|
Post by Desiree on Dec 15, 2014 22:53:10 GMT -5
You guys are most awesome! I felt better after I saw him eat on his own. The food is with them in their sleeping den and I just made a feeding den for them too. If they don't use it, it is not a big loss but I figured I would try.
Two questions? Can they break the bone in duck neck? I just carved up my duck (holy fat) and pulled out the duck neck. I don't mind crushing the bones if need be.
And I pulled out the heart, a liver and two kidneys. Can I use this for an organ meal? the half liver half organ one. That heart is so tiny and I know more heart isn't bad for them?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2014 23:16:23 GMT -5
I'd say yes they can eat duck neck, but would more than likely have to smash it up. We'll see what @poncesmom says though.
Yes can use those organs, but how much they will need depends on how much they eat per day. Lets say for example Riot ate 1 oz per meal, a half a meal of hearts would be 0.5 oz. I'm not sure how much a Turkey heart weighs, they're different, some are bigger and some smaller.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2014 12:03:50 GMT -5
You guys are most awesome! I felt better after I saw him eat on his own. The food is with them in their sleeping den and I just made a feeding den for them too. If they don't use it, it is not a big loss but I figured I would try. Two questions? Can they break the bone in duck neck? I just carved up my duck (holy fat) and pulled out the duck neck. I don't mind crushing the bones if need be. And I pulled out the heart, a liver and two kidneys. Can I use this for an organ meal? the half liver half organ one. That heart is so tiny and I know more heart isn't bad for them? I've never served necks, but everyone who does, always seems to smash them. Duck is fatty. If you can render the fat, you will have a great delicacy and treat for the ferrets. You certainly can serve those organs. I would only use one kidney though. Save the other kidney for another meal.
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 16, 2014 12:18:44 GMT -5
I can probably render the fat. I've never tried before but I'm sure it won't be too hard.
Awesome, I'm doing CGH for the next few meals. I think it's two and half days worth of meals, then I'm going to try a half heart/half organ meal, then move on to duck, then pork and so on.
They both love their CGH. This mornings meal went a lot better. They ate about half of the food I put out, so 2 oz together. Around six this morning I heard Riot up eating his stash so he wasn't quite as hungry this morning and still put some food away so yay!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2014 13:39:39 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 16, 2014 22:07:45 GMT -5
Well the CGH was gone when I got home from work!! Yay! I think they like eating in that den. Pretty sure Riot is the only one eating from the plate. Rebel only eats when I feed her. Any tips on getting her to eat from the plate? She will lick up the juices and she will grab a piece of meat from my fingers but will not eat from the plate. She also told me in not so nice ways that she was not done eating by trying to eat my wrist. She's been pretty good recently about not biting to hard but got sinbinned yesterday and today for it. Rebel ate 1.5 oz this morning (including some stashing) and ate .5 tonight for a total of 2 oz. Riot ate 2.4 oz (only small bone left over from this morning) and ate .5 tonight for a total of 2.9 oz. They have an ounce of CGH for tonight. I took away his stash for a couple nights so he doesn't gorge himself on them. I will give them back when he starts eating more consistently for me.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2014 10:05:23 GMT -5
Congrats! You all are doing so well! For my own curiosity, how are you giving them the CGH? Just wings/legs/back/ribs? Smashed/just cut? Do you cut with a clever/scissors? (I'm asking because I'd like to try your method) It sounds like Rebel is being a princess and wants her human slave to baby her Since she licks the juices from the plate, maybe try holding the plate instead of holding the meat with your fingers? That way she is still taking the meat from your hand, just not directly
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 17, 2014 11:28:39 GMT -5
That's a great idea with Rebel! I will try that at lunch!
I basically just wack the CGH to death with a cleaver. I cut in half so that it lays flat on my cutting and go crazy. I make sure to give the bone an extra wacking. I use my scissors to cut through tendon and fat and to open up long bones. I use everything. I portion my meals out into 4 oz potions. Sometimes they eat it all, sometimes they don't. Because I keep a few meals defrosted at a time, I can give them less at dinner if I need too.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2014 12:00:09 GMT -5
Okay, I'll give the whacking a try HAHA! I had been smashing the wings and legs with a hammer (gosh, that sounds terrible) and then chopping into bite size pieces but after the scare with Zekrom this weekend, I wanted to try something different. I hope holding the plate encourages Rebel to eat better And thank you for your secrets
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 18, 2014 11:36:04 GMT -5
I forgot to post my updates for yesterday.
Rebel will eat off the plate if I have it in my hand so that's a step up. They are both eating chunks. Thin chunks but they will eat any size lengthwise and they will work on them. Riot stashed some of his breakfast in the feeding den. I'm going to see at lunch if he ate any of them. They are still going in licking but start opening there mouths after a while. Apparently I suck at measuring meat because when I served them their meal this morning it weighed 5.8 ozs. I thought I portioned out 4 oz. It should last them the day though.
Tomorrow I am going to set the plate down and give them an hour to eat on there own. I normally feed them right then and there so if they don't get fed I am hoping they will eat on their own. I have a camera set up to watch the bowl and see who actually eats.
Tomorrow will be the last day of CGH, they will get their half heart half organ meal and then onto duck!
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 18, 2014 15:54:57 GMT -5
Riot 2 lbs 2.9 oz (gained .7 oz) He looks skinnier every day though. I can't wait till he starts gaining more muscle. Averaging just below 3 oz a day, possibly more but I don't see what he is eating when I'm not with him.
Rebel 1 lb 11.9 oz (same as last week) She is fluffy, looks to be in great health. Appetite is increasing, she is averaging about .7 oz a meal, three time a day so just over 2 oz a day.
They are both eating bones with gusto. Neither has any problems with them save the occasional gag reflex. They are picking up pieces by themselves but eat better if I hold them. They haven't got the tearing thing down yet though.
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 19, 2014 12:08:56 GMT -5
Organs did not go so well this morning... I thought they would be excited to have soup again! They have had everything in the soup before except for the kidney. Of course, my blender broke (never blend up pork uterus) so I had to chop the pieces really small but apparently it doesn't matter. They were not having it. I got them to eat about .5 oz each. I'm leaving it in there until 2 when I will give them their last bone in CGH. For a late lunch and dinner.
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 20, 2014 12:26:19 GMT -5
New proteins suck! They were not thrilled about duck. Rebel ate a very small amount .3oz and Riot ate close to nothing. However, they both finished off their stash last night in their cage so they aren't going hungry. I'm going to try every hour until I go to work. Hopefully I can get enough in them before I leave.
|
|
|
Post by Desiree on Dec 20, 2014 20:21:04 GMT -5
Well I had to resort to gravy and soup to get them to eat and they polished off 5 ozs before I left for work. At least they ate. With the transition from chicken to quail to CGH, I guess I had it easy before. Duck must be a very different flavor for them. I'm going to grind up (if I can find a meat grinder tonight) some more duck and make soup and start from almost scratch and get them eating chunks of duck. I love how much they eat on raw soup, I almost want to keep them on it until Riot starts to gain more weight. He eats so much more soup than he does chunks.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 14:12:52 GMT -5
Well I had to resort to gravy and soup to get them to eat and they polished off 5 ozs before I left for work. At least they ate. With the transition from chicken to quail to CGH, I guess I had it easy before. Duck must be a very different flavor for them. I'm going to grind up (if I can find a meat grinder tonight) some more duck and make soup and start from almost scratch and get them eating chunks of duck. I love how much they eat on raw soup, I almost want to keep them on it until Riot starts to gain more weight. He eats so much more soup than he does chunks. Some ferrets are lazy eaters. I tried your gravy idea, and my Mitch ate better that way too! But he is so lazy that if he can't chew a chunk in a few bites, he'll drop it and moves onto a next piece. Looking for a smaller one, I guess. He, too, eats so much on soupie, but he doesn't eat much if it's chunks of meat with gravy on top... *sigh*
|
|