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Post by katt on Nov 15, 2014 6:43:57 GMT -5
just bumping to keep the thread in my feed
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2014 21:34:39 GMT -5
Hello I fed my crowd jerky and they liked it we also experimented with a mouse that I bought. I mixed some egg and oil in it and cut it up real small, fur and all, except digestive tract and stomach, I also added some of the pinkies from before. They didn't like mouse meat but we ate a bit. I feed them chicken heart today, I mixed in the remaining mouse meal and blended it all. They seemed a bit weirded out by the taste of the soup first, but got to it pretty well after the initial try. I saw lamb heads at the store today, but chickened out buying it. It was looking at me, and had was too many teeth showing. Also I was wondering how I would go about feeding them the brain? And what about the rest of the skull? The eyes? Tongue?
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Post by katt on Nov 19, 2014 19:02:27 GMT -5
Sorry had a reallllly rough week but I'm back on my feet now. Have you tried mice again? Yours are the second in a row being stubborn about mice! lol Brain counts as other organs and is really good for them - lots of yummy fats and taurine. Eyes, tongue, the whole thing is great. Tongue counts as muscle. Eyes don't really fall under any specific category but are definitely find to feed. The skull will probably be a bit thick for them to eat the bones, but all of the meat and everything else on/in the head is great for them. Glad they liked the jerky! (dance) How are they doing on those slivers?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2014 21:20:46 GMT -5
After the weird meats of beef, mice and more mice, we went back to chicken and turkey the last couple of days. They are eating the slivers well. Zack is getting better at eating slivers by himself.
They were weirded out by the new meats, and now with returning to the regular ones they like them more. The new meats I cut smaller than the regular ones.
I'll post their weights hopefully tomorrow. Zack has visibly lost all the extra weight. so I need to check what it is.
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Post by katt on Nov 19, 2014 21:27:51 GMT -5
Lost extra weight in a good way or a not good way? Were they eating the new meats, even reluctantly?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2014 9:40:36 GMT -5
They ate the new meats. The beef and the mouse reluctantly, but the jerky was a great success. Now that I know how to make it, I have been keeping a dish of it in their cage for when they get hungry because Zack doesn't eat the raw in the cage.
And Zack was overweight before, it was impeding his movements and stuff. Ever since he stopped taking prednisolone in September, he was losing weight gradually at first and faster now. Now it has become very visible, he looks normal weight. And he has been more active lately. Though I think that he should stay at this weight and not lose any more. If he continues to lose, I'll ask the vet about giving him some prednisolone again.
Miri - 875 grams Zack - 1430 grams Honey - 1115 grams
We really liked the chicken yesterday, today I'm going to feed them some rabbit meat. I'll write how that goes.
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Post by katt on Nov 20, 2014 12:49:53 GMT -5
In that case - YAAAY Zack! (dance) haha Beef is a more strongly flavored meat and it tends to take them longer to get used to. When introducing new meats I find it typically works best to really focus on THAT meat. So you'd do a little bit of beef, and slowly but surely increase the amount of need until they will accept and eat meals of just beef. It can take a few days or a few weeks, just depends on how stubborn they are. Once they accept the meat though, it gets added into their regular rotation and you can try the next new meat if there's one in line.
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Post by katt on Nov 22, 2014 19:49:26 GMT -5
Keeping in my feed How are they doing?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2014 14:20:07 GMT -5
I haven't given them any more beef yet. I fed them rabbit, and duck, and chicken hearts soupy in the last couple of days. And they are liver really well. But Zack doesn't like pork buttons very much which he was eating this morning. We are getting better with eating the most meat chunks with Zack, but he pretends to be a wiggly eel when eating fish or beef and sometimes pork buttons.
We tried fish again, but they weren't very enthusiastic about it.
This afternoon I saw Zack really enjoying the jerky mix that I leave in the cage. Except that some pieces were spilled around the bowl. When he finished the ones in the bowl, he went to get the spilled ones. What he wasn't expecting was that one of the girls poooped nearby, and he put his nose right in it. It was so sad, and he was really grossed out. I cleaned it for him, and laughed at the poor idiot.
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Post by katt on Nov 25, 2014 17:46:04 GMT -5
Oh no! Poor Zack!!!! haha How big are the chunks they are eating right now? And how much soup? If they are feeling comfortable eating decent sized chunks I'd say it's time to start pushing forward on the bone front. They are already eating some smashed bones correct? Start crunching the bone pieces up a bit less every couple of meals so they start having to chew on them. Wing tips are a great place to start for edible bones as they tend to be softer bone. If you can crack a wing tip open to expose the marrow, and maybe cut it in half, that gives them a big enough piece that they have to chew but small enough to not be too difficult. They may have to get a bit more used to the crushed bone first, but the medium pieces would be the next hurdle from there. The key thing with the smashed bone bits is it is important to be sure that they are Chewing the bones and not just swallowing the pieces whole.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2014 19:54:50 GMT -5
I'll try to get a photo of the chunks and bone sizes soon.
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Post by katt on Nov 25, 2014 23:02:46 GMT -5
Perfect. They are coming so far and getting so much closer! (dance) You're past the hardest part really, from here it's just steady increases in chunk and bone size until they are on whole-meat Frankenprey! Remind me - were you wanting to get them on some whole prey as well or no? Sorry, I'm sure I've asked this before but I lose track sometimes. When you get a chance will you post another menu too so we can keep practicing that?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2014 9:44:41 GMT -5
This is about the size of the chunks we eat now, and some cartilage. This one doesn't have much bone bits yet, this is duck wing, It has just the last third of the wing cut up. So i think it is called the wing tip. Zack is a bit wary of the larger bits, but is starting to try. We went to the vet to ask about the weight loss and to see how he was doing without the pred. She said he was doing fine without pred, but he does have gingivitis so we are now upping the teeth-brushing to a daily ordeal, and we ordered a gel for the gums.
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Post by katt on Nov 28, 2014 19:30:18 GMT -5
Good size chunks! Are you putting any water, egg, or soup on them still? If so, work on weaning them off of that. And of course, keep upping the chunk and bone size. Esp with gingivitis the faster we can get Zack onto bone the sooner his gums and teefers will start to feel better. I'm really glad he's doing so well without the pred - the longer you can control by diet alone without steroids the better. Pred is really hard on their little livers. They are doing really well, you've done a fantastic job with a really tough, stubborn fuzz. Keep it up!! (dance) For the bones, you might try taking a bigger bone piece and holding it for them hand feeding to see if you can entice them to chew it while you hold it. Don't do that for every meal or they may get too used to it (it's harder to wean them off of having big bones held for them than it is to wean them off of normal hand feeding for some strange reason), but here and there to encourage them to try bigger bone pieces - especially Zack. Even if he just starts gnawing on some bigger pieces without eating it yet, it will be good for his teeth.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2014 12:26:57 GMT -5
I have been continuing with the chunks, I have started adding a bit less water, but there is still liquid. Zack is getting slowly better at chewing bones, he tries hard.
He really hates the teeth gel. I tried a tiny bit to see why he hated it (I looked and didn't have anything that was dangerous to humans), and it tastes really sour. Zack is fine with having his teeth brushed, but he is very upset with getting the gum gel.
Honey is having problems though, she threw up some pork last night, the vomit smelled quite bad. I've come to the conclusion that whenever she has those tummy aches and throws up it seems to always be pork. I'm worried she might be sensitive to pork meat. I thought first that it might be the weird stuff she gets into like eating the soap, the chocolate milk, or a cookie piece; but it is always the pork that comes back up.
How should I proceed to see if it is pork that I should exclude? or should I check her for further problems? I will feed her turkey today, and a bit of time after throwing up she munched on the jerky that I leave in the cage. I'll looked to see how she feels today and tomorrow.
She really likes pork though, she gobbles it up without showing any reluctance at all.
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