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Post by katt on Mar 14, 2015 18:40:54 GMT -5
hahaha This is Totally normal! Welcome to one of the joys of raw feeding - food fights! (dance) As long as there is enough for everyone you don't need to worry. Food fights are inevitable when the food is so good, and a sign that they are truly enjoying their meats now. Ferrets are silly, greedy little creatures. It doesn't matter if there are 5 pieces of identical meat in the bowl, whatever piece HE has is the piece I want, and the ONLY piece I want. I'll try to dig up some videos on food fights for you, I know we have several floating around. I had a good one of my boys but it disappeared. :/ I'm glad that you are feeling better about the bones. Start smashing some small bones and mixing them in. Hand feed some marrowy bits to get them going again if you need to. Work on gradually smashing them less and less. This is the last big hurdle. There's nothing wrong with a slow switch - the progress IS being made and you should congratulate yourself! You've stuck with it through all of the chaos of a move (umm that's a BIG deal!) and being a mother and school and everything else. Don't you dare short change yourself - Congratulate yourself! You are doing awesome! They are in the home stretch. Let me know how they do as you start adding in some bones again.
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Post by katt on Mar 14, 2015 18:53:22 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2015 11:51:29 GMT -5
So glad to know this is normal. The videos were great. Thank you. Ill keep you posted.
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Post by katt on Mar 15, 2015 21:55:19 GMT -5
Yep, very normal and often very entertaining. (giggle)
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Post by katt on Mar 19, 2015 17:32:38 GMT -5
How are bone chunks going?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2015 11:00:53 GMT -5
It's going great! They are eating whole chicken wings by themselves!
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Post by katt on Mar 20, 2015 23:34:00 GMT -5
Wow, good fuzz! (dance) What about other bones? How are they doing on everything else? When you get a chance, please post a week's menu. I sense a graduation ahead...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2015 9:34:52 GMT -5
We haven't tried any other bones other than chicken wings yet. What other bones should we give? I'll post a menu a little later today.
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Post by katt on Mar 21, 2015 13:30:35 GMT -5
The more variety the better. I find it's most cost effective to buy whole birds and chop them up, then they get all of the bones in the bird - chicken back (which you can also just buy), spine, neck, ribs, etc. Weight bearing bones (legs) usually need to be smashed for them. Chicken or duck feet can be added to boneless meats to create a "bone-in" meal. Game Hen bones are perfect eating size (but see note below). Rabbit is another really good source that is usually found at most Asian Markets. Also duck, turkey, quail, frog legs, etc. Whole prey is another good source of bones (and everything else) if you want to go down that route. They really need to have at least 2-3 bone sources in their diet. If you ever have one develop a sensitivity to chicken you don't want to be unable to give bone. Also, their diet needs a lot of bone - 7-9 meals each week should be bone-in meats. Chicken wings can't be the only bone source or their protein variety will be really limited and they will potentially be missing out on important nutrients they get from other meats. For these reasons you want to have variety. As an added note, CGH is a "different" protein from chicken as many ferrets who are allergic to chicken can tolerate CGH. That said it is simply a different hybrid breed of chicken and is very, very similar to "normal" chicken, so while it DOES offer some variety, it can't be the only source of variety (for bones or protein). If you have trouble finding some of the other meats, search your area for Asian or Ethnic markets, or butchers. I find the best results with googling under the format "Asian Market, City, State" and searching for Asian Market, Ethnic Market, and Halal Market will give you some different results. Sometimes Indian Market and African Market also pull up differen things but usually the first 3 cover most of the options in the area. Local butchers are often a goldmine if you talk to them and explain what you want.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2015 17:23:59 GMT -5
Can ferrets develop allergies? Puddin has been sneezing like cray off and on all day.
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Post by katt on Mar 25, 2015 18:04:59 GMT -5
Yep, they can. Have you changed laundry detergent or cleaners recently? Used candles? He could also just have fur in his nose - are they starting to shed yet? Most ferrets are entering spring shed right about now. Try vacuuming/sweeping a little extra if you can and see if that helps - the shed season plus pollen season means more dust, and ferrets are little dust-mops crawling around on the floor with their noses right on the ground. I wouldn't be too worried about it if he isn't showing other symptoms, unless it is really non-stop and/or doesn't improve. Keep an eye on him. Also watch for excessive itching (caveat - this can be from starting to shed too lol), red skin, watery or inflamed eyes, nasal discharge, eye goop, etc. If he starts having any of those things I'd take him in to be checked in case it is a URI or something else going on.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2015 8:04:47 GMT -5
Thank you!!!
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Post by katt on Mar 29, 2015 0:26:07 GMT -5
How are they doing? Have you had a chance to make a menu yet?
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Post by katt on Apr 2, 2015 18:01:40 GMT -5
Bumping for updates
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Post by katt on Apr 10, 2015 2:46:34 GMT -5
Bumping for updates and a menu
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