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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2014 23:36:32 GMT -5
We brush their teeth about once a week. And we ate liver and heart soup with bits in it. They ate it as well as they eat the normal soup with chunks. I tried decreasing the soup/water that went with their chunks a little while ago, and they didn't like it. I think it was about the time about when their den was introduced. They are more comfortable now with the chunk and soup, so it might be time to make them uncomfortable again I will add more chunks in the next batch.
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Post by katt on Sept 6, 2014 2:35:25 GMT -5
Let me know how it goes! Keep it up!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2014 7:48:11 GMT -5
I made a new batch of muscle soup yesterday. I kept the consistency of the soup the same as before, but I added some more muscle chunks than they were previously eating. Everyone ate this new one quite well, I will keep adding more chunks to the next batch, and report then.
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Post by katt on Sept 8, 2014 22:53:54 GMT -5
Good fuzz!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2014 11:56:36 GMT -5
I've been gradually increasing the amount of chunks now, nut I've noticed that they are very reluctant to increase in meat bits amounts. Also the size of chunks. Anything bigger than the slivers is usually not eaten. And when I decrease the soup too much they stop eating and try to wiggle away at any cost. I'm not sure what to do with them about increasing it, because they get stressed out.
I've noticed Miri just licks around the pieces of meat often, she takes the pieces too, but relies mainly on the soupy exterior.
I was wondering what I could do, and if I'm being too cautious about it.
I was also considering trying the strategy of giving some meal of almost all slivers, and then adding soup gradually to it to see at what consistency they will take it. During the meal. And then next meal the same and if they start to eat it with less soup that way?
Because when i make batches with set consistency they get slightly dehydrated in the fridge, then I add some water to them and then i'm not sure if that was the same way that they ate yesterday, and that might confuse them into thinking that they can wait for a more soupier version of the meal.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2014 21:28:43 GMT -5
I didn't write about what they actually ate. They ate liver and heart soup with bits in it, and soup. And they have been eating muscle soup and bits meals. at about 2/3-3/4 chunks:soup ratio. Another achievement is that we did not add any egg at all to the food for the last two days, and ate it great. so now I know that they are ok without it in meals
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Post by katt on Sept 13, 2014 4:32:19 GMT -5
. I was wondering what I could do, and if I'm being too cautious about it. I was also considering trying the strategy of giving some meal of almost all slivers, and then adding soup gradually to it to see at what consistency they will take it. During the meal. And then next meal the same and if they start to eat it with less soup that way?. I think that is a great approach. I know you have to be really careful with Zack (having an insu ferret almost always makes the switch slower, that is normal), but try not to be too afraid of giving them a little tough love. There's a fine line between Actually stressed and a 2-year old skin-kid going "OMG Mom NOOO I don't want to eat my broccoli why are you trying to kill me my life is over I am being abuuuuuuused!!!!" If they don't get pushed they will never learn to eat their "broccoli" - so while we absolutely need to make sure that all of them are eating (this is why we track weights btw so as long as weights are relatively stable then we are good) esp Zack, you also need to work on pushing them more. Remember - a little tough love is good, and often necessary.
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Post by katt on Sept 13, 2014 4:34:55 GMT -5
I didn't write about what they actually ate. They ate liver and heart soup with bits in it, and soup. And they have been eating muscle soup and bits meals. at about 2/3-3/4 chunks:soup ratio. Another achievement is that we did not add any egg at all to the food for the last two days, and ate it great. so now I know that they are ok without it in meals Hey the chunks may be going a bit slow but they are still making good progress. How thick is your soup portion? Like is it soupy, pudding, thick purée? To keep it from drying in the fridge use a sealed-lid container like a Tupperware or tightly seran wrap the too of the dish. It is totally okay to feed the slightly dried version btw - in fact, I encourage it as my follow up to "how thick is it" is going to be "make it thicker!" Try adding less water to the soup so it becomes less soup and more a thick purée. Work up to adding as little water as your blender can handle without burning out.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2014 7:01:14 GMT -5
My soupie consistency varies from being mainly like liquid yogurt, sometimes to being like actual yogurt. I was adding the chunks more but keeping the soup the same.
I've noticed that they take the increase in chunks easier than they take the increase in soup density.
And in the fridge I keep them covered, I'm sorry I reread what I wrote and realized it was worded badly, but the food still gets quite a bit thicker. They get upset at this betrayal.
So for now I will try adding the soup to the chunks during the meal, and making soup thicker too. But I think I will concentrate more on the bits of meat than the soup, because that is closer to the final result.
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Post by katt on Sept 13, 2014 17:57:52 GMT -5
Before you were mixing ground meat into their soup as well correct? I would suggest starting that again, and try to work them up to eating plain grinds+slivers with no soup. Oftentimes it is easier to get them to go from grinds to chunks rather than soup to chunks.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 9:10:16 GMT -5
Yes for the soup I usually just mix the grind with egg and water and don't blend it. Although there is no grind for chicken that I've seen yet in the stores. So I do blend the chicken soup.
These two days we have been eating turkey bits that have had a very minimal addition of turkey grind soup. I'll put a picture of it here later today.
Honey ate the bits of meat very well, she didn't eat them plain, but I only added a tea spoon full of soup to her portion of meat and she ate it all herself with very minimal encouragement.
Miri and Zack were slightly less successful with me adding two or three tea spoon fulls to each of their portions. And they did want to leave a lot faster without eating enough. But it is a lot less soupy than it was before.
I'll try to make the grind soupie a bit thicker than the one I made now, and try to get them to a mix of grind and chunks sometime soon eventually.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2014 6:16:17 GMT -5
Last evening I gave them plain turkey grind, NO bits of meat, no water, no egg, and they ate that alright (not spectacularly, but it was gone at the end). The grind has inherently a bit more moisture than the meat bits, which I think was very comforting to them.
This morning I mixed the grind with the meat bits (once again no water, egg) but that ended up a bit too thick of a consistency for them and they refused to eat it. So I added a couple of spoonfuls of water to it, and they ate it up well.
This was an interesting discovery because I realized that they do not need the actual soup anymore as much.
I will post a photo soon, sorry I just got very hectic yesterday (probably today as well).
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Post by katt on Sept 17, 2014 2:27:08 GMT -5
Last evening I gave them plain turkey grind, NO bits of meat, no water, no egg, and they ate that alright (not spectacularly, but it was gone at the end). The grind has inherently a bit more moisture than the meat bits, which I think was very comforting to them.
This morning I mixed the grind with the meat bits (once again no water, egg) but that ended up a bit too thick of a consistency for them and they refused to eat it. So I added a couple of spoonfuls of water to it, and they ate it up well.
This was an interesting discovery because I realized that they do not need the actual soup anymore as much.
I will post a photo soon, sorry I just got very hectic yesterday (probably today as well). :boing: That's a Great step in the right direction!! Now let's keep up the grinds, and work on increasing the number and size of their slivers in there while decreasing the grind. Give them all an extra snuggle for being good fuzz. How are they doing on hearts and organs? And no worry on the pics, I'll watch for them when you can post. School is pretty much insane right now, and the days blur together. I try to get on the forum at least once a day but sometimes I forget that when I got on was yesterday instead of today and yeah... LOL SO if I am ever not responding fast enough I am uber sorry - if you are on FB I get notifications there so you can always shoot me a poke if something comes up and you're like hey I need an answer ASAP. www.facebook.com/kattrina.crouch
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2014 7:55:51 GMT -5
Thanks! I'm in school too, so I very much understand. The hearts and organs that we ate yesterday were cut up into slivers and I added a bunch of the blood/meat juice to them.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2014 8:37:55 GMT -5
And this is our breakfast of grind and turkey bits
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