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Post by katt on Dec 2, 2014 22:53:35 GMT -5
For toothpaste, instead of using the gel you could try baking soda and water to make your own paste - it won't taste yummy, but it may taste a bit better. They make flavored pastes too, some of the ingredients aren't great but they aren't ingesting a huge amount. It sounds like Zack is making really good progress. Some just need a little more time than others. Keep doing exactly what you have been and just gradually increase the size of the chunks and bones. Hmmm poor Honey. Testing just one protein should be easy. Don't feed any pork for about a week. (Normally for a true elimination diet protein trial you'd put them on just one protein and test each new protein at a time, but we just have one suspect at this point.) If she still throws up during the pork-free week let me know, we may have to do an actual protein trial at that point. After a week of no pork though, and assuming she is acting fine, poops good no throwing up etc, introduce some pork - try to pick a day when you can be home to monitor if possible. Start with a small amount and see what she does. If she does okay, the next meal feed a little more and a little more until she is eating only pork for about 2 days. If there are any problems with pork, you should find out relatively quickly that way as vomiting is usually due to a fairly severe allergy (vs a sensitivity which can be tougher to determine since it might take a few days for their systems to start reaching to a threshold level of irritation more or less). Another possibility is she likes pork so much that she is eating it too fast. Does she eat faster than normal OR eat MORE than normal on pork meals? It isn't uncommon for the little piggies to eat too fast or too much of a favorite meat and make themselves sick in doing it. When you do the pork trial, try to monitor how fast she eats (maybe try hand feeding so she can't overstuff lol).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2014 17:03:48 GMT -5
She did eat the pork very fast and a lot before she threw up. I can't be sure of the times before. She ate duck today and yesterday and she has not thrown it up. I'll keep her away from the pork for now, and try it again in a week if she does not vomit again in the meantime.
With Zack's teeth I think I didn't write it clearly. I brush his teeth with animal toothpaste, and then afterwards I apply the gel. He takes the brushing with animal toothpaste well, but hates having the gel applied.
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Post by katt on Dec 3, 2014 18:17:28 GMT -5
Oh okay sorry I thought the gel was the toothpaste. Wasn't it a prescription gel that you were given or is it over the counter? If it's not an Rx, maybe a mouthwash would go over better than the gel? If it was Rx, maybe ask your vet about other options or if perhaps a pharmacy can compound some yummy chicken flavor into it somehow. It sounds like Honey's issue may well have been eating too fast. Silly girl. We'll still test it out though to be sure. Just a heads up - I'm going to be gone for a little over a week. We're in finals mode now - 3 comprehensive exams next week - so it's crunch time! I'm letting the other mods know so someone can check in here if you need anything and I will try to pop in if/when I can if I get study breaks. If something urgent comes up you can always PM me on Facebook too.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2014 1:02:17 GMT -5
Ok thanks for letting me know about that, I'm working trough finals as well right now. Best of luck with your exams. This evening the fuzz got a soupie of chicken hearts with bits of whole mouse. They hesitated at first but then really got into it. Honey crunched down an uncut foot and half a tail. Maybe they will start to like mice when i give it as a separate meal soon. She hasn't vomited again so far so good. I think Zack can suffer through the tooth gel for a little bit. It shouldn't be for too long a time.
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Post by katt on Dec 4, 2014 18:45:29 GMT -5
I'm glad they are starting to like the mouse.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 11:51:14 GMT -5
So a nice thing happened today. I was going to take away the yesterday leftover food in the cage, and to get Zack to feed him breakfast. But Zack was eating the meat already in the cage, and not the jerky, but the real meat chunks. (dance) he never did this before, and I'm very happy he is getting in to it. Unfortunately I had to stop him, because he was then transported to the plate of fresh meat which he ate just as well. I've also started making the chunks thicker, and everyone is taking this very well. I'll proceed with this progress, and also I've really reduced the water I add to their meal. Zack and Miri here say that they are hungry this morning
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2014 0:10:35 GMT -5
Hello Katt,
I hope your exams went well. I'm still finishing up mine. The last one is tomorrow.
The fuzzies have been doing well. Zack is really getting into the chunks and the mashed bone, especially if it has meaty bits or marrow attached to it. I'm continuing on making them bigger chunks. I've started to make them wider, so now they are about 5-7cm long and about 1-2cm wide and they eat this pretty comfortably.
I'm going to be in California for the winter holidays, starting Dec 20 to Jan 5. I'm going to be leaving them with a volunteer from the ferret shelter where I help. She said she would be ok with feeding them raw, since she regularly feeds her reptiles whole prey. I am going to prepare them all the meat ahead of time with labels and things, and dry up some more so that they have everything they need. I'll be back on track with progressing their switch in January then. I'll post anything important that gets relayed to me about their eating habits while I'm away, but it probably won't be much.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2014 15:49:51 GMT -5
Hello again I'm just going to write in some stuff, so I don't forget later. Honey threw up a bit last week, but it was chicken. She hasn't thrown up since on pork or chicken. I think I have figured out the mystery of was making her tummy ache. During the last two weeks because of all the college work, housework has sort of fallen off the map of priorities. Honey has been helping this as well as she could by knocking things over, trying to get onto the tables to knock more stuff over, knocking over the garbage bin to get to the treasures within etc. I suspect the time she threw up the pork I missed something human that she ate (or maybe she ate too fast). Because when she she threw up the chicken, it was after she got onto my boyfriend's table and knocked over his coffee onto his keyboard (he was very unhappy, the keyboard survived though). She might have tried some of that coffee :/ I didn't see, I wouldn't put it past her. During the previous episodes too, usually she would eat something nasty (soap is remembered most clearly) and then get nauseated. I honestly try very hard to make these substances as unavailable to them as possible, but Honey is very clever and her sacred quest is to get up high somewhere she is not allowed and eat something to make herself sick. She is very determined in this. (headwall) Another thing I wanted to talk about is them eating bone bits. They are doing this quite well, even Zack (dance) but they leave a lot of the bones behind still. I took a photo of what I mean. All the debris on the tray in this photo is today's breakfast's bone content.
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Post by katt on Dec 13, 2014 17:11:42 GMT -5
Hey! I hope your finals went well! I managed to survive another round. (dance) It was brutal - they don't call second year of med school h*ll Year for nothing! The fuzz are doing great! I'm glad Zack is making such great progress! They are so cute too. Leaving some bone bits behind is normal esp when they are still learning to chew them. They should get nice and used to the current size while you are gone hopefully, so when you get back we can amp it up a bit. I hope you have a great trip! I'll be back on regularly now so just let me know when you get back.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 10:39:10 GMT -5
Hello,
Today I fed them turkey backs. Those were really fatty. Everyone really liked them. I am worried it might have even been a bit too fatty. If their poops are bad, then in the evening I'll give them something more muscle - gizzards if I have them.
The girls have taken to begging for bits of meat while I cut them the food. I give them pieces and they run off and eat them. Zack also comes over and acts interested, but doesn't take away any meat pieces that I give him yet.
The girls are 100% ready to eat the meat without water, but Zack likes to have some liquids there. I give them much less now. I think probably in the new year we can eliminate it entirely.
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Post by katt on Dec 15, 2014 15:59:17 GMT -5
Awesome! And fatty cuts are really good for them. But yeah it can make for some funny poops if they get too much in one meal. Keep up the good work, they are progressing really nicely. Give them all snuggles AND go out and reward yourself too! You're doing an awesome job. (dance) Keep working on decreasing the water for Zack, like you have been. They are getting so close!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2014 10:38:59 GMT -5
IN other news Zack has officially begun eating things on his own in the cage. Yesterday was the third time I saw him. He was pigging out on the chicken gizzards, which was already a second helping for him because he ate very well before I put the leftovers in the cage. (dance) (they should add little piggy smiley icons to show the ferrets' true nature) Except that someone pooped into the food plate, in the night. >
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Post by katt on Dec 16, 2014 20:01:07 GMT -5
YAAAY Zack!!!! (dance) :boing: And um...sorry about the poop... (giggle)
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Post by katt on Dec 19, 2014 0:45:50 GMT -5
I know you're on vacay, just keeping the thread in my feed
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Post by katt on Dec 27, 2014 16:15:12 GMT -5
Keeping in my feed - hope you had a good Christmas!
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