|
Post by Celene on Jan 29, 2015 10:29:26 GMT -5
Also I noticed that even though Nova is eating (quite a bit) less, she is the most hyper/energetic I've seen her in a long time. Probably since we got her. So I'm willing to bet it's at least a partial seasonal thing, especially since it's been like spring and not at all the rainy grossness that is normally Vancouver this time of year.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 11:56:18 GMT -5
A lot of the time ferrets will eat a lot after switching to make up for on kibble. They're usually pretty good at self regulating so I'd let her eat as much as she can. If she starts to get fat then you can put her on a diet. The funny poops might just be from a new protein. Usually a protein intolerance shows itself with tarry black poops.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 11:57:04 GMT -5
But do whatever you're comfortable with
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Jan 30, 2015 0:36:15 GMT -5
So for dinner they got buffalo and both ate the tiniest bit. I'm hoping since they didn't eat that much tonight they will be much hungrier tomorrow morning and gobble it up. Just for fun, sharing some cutie pics.
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Jan 30, 2015 12:03:45 GMT -5
They ate a little more buffalo this morning, but only because I mixed water in with it and made it soupy.
Having said that, I have made a firm decision to stop babying them and try the tough love approach. I've decided they're both plump enough that even if they go a day or two without eating much they'll probably be fine. If it becomes clear they aren't eating anything at all I will give them a tiny bit of grind, but only enough to keep them from crashing. (They're not insulinomic or anything.)
I feel really mean saying it, but this is getting a little bit ridiculous IMO, especially when I read through other switching threads where people are graduating within a couple weeks!
Their poops look much better after a day without chicken so I am going to see today if I can get turkey muscle meat and organs. Hopefully that'll go a little better for them and I know they like turkey (well, the grind at least).
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Jan 30, 2015 23:22:59 GMT -5
Okay, so I tried the tough love approach - sort of. I wanted to make sure they had some options so I layed out beef, pork, turkey and their buffalo grind. I drizzled it with a small amount of egg yolk (see picture below). For about an hour they refused to touch it and would come back and sniff it every 10 minutes or so and walk away again without touching it (the exception being the egg yolk to the left of their grind that spilled, that went rather quickly). Eventually I felt bad because they didn't really eat this morning either, and topped everything with a bit more egg yolk. The pork was a surprise hit! They'd never had it before, but all of it got gobbled up. They also ate a bit of turkey, but not much else. I was also able to feed Nova a pork sliver separately. I tried to feed her another one but she ran under the couch with it to stash... Took me forever to get it out.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2015 18:56:11 GMT -5
Some ferret are especially stubborn and don't like New things. I think my switch took about 2 months. Plus some people are already on chunks by the time they get a mentor. Pork has a lot of fat in it an is a favorite over here too! at least you saw where she stashed it! Sometimes i just have to go by the smell of spoiling meat to find it O.o I would try some more hand feeding slivers. I'll try to make a video tonight to show you what I mean and post it on fb
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Jan 31, 2015 23:52:47 GMT -5
Yup. I already have the feeding den infrastructure in place and once they get on chunks they will be clipped to the cage!
For dinner they had small chunks of beef, pork and turkey mixed with a little bit of turkey grind and I saw both chewing on meat. Nova actually swallowed a fairly big chunk which I totally expected her to spit out.
In more stressful news, Mocha has had no poops today except a couple really tiny diarrhea-ish ones. I have no idea whether it's just the fact that she hasn't eaten much in the past 24 hours (although she's eaten enough that there should be poop) or if there is a blockage. I can't imagine what she could have possibly swallowed, especially since we had an open house today so our apartment floor was literally spotlessly empty and all the toys were put away. Just in case I gave her a little vaseline (which she really likes for some reason). I know it isn't good and coats their digestive tract, but I figured it is the lesser of two evils over a potential blockage of some sort.
She did eat some dinner though. I will keep an eye on her and may decide to administer some butternut squash baby food in an hour.
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Feb 1, 2015 0:23:52 GMT -5
Also I just fed them a second dinner - the first one described above I didn't give them much to start because I wasn't sure if they ate it and didn't want to waste any meat. For the pork I just had a big cube of it and snipped pieces off with scissors, so sort of small diamond-ish shaped chunks rather than slivers.
For the first time I noticed Mocha digging in with her teeth rather than just trying to lick everything! You have no idea how happy that makes me because I have been trying to get them to "eat" their food for over a month now. Nova just kept licking until she'd finally loosen a piece of meat with her tongue and lick it up and chew it. She still did end up chewing and eating several good sized pieces though.
Poor Nova. She already was the Gene Simmons of ferrets in terms of tongue length (it's actually rather ridiculous) but now her tongue will be really really strong to boot! I'd also like to see a video of you hand feeding your babies if you get a chance.
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Feb 1, 2015 4:36:49 GMT -5
Okay so it's 1:30am... I was about to go to bed quite awhile ago but the little monsters (kidding) decided they needed to wake up and run around. Of course they did. Anyway, after all that romping they looked a little hungry so I figured a midnight snack wouldn't hurt. This time I got a picture of the pork sluncks (sliver-chunks because I don't know what they qualify as, "bits" maybe) so you have a better idea of where they're at. I mixed with just a tad of the turkey grind and they gobbled 'em right up and licked the bowl clean! I kind of wish I had thought to start pork sooner, but I personally hate it so I didn't think to buy any! We'll try some bigger pieces tomorrow So now that meat makes up a larger part of their diet compared to grind, should I start doing a more frankenprey-y diet (i.e. have organ meals) or should I continue to just mix in heart and liver with the meat at roughly 10% each? Also, in case you're wondering Mocha made a nice, big poop after the vaseline and some more food. It was rather seedy/grainy, but pork is a new protein so I'll just keep watch. Sorry if this post is a little discombobulated, but my bed time was supposed to be a long time ago
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2015 13:45:29 GMT -5
I don't know if you'll be able to get them to eat a straight organ meal right now. Do they usually eat pieces of liver or kidney like they would regular muscle meat pieces? If not you can start slipping in peices and add more and more until its a full organ meal. Just be aware that organs smell weird and taste weird so it's very hard to get them to eat it in the beginning. If they won't eat chunks of organs you can try an organ soup. I usually 25% heart and 75% organ (it's a 50/50 mix of liver and kidney or whatever other organ meat I can find). Pop that into the blender and wait until everything is nice and soupy. I got really busy last night so I'll make the video after I cut up some meat I'll probably post it on fb as I'm not the best at getting videos onto the forum. I'm so glad she pooped! Pork has a lot of fat so she might have just gotten an upset tummy. I'm also glad to hear that there was some chewing going on! Switching takes a lot of patience and persistence.
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Feb 1, 2015 14:12:03 GMT -5
So this morning I roughly doubled the size of pork pieces from the photo I took last night and they totally nomm'ed down!
I have chicken heart and liver that I previously ground, and I tested them once and they will eat it so long as some egg is mixed in. I have a kidney (veal or lamb I think) but it's huge and frozen and my meat grinder is in storage right now. Can I get by on a 50/50 split of heart and liver for now? Once they're a little more confidant with chunks I can probably get them to eat pieces of kidney if I just cut it.
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Feb 1, 2015 17:59:07 GMT -5
Okay so I went ahead and made up a little frankenprey meal plan for this week. Since they're supposed to have 1.5 meals each of heart and organ I figured I could mix the two 50/50 and feed three meals total of that. I will also be dividing these meals and feeding separately to make sure they both get the right amount of heart and liver. For the "bone in" meals I am adding 1/8 tsp of eggshell powder to the meals since I read that the general rule of thumb is 1/2 tsp per 8oz of meat. They normally eat about 3-3.5 oz total a day, but since I am pre-prepping and freezing the week's meals today I'm going to allow for 4oz a day so they don't starve. I'll also probably be mixing in just a little turkey grind with each meal, but since it's already fully balanced anyway I don't think it's a big deal. If they seem to be getting more confidant by midweek I will see if I can convinced them that chicken wing tips are food. Anyway, here is my meal plan - hopefully you approve!!
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Feb 1, 2015 20:13:20 GMT -5
Update - when I went to portion stuff out I had to switch around/substitute a couple of the proteins based on what I had in my freezer. I also noticed the pork I have is very fatty. I know for ferrets fat = energy, but how much is "too much"? There are a few pieces which are basically just fat (the soft, buttery type).
|
|
|
Post by Celene on Feb 1, 2015 21:30:54 GMT -5
Oh and I just fed them their first all-organ/heart meal, each with about 1 tsp of egg yolk mixed in. They gobbled it right up and licked the bowls clean!
|
|