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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2014 22:50:33 GMT -5
Mon, 12/22
Leela AM: kibble PM: 0.9 oz. FDR + chicken heart slivers
Flexie AM: kibble PM: 0.4 oz. FDR
Mitch AM: 2.0 oz. soupie PM: 2.2 oz. soupie + chicken heart slivers
Mango AM: 1.5 oz. chicken wings PM: 1.5 oz. organ puree (chicken liver + pork kidney), 0.9 oz. chicken heart
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2015 20:10:51 GMT -5
I'm back from vacation!
I was afraid that after a couple weeks of eating FDR and ziwipeak, they would lose the progress they had made so far. But they seem to be just fine. Mango is back on his weekly meal schedule, Mitch continues to be on soup + sliver training, and the girls are eating soup + FDR mix. Yay!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2015 16:32:01 GMT -5
Welcome back. I hope you had a great time. (dance)
I'm so glad that they didn't move backwards. It's easy enough to do, so another Huzzah. :thumbsup:
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2015 21:39:31 GMT -5
Whew! It was a soup making day! I feel so accomplished making this amount all at once... It took me a good hour to do! Anyway, this batch has bigger slivers. Mitch has been eating bigger chunks just fine, and believe it of not, Leela too! So hopefully they will like this batch. I know I have seen Mitch steal and eat bone-in meat from Mango's dish before. He knows it's food, and his jaw is strong enough to eat it. But if I leave some on his plate, he won't eat it... He's really lazy. I feel a little bit stuck here. I don't know how to start him on bone. Leela has been a really good girl, and she's been eating the same soup with thumb nail sized slivers in it. The only thing is that she won't eat it without a few chunks of FDR in it. How do I wean her off FDR? Flexie... is still eating almost exclusively kibble. I offer FDR daily, but she still doesn't eat much of it. At least she takes a few bites now. I decided that I'm going to take it one ferret at a time, and I'm allowing her to eat kibble until I switch Leela. That way it's less stressful for me. Flexie's switch will have to wait. Mango is still eating Frankenpray like a champion. Because his switch was a piece of cake, I'm really frustrated that it is so difficult to switch the rest of my ferrets.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2015 16:19:42 GMT -5
I don't know how to start him on bone.You will want to start him off easy and help him by smashing the bones. Here is a before and after of one of the first times that I offered Quail: How do I wean her off FDR?Take a piece or two of the FDR and crumble it on top of her chunks. You want to slowly decrease the amount of FDR and increase the amount of her chunks. Make them a little smaller for now. You can also make a gravy with FDR and pour it over her chunks. I'm really frustrated that it is so difficult to switch the rest of my ferrets.
Don't get frustrated. Just enjoy the fact that Mango is eating so well. We always end up with one or two stubborn little ones. They decide that at their meetings. "okay, we took a vote and Flexie is going to be the stubborn one". Then in a few weeks, we'll switch and Leela will pretend to take a step backwards". lol, they're little smarties and enjoy pulling a ferrents chain. Flexie... is still eating almost exclusively kibble.
Take some kibble and put it in a container with some FDR. Shake it up and let it sit for a few days. The smell will permeate the FDR and Flexie will smell the familiar kibble. You can also make a kibble gravy and pour it over the FDR. Since you're waiting on her, just keep offering the small bites and work with the others. You're really doing very well. You only started in December and you've already got Mango eating well, Mitch is beginning on bone and Leela is moving forward. Give yourself a pat on the back and the little ones a big hug. :thumbsup:
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 17:16:50 GMT -5
How's everything going? I wanted to check in and see if all was well.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 20:42:12 GMT -5
Hi @poncesmom! We are still doing well, just not much progress the last couple weeks. After my vacation I got in a habit of not being on here everyday, and that's probably setting myself up for failure... I need to break that now!
We are still hand-feeding Mitch soupie twice everyday. He eats quite a lot this way, usually around 2.5 ounce per meal. I didn't have time in the morning the other day, so I left a bowl of soup in his cage to see if he would eat it on his own. Guess what? He left the whole thing uneaten when I got home from work! I tossed that, and gave him a new bowl of soup, and he ate a bunch, like he was starving! I need to work on making him more independent. Tonight happened to be Mango's pork loin meal, so I snuck a small piece in his soup. He didn't like it, and he ate around it.
Leela is still eating soup + FDR mix twice a day, with free access to kibble all day (which I suspect she's not touching it. She comes up to me when I get home, begging for food.)
I tried un-pureed chicken livers with Mango, but he didn't go for it. On his organ days, I give him half pureed chicken livers and half pureed pork kidney. He probably didn't like the texture of whole liver... I ended up pureeing them, and he ate it just fine.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 10:43:45 GMT -5
It's not unusual for them to depend on hand feeding, early on in the switch. I think they need the reassurance that your being there, gives them.
Sit with him on your lap with a spoon. Offer the soup from the spoon and then lower the spoon to the plate. Let him eat off the spoon that is sitting in the plate. After he has a few bites, remove the spoon and continue to sit there. Let him know that you want him to eat. Push the food around with the spoon, closer to him and just wait for him to get the idea.
If he doesn't eat the soup, then offer some more on the spoon and keep lowering the spoon to the plate. He'll get the idea. Do the same with Leela.
They'll have to get use to the soup slivers, before they begin eating whole pieces of liver. You can still make a nice puree of livers and kidney and then add in tiny minced pieces of the organs and hope they don't notice them. Make them tiny little pieces.
A step backwards after a change in routine is to be expected. You're all doing quite well. Slow and steady wins the game. (dance)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 23:41:08 GMT -5
I mixed in some ground beef in Mitch's soup, and he didn't like it. He only ate about 1.5 oz for dinner. Leela eating her soup + sliver + FDR. She didn't seem to notice that there was some ground beef in her soup,, unlike Mitcharoonie. Is it better to put soup on a plate too? It's pretty watery, so it might be hard to do... She gets food all over her whiskers. I did something differently for Mango today too. I quartered chicken hearts length wise, instead of making quarter "rings." He loved them! He ate much more than usual, total of 2.5 oz. He doesn't normally eat more than 2.0 oz per meal. I will cut them up this way from now on. Great job, Mango!!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 21:18:15 GMT -5
Ha! Mitch ate on his own today! I left a bowl of soup + slivers in his cage, and when I got home, it was empty! Whoo whoo But the bad news is Mango did not eat his chicken wings... He's been doing a great job, so I cut them up a little bit bigger this time. I think the pieces were too big for him. Leela is still doing good, I will try sneaking some bone-in meat in her soup tomorrow. See how she would react to some quail in her soup. I'll be interesting...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2015 12:02:55 GMT -5
It's not unusual for them to dislike beef in the beginning. It's a strong flavor. The best thing to do about that, is to add a little beef into each meal. Get Mitch familiar with it.
Yeah for Leela eating her soup. She is probably your Queen and in charge. Where she goes, the others should follow. If you can find a plate with a lip that would help. Most seem to prefer plates, but some are just fine with a bowl. The bowl in the pictures seems like it's rather small, do you have a larger bowl? It will give their whiskers a little more room and won't cut off their line of sight.
Mitch may not have been that hungry. Wings and bones are filling. Try cutting them smaller though, like you mentioned. That could have been the problem or like I said, he wasn't terribly hungry.
So far, so good. :thumbsup:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2015 22:57:44 GMT -5
I use ziplock containers for their food storage, but I've been feeling very lazy about washing them... I found myself dreading it... So I decided to go all disposable and see how I like it! I think it'll make the daily routine a lot easier for me. I can just feed and toss the bag! I cut up 4 lbs. of chicken wings today, and I am so proud that I got cutting/weighing/portioning in 35 minutes! That's my personal new record. Anyway, I am trying to be more organized at this, and here's my attempt. (23 meals fit in this little container!)
I made sure that the pieces were smaller this time as Mango did not go for the wings-cut into 3 sections, and he refused to eat it. He seemed to be happy with it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2015 23:07:11 GMT -5
Long overdue weigh-in time!
Leela 754g Flexie 914g Mitch 1887g Mango 1619g (A bit concerned about his weight. I found an enormous stash that I did't know about... I'm weighing his food, and I'm caging him when I feed him. No more food outside of his cage for a while)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2015 11:52:56 GMT -5
Great job at prepping. That will make meal time alot easier.
Everyone's weight looks good. Mango is a big boy but Mitch is bigger. Why are you more worried about Mango's weight than Mitch?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2015 0:17:08 GMT -5
Why are you more worried about Mango's weight than Mitch? Because he has been eating less recently. I didn't find much left-overs in his cage, so I thought he was eating all of it. But then I found his secret stash behind TV... I'm probably being over-dramatic, but I'm a bit concerned that he may not be eating enough bone-in (that's mostly what I found in the stash) and it' throwing his nutrition off. He is a smaller built ferret than Mitch, but him being over 200g smaller than Mitch worries me. I'm not worried about Mitch, because I hand feed him most of the time and he is eating at least 4-5 oz. of soupie everyday.
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