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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2015 1:44:07 GMT -5
500 more comments and you'll be a senior member ooooo
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Post by Celene on Feb 27, 2015 9:47:19 GMT -5
Haha and then people will think I must know things - boy will they be wrong!
The last couple days my girls have been basically skipping/not touching breakfast, and then pigging out at dinner (i.e. eating their entire portion, which never happened before). Thankfully all of their "actual" bone-in meals are in the PM (so I can be paranoid and make sure they don't choke) but also their organ meals have been in the PM this week so I'm slightly worried they're getting too large of a portion of that. (Not super worried though because I know Vitamin A from liver/kidney only builds up over time so a little extra for one week shouldn't hurt.) I seem to be throwing out a lot of food though :\
What else... Oh yeah. I added some eggshell powder to their lamb this morning because I realized it they had a just-muscle meal right after an organ meal I'd be in poop h*ll.
Tomorrow I will be going to the Asian market. I'm going to try and find some frogs legs as well because apparently some ferrets LOVE it as a bone-in meal (although some apparently hate it so I'm only going to get a little to try).
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Post by Celene on Feb 28, 2015 23:25:30 GMT -5
So.... We'll see how this goes.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2015 1:28:07 GMT -5
Let me know if they keep skipping breakfast >_> they may have just decided to only eat at night. If you're throwing a lot of meat away then you can feed them a bit less. Remember they're also probably coming into their spring season so they'll be eating a bit less. That looks like quite the haul I got some pork butt, chicken necks, and chicken hearts from the grocery store today. I'm hoping to get some fun stuff from the butchers soon
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Post by Celene on Mar 1, 2015 22:57:05 GMT -5
Okay. First, weights: Mocha Nova 23-Feb-15 1.64 1.57 25-Feb-15 1.63 1.59 01-Mar-15 1.55 1.58 Mocha is down quite a bit from her peak at 1.80 lbs, but still above her pre-raw weight of 1.45 lbs. They basically skipped breakfast again (maybe a couple tiny nibbles each) although they DID lick up all of the egg yolk which was topping the pork. I was worried it would spoil their appetites, but I've noticed some shedding and fur in poops so figured I should probably start giving them some yolks regularly. They also didn't really eat dinner, which was chicken wings. I even cut them up and smashed them really well! But they didn't seem to care. I wonder if they recognize chicken as something which upsets their digestive system and therefore avoid it. Either way, I hope all this fasting means they'll be hungry for pork in the morning! Now time for the week's menu: You'll notice all the "actual" bone-in meals are in the evening. I still don't trust them with bones, but I've decided once they go 2-3 bone-in meals without choking I will put bone-in for morning meals too. I also am only doing the new proteins once each in case they hate them so they don't starve. I'm optimistic for the partridge. I held the head up to Nova and she started licking the beak for a bit, before grabbing some of the skin with her teeth and trying to run off with it. *Edited to add: I may have spoken too soon. Just after posting I woke them both up and they ate a little each. Since it was chicken wings it was a lot of bone so I'm pretty proud of them
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Post by Celene on Mar 2, 2015 21:40:38 GMT -5
Okay so these girls have REALLY been testing my sanity tonight.
First I come home, go to clean the litter box, and see a poop with neon green and blue stuff in it. A little qtip exploration and I determine it's yarn from a crochet toy I threw out at least 3-7 days ago (I can't remember exactly when, but I did after I saw Mocha chewing on it). So I suspect it's Mocha but have no proof. After they woke up Mocha made a poop with PURPLE thread in it so I definitely know it's her and from the same toy. I'm guessing she had/has a floating blockage, which may help explain why she hasn't been eating as much (or not). I'm holding off on the protocol since she is eating and pooping, and maybe give and egg or extra oil and hope it passes on its own. The reason I hesitate with the protocol is because it's h*ll on their digestive system and completely messes up my meal plan. Anyway, she ate her organ dinner like a good little piggy.
So I noticed Mocha started suddenly chewing fabric and wires and such around the same time we started the switch and thought maybe she was just missing the chewing/crunching action of kibble and it would resolve itself once she got on bone. Maybe it still will. Either way I am going past the simply scolding/removing stage to trying to find an alternative. The problem is she's SO fussy. The only "hard" thing I can get her to chew is nbones (which she loves) but aren't good for her. I tried giving her chicken jerky (dried chicken breast from Canada, no other ingredients) but as far as I've gotten is getting her to lick oil off it. I now have some soaking in warm water in the hopes that it will be easier to get her to try it when soft.
So while I was trying to get Mocha to eat the jerky, apparently Nova was jealous of the attention/treats she was getting, because for NO REASON in the middle of the floor she made a big diarrhea puddle. So either it was a protest poop or there's something wrong with her too. :\
Anyway, that's my rant for now. They both did eat a good amount of organ dinner though.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 0:59:05 GMT -5
OH no D: have they passed more yarn poop? hopefully it all comes out. I dont know what to tell you about chewing. Evanna chews on anything rubber so i have to keep everything out of her reach. Mordy will also chew on fabric like towels sometimes. I would start giving them smaller meals in the pm so we make sure theyre getting everything. Especially if theyre shedding theyre probably coming into their spring season so be prepared for weight to drop a bit and hair to be everywhere.
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Post by Celene on Mar 3, 2015 9:47:43 GMT -5
I haven't seen any more yarn poop but I've been keeping a lookout for it. She seems to have a lot of energy this morning so I'll just keep a close eye on her. ALL of her "soft" toys but one (which is designed for dogs and has tough fabric behind the soft fluffy stuff) have been confiscated. So if I see so much as one green thread, I know it didn't all get passed and she's getting the protocol. (On a side note, I don't think she's too happy because she covets the plush toys and cares nothing for the hard/rubber toys - those are Nova's.)
It's hard to cut down the size of meals since they're pre-portioned and frozen; however, I did cut a couple of the AM meals in half. I'd rather they ate the PM meals anyway since this week it's all the new bone-in proteins!
They haven't started shedding yet, but I'm kind of dreading it and prepared with a super-jumbo sized box of allergy pills and jar of antihistamines. I loved Mocha's incredibly thick, soft, fluffy coat when it grew in, but now I'm (kind of) cursing it.
On a side note, poor Nova's jaws are getting so strong that she's having to redo bite training. She was a bad biter when we got her (probably related to her abuse and being kept in a cage). Once she bonded enough with us that she didn't want to hurt us, we taught her what level of soft play-gnawing/biting was acceptable and where to draw the line. Unfortunately her play bites have gotten a little harder. I'm assuming it's either the increased strength and/or the fact that she needs to bite/chew much harder to get through meat. It still doesn't *actually* hurt (and she's never broken skin) but I only want her to bite the fakest, softest, play bites in case she does it on someone else who isn't prepared. Have you ever heard of other people having this issue?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 19:37:35 GMT -5
Have they tried any new proteins yet? It's funny that your girls collect/stash toys. Mine could care less unless they're moving. I would also be careful with anything rubber as it can cause a serious blockage. Raw can give them more.strength and energy so that could be why she's biting a little harder.
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Post by Celene on Mar 3, 2015 21:04:16 GMT -5
No no, all the "rubbery" toys are ones that are designed for dogs and incredibly durable. If your fuzzies like rubber texture I highly recommend the Orbee Tuff Bone. It's super soft and squishy compared to other toys but SO indestructabe. Nova has the tiny pink one and it's insanely obsessed with it. She stashes and relocates it at least 10 times a day and panics if she wakes up and can't find it. It's so strong that I never worry. Even her kong has teeth dents, but not the bone! We got her the bigger blue one for Christmas and she likes it, just not nearly as much as the pink one! On the new proteins front, tonight is quail! (Obviously bone-in.) They super hardcore protested it at first, but thankfully they were pretty darn hungry since they did not touch breakfast again. Nova caved first. Mocha held out pretty long, but she made the fatal error of running around and playing and working up an appetite. She started eating it while I was writing this post and now seems to be chowing down pretty good. You should probably know that for all the new proteins I smashed them up (bone-wise) pretty good since I wanted to make it as easy as possible for them to eat it, and as few reasons as possible for them to protest it. Plus I know they freaking love marrow so wanted it to "bleed" through the meat. Does it still clean their teeth if the bones are smashed/broken into smaller pieces? I'm at least happy their getting the nutritional value of it and I brushed* both their sets of teeth with oxyfresh pet dental gel yesterday. *In this case "brushed" means rubbed the gel mixed with a little salmon oil all over their teeth with my finger very thoroughly.
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Post by Celene on Mar 3, 2015 21:08:41 GMT -5
And because I'm not about to resist an opportunity to post a pic of one of my babies, here's a pic of Nova with the pink bone for scale: (For the record, she'll often carry the bone from across the apartment all the way up to the top floor of the FN cage only to decide it's not a "good enough" hiding spot, run all the way back down with it, and across the apartment to hide it right back where she originally got it from.)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 22:47:49 GMT -5
I just don't want to risk Evanna chewing a piece off. If You hear crunching and cracking then their teeth are getting clean, but I'd they swallow it while then they're not getting much teeth cleaning. I'm glad they liked the quail
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Post by Celene on Mar 3, 2015 23:48:36 GMT -5
I heard crunching! I spent more time breaking up the "bigger" bones like thighs, legs (in rabbits) etc. but the smaller ones I more or less just left and cracked them in a few places to break them up a bit and let the marrow out. I didn't want to put it all out in case they didn't finish because once it starts drying they won't touch it. I just noticed the bowl was licked clean so I put the rest in and showed them! Nova went back to bed but Mocha is behind me busy crunching away.
Tomorrow is partridge! I'm hoping since they're both small, gamey birds the ferrets will have no problem with that either (but truthfully, who knows).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2015 19:33:44 GMT -5
Sounds like they're eating really good! I just got back from class and let everybody out so they're all running around nd dooking like crazy! I love watching them all wrestle ahaha. How did the partridge go?
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Post by Celene on Mar 4, 2015 20:04:21 GMT -5
That's tonight, so haven't tried it yet. Hopefully it'll go well, I'll let you know!
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