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Post by raynebc on Aug 13, 2015 1:48:38 GMT -5
They ate a bit less than half of their breakfast. For dinner they got chicken wing and had already eaten around half by the time I visited them before going to bed.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 13, 2015 13:48:31 GMT -5
They ate most of the chicken. For breakfast they got chicken liver and beef heart with a little duck/goose FDR broth.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 14, 2015 14:14:10 GMT -5
They ate almost all (probably 80-90%) of yesterday's organ breakfast. For dinner they got a good sized portion (I'm still sticking with 40% of a quail) and ate all but a couple slivers by morning. For breakfast this morning they got a big plate of ground pork and lamb.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 15, 2015 15:32:57 GMT -5
They ate most of yesterday's breakfast (probably around 2.5 ounces of it or so). For a snack I gave them a chicken egg and some turkey slivers. This is usually their Sunday lunch, but they like egg so if they share one egg twice a week it shouldn't be excessive. They drank almost all of the egg and even ate most of the turkey. For late dinner they got turkey back. When I prepped it, I cut the bone pieces a bit smaller to see if they like it better that way.
I took their weights again. Reska was down another 20 grams or so and Copper was up about 30 grams. I know Reska is getting plenty to eat, she's usually the first to start scarfing down food and is usually the more energetic of the two. Copper's still generally laid back.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 21, 2015 18:06:54 GMT -5
Not much to report here, just been busy taking care of some extra ferrets (Rusty and Callypso) who are introduced in another thread. I don't know if I even need to make a new switch thread for them, they've already been on raw for the 6 days I've had them (FDR soup for the first few days, followed with FDR+lamb soup). Tonight I'll switch the lamb for ground pork to get them used to a new meat. They've been having duck/goose FDR in the morning and chicken FDR in the early and late evening meals, so they have a few proteins under their belt already. They'll all be living together probably starting tonight as long as they don't have any fights. Since last night's intro went well ( holisticferret60.proboards.com/post/270304/thread), I'm not expecting there to be any problem. But the young 'uns are currently on thick soup stage of their transition, so it will be interesting to see how quickly they catch up to Reska and Copper's menu. Rusty and Cally have been tossed into raw at a much faster pace than their new friends, so they just might take to chunks and bone-in quickly as well. Since it is new to them though, I'm going to lay off the turkey backs until they're up to speed, since this is a really tough bone. Aside from this alteration, and perhaps smaller bone-in chunk sizes, I'm going to try to get all four of them on Copper and Reska's planned diet and see how things go. I anticipate needing to add a little FDR to each meal as an aid, but I bet Copper and Reska will probably be happy to have it. They've been eating pretty well the last several days. If I get another bag of FDR I'll probably make it turkey since that is the protein being reduced in the short term.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 23, 2015 1:01:21 GMT -5
I don't think the new ferrets ate much of the organ mix, but I did see a decent looking poop in one of the wrong corners of the pen (I've seen Cally try to use that corner more lately than anybody so I'm sure it's her). I need to get some safe cleaner that removes all the smell because soap and rubbing alcohol might not be working, or perhaps it's just behavior unrelated to lingering smell? Anyways, I put down some more chunky chicken soup and Reska and Cally both started on it pronto. I heard Cally crunch some more bone too, and she didn't try to run away from the plate with a mouth full of food. She's doing so well so far. Here she is enjoying dinner: Before giving them dinner I took all four ferrets' weights. Rusty is about 1.41kg, Cally is about 0.84kg, Reska is up 40-50 grams so she bounced back up since last weigh-in. Copper was down 20-30 grams so he likewise is still around his normal weight. I was surprised Cally's weight was this close to Reska, but it's likely she filled out a bit in the last week when she started her raw diet. I'll check their weights again in a day or two.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 24, 2015 13:17:18 GMT -5
For Sunday brunch, Rusty and Cally got their first turkey omelet (turkey thigh, chicken egg) and I didn't even have to season it with FDR for them to devour it: The first plate went quick so I made another plate and they finished off all the egg and most of the turkey slivers. For Sunday dinner they got their first meal of quail. I cut the pieces pretty small (like with the chicken wing) and added duck/goose FDR and the first portion went quickly so I made a second portion that was mostly left over by this morning. Took their weights again last night. Copper was down a tiny bit, Reska was the same, Rusty was down about 30-40 grams (he was a little on the porky side) and Cally was up about 50 grams. Looks like little girl is liking the food!
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Post by raynebc on Aug 25, 2015 2:02:34 GMT -5
For Monday breakfast they got ground pork and beef (about half and half) with duck/goose FDR broth. They barely ate any of it, so it looks like all four of them detest ground beef. Another forum member mentioned that their ferrets like beef chunks but not ground, so I may try getting some stew chunks or something.
For dinner they got bigger chunks of chicken wing in thinner chicken FDR broth than the other day. It went pretty quickly, during my final check on them for the evening, the plate was almost empty, with some chunks stashed throughout the pen. Cally was laying down away from the food dish munching on chicken wing like she was having a tasty scavenger hunt. I'll have to try to work with her some more to break the stashing habit, I haven't seen the other ferrets do this, although Rusty may take a couple steps away from the plate when chewing on a formidable piece. I gave them their second dinner to make sure they were sufficiently fed and Reska went in for some grub.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 25, 2015 13:26:29 GMT -5
Almost all of their dinner was gone by morning, so it looks like one chicken wing with a bit of soup is about enough for all four of them to have a good sized meal. For breakfast I made a double size (compared to what Reska and Copper used to get) portion of pork kidney and chicken hearts. The food corner was a popular place once the plate touched the ground. I was running late so I couldn't stay to make sure they didn't run empty, hopefully they have enough to last until I get home.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 26, 2015 2:41:41 GMT -5
All but a few slivers of breakfast were eaten, so it seems the amount was just about right. For dinner they got quail in a light chicken FDR broth (a few nuggets). I'm getting into the habit of giving half the dinner (ie. half of a chicken wing or half of a quail) early in the evening and then feeding the other half before I go to bed. This allows time for them to eat and then realize they are full so nobody goes hungry if the others decide to gorge and clear out all the food. Copper usually bugs for attention while the others chow down immediately during first dinner.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 26, 2015 14:22:53 GMT -5
They demolished their dinner, I just found a few scraps left in a couple spots. For breakfast they got a chicken wing in a light duck/goose FDR broth. I took their weights just before breakfast this morning and while the other three were down slightly (10-20 grams or so), Cally went up some more and actually weighed more than Reska. I'm glad she's filling out a bit, she was so tiny when I first got her. The others may be getting a little leaner since they have plenty of vigorous playtime together. I posted a video in Rusty and Cally's thread where Copper was pestering Cally ( drive.google.com/file/d/0B1VNFqdtmy_idlF2VFBhVlRiUVk/view?usp=sharing) and she was squealing. I don't know if she was upset or just making deaf ferret play noises. I didn't see any aggressive biting (ie. latching on and rolling/shaking).
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Post by raynebc on Aug 27, 2015 3:08:33 GMT -5
They ate all of their chicken breakfast. For "first dinner" they got half a quail in warm water (no FDR) and they finished it off in short order so I gave them the other half of the quail the same way and Rusty and Cally came and ate half of it immediately. They were both just laying in front of the dish, crunching away without displaying any need to drag medium sized pieces around the pen. Hopefully this means they're growing out of stashing, I hate the pen being too messy for me to want to walk around in.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 27, 2015 11:32:39 GMT -5
They ate all their dinner. For breakfast I made a big plate of beef heart and chicken liver. I'll be keeping an eye on how much of this they eat to see if I need to adjust the heart/organ/liver portion sizes.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 28, 2015 1:44:27 GMT -5
They ate all the organ breakfast, so will probably have to bump up the portion size a little more. For dinner they got turkey back, the first time they got a tougher bone in meal. After first dinner, their plate was nearly empty, but I found a few chunks stashed in a box. I got rid of them and gave them seconds. Rusty and Cally sure do like to eat, and they don't seem too picky about things, which is convenient.
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Post by raynebc on Aug 28, 2015 12:42:20 GMT -5
Except for a couple scraps I found in their pen they finished off their turkey dinner. This week's protein rotation is a bit out of whack since I wanted them to have several easier bone-in meals before trying the turkey back, but they seemed to do well with it so they'll all be on the planned menu starting next week.
For breakfast they got a big plate of ground pork and lamb, probably 5-6 ounces. If the ferrets continue to be half-hearted about ground meat I'll try getting a cut of pork and slivering it up for them instead.
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