Severus's Switching Thread

[Sherry]

Feed on a towel on your lap
And do push him a bit with getting him to eat. Also start powering the spoon to the dish(use a flat one here) and then while he is licking the spoon move it aside so he licks from the dish.
As for food, feed him and then leave some in the cage for him. The puree will be good for about 6-8 hrs.

[Deleted]

He ate nearly the entire tub and last night as well as this morning he ate out of the tub (he found a piece of heart that was stringy that he was not impressed with, but licked it completely clean anyway.) He's really loving his soupie mix. I need to remember to take the other containers out of the freezer for him before this one is empty.

[Deleted]

Congrats on doing so well with the soupie. Its pretty normal for them to take a few days to decide that they like something. Severus is moving along nicely.

As for remembering to take things out of the freezer, I keep a small whiteboard on the fridge with the Frankenprey menu on it. At night, I check it and see what is on the menu for the next day. Then I take that out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. In the morning, its defrosted and I make their breakfast.

[Deleted]

Well, he's almost out of this puree. I'm going to be swinging by the store tomorrow check for the chicken livers so I can mix him up a new batch with just chicken, see how he likes it. I put some in his bowl (just a little) and he wolfed it down... Then he had a hissy fit cause the bowl was empty! I gave him the rest to which he happily ate. I put more in around 8 so I'll be dumping it around 12, just before I go to bed. I'll put in fresh and them do it again in the morning before work.

[Deleted]

Severus sounds like he is going to surprise everyone and be an easy switch. When you're at the store, look for some chicken gizzards. Mine are crazy about them. Gizzards are great for cleaning teeth and building jaw strength. You can try giving him a whole one or slice a couple into long thin slices.

Sometimes, when they first get some real food, they eat like crazy, to make up for lost time. Give him as much as he will eat. He'll slow down eventually, but for now, its wonderful, that he wants more.

[Deleted]

No problem getting those, the package of chicken hearts I bought came with gizzards in it. He's eating about 4-5 tablespoons (heaping) of puree a day now, with little kibble (I've found him munching on the odd piece and had to wrestle them away, not sure where he's finding them since I cleaned his stashes.), but his Bm's are very normal looking now, his energy levels are up (HE DOOKED OMFG <3 <3 <3 ) a bit more than his usual. The only draw back is his breath (and his fur, it's always messy now, lol!), it's no longer kibbly. It smells like raw meat and blood, but once I can start brushing his teeth that will hopefully not be to bad either.

Can someone tell me what I should use for teeth brushing? Do I just get an infant/baby tooth brush (the kind that you put over your finger with the little rubber nubs) and just rub his teeth down, or do I need a toothpaste?

[Deleted]

Yesterday for breakfast we tried mushy minced chicken. He ate a bit, but was not a fan. Can anyone start helping me plan weekly meals for him. Like since we're currently on the soupie only right now what other organs should I get, I can only find fresh beef liver and fresh chicken hearts and gizzards, but I can find frozen chicken liver, beef kidneys, and maybe beef heart? I can't remember 100%. I still need to visit the butchershops in my area (it's just hard to do after working a long shift of hard labor and then biking to said store. Ugh I know I suck, I'm working on it I swear!) Also what do you guys do, buy a ton of organs and separate them then thaw as needed or what? I'm working with EXTREMELY limited fridge and freezer space, but I can always store other stuff at my mother in laws if I need to. Please help.

[Sherry]

As for the smell, that will go away he is going through detox right now and will for about 4-6 weeks.
As for teeth brushing I haven't had to do it. Bones are a natural toothbrush.
Next best step is going to be mixing some of the mince into the soup. Since he did take some of the mince, mix about half and half at first. You will need to get him used to texture, and increase the mince to soup ratio every couple of days.
We can worry about balancing everything in a week or two, but to get an idea go to diet-> raw feeding-> meat, bone, and organ. A basic menu is in there, along with a variety if what can be given.

[Deleted]

In the beginning, I like to keep things simple and use easy to find foods, that can be found in a regular grocery store. Like Sherry said, you can worry about balancing things in a week or so, but here is a simple menu, to give you an idea of what a weekly menu will look like:

Monday
a.m. Bone In: chicken wings
p.m. Muscle meat: chicken gizzards

Tuesday
a.m. Bone In: Cornish game hen
p.m. Muscle meat: ground pork or pork slices

Wednesday
a.m. Bone In: Quail
p.m. Muscle meat: chicken hearts

Thursday
a.m. Bone In: Chicken wings
p.m. Organs: half Liver and half other organ: kidney

Friday
a.m. Bone In: Chicken wings or quail or cornish game hen or turkey wings.
p.m. Bone In: Bones are the non weight bearing bones of a chicken size animal or smaller. If you buy a Cornish game hen, they won't eat it all and you can freeze the rest. Quail are small, but Severus will still only eat maybe half.

Saturday
a.m. Organ soup half Liver plus half other organ, plus a half meal of hearts
p.m. Bone In: Quail

Sunday
a.m. Bone In: Again, you could choose chicken wings, turkey wings, cornish game hen or quail.
p.m. Muscle meat    Beef, you could do ground beef with an egg poured over the top. Beef is high in iron and Vitamin B. One meal a week is a great idea.

This menu gives you a minimum of three proteins.
8 meals of Bone In.
4 meals of Muscle meat, including gizzards to help clean Severus's teeth
1 meal of organs
1 meal of organs and your half meal of hearts.

You can get a variety of exotic items at Asian markets. I like to get everyone use to the idea of their new menu and use basic items. Later, you can go "treasure hunting" and find all kinds of interesting things. You will have enough to do, while Severus learns to eat bone, gets used to organs and is introduced to new proteins. He's doing so well though. I think you will get lucky and have a good eater. (dance)

[Deleted]

Thank you both. I'm really hoping a mentor frees up soon, cause I haven't a fricken' clue on how we are going to get him to eat bone, plus my billions of other questions. Yikes, lol. Also, I have no clue how much I should be feeding him, daily he eats about 6 oz or more, is that enough? Too much? He gets it in increments, like when he wakes me up in the am, 2-4, 7-9, 12-2 (am). Should I be just giving him two large meals once in the morning/noon time and once later in the evening with a little treat (like a little spoonful of soupie and later hearts/gizzards) for bed or just doing what I'm doing now and then transition to that?

[Deleted]

He's a baby right? I would let him eat as much as he wants a mentor should be free soon! I should be graduating within the next week *crosses fingers*

When I first got Evanna and she was on soupie I fed her 3 times a day, but now that she's on larger chunks I just leave those out until the next meal time so she only gets fed twice a day now, but she snacks throughout the day.

[Deleted]

Oh congrats on your new soon-to-be-mentor status! Maybe you'll get paired with me. Anyway, he's babyish. He's under a year and when I got him I was told he was five months, but he looked nearly full grown when I got him, so I estimated his age was closer to 8-10 months (now anyway, it was 7-9 a month ago when he first came home with me).

I wish I hadn't excepted the extra work so I could spend more time with him and make sure he's getting enough and having normal poops and everything. Luckily I'm dropping one of my days by the end the month (or the end of summer) so I'll be able to spend lots of time with my little boy. <3

Also, quick update on him: Today he got gizzard slices in his soupie. Not sure if he ate them since I live in a bachelor style basement and my husband is passed out so the lights are off. I'll report more on that tomorrow. I went out yesterday and I asked my husband to feed him. I had hoped his soupie would of thawed more by the morning, but there was enough for breakfast. I told hubby to feed Sev between 12-3. The soupie did not thaw out more by 2 so hubby heated it up in the microwave. Sev had green runny and seedy poops for the rest of the day until about midnight (I had been home since 7:30 and proceeded to baby him with his soupie and cuddles and grooming.) when his poops became normal again. They have since been normal. Hubby does not believe that the microwave caused it, but nothing else changed. :/ I will not be letting him get microwaved soupie again.

His weight is still the sameish as the last update though he's though he's now around 44-46 oz. I wish he would just hold still long enough for me to get a clear reading and his energy is way way higher. Scary high. He played with me for 40 minutes straight and was still raring to go, but I was tired. Either way, raw soupie seems to be doing wonders for him.

[Deleted]

Eesh no not a mentor. I should just be graduating from the mentoring program soon.

Hmm I know that putting it in the microwave cooks it a bit, so next time I would use lukewarm water.

Its good that his activity levels are increasing! You'll start to see other improvements too as he transitions further

[Deleted]

Ah. Well I feel silly. ._. Lol.

Sevvy's gained some weight as well and his coat feels magnificent, also my husband says he smells less. So he's doing really awesome on just the soupie. I can't wait to see him on meaty bones.

[Deleted]

Tiny set back today. Yesterday I found out that my local metro (where I get fresh chicken hearts and beef liver) does not carry beef liver all the time. Instead the order it every other week. This week they have chicken livers and calf liver. I'm not happy with buying calf anything, so I went with the chicken liver and a I bought a big package of chicken breasts, bone in for about 8 bucks. I managed to get enough meat for five things of soupie mix. Also since it's bone in, when he gets to bones then he can just get half the thing for breakfast or a lunch, bones and all. I doubt he'd finish a whole half breast since they're nearly half the size of him (I just broke the word 'half' in my head it just looks so sickeningly wrong now.) Anyway, I figured he'd be fine with the soupie mix, I mean liver is liver, and the other three ingredients (chicken, chicken hearts, and egg shell) were the same. But he did not eat at all for breakfast, which I was unaware of since I was at work, and my husband fed him again around three. Again Severus didn't touch it. I got home shortly after six, maybe 6:15ish.... As soon as hubby told me Sev hadn't eaten all day I immediately called to him. Normally he hears me come home and comes looking for me if he's free. Instead him getting out of his hide (a cardboard box stuff with fleece scraps)I had to reach in and pull him out. A first. I set him in front of his food and he seemed... put off by it. So I sat down and hand fed him. The first few licks were hesitant, but soon he ate it all off my fingers. I did that for everything in the bowl, about two maybe three tablespoons worth. He's doing fine now wandering around, but it just cements it in my head, that I just can't leave him for more than a day. Hubby googles stuff, but really, he's getting mixed answers. I know that ferrets will be fine if they don't eat for a few hours, but I don't want it to become something life threatening. Not when it's so easy to prevent, I mean what's the point of wasting vet money on getting him nutrients or whatever, when I can just plop my butt down and hand feed his picky self. Oh Sev, stop making mommy worry about you. *