, but if you aren't posting I have no way to know where you are at or how to help you with Bea. With insulinomic ferrets it is particularly important to keep in communication as it is absolutely critical that they are eating enough and often enough. I Want to help, but I can't if I don't know what's going on. Bea is doing great. Although, she is stubborn and inconsistent eating the chunks. Sometimes she will scarf them down and sometimes she will sort them out, and only eat the soupie. What size chunks? About how many do you put in soup (or what's the overall chunk:soup ratio)? How often a day is she eating? What proteins are the chunks, still chicken and lamb or have you tried other proteins? She has begun to shed her winter coat, but it's looking shinier than ever. her weight is 1lb 10oz. Her appetite has also subsided a little too.Watch with the spring drop in appetite. It's super important to make sure she is still eating at least a little bit multiple times a day to keep her BG up. How often are you feeding right now and what is the current routine? Are you leaving the foods our 24/7, and do you do any hand fed snack meals at all? When was her fasting BG last checked and what was it? If you don't have a home BG monitor I would recommend getting one so you can monitor her BG at home - you will just need to calibrate it next time you are at the vet because the home monitors are often off by a few points, so you need to know how much it is off by to be as accurate as possible.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2014 6:17:10 GMT -5
I do leave one soupie cube for her but she never eats it, it goes to waste. I'm gone all day, 4 days out of the week, so she eats two big meals a day. One in the am and one in the pm, on those days. I try to feed her lunch in the middle of the day when I'm home, sometimes she eats a little. She sometimes needs me to hang out with her while she eats, or she won't eat. Sometimes she will just go to town and eat everything without me having to sit with her, Her BG was checked when she got her implant after a four hour fast, last month, it was 86. She hasn't been showing any signs of insulinoma and only has been improving since her switch to the raw diet. I still haven't gotten pork because I want to feed her the antibiotic hormone free stuff, and I have to travel to get it (haven't had time to.). My friend is putting her order together for hare today, so we can share shipping costs. So far the chunks are chicken and lamb. She likes them both and she seems to eat them (most of the time) if they aren't any bigger than a dime. I'll be sure to check in as I should
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Post by katt on Mar 28, 2014 3:26:18 GMT -5
I do leave one soupie cube for her but she never eats it, it goes to waste. I'm gone all day, 4 days out of the week, so she eats two big meals a day. One in the am and one in the pm, on those days. I try to feed her lunch in the middle of the day when I'm home, sometimes she eats a little. She sometimes needs me to hang out with her while she eats, or she won't eat. Sometimes she will just go to town and eat everything without me having to sit with her,
Okay, well as long as she at least has food available to nibble on as she wants that is good. Her BG was checked when she got her implant after a four hour fast, last month, it was 86. She hasn't been showing any signs of insulinoma and only has been improving since her switch to the raw diet.Hmm 86 is only borderline, so that is good. Normal fasting BG is 90, anything 70 and below is considered insulinoma. So she really isn't insu yet, just borderline - which means she may well advance to insulinoma so keep that in mind for the future. Hopefully the raw diet will help to keep things under control, but any existing damage to the pancreas can't be undone, and sometimes those abnormal cells grow no matter what. Sounds like for now though she isn't in the red zone at least, so that is great! I still haven't gotten pork because I want to feed her the antibiotic hormone free stuff, and I have to travel to get it (haven't had time to.). My friend is putting her order together for hare today, so we can share shipping costs. So far the chunks are chicken and lamb. She likes them both and she seems to eat them (most of the time) if they aren't any bigger than a dime. Ah okay - can't say I blame you. Let me know when the order comes in, she definitely needs more variety. Meanwhile are there any local meats that you can get? Turkey, duck, cornish game hen, bison, goat, etc....? Google local ethnic markets, Asian Markets, Halal Markets, and Butchers - those can all be great sources of the more unusual meats and meat parts. You may be surprised at what you can find near you. If you live anywhere near farming country too or in an area where people like to raise smaller animals at home (plenty of people with chickens in the back yard) those can be great sources - browse Craigslist. I often see quail and duck and such all locally grown and raised, GMO and abx free. I'll be sure to check in as I should (dance) TY Right now what size chunks will she eat, and what is the soup to chunk ratio roughly?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 5:41:01 GMT -5
So here is a pic of the soupie cube size, and a smaller slivers cube: And this is it all mixed up:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 5:45:00 GMT -5
Here is a recent pic of Bea: Here is a bigger pic of her food:
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Post by katt on Mar 28, 2014 12:59:46 GMT -5
Super helpful on the food pics. Thanks. Let's work on pushing her to bigger chunk sizes. Start to gradually increase her slivers in size, and in number. Just a little at a time, but move as fast as she will allow. If you get to a size that she balks at, then we can stall there for a while to let her get used to that size, then start moving up again. What organs do you have access to? Is there another meat that you can get locally that you can start to introduce? I'd like to get her proteins up to 3 sooner rather than later if possible. The chunky soup stage is the perfect time to intro new meats since the soup acts as a flavor gravy to disguise the new stuff. Bea is adorable, she looks like she's at a good weight. Has she started into Spring mode yet?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 14:07:15 GMT -5
I'll swing by the store tomorrow and see what they have. I might just have to take a trip to the bigger neighboring town so I can get different proteins that are still antibiotic and hormone free. I had to hold her with one hand and let her eat the mush off my other hand to get her to eat the chunks too. Otherwise she would encounter a chunk, stop eating and walk away. She's lucky she's cute I put chunks in her cage this am in hopes she would snack on them during the day but I doubt it. Will see when I get home. I also put two sliver cubes instead of one, in her dish to dethaw with her soupie cubes for dinner tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2014 14:08:42 GMT -5
Oh, her coat looks like it's shedding some. But her weight is stable. Her appetite may be not as strong as it was. But she is still eating quite a bit.
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Post by katt on Mar 28, 2014 14:25:25 GMT -5
Ah okay, I thought she was eating the chunks on her own. In that case, keep the size the same for now and let's work on getting her to eat without mommy's help. haha Spoiled little princess! What you can do is hand feed, then slowly lower your hand towards a spoon each meal, then lower the spoon to the bowl, etc until she will eat out of the bowl on her own. Sounds like she might be just at the beginning of spring mode. She may start shedding more and dropping weight in the next 4-6 weeks so don't panic if she starts to eat less and lose weight, it's just that time of year. It's often stressful for humans to do the switch during the Spring bc they might think the weight loss is from diet or not eating enough rather than normal Spring changes, so this time of year when doing switches I try to keep an extra close eye on behavior, input/output, and whether appetite change and weight loss is associated with shedding or not.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2014 15:13:53 GMT -5
Okay, she sometimes does eat chunks on her own if they are smaller. I guess I'll work on gradually working up the size so that she will still eat on her own. It will make my life easier, lol.
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Post by katt on Mar 29, 2014 19:17:34 GMT -5
Okay, she sometimes does eat chunks on her own if they are smaller. I guess I'll work on gradually working up the size so that she will still eat on her own. It will make my life easier, lol. Haha okay yeah back it up a by then to a size she will eat more comfortably, and start to gradually increase the number of chunks in the soup. When she's eating more slivers, we can start to increase size more.
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Post by katt on Mar 31, 2014 3:09:06 GMT -5
How is Bea doing?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2014 11:29:51 GMT -5
She's doing good, I've decreased the size of the chunks. She definitely does better eating on her own when the slivers are smaller. I forgot to weigh her this am, I'll try to remember tomorrow morn. before I feed her.
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