Trying Whole Prey before on Bone?

[Deleted]

My girl Marcie has been off soup and on just slivers for about a week now, they're the width of a penny (some width of a nickel) and length of a quarter about, and she's on a menu with the correct organ ratio, she had her first liver plus another organ meal last night and she ate it good, but she hates bone, I've tried Quail, CGH and Chicken Wings, cutting them small, cutting it bigger, smearing her favorite oils on it, mixing it with her regular food, and scruff n stuffing resulted in getting her to eat one single piece, but it took a good 5-6 minutes and I had tp put it back in her mouth about 20-30 times as she kept spitting it out, I had to hold my hand near her mouth and keep her from spitting it out, she finally chewed and ate it but I had about 50 scratches on my arms and hands and she ran and hid under the cage after.

That being said, someone suggested I try Whole Prey, cut it open and see what she does. It may be a long shot, but I did want to try whole prey, even if it's just a treat for them (don't know if I can afford it being a regular part of their diet, depends on the cost).

What do you guys think? Have you done this? I honestly think if I offered something live, she would kill it, don't know if she would eat it but with her stuffed animal toys I throw it and chases it, grabs it and shakes it like crazy then starts chewing on it (have to take it away or she'll eat the stuffing). But if I had to intervene I would probably have a nervous breakdown..

Perhaps I could get a dead pinky mouse, and see what she does? Thoughts?

[Heather]

If you can't kill it don't serve it up live. I've had ferrets who are lousy at killing and you want a quick clean kill. There is never a reason to let a prey animal suffer. Ferrets even untrained are quick and efficient killers....but you do get some who are either sloppy or just loose interest in the prey once it stops moving (spinal bite will do this but it won't kill). They shouldn't be allowed to hunt. If you don't think you can dispatch a mouse then don't feed it live. I started my guys with the wee hoppers I think they're called.
ciao

[Deleted]

Yeah we (me and Katt) decided no live prey a little while back when she asked me about if I would be okay trying it, not against it, I just don't have the heart to intervene, and I would probably breakdown if it was screaming or suffering.

I was going to try dead prey, cut it open, maybe attach it to a string like I did with a chicken wing and make it "move" (she took it, shook the heck out of it and stashed it lol), if she ate it, awesome, if not, we'll try again later. Marcie is a lazy chewer, a very, very lazy chewer though. She only ate like 5 slivers tonight because they were pork and it was harder to chew than chicken, she loves pork but hates chewing. Gah. No teeth problems, she's 1yr, and she's pretty good at ripping up everything that is not edible, so I guess she's just a stubborn brat when it comes to her food.

[Deleted]

i plan on buying some frozen pinky mice to start mine on whole prey. i plan on keeping them frozen then slicing them up and mixing a tiny bit of fdr in with it. pinkies are easy to find and are cheap and nice and fatty. they arent a complete meal but i feel they will be a good start since they are so soft and squishy and dont have fur

overall im anti live feeding, but tying it to a string and doing the dead rat dance sounds like a fun way to simulate a kill. i do it for my snake and she is so cute when she thinks she is killing her prey

[Deleted]

I have a 1+ year old who sounds like yours. luvs to chase cat toys. I replaced a dead mouse on her cat toy and drug it around, and she gnawed and chased it. well, when i took it off and gave it to her she stashed it--they say that is a good sign,but i threw it away after a day-----i guess i should have left it out up to 48 hours. I did get her to eat a mouse paw with egg on it. I cut paw off. That was one expensive meal!


She cant eat chicken without diarrhea---diarrhea started with Cornish--maybe both meats r too much alike,so i am going to try to get her to eat mice for taurine benefit. Have you seen bitbyter's co2 contraption and video? Check it out. Very Interesting!