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Post by Sherry on Oct 1, 2014 9:14:36 GMT -5
Okay, for all of them let's get some heart and organ into the diet. You can start by making a puree and hand feeding once a week until they get used to it. Also time to get them on a balanced diet of 8-9 bone meals(including eggshell if needed for now), at least one full meal heart, one full meal liver/organ, and the rest muscle meats. Let Nax eat out of the den for now and see if he does better. Also start adding in some ground meat for him. Mix half and half with the soup. Gerri start increasing the amount he is getting. His appetite surge has kicked in combined with winter appetite increase. He will eat almost double what he will finally settle down to for a bit. Nix and Gilly keep going the way they are, except the heart/liver/organ meals hand fed and balancing the diet.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2014 13:19:43 GMT -5
Sounds good.
After a few days of Nax acting odd and me not being able to figure out what he was trying to tell me, I figured out he wanted me to feed him by hand. He was taking pork slices and gizzard from me via hand yesterday. I am going meat shopping to day and I am going to look for different organ meats to try with them.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2014 13:49:30 GMT -5
OMG, I am laughing so hard right now. The hand feeding is exactly what Nax wanted. I divided a chicken ribcage into fours for them for breakfast. Nax still hadn't eaten so I kept urging him towards it before I settled on cutting it up into soup.
I finally picked him up and held him after I made my last post and he ate the whole thing as long as I was holding him and hand feeding him.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 4, 2014 9:35:29 GMT -5
Oh what a wee diva Keep working at getting him to eat on his own or he will be hand fed for the rest of his life
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2014 0:40:51 GMT -5
We are working on it. As long as I start by handing feeding I can usually get him finish eating on his own...sometimes.
I am trying to make Thursday and Saturday organ day. I did the puree, a few licks here and there but no serious takers this time.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 5, 2014 8:55:37 GMT -5
If need be you can use 1/2 tsp heavy cream each blended into the organ puree just before feeding as a lure. As they accept it this way slowly phase it out
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2014 1:13:38 GMT -5
For the most part this has been a week for serious weight gain, except for Nixxie. Geri has gained an entire pound in the last month and none of it has been in size, just body weight.
Gerri 2.5 he is a goat, he will eat anything and is still very possessive over his food. His poo's are light brown and has been kibble consistency and more compact at other times. He is wild.
Gilly 2.0 Eating quite well, thinks hearts or ok but liver...not so much. Her poos have been a little runny with a reddish tint which has me freaked out, we will see what the vet says tomorrow. Her energy has been great.
Nax 2.1 Eating well if I hand feed him, loves pork. That is his obvious favorite. Poos are good, light brown well formed. some days he is sleepy other days he has supper energy.
Tuesday: AM Pork Slices PM Soup w/pork slices
Wed: AM Gizzards that turned out to be a big hit PM Turkey meat with bone scraps (shopping in the morning)
Thur: AM Chicken Ribcage divided PM Pork in different sizes from slivers to cubes to chunks with heart slivers mixed in.
Fri: Am quail 1/2 per ferret. PM Turkey Thigh meat.
Sat: Am Chicken necks PM Organ Puree (More chicken necks were offered at bed time due to lack of purees consumption) Sun: Am Chicken wings PM Pork cubes.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 6, 2014 8:53:35 GMT -5
Looking good and winter weight gain as well as muscle from raw appear to be starting! Time to start increasing the amount of none for them. They should be getting 7-9 meals a week of it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2014 13:28:49 GMT -5
I am currently trying to come up with more bone-in sources. At the store where I get my organ meats I can get whole duck (And I do mean whole,beak, feet organs, minus the feathers)and frog legs.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2014 16:35:23 GMT -5
I have been a little mean today. I told them they couldn't be let out of their cage this morning until they ate their heart. Gerri ate immediately, finally Nixxie and Gilly followed. Nax, well, I finally relented and fed him his heart meal by hand.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 9, 2014 23:19:29 GMT -5
Sorry I have not been on. I lost a very dear, very close family member Tues morning. I will be back in the next day or two.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2014 0:05:27 GMT -5
Completely understood. Take care of your self.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2014 22:41:09 GMT -5
I know it might be a while before you get to this, but I figured I would do my Sunday update anyways.
I have worked hard this week to balance the menu and to get them to eat their organ meat. It was a major battle of wills with Nax. I did the same as I did on heart Day. No coming out of the cage until they ate. I started with cubes to see who would eat that, and Gilly and Gerri did fine. Then I cut the cubes in to slivers because Nixxie and Nax hadn't eaten. Nixxie ate with some coaxing. Nax thumbed his nose at it. So I went to puree, nope and then puree with cream, still nothing. By 2 pm he still hadn't touched a bite so I scruffed and stuffed. He finally reluctantly ate.
They also got duck for the first time, and they thought it was the best thing ever. They went crazy over it.
Frog legs were also introduced but not a big hit.
Nixxie 1.6 Eating just about everything with out a problem, poo's seem normal with a bit of variety. sleeping more than the other ferrets, but has the most dramatic appearance change due to the raw.
Nax 2.1 Being stubborn and I am a little worried that he hasn't eaten enough this week. Although he did terrific with the duck. Poops are normal, energy is normal but I have been keeping an eye on it because I am not satisfied with food amounts and his weight loss. (Right now he is all "mom I know you are talking bad about me so I am going to be super cute and cuddly)
Gilly 2.2 Eating great, her poo that scared me was heart meal poo. I still panic when I see that because of her surgery. My first thought is always internal bleeding when I see it. Her energy levels aren't what I have been hopping for (looking for pre surgery behavior), but I am wondering if that is a combo of post surgery and getting older?
Gerri 2.8 Will eat anything and then some. and his weight is finally catching up to body size. normal poos, and very energetic.
Monday AM Chicken Necks PM Pork and Chicken feet (Only Gerri seems to like the feet)
Tuesday AM Quail PM Chicken thigh meat and frog legs
Wednesday AM Chicken wings PM Gizzards
Thursday AM Pig and chicken heart (To see who liked what better 3 chose chicken and Gilly chose pig) PM Heart and duck skin and some other small peices
Friday Am Duck spine and rib PM turkey neck
Saturday Am 1/2 liver 1/2 kidney pm 1/4 Liver 1/4 kidney 1/2 duck leg meat no bone.
(Some point between last night and this morning (sunday) hubby threw some necks in the cage)
Sunday AM Quail PM left over quail from AM due to full bellies of neck this morning.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 13, 2014 18:03:08 GMT -5
I will be back tomorrow. Sorry I have been gone for this long.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 14, 2014 18:03:09 GMT -5
Okay. With Gerri it is going to take her a while to get back to normal, and behaviour may never quite be what it was. I know when Lucrezia had her blockage she never quite got back her devil may care attitude. It was like she "grew up". I think the trauma has a major impact on them in many cases. With something new like the frog legs it may take more than one attempt, and they may have to be mixed in with something else at first. Organs are the bane of everyone trying to get the wee ones eating raw I actually hand fed a puree of liver/kidney for a year before they finally started accepting it. Otherwise keep where you are at for a few days.
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