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Post by gfountain on Jul 18, 2014 11:07:08 GMT -5
Before we go any farther, get the idea of ideal servings out of your head, lol! If you try to think in terms of 'ideal' with ferrets, you'll go crazy! Speaking from experience here... my boy was a tough switch and kept me guessing on amounts all the way through. Well, even now, I'm never positive how much he's planning to eat in a day, lol. He's been rather finicky since spring and only eating a couple of ounces a day, but one day early this week he ate all of his AND Minnie's breakfast, snack, and dinner before noon. So, you see, it's always sort of a guessing game. Rather than thinking in terms of a specific number of ounces, try to serve enough that there will be a couple of bites left in the dish when you serve the next meal. That way you can be sure they've had their fill. If their dish is clean in the morning, they may very well have eaten more if they'd had it. But, since they're eating through the night, that means they're eating on their own in the cage. So let's try to get enough soup into them that you can ditch the kibble. Do you give them soup in the morning also? You don't know how much kibble they're consuming during the day, do you? Tomorrow, weigh it when you put it in, then again when you get home and let's see how much they're still eating.
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
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Post by trutan85 on Jul 18, 2014 14:34:10 GMT -5
I haven't weighed the kibble so I don't know, I'll start recording the intake so we know. When attempting to feed them soup this morning they didn't really consume anything worth mentioning, it wasn't much. Loki ate a chunk, other than that it was attempted stashing by everyone before running off to sleep. Today was my first attempt at an early soup feeding but it didn't appear to go over well.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 18, 2014 14:49:17 GMT -5
LOL, you can't tell me anything new with morning soups! Slinkee decided early on that raw stuff should ONLY be eaten in the evenings/at night. I fought with him for probably 6 weeks before he relented and finally ate soup in the morning. We went from flatly refusing, to dramatics of all types, to intentionally taking a mouthful of soup and spitting it on me. So I won't be surprised by anything they might pull.
So overnight, they had leftover soup, is that correct? And it was gone this morning, but they didn't want soup for breakfast? So either they had just finished eating their leftovers and weren't hungry, or they knew you would leave them kibble and they were holding out for that. Just keep at it. You'll get there!
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
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Post by trutan85 on Jul 18, 2014 17:11:25 GMT -5
Hopefully the experts can work with these.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 18, 2014 18:53:06 GMT -5
Whoa, that's a big ol' mouth! Lol, they should be able to tell from those. I have a guess but I don't want to say in case I'm wrong, which I probably am... I'm glad Clyde cooperated with you this time.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 19, 2014 13:15:10 GMT -5
The experts say 18-24 months. My guess was between 1 & 2 years, so I'm glad to know I was close.
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
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Post by trutan85 on Jul 19, 2014 20:02:28 GMT -5
Thanks for finding out for me, nice to finally know what age he is around.
They had leftover soup this morning, 2 ounces, I gave them close to 6. The total amount of kibble consumed while I was at work was 4 ounces.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 19, 2014 22:22:21 GMT -5
How did they do with their morning soups today? 4 oz of kibble for 3 ferrets isn't a whole lot, so they'll be off of it pretty soon I think. Once they're eating about 4 oz of soup among the 3 of them morning and night, we can try removing the kibble. Actually, since tomorrow is Sunday, does that mean you'll be home most of the day? If so, just give them soup in them morning, then if they act hungry later in the day, give them soup again instead of kibble. Then more soup tomorrow night. Sometimes, if they know kibble is coming, they won't eat their soups and will hold out for the kibble. That's what we want to break them of. If you just don't give them any kibble, they'll have to eat their soups. And once they're eating about an ounce or an ounce and a half each, twice a day, you can ditch the kibble.
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
|
Post by trutan85 on Jul 20, 2014 9:04:41 GMT -5
Through out the night they ate about 3 oz of soup between the 3 of them. I'll be home most if not all day so I can keep an eye on them and feed soup when they get hungry.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 20, 2014 13:30:52 GMT -5
Well, that's about an ounce apiece, so not terrible. Was that their total for yesterday evening/overnight?
It's a little scary how little ferrets actually eat once they're on raw. Since their systems can use almost all of the raw food, they don't need to eat as much or as often, and their poops are a whole lot smaller and less frequent. Btw, how are the poops looking? You should expect them to be runnier than kibble poops, especially since they're just on soup right now. Watch to be sure they don't get too runny.
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
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Post by trutan85 on Jul 20, 2014 14:59:26 GMT -5
Yes, that's from when I presented it to when I woke up this morning. Their poops are a darker brown, slightly seedy. They are smaller than before, smooth, still solid, they seem to have more moisture than before.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 20, 2014 15:18:58 GMT -5
So poops sound good. The seediness is most likely undigested fat from the chicken. If there was any skin or fat on it when you made the soup, it could come out a little seedy. Nothing to worry about, just be aware that that's what that is. Once they're eating whole pieces of chicken with skin, you'll see it quite a bit.
So I assume they ate breakfast this morning.. about the same amount? Have they asked for any snacks yet? I think if they eat good tonight, you can leave them without any kibble tomorrow and see how they do. Make sure you leave soup with them in case they get hungry. I know you're gone for 10 hours at a time, so what you can do, besides leaving their normal breakfast leftovers with them, is leave them a FROZEN cube or 2 of soup. That will thaw during the day and give them fresher food later on.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 20, 2014 15:19:35 GMT -5
Is Thor doing any better with those slivers yet?
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trutan85
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Thor still "beats up" her bigger younger brother.
Posts: 192
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Post by trutan85 on Jul 20, 2014 15:46:34 GMT -5
Yeah, about same amount. Loki just grabbed a little snack for himself, the other 2 have just been sleeping peacefully. Thor is still being stubborn with slivers, I hand fed her a some pieces, she also ate the pieces I wouldn't let her run off with. It was rather gratifying to see Loki when I presented his meal, instead of licking the chicken pieces or the soup, first thing he did was grab onto a chunk of meat and eat it. Even with Thor's stubbornness, it's nice to see progress on other fronts.
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Post by gfountain on Jul 20, 2014 16:44:41 GMT -5
Good for Loki. How do you feel about not giving them kibble tomorrow? Do you think they'll go ahead and eat the soup on their own if they're hungry? I'm thinking once they're on ONLY soup for a couple of days, we can start to move ahead with the boys and let Thor do her own thing. I'm glad she's eating the pieces you hand feed her. Her running off with pieces may mean that she would like a feeding den. My little girl always likes to take her food someplace private to eat. I probably should set up a feeding den, but I just haven't done it yet, so I try to keep a little box in the cage for her. She used to put her whole body into a little square Kleenex box to eat, but now she doesn't fit so she just gets in as far as she can, lol. When the box gets gross, I toss it and give her another one. You might try something like that for Thor to see if she wants a den. If she seems to like the box, you can set up a permanent feeding den. Here's a thread with a bunch of good ideas if you decide to do that. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/4544
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