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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 0:09:05 GMT -5
I ordered the grinds today, I got 5lbs chicken, 5lbs pork, 2lbs rabbit, 2lbs mutton, and 2lbs duck. All that was $62, and then I paid $4 for 4 extra freeze packs since they don't guarantee it will be frozen if your under is under 30lbs, and if it is thawed/rotted they won't refund it. Then shipping was $22, it's 2 day ground shipping. But Hare Today only ships on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so they will probably arrive on Wednesday I'd say. With shipping and all it was almost $90, and for my parents it took a lot of explaining and convincing to make that happen and also having to dig a small hole of debt to afford this from now on (lol), we all need to pray that when I introduce them they dig in haha. I'm really really hoping they like them, and that they won't be picky with them. I am fine with having to hand feed for a bit to get them used to it and I've had to convince them to eat many things over the months, it's not issue for me, but it is for my mom, so lets hope they have no issues with the grinds and can eat that while I'm gone without fussing. One more question, the ferrets have never had rabbit or duck, they've had Lamb but not Mutton (I know it is the same thing except for age, but they taste different as I have read) but even then only 2-3 times several months ago. If they are picky with the new proteins (like won't eat them and need lots of coaxing type of picky) then would they be O-K eating just the chicken and pork grinds for the 6 days I'm gone? If they must have another protein (which is fine, I'm just wondering) then I can just buy a small amount of beef from the store and have my mom feed it to them a few times, since I just ran out of the ground beef I usually feed. I promise I'll try really hard to get them used to the grinds before I leave, but since I'll only have like 4 maybe 5 days to do that, I have no idea if I can get them eating it consistently by then. But I am going to try (and cross my fingers and toes and eyes that they will lol).
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Post by Sherry on Jun 27, 2015 13:04:27 GMT -5
Whatever they will willingly eat while you are gone is fine
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2015 23:26:10 GMT -5
Okay, I got an email and my grinds will be shipped on Monday, and I got 2 day shipping so it should be here on Wednesday. I have written SO much for my mom on care instructions lol... I mean their care instructions/feeding/play times and etc isn't a lot, but I wrote what she should do in case of any emergency like a possible blockage, a seizure, and etc. I mean I have given her like 4 different numbers she could call to get a hold of me, but just in case something happens and I'm not available, I wrote instructions and also gave her the passwords to the forum, my facebook for the holistic ferrets page, and the number of our vets office and the emergency vets office along with my vets number, and instructions on how to navigate the forum and who to tag/ask (includes You, Steph, Katt, Heather, Jason, etc) since all you know my fuzzers situations best. And also your email. Plus I will be setting out all of the emergency kit stuff on top of their cage labeled and the instructions printed out beside all of it, (karo syrup, carnivore care, sub-q fluids, first aid, etc) and will have all their food prepared and labeled, so all she has to do is thaw, put on a plate, feed, give their meds and let them out to play. I am also going to get her, my sister and my brothers to take turns playing with them every day so they don't get lonely/depressed. So, I THINK if something happens, they should be okay I know I will be leaving either late this Saturday night, or early Sunday morning. And we will be leaving to come back 6 days later on Saturday. The drive is about 7 hours or so. Funny that, for the ferrets I have like 10 pages of specific care instructions and all these emergency contact numbers and so on, and for my dog I just told her "Feed him, let him outside to potty, throw a ball every day" LOL. Ferrets prove that with love comes stress, sacrifice and usually some debt (giggle)
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Post by Sherry on Jun 29, 2015 12:15:25 GMT -5
Relax and try to have fun
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2015 19:13:33 GMT -5
The grinds arrived today, I waited until their next feeding to try the grinds with them so they'd be hungry, I added some water to the chicken grind and warmed it up like I do with their soup, I took Caillou, sat in the floor and started spooning it to him and he didn't refuse or spit it out or anything! Then I offered it to Marcie and she didn't even act like it was anything different (as expected from her though lol) the only issue though is, they are leaving behind all of the chunky parts, pretty much they are not eating the parts that will actually be good for their jaw/teeth. They're just lapping it up and don't want to chew anything.
So, if I can get them eating all of it by Saturday then I'll definitely let them eat that while I am gone, but I offered them 2 oz to share and they left an ounce and it was all chunky, so I don't want to keep them eating that while I am gone if they're going to be wasting half of what they're fed. But it also could be that I need to feed less of it, so for the next few meals I will offer less and see if they finish it. Fingers crossed!
But, now we know they WILL eat it, I just *might* not be able to get them eating it good enough by the time I leave but from the looks of it I think I can do it, I'll just have to push them the next few days. If I let them eat the grinds while I am gone I am going to just let them eat the chicken and pork because the other proteins I got they've never had and considering Cai's stomach issues I don't want him to have a reaction to anything. But as soon as I get back I'll introduce everything else. I may introduce one thing within the next few days, we'll see.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 13:53:27 GMT -5
Okay, so they've been eating the chicken grind since yesterday afternoon, they kept leaving the chunky bits so this morning I offered quite a bit less of the grind and they ate all of it, the only bits they left were the bits of bone. But I have never been able to get either of them to eat bone bits before, not even Marcie, so I'm not sure how long it'll take for them to start eating those. If their poops start getting a little loose I'll have to add some bonemeal I suppose, but their aren't many of the bone bits anyways. But, this morning they ate very well, so I'll be letting them eat the grinds while I'm gone. Today I'm going to try them with the pork, and then the mutton, so hopefully they'll be eating 3 proteins already when I am gone and it'll all be balanced. This morning when I was getting their food I was thinking about what day I need to give them their organ meal, then remembered I don't have to do that anymore, it was a very happy moment for me And now I know they do eat less on the grinds too, this morning I only gave them about 1 ounce, usually I give them double that of soup. So right now they are eating half as much as usual, which is about 2 maybe 3 ounces a day each, so what I ordered should last about 5 weeks or so I'd say, as I thought (hoped) it would.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 2, 2015 17:00:10 GMT -5
Sounds like it is going well And yes, most do leave behind the larger shards of the grinds. Mine do as well but there is enough consumed to work. Let me know how they do on the grinds over the next couple or three weeks and we can get you graduated!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2015 20:20:21 GMT -5
We're leaving for our 9 hour long car drive at 6:00am, I'm at my friends house now staying the night before we leave, the ferrets are doing good, I'll update when I can on them just to let you know they're good while I am gone. They're just eating chicken and pork so far, when I get back I will introduce the other 3 proteins. And the lady who runs the shelter around here who I've fostered and adopted from (Belinda) has asked me to foster a new fuzzy for her when I get back, so I'll let you know how that goes too.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 5, 2015 2:25:14 GMT -5
Have fun
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2015 22:23:31 GMT -5
I got back home earlier today, it's been a long week haha, but a fun one nonetheless. When I got back and came to give the ferts some loves I picked up Caillou and immediately knew he had lost weight, he was definitely lighter than before. So I weighed him and he is 2.8lbs, I hadn't weighed him in a while but I think his last one a few months ago was 3.2lbs, he was probably more than that before I left though. He is still chubby, but it's alarming to me because of how much lighter he feels. He doesn't look sick or act sick, my mom said some days he would barely eat and the next he would eat every last bite, which is fairly typical for him (Marcie does that sometimes too). But- she also said that my little brothers and her played with the ferrets for hours and hours every day, running around and chasing them and etc, she said that Caillou and Marcie both played HARD without rest for a good hour and then they'd nap and do it all again. So do you think his weight loss is just from the new food/him eating a little less and then that paired with him getting a lot more exercise? He's still fat but it's the short time he lost it that kinda worries me. Other than that he is acting completely normal, poops are good, he ate fine earlier, he isn't dehydrated, his paw and nose are nice and pink and etc. I've gotta portion out more of the grinds tomorrow so I'm going to introduce those new proteins probably Monday when we all get settled back into our routine, hopefully it'll go over smoothly.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 12, 2015 11:11:14 GMT -5
That combined with him finally getting his summer weight loss definitely Next step try different proteins and see how they do!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2015 12:52:10 GMT -5
Okay that's good to hear, every time I pick him up it's a bit shocking because I always expect him to feel much heavier lol. He looks more normal though, about Marcie's size. She still has her winter pudge I think, Cai is blowing his coat a little but she is still fat and fluffy as ever.
Caillou is also back to chewing, he has had 5 time-outs today from it. He won't stop going after my box spring, so I'm gonna have to spray it with vinegar again to deter him. I'm also brushing his teeth daily again too so hopefully that will help.
But it surprised me because his teeth actually look better, I looked at them today after using the oral hygiene rinse and they really do look cleaner than they were 2 weeks ago. I think the grinds may be helping. His are definitely still nasty but I can see a difference for sure, mostly in his molars, his canines are... ack. But, better. So that is a really nice thing to see. He is losing some weight, his teeth are getting cleaner and his energy is good. I actually have some extra money left from my trip so I think I may use that to get him a check-up at the Vet, he hasn't been in about 7 months so I want to get his BG checked again and just have him looked over in general, his heart and have his stomach felt around, just a checkup. It's $50 well spent, mostly I need his BG checked so I can get mine calibrated. And I can bring Marcie for one too, my Vet only charges for one visit when I bring both, might as well have her looked over while we are there. The first time I took her when I first got her, this was when we thought she was 1-2 years old, my Vet said she was one of the healthiest ferrets he'd ever seen. Her teeth were clean, her stomach felt normal, her heart rate, breathing, everything was perfect. And she's about 7 years old, she's my trooper (giggle)
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Post by Sherry on Jul 12, 2015 13:10:50 GMT -5
Sounds good Let me know how they do
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2015 15:51:47 GMT -5
Oh, I think another reason for his weight loss could be that when I started feeding the grinds (just a few days before I left) when I portioned it all out for my moms ease I did 1.5 ounces per reditainer, and they got one reditainer 4 times a day, so they got about 2-3 ounces of food a day each depending on how much whoever ate. But before the grinds when they were eating soup, they were eating much more, probably almost double that. Poor little Cai went on a diet (giggle)
He's being super clingy, he follows me everywhere I go, if I get up to go get something he is right under my feet, if I dare leave my room he scratches at the door until I come back, then crawls up on my bed to lay with me. Marcie took a different route, she is mad at me and will come to randomly nip me every hour or so lol. Ah the love of ferrets.
I just portioned out some of their meat, I didn't do the math beforehand so I don't know how long it'll last but probably did enough for a week. I did it as 1 reditainer has 1 days worth of food, and each reditainer has 4 ounces of grinds in it. I did 4 of pork, 3 of chicken, 3 of mutton, 3 of rabbit, and 3 of duck. I'm going to write up a menu and follow that, I'm going to introduce mutton first tomorrow morning. I'd do it tonight but I have just 2 ounces of pork grind left from the batch I made before I left so I'm using that up first.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 16:18:31 GMT -5
Monday I introduced the mutton, they definitely did not like it lol, but I got them to eat it so that's all that matters. See, Marcie only has to miss one meal and then she will eat just about anything, but Caillou would starve to death before eating something he doesn't like. I had to spoon feed him 2 out of 4 of the mutton meals, the times he ate on his own he didn't eat a lot but he ate. Marcie cleared the plate after missing the first meal I offered, she didn't like it a lot but she did eat it.
Then today I introduced Rabbit, they weren't fans of that either. But they did have a big pork dinner last night so hopefully their next meal in a little bit will go more successfully. This morning with the rabbit I sat in the floor and tried and tried and tried to get Caillou to eat it, I was able to get just enough in him for his BG but he refused to eat it on his own. I spoon fed Marcie too, she would eat fine from the spoon (she scarfs anything down if I'm holding her) but as soon as I put her down to eat on her own she run off. Since she only had a few spoonfuls this morning I'm expecting she will gobble it down at her next meal.
And I called today and scheduled Caillou his dental, he is going in to have his teeth cleaned next Monday the 27th. I'm a little nervous for him but I trust my Vet and he says it's what will be best for his gingivitis. Plus Caillou is too distracted by his throbbing mouth to even play now, so I'm gonna try and take him on some walks and car rides to keep him and his mind busy. Of course I'll have to alternate an take Marcie too or she'll get jealous lol.
I had a question for you, how often do you clean your fuzzers ears? Or actually how often do yours need to be cleaned? My guys ears are always so dirty, now Caillou's have always been that way ever since I got him, and they've both had ear mites twice within the last year, but today I cleaned their ears out and it was crazy dirty. They never scratch at them or anything, but they are always filthy and I have no idea why. Everyone else says after starting raw their fuzzers ears are much cleaner, but my twos are always filled with that black/brown gunk and they've been on raw for months.
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