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Post by teric506 on Mar 17, 2011 9:15:33 GMT -5
Josie is eating the slivers so that is a good thing. I am not sure about the other girls. When I feed them this morning they were just licking the gravy off of the chicken so hopefully they will eat the chicken sometime during the day. Yep my husband says we are outnumbered now
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2011 9:18:28 GMT -5
Do you have any time to watch them eat at all? Maybe weekends? It can help you figure out who is actually eating the slivers, how much, etc. That way you know who to work with and who is doing well. It is always dangerous when the number of fuzzies is greater than the number of humans. I used to be able to hold both of mine easily, one in each hand. Now I'm juggling the three
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Post by teric506 on Mar 17, 2011 14:15:29 GMT -5
Ya I plan on keeping an eye on them tomorrow to see who is eating what and how much.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2011 18:53:17 GMT -5
Awesome - once you can pin point who is/isn't eating, we can take it to the next step. I hand fed slivers for a while to get them used to the texture, chewing, etc. But if they are already eating them, there's no need. About how many slivers are you putting in with their soups? Also, what is the consistency of the soup?
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Post by teric506 on Mar 18, 2011 6:32:35 GMT -5
They ate all of the slivers I left for the yesterday. When I put more in this morning, I watched each one of them take a sliver out of the bowl and start chewing on it. So now at least I know that they are all eating.
I chunked up a whole chicken breast yesterday and it was gone when I got home and I cut up another one this morning. The soup is the consistency of yogurt I would say and the slivers are more like chunks. I cut them up about the size of a dime and about 1/4 of an inch thick. Is a whole chicken breast too much or not enough? Also, what should there poops look like now? Theirs are runny and one of theirs looks a bit mucusy to me. They are going a lot too. I am not sure what to look for in that regard.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 18, 2011 9:22:15 GMT -5
Congratulations! I'd start trying them with the chunks with no soup, see how they do with that.If they refuse, just coat the bits with the soup. And yes, their stool will be a bit runny. You can either mix about 1/2 tsp in a bit of soupie for each ferret a day, or you can powder some eggshell for them to replace the bone for now. I use a coffee grinder for that. 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of meat should firm their stool up a bit. Although a raw fed ferret's stool will always be smaller and wetter than a kibble fed ferret, simply because they aren't getting all that bulk in there. For amounts, right now they are going to start eating you out of house and home, basically ;D It seems like they have to make up for lost time, and get all the nutrition they can! They start to slow down in 2-4 months time. So- if there's nothing left, they need more. If there's more than a couple pieces left by next meal time, you are feeding too much.
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Post by teric506 on Mar 18, 2011 9:27:16 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 12:04:54 GMT -5
Exactly - wash the egg out, let them dry for a day or2. Then grind as fine as possible. Pumpkin also helps firm stools up. You can start adding 1/2 tsp to the soup and see if it helps. Plain canned pumpkin, not pie filling. Sounds like they're doing great!
For an affordable waytp feed, try looking for whole young chickens. They're about 1$ a lb. You chop it up and section it into baggies. Most come with a liver, too.
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Post by teric506 on Mar 18, 2011 16:39:13 GMT -5
Well, I put another chicken wing in the cage and right now all three are chewing on it so we will see how far they get. Just out of curiosity how much do you guys spend on litter a month. I just started using wood pellets because it is so much cheaper than yesterdays news but I am going through it like wild fire. I just got a 30 lb bag over the weekend and I will be through it within the next couple of days. I pretty much completely change them (i have two) everyday because it turns to sawdust when they go. I was just wondering what you guys do and how many litter boxes you have.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 17:30:21 GMT -5
I buy the 17 lb bag of worlds best cat litter for multiple cats. It's the black and red bag. I scoop 1-2 a day. I thinkit costs about $20-$25 at petsmart. I usually lasts me a little over a month. Plus, it's scoopable and flushablE
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 17:31:16 GMT -5
As for little boxes, I have 1 in cage, 2 out of cage, and I use newspaper for the other spots.
Yay - if they have trouble with the wing, you can smash it up and slash the meat so it's hanging off.
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Post by teric506 on Mar 18, 2011 17:38:02 GMT -5
It doesnt look like they are going to finish the wing so I cut up some more chicken breast and added that to the bowl. I will leave the chicken wing in there until I go to bed and see what happens. I emptied out 3 eggs and are drying out the shells until tomorrow. Then I will try them in the coffee grinder to powder them. I also did a search on the forum for litter and it looks like Sherry has had good luck with the world's best cat litter so I ordered some of that to try. Hopefully that will last longer and not smell as bad as the wood pellets. I love the price of the pellets but hate how they turn to dust and do not help with the odor at all so in the end I am spending more than $20 a month and going through 4 - 30 lb bags a month. I'm sure it doesn't help that they are eating so much right now so they are using the litter box a lot more than usual plus I have the third baby now so my numbers are up to. I just love how well they are doing with the chicken though. I just cut up more chicken breast and put it in there with no gravy or anything and Josie is eating it, yay. The others when to sleep so I will have to keep an eye on them tonight and see if they eat it too. I just love my girls
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Post by teric506 on Mar 18, 2011 17:39:29 GMT -5
oops I bought the wrong litter, I got the original worlds best. Do you think it will make a huge difference?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 18:06:40 GMT -5
Original works fine. I haven't noticed much of a difference between the two. I think the multiple smells a bit different. It should be fine, though.
I would chop the wing up and crush all the bone inside of it. Be careful because the sharp bone sharps can stab you. The bone marrow sometimes entices them to try the meat.
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Post by teric506 on Mar 18, 2011 18:18:59 GMT -5
ok cool. I will go and chop up the wing now and try to crush the bone inside. Be back shortly to report
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