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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2014 23:33:33 GMT -5
Sorry, don't know how I missed the previous posts. 81 is a good reading for an Insulinomic ferret! Do you know what her BG was previously? I tried taking blood from my girls paw for a reading, and I got bitten and peed on, twice ... lol. What I do is clip some hair from the tip of the tail, rub some alcohol on it, poke it and voila, ferts don't flinch and I get MUCH more blood from the tail than from the paw. I would get a video of it for you but I have Pneumonia and have to keep my distance from the ferts, may take one when I'm better though, for you and everyone else. I would test her every 3-4 weeks or so, unless she starts acting lethargic or strange. They're both eating good, 3.5 oz is a good, normal amount, and same for Rebel.
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Post by Desiree on Dec 6, 2014 23:42:20 GMT -5
Oh that's good. I thought it was low. Haha. At the vet it was 56. This was right before lunch so not to long after breakfast but about 3 hours or so. Okay thanks! I'll try that again soon. I want to get it down so I know how to do it if I have a scare. Glad they are both eating well and decent amounts. Now to get them to eat on their own.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2014 0:31:21 GMT -5
80's is an eyebrow raiser is you suspect adrenal, 90's is good, anything below 80 is usually Insulinoma, and anything below 70 is a confirmed diagnosis needing immediate treatment. Her BG has raised almost 30 points, that's really good. Looks like proper medicine and frequent feeding wins again It's really good to hand feed, it helps push them along a lot faster, you can try to get them to eat on their own for when you can't be there, but hand/spoon feeding is great.
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Post by Desiree on Dec 7, 2014 10:45:39 GMT -5
Well that's good on the hand feeding.
My exact worry is that I'm afraid they won't eat while I'm gone today. There are very few days that I am out for longer than a few hours but today I am working and then heading out of town to go shopping for the ferrets.
Rebel ate .7 ounces for breakfast. She probably stashed about a couple of pieces but since she eats those I am going to count them.
Riot ate 1.1 ounces and I had to force him to eat. He was done after about .5 ounces but I sat him in my lap and made him eat. He's good about eating but has the attention span of... well a ferret and wants to play. But he won't eat on his yet.
While I'm gone today I am going to make a little extra watery soup with some slivers so they have something I know they will eat on their own.
Oh and chunks today are about 1/4 inch thick and some of them are up to an inch long. Chicken thigh too. Riot is getting great about chewing with his back teeth.
ETA - And they just ate 3/4 of the soup that was supposed to hold through the day! (headwall)
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Post by Desiree on Dec 7, 2014 12:05:29 GMT -5
How do I go about brushing teeth? I have dog toothpaste for my dogs, which I never use because it's a pain but I don't know what brush to use for their teeny teeth. I don't know how long they will take to get onto bone and would like to start a brushing regimen for them sooner rather than later.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2014 13:45:24 GMT -5
I'm not sure if dog toothpaste is okay for ferrets, it might be but I'm not sure, Heather is dog toothpaste okay for ferrets? Bones will be your best friend in this, working much better than brushing ever will, but you don't need to brush their teeth, you can if you want but unless they are quite dirty or in some cases a ferret who would stay on soup (not recommended) then brushing isn't necessary. You can cut up some chicken gizzards into slivers for them, these are great teeth cleaners and jaw strength builders. You can also jerkify it for Rebel.
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Post by Desiree on Dec 7, 2014 14:16:23 GMT -5
Oh good. They both like gizzards!
Thank you!
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Post by Heather on Dec 7, 2014 19:22:55 GMT -5
I don't use toothpaste....make sure you check the ingredients carefully before using it on your ferret. I've used oil mixed with crushed egg shell but I don't rely on this to clean teeth, I use bone and gizzards. I've got a couple of ferrets who've got really bad teeth and I clean their teeth as they're too ill to be treated with oral surgery. ciao
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Post by Desiree on Dec 7, 2014 20:11:47 GMT -5
Thanks! I like the salmon oil and eggshell powder better anyway. So I went to the asian market today and although I'm a ways off of being fully raw fed I really like what I picked up! They had almost everything except rabbit. They did not have chicken heart or quail eggs. I got every secreting organ I could find though! So total in my freezer is: smelt fish frog legs duck (whole duck - no head) duck feet duck wings duck eggs (I figured one split between the two of them would make for a good meal) pork brain pork kidney pork liver pork uterus (YAY!) pork loin chops (They were on sale and cheap) beef tongue beef heart beef kidney chicken feet chicken liver chicken thigh quail (12 of them! did not know they were so tiny) goat meat (with bones so I can get out the marrow) cornish game hen I plan to pick up bison or beef, but sometimes bison can be really cheap here so either will do. I also want to pick up beef liver so that'll three different liver types as well. I was gone all day so I don't know who ate what but Riot was eating his chunks all by himself when I woke him up like a good boy! I'm going to feed Rebel as much as she will eat at 7 so I can give her, her meds at 8. I know they both devoured the soup right after breakfast so they have eaten together a total of 5 ounces this morning and if they finish off dinner it'll be another 3 ounces. Need to make more soup already too. SO MUCH STUFF!! Oh and for anyone wondering about the above and the price to feed , I spent 110 dollars total for the above amounts (the list not the picture) and the only thing I had to buy more of was the chicken thighs (since I under estimated how much 8 oz really was) Does an egg count as a meal?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2014 20:53:19 GMT -5
Good find! Egg does not count as a meal, more as a snack. You give 1 chicken egg or 3-5 quail eggs once a week (the entire egg) it's a good hairball remedy.
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Post by Desiree on Dec 7, 2014 21:35:02 GMT -5
I made up a mock menu which is my goal so I have something to aim for! And I'm waiting for the chicken to thaw.
Sun Am - 1/2 Chicken liver 1/2 beef kidney (Or a mix) Sun Pm - CGH
Mon Am - Smelt Mon Pm - 1/2 chicken wings 1/2 duck feet
Tue Am - Beef Heart Tue Pm - 1/2 duck wings 1/2 chicken feet
Wed Am - Bison (or Beef) Wed Pm - CGH
Thu Am - 1/2 beef heart 1/4 pork liver 1/4 pork brain(or uterus or kindey) (Can I make a blend of them all?) Thu PM - Quail
Fri Am - Pork Fri Pm - 1/2 frog legs 1/2 duck feet
Sat Am - Goat Sat Pm - Quail
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Post by Desiree on Dec 8, 2014 11:55:56 GMT -5
So last night, I put in the soup for their overnight snack. No chunks and it was gone in the morning. So this morning at 6 I put in some chunks with soup gravy in and they licked for a minute and went back to bed. I got up this morning and fed them in my lap with my fingers. Rebel ate .5 oz and stashed probably .3 oz. I know she will eat those later when they are dried up so .8 oz for Rebel. Riot ate an 1 oz and that was a struggle. They won't eat chunks off the spoon so I'm kind of at a loss as to how to proceed except to just finger feed them until they will eat on their own?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2014 12:17:42 GMT -5
It may take time,but for the chunks you could try different sizes and shapes? Also try running a chunk under warm water and offering from your hand. My kids LOVE salmon oil, so when I tried them with pork for the first time, I drizzled salmon oil over the chunks-it worked! Do they have a favorite oil?
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Post by Desiree on Dec 8, 2014 12:38:01 GMT -5
Riot loves salmon oil. Rebel doesn't like any oil and I refuse to buy the 'tone. But I already tried that and he didn't care at all. He just licked the salmon oil off and left the chunks. Smart little guys aren't they.
I don't mind the hand feeding. I worry that they won't eat at night if I don't leave soupy soup in their cage. I feel like I'm taking them a step back by giving it to them.
I don't want to take them back a step if I don't have to since they are eating the chunks. Just not sure how long I hand feed for or when to take a step back or step forward. I figured a step forward will be them eating it off the plate.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2014 13:59:09 GMT -5
Good, do not buy the 'tone (I never have but I have heard terrible things about it). Haha, Zekrom licked the salmon oil off the gizzard slivers over the weekend and took a nap! (grr). In my experience, if you baby them here and there, it's a good thing. For almost 3 weeks straight, I sat on the floor with Zoey and made sure she ate-now she's crunching bones! (Well, I haven't had bones available since she threw up but that's me being scared). I don't have an insulomic(sp?) baby but I know you do have to keep food available. What if you try the chunks the same way you would soup in the beginning? Like, sit on the floor and hold someone. Hand feed the chunk and slowly lower them and your hand to the plate? I'm not sure it would work, but it might Or what if you make the chunks smaller? (I'm only saying this because I've wondered if I pushed my kids too fast-I have one that won't eat anything but soup right now, ugh). Maybe try a plate of slivers, mini-chunks of squares, rectangles, triangles?
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