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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2014 23:20:17 GMT -5
I should clarify, because I made us sound further along than we are yet.
She will eat pork, chicken, and rabbit, no questions asked. I have to sit with her and hand-feed her beef. She readily eats liver, although we are currently giving her pork liver, which she is adjusting to. She is strongly resisting kidney, but we can get her to eat a little by hand-feeding (and rewarding her with some of her favorite oil as a treat). We have pig uteri in our freezer, but since she isn't totally keen on kidney yet, we didn't want to introduce her to too much at once. Right now kidney and liver are being served together, in one dish.
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Post by gfountain on Dec 29, 2014 13:27:54 GMT -5
You guys are doing great. Beef is one of those proteins that it seems they either really like or they really don't.. No in-between. If she's taking it from your hand, maybe she'll be one who likes it. All 4 mine love it, although I still have one who only wants it from my hand..spoiled baby.
Kidney is something else that a lot of ferrets don't like. I imagine it has a pretty strong taste. Rather than continue pushing that at her, try some of the uteri. She may prefer that, and it will give you another organ taste to help mask the kidney.
So she's eating the chicken and rabbit bones with no problem, right? And heart, and liver, and pork muscle meat? How are her poops? Activity? Weight? All good? Are there any of the menu requirements that you're unsure of? I really feel like you guys will be ready to graduate soon. I'd like to have her eating at least one more protein first and eating that second organ more readily. Have you tried here with quail or duck? Or frog legs...my kids go nuts over frog legs.
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Post by gfountain on Dec 29, 2014 13:30:07 GMT -5
Are you still cutting up her bones, or is she eating them whole now? My post above was assuming that she's eating them whole now, but I just realized I'm really not sure!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2014 21:49:11 GMT -5
I'll thaw out the uteri tomorrow and portion them, then let you know how that first few samplings goes. You may have seen the post already in "Scaredy Piper", but alas, Piper is perfectly fine! Her weight is exactly the same (although when I gave her a bath the other day she was looking a little tub tubs). She is a dynamo. Sometimes when she retreats to her cage for a couple hours I panic, because I think something's wrong. Then I think... oh, right, she needs sleep! Poops are typical raw poops- dark brown, a little runny (as in not little coiled kibble poo), not too smelly. Still on the hunt for the last protein It doesn't have to be fish, but for some reason, I had it in my head. But all the fish I've found has far too much salt in it for a fert. I think I'll try quail or duck and see what she takes to- she loves turkey, so I'm so one more bird will agree with her. The tiny itty bitty bones, like the little one in a chicken wing's midsection, or a rabbit's rib. we don't cut. But anything bigger, like a chicken wing's shoulder bone, we cut. It's not a lot, usually just split or into 3 or 4 pieces. Her teeth look awesome btw! (dance)
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Post by gfountain on Dec 31, 2014 0:15:25 GMT -5
Alas? Lol. I'm glad she's ok. I haven't seen that post yet and I've been concerned. Eating raw will distribute her weight differently on her body, which may be why she looks chubby but is still at the same weight. Also, winter chub happens...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2014 12:57:55 GMT -5
Hi Gina, I'm not sure if you'll see this in time, but I'm worried and you're the first person I thought to ask.
Piper was hungry this morning, and while I was preparing her beef, she ate some old heart meat. She's currently throwing up in her litter box and I don't know what to do. I'm so glad I took the heart meat away from her as soon as I found it. Please let me know when you've seen this.
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Post by gfountain on Dec 31, 2014 13:25:43 GMT -5
There's really nothing you can do for her at this point except to just keep an eye on her. Make sure she has fresh water and food for when she wants it. I would really be surprised if she threw up because the meat was bad. Most ferrets generally won't eat anything that is too bad. It's possible that she ate too quickly, causing vomiting. Throwing up also seems to scare them, so reassure her of your presence and try to keep her calm if she seems agitated. It also might make her sleepy. If it's just this one episode, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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Post by gfountain on Dec 31, 2014 13:27:33 GMT -5
Let me know if it happens again, or if her behavior changes.
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Post by gfountain on Dec 31, 2014 22:34:10 GMT -5
How is she? Any more vomiting?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2015 18:08:50 GMT -5
Hey, sorry to have worried you. After most of the vomiting was over, I was able to cuddle her and reassure her that she was safe. She was a champ and threw up mostly in the litterbox. She drank a little water and slept for the better part of the day, and then ate a full rabbit bone-in meal last night- ribs and all. She never vomited again (as far as we know). Thank you so much for your help. Again, I'm so sorry to have scared you.
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Post by gfountain on Jan 1, 2015 18:24:55 GMT -5
Oh, good. It really sounds like she just ate too fast or took too big a bite. My Leon boy does that when he's really hungry. Then he runs to the litter box and scares me to death with his hacking. What did the vomit look like?
Her rabbit meal, big chunks, whole bones?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2015 20:54:52 GMT -5
The vomit looked like big chunks of meat, more or less intact. What your saying makes a lot of sense when I think about it.
Her rabbit meal was big chunks with whole ribs. I had to snap them off the spine to get a 2oz portion, but I didn't have to do anything at all to the ribs. For the last bone-in meal I gave her, I split 4 chicken wing tip so that they were 3 distinct bones with the meat on them. The bones themselves were whole. She's doing really well with her bone-ins, I have to say.
I meant to ask you- Piper does ok with her organ meals, but it's a fight. She did better with uteri than with kidneys, but it's still not like her rabbit/chicken/pork days, which are a breeze. Do you think Piper would do better on whole prey than on full frankenprey? That question has been sitting in my mind and Travis's for the last day or so. We're lazy and whole prey sounds much better than cutting up all this meat all the time. How many prey animals would a ferret with Piper's appetite eat everyday? How affordable is whole prey?
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Post by gfountain on Jan 4, 2015 1:20:12 GMT -5
Whole prey is a great option, but for me with shipping, the cost is prohibitive. If you go completely whole prey, you just need to make sure you rotate at least 3 proteins, preferably more. The size of those proteins can vary from mouse to rabbit, so with only one little girl there will very likely still be some cutting up to do. You could do a combination of whole prey/frankenprey if that would work better for you. Basically, you just subtract the number of WP meals from the total for the week and balance the remaining frankenprey meals. That is definitely an option, but unless you do predominantly whole prey, it would still likely require at least one organ/heart meal per week.
If she's really fighting the organs, you can make a soup from them and see if she'll take them better that way, and then work up to organ chunks again. Another thing you could do to get the organs into her, but again it's chopping, is to measure out a week's worth of organ and mix it into her other meals. Oh, but she's eating bigger chunks now so that might not work, hmmm. Honestly, sometimes my kids refuse their organs too so I just let them skip their next meal and give them organs again. But I know all mine are healthy so I'm not too worried about them missing a meal once in a while. They more than make up for it at the next meal. Another thing you can do, short-term only, is to feed some organ at every meal until she acquires a taste for it. You obviously don't want to do that very long to avoid an imbalance, but we've had pretty good success getting them to eat what we want them to eat by giving them nothing else for a few meals in a row.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2015 22:15:51 GMT -5
Hey, I wanted you to know that I've seen your post. Not much progress has been made, but this is my fault, not Piper's- I signed my first doula client, and since she's due in a week, I've been racing to accumulate my supplies and gather her loved ones together for a prenatal visit. I'll have more for you soon.
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Post by gfountain on Jan 11, 2015 14:48:54 GMT -5
Exciting news! Congrats! Let me know when you're ready to move forward with Piper. You guys are really close to graduating to 'raw feeder'.
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