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Post by Celene on Feb 4, 2015 21:10:09 GMT -5
Nova just gobbled up her beef today, but the pieces were smaller and a little more "bite sized" since I had cut and froze them before they were on larger pieces. This morning I have pork in slightly larger chunks and came home to this. As far as I can tell if it can't be swallowed in one bite with a bit of chewing then they can't be bothered. Any way I can discourage them from spitting out raw meat everywhere and leaving it instead of eating it?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2015 22:21:41 GMT -5
Okay so a couple suggestions from the other mentors was to give them some tough love and only give the bigger chunks and then another was to cut the meat into longer thin strips kind of like spaghetti.
I have an inkling that maybe the girls are being a little manipulative. They know that if they dont eat you'll most likely give them something they like better.
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Post by Celene on Feb 4, 2015 22:39:28 GMT -5
The problem is I haven't been giving them anything else - they just leave it for the most part after picking out any smaller pieces they can find. I will try the longer, thinner strips though, because they do seem to do better with that shape and DO actually kind of eat is like spaghetti (chew a bit, suck some more meat into their mouths, chew, then slurp down the rest). Seriously though. I will try and be even tougher with them, if possible. When they don't eat I usually pour a little watered down egg on top to get them licking because they usually end up eating a few pieces that way. I should probably stop though. They've also started pooping on the second floor of their litter boxes and in the corner in the kitchen. They are normally 100% perfectly diligent with their litter box usage and never miss, but this is happened several times in the past week. I'm a little worried that something is wrong with one of them, but since they ALWAYS use their litter boxes whenever I'm home/watching I'm going to hope that they're just protesting the new diet and being jerks.
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Post by Celene on Feb 5, 2015 1:41:28 GMT -5
So I feel like a moron. I took out the paper towel (since it was covered in meat) and before I could replace it Nova got up to eat. The beef was slightly dried so she dug in with her teeth instead of licking (yay!!!) but more importantly, when she dropped the meat on the plastic, she licked it up.
I think part of the reason they were just leaving it was because it started sticking to the paper towel or something and they didn't like it. Not sure, but it seemed to have really helped. So, no more paper towel and just much more regular cleaning of the food shelf. I have also changed the fabric on the shelf below from a soft, hand-crocheted blanket to a terrycloth handtowel because they wipe their faces all over it and I caught Nova stashing meat under it!! Washing crocheted blankets by hand on a regular basis is a pain, and not good for the blankets. Terrycloth and laundry machines for the win!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 13:55:56 GMT -5
You do not drive me crazy!! I actually feel bad because I dont post often enough. I'm afraid I can't help you with the litter box training.....i still dont have it down with my fuzzbutts >.> BUT as long as its not diarrhea theyre probably just being little brats.
Ferrets can be so weird about what they eat on. I can't give them any food in a bowl because they eat the top and then leave all the food on the bottom of the bowl. I'm glad you figured out what was wrong though!
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Post by Celene on Feb 5, 2015 22:00:16 GMT -5
In regards to the litter, we discovered it was ONLY Mocha doing it and she did it once RIGHT in front of me, while making eye contact. Needless to say she got a good scolding and the two times she used her litter box after we made a big deal of it and gave her lots of praise and salmon oil (and Nova too). I don't think Nova's ever had an accident except for once when she had really bad diarrhea and couldn't make it to the box in time, and you could tell she felt really really bad about it. Anyway, enough about poop! Today on the way home I was going to get a frozen CGH and try them with some bone but the store was out. But since I was in the mood to try bones I defrosted a couple wing tips that I had previously smashed. I was able to cut the first one into a couple really thin strips and I totally got some crunching action! Mocha ate a whole thin wing bone strip and chewed it quite awhile. Nova ate a bit of a piece with bone but not sure she swallowed any. I think it helped that they (for some reason) didn't eat their breakfast (beef). When I came home about 90% was still there Tomorrow I will try again at a different place to get CGH. What is the "tenderest" bone to start with, wing tips or ribs?
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Post by Celene on Feb 5, 2015 22:55:22 GMT -5
Oh I forgot to mention I weighed them this morning and they're still losing, but still both up from their pre-raw weight.
Mocha Nova 28-Jan-15 1.75 1.68 02-Feb-15 1.69 1.59 05-Feb-15 1.65 1.57
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2015 20:59:37 GMT -5
YAY!! I'm so glad they chewed on some bone in meat also glad you figured out the litter box issue. Hopefully Mocha will get the hang of it. I think that a cgh wing tip will be a little softer, but they'll both be pretty soft good luck with trying that and let me know how it goes. Their weights are looking okay still an I really love your new signature picture!! They are so cute!
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Post by Celene on Feb 6, 2015 21:29:09 GMT -5
Yeah Mocha's normally perfect at using the litter box which was why I was worrying when she wasn't. Also I have to be completely honest and tell you I cheated a bit with the picture. Last night I was taking pictures of them in their "ferret hot tub" (we don't know what else to call it; it was the one thing other than a stuffed duck that they came with when we adopted them). I got the one of Mocha first, and a nearly identical one a second later with Nova yawning. I was pretty upset with them for not making silly faces in the SAME picture, but then realized I could photoshop them into one. I got the CGH along with a bunch of beef, pork and chicken for them next week. I'm going to thaw (came frozen) and butcher then CGH and then package it into smaller bags and refreeze. Will let you know how it goes!
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Post by Celene on Feb 7, 2015 1:18:44 GMT -5
So the CGH is mostly still defrosting in the fridge. I did pull the wings and smash and cut them and will try to feed tomorrow. In the meantime here is some video of my girls eating (yes they were very spoiled tonight and got chicken, pork and beef since it was the "leftovers" after I cut up, weighed and froze meal portions). Ignore the sirens in the background that makes it sound like I live in some crazy high crime area. Most likely an old person had a heart attack. Anyway, this should give you a reasonable idea of where they're at meat-wise.
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Post by Celene on Feb 7, 2015 13:02:41 GMT -5
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! :boing: They both ate bones!! Nova ate a piece of CGH wing tip about 1.5 inches long and fairly narrow. She crunched right through that like a boss. I could see the little muscle on the top of her head between her ears twitching/clenching as she chewed. The only hiccup came at the end when she had a bit left and clearly thought "good enough" and tried to swallow it. She choked (freaked me out plenty) but managed to cough it back up along with a good amount of saliva before going back and finishing it. I didn't watch Mocha as closely since she seems to be picking it up quicker (which is crazy because she started out as the WAY fussier/stubborner of the two) but I definitely heard some crunching. There was a piece of CGH from the mid-wing (the next joint up from the tip, not sure what it's called) that was a little bit bigger than an eraser and she tried to chew some off of it which made me happy. That piece mostly just got left though. I am going to schedule two bone-in meals next week (I guess each side of the CGH ribcage) and also work on getting them to eat bigger chunks. What do you recommend for cutting it? I'm pretty sure I completely killed my $200 knife on the wings
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2015 13:24:19 GMT -5
Yay ladies!!!! I'm so happy that they're getting the hang of bones. That's wall amazing. Now that they're chewing they're moving along so quickly! Oh and I have a heavy cleaver that I use for bones. Keep it sharp and hit the bone hard. It chops right up although be careful I took off half my nail doing that.
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Post by Celene on Feb 7, 2015 23:00:11 GMT -5
I don't know if they've "gotten the hang of it" yet - they've only gotten in a few crunches each. I saved a couple CGH ribs to offer them before I put dinner out. Which brings me to my next question: How long should I wait before trying the CGH bones again? Based on the head muscles twitching and how long it takes to chew the bone I am going to assume they're giving it their all. Since they aren't used to eating bone their jaw will probably be sore and need a few days. So I basically butchered the rest of the CGH. The wing tips were gone from this morning (they didn't eat it all so some just got dried out and wasted) but I cut all the ribs from the spine and then cut between each to basically make little bite-sized rib "matchsticks" I also cut the lower cartilage part of the breastbone into little matchsticks too. I'm assuming it doesn't count as bone since there's no calcium or anything but should still give them chewing practice and clean their teeth. Which brings me to my next question: Is their anything bone-wise I'm missing? I'm assuming they can't eat the legs since they're weight-bearing, but what about the spine and breast bone? Oh yeah, and do you know what organs (I'm assuming that's what they are) these are hiding along the spine? I'm not ashamed to say I scooped them out since they look rather "tasty" for ferrets.
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Post by Celene on Feb 8, 2015 0:10:43 GMT -5
Well Nova definitely ate some bone earlier because there was a piece in her poop (which was otherwise very light brown and runny). They had a second meal around 2pm today (my grandma and great-grandma came over for lunch and I wanted to show them eating so gave them some chicken pieces and an egg yolk). Anyway, I think they outdid themselves from the excitement of having new people over because they won't wake up and eat. I was considering not leaving food out overnight so that in the morning they'll be nice and hungry for bone but that seems mean so I'll probably leave a little chicken out. On a side note, both my grandma and great-grandma loved the girls and cuddled them tons! My grandma is a huge animal lover so I was expecting that, but my great-grandma was really leery of Truffles when she met her and only gave her the smallest pat on the head. Today she nuzzled her face into them and picked them up a whole bunch and even took pictures! I hope some of them turned out because she uses a disposable camera because she's too intimidated to learn how to use a digital one
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Post by Celene on Feb 8, 2015 14:23:00 GMT -5
Okay so I know everyone says feeding raw isn't supposed to make ferrets more aggressive, but I think it's turned mine into cannibals!!!!!And they're coming after me next!!!Sorry, couldn't help myself. Anyway, Nova ate another CGH rib bone and tried to swallow it again without fully chewing, and choked, spit it up, and ate it. I couldn't get Mocha to eat any though. Weights: Mocha Nova 02-Feb-15 1.69 1.59 05-Feb-15 1.65 1.57 08-Feb-15 1.68 1.57 So pretty stable. They also had oooodles of energy this morning and ran around tons and dooked and wrestled. Probably because they were so tired last night and didn't come out.
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