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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2015 11:44:27 GMT -5
Thank you ferretmomma I really appreciate it and all the help the forum provides. Great timing, actually because my in laws back in Cali are giving me the "ew ferrets are gross and smelly, how did you invite that into your home?" lectures on instagram when I post pics. I'm channeling the more patient aspects found here, but in my head I'm like "Maybe if you didn't take every pet you ever got to the pound while he was at school like horrible heartbreak ninjas he wouldn't bring home ferrets and abandoned puppies." Not to mention we do love our animals and have time for them and our house isn't treated like a museum. Glad I got that out, now I'll channel more Zen with them. In other news, Kat is very sleepy today. No additional poops, 2 very spastic playtimes that were about 30 min each before she was over it. She ate a teensy bit of egg yolk from my finger but wouldn't touch the plate it was on. I forgot that I wanted to tell you about ferret smells. When your in laws give you the stinky ferret conversation, let them know that kibble fed ferrets smell. Raw ferrets won't smell like that. They will get a nice grape koolaid smell though. You'll be surprised at how quickly the grape smell arrives. You already have seen a difference in the poop. That's because the kibble is full of filler that they can't digest, so you get bigger and smellier poops.
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Post by linsul on Feb 22, 2015 13:19:39 GMT -5
Goodness, she is a real beauty. It sounds like she is grabbing your hand to stash you. She must consider you a treasure. Next time that you're out, pick up a teaser toy. The kind that you play with cats with. Waggle that at her and she can jump to her heart's content and not give you any more war wounds. Blanket rides are also a great way to play with Kat. Wiggle it at her and when she jumps on it, pull it along. She's full of energy and needs to play alot and we need to keep you safe from those sharp baby teeth. I think she'll move along fast in her eating. If she doesn't or if she balks at bone, you can pick up some Bone Meal Powder. I had to do that with my Mika. She ate raw and FDR from the time that she came home at eight weeks old. Then she decided that bones are just too much trouble. She was very stubborn. I picked up some NOW brand bone meal powder and will dust some over the muscle meats and Bone In meats if she doesn't eat well. KAL is also a good brand. Just make sure that it's pure bone meal and has no added sweeteners. Some do. I love the pictures. We can never have too many baby pictures. Here is one of my spider toy. It's remote controlled and made Roamy and Juliet very curious. Juliet finally attacked and I let her "kill" it. Happy Sunday. :wave2: They are so cute! How fun to chase all the things. I love them with their toys so much! Remote control is a great idea, I bet they go nuts. Will try Going in for the "kill" is the best part, so fierce! I hope she considers me a treasure and not a bitey toy haha. We had one cat teaser toy and she demolished it, so we attached little ferret balls to the stick with ties but she doesn't like it as much. I'll get her a more "prey" style one that she's into since I'm going out today in the freezing rain for her other things. Just one more cup of coffee.... Regarding bone meal, is that something you can get at a health food store or GNC? I'm happy to order it online but if I can grab it that would be good. We still have eggshell powder but a jug of bone goodness would be easier. I looked earlier this week at the store but it was caps or solid pills, no powder. Kat totally balked at chicken smeared heart and kidney. They look like well licked pieces though, she got the chicken stink off and gave up, lil brat. She loves her some chicken thigh chunks and that's about it. I gave her the heart/organ/eggshell powder puree, she'll eat that but no chunks of them yet. Regarding my in-laws and smell I explained it to them nicely, they just have bigger issues than ferrets. They've never forgiven us for moving out of state even though it was 7 years ago! Having a life and pets and fun times is a direct poke to their soreness on the topic. I hope Kat starts smelling like grapey goodness soon! She's already MUCH better in the litter department truly. No grape yet. I bet that will happen once she branches out from chicken maybe? Happy Sunday to you too!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2015 14:04:27 GMT -5
For bonemeal you can get it at most health food stores I think, but a lot of people order it off of Ebay or Amazon, it's cheaper that way usually. I got I think a 1 lb container on Ebay for maybe $12? Can't remember now. The NOW brand is most popular. I'm a bit surprised her litter box is smelling better lol, usually they go thru detox for several weeks and smell HORRID. Mine detoxed for 3 weeks and let me tell you it was *awful* they smelled like dead rotting animals, the litter box I scooped out like 8 times a day, I lit candles, I using baking soda, charcoal, everything. Goodness it was bad LOL. Then after 3-4 weeks, man did it get better. My mother doesn't really like that I feed raw, and she is very sensitive to smells, which is why it really surprised me when at the Vets when I mentioned I fed raw and the Vet didn't agree my mother stepped in giving defense saying, "They really have thrived on it, they're fluffier, bigger, more energetic, and how much less they smell is truly amazing." when she said that my face expression was pure shock, bahahha. Now the only time they get stanky is if I don't clean the litter box like I should, that's pretty much it. Every few months I'll give them a just-water bath (no soap), since they hate baths I don't do it often but when it's just water it does help. Usually when they're shedding, I comb them and give them a bath to help with the hair. Sorry I haven't been on, had a blockage protocol with my two and it was energy-draining. I stressed out so much that it made Caillou freak out and he ended up vomiting from stress/being full. Which made me freak out more, which made them freak out more, it was a pretty terrible time but we're getting back to normal now. Poncesmom is an amazing mentor and ferrent, I learned most everything I know from her and Hurricanekatt. Just wanted to say I'm very impressed with how you're doing with Kat and the switch, I can tell you're very smart and a quick learner, and you're handling everything very, very well. Do you know how many days it's been since she's been on raw? And sorry if you've mentioned this already, have you pulled the kibble yet?
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Post by Desiree on Feb 22, 2015 14:56:47 GMT -5
My two kits went straight to raw. One was 6 almost 7 weeks when I brought him home and my other was 9 weeks old when I brought her home. I have had Tundra since mid January and Arbor sine the 31st. Both of them will pick and choose when and how much they want to eat and sometimes they will try to hold out for another meal. She is young though. If she doesn't eat something, wait a minute before giving in. The other day was a hungry day for my two because it was the first time they had organs that weren't pureed in a blender. I just chopped them up. They snuffed at it for a while. I put food at 9 in the morning, around 3 nothing had been touched but by the time I fed them dinner that night, they had eaten it all but a small portion. They will eat and they will eat well. My two chunksters are going through a pound a day, 8 ozs per meal. I start will small pieces of bone and didn't give anything else until they got used to it. Mine will eat around anything to big but they eat most of the bone.
For size comparison, Tundra was 14 ozs when we brought him home, maybe a little thicker than your girl but about the same size and he was eating bone almost immediately. Arbor was also 14 ozs when I brought her home but longer than your girl and she went straight onto bone as well. Its been over a month now with Tundra and just over three weeks with Arbor and they are both eating whole wings, whole feet (chicken and duck) and whole quail.
Don't let her fool you. She will eat. Make the bone pieces smaller, even crush them with a hammer and cleaver. Give her twelve hours to eat. I would start with 2 ozs. I fed Tundra three meals a day 2 ozs each when he was little little and then upped it as he started eating more.
Also as much as you want to be aware of any allergies, try to get her to try all things NOW. She will imprint on her food eventually and you want her to eat as much variety as possible. Below is my menu for 10 days for my kits. Two meals types rat and guinea pigs takes them about 24 hours to finish the whole thing.
Meal 1 – Chicken Wing BI Meal 2 – Quail BI Meal 3 – Beef Heart MM Meal 4 – Rabbit BI Meal 5 – Pork(Duck)(Pheasant) MM Meal 6 – Mice WP Meal 7 – 5 oz Beef Tongue, 1.6 oz Pork Liver, .8 oz pork brain, .8 oz Beef kidney Meal 8 – Frog Legs BI Meal 9 & 10 – Rat WP Meal 11 – Goat(or Beef) MM Meal 12 – Pheasant BI Meal 13 – Turkey Necks Meal 14 – 2.8 oz Chicken Liver, 2.8 oz Pork Kidney, raw egg Meal 15 – CGH BI Meal 16 – Elk MM Meal 17 & 18 – Guinea Pig WP Meal 19 – Duck BI Meal 20 – Smelt WP
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2015 15:33:32 GMT -5
I ordered my Bone meal powder from Amazon. With Prime, I get free shipping. We're in the country and any shopping (except for our Walmart) is a 100 mile round trip. Kat is a baby, but each new protein will still need an introduction. A little coaxing and pamper her some and that will go along way. I've been lucky with my inlaws. But I also spent my career in the military and we were never close by family. That has it's advantages, lol. Desiree, you have a terrific variety of proteins. @julesalot, That was so cool of your Mom to stand up for you at the Vet's. You kept the litter boxes quite clean, but linsul only has the one baby and you had all of your grownups detoxing. That's probably why you noticed it more. I have a lousy sense of smell and am quite happy about that.
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Post by Desiree on Feb 22, 2015 15:38:28 GMT -5
@poncesmom Thanks! I got the elk from a local hunter. It's from 2005 so it has been frozen long enough to kill anything, including taste but the ferrets like it. I tend to just pick up as many birds as I can find and then order from Rodent Pro. I maybe like shopping to much for the little fuzzbutts.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2015 15:40:29 GMT -5
I understand. It's so much fun to shop for them. It's like a treasure hunt..."Oh boy, Pork Brains". :banana:
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Post by linsul on Feb 22, 2015 15:46:03 GMT -5
I got waylaid by playtime with Kat (She LOVEDLOVEDLOVED the towel!) and am running out of the house now but I wanted to post and say thanks for the kind words and encouragement and advice. I think she *is* holding out for sure. I hear you guys on new protein introduction, I'm getting some today and will incorporate it this week. Kat refused the puree even with a hand feeding offer and after a couple hours play upstairs. So I got "mean mom" on her and did a scruff and stuff of half a chicken heart, left her puree in her cage. If she hasn't eaten it when I get back she's going to get the other half of the heart the hard way and then the chopped up wings. I say "mean" jokingly of course! I saw the ferret massage video and I do that when I take her out and when I put her back in her cage. If she's hand fed or scruff and stuffed I always make nice with her after. We do love her, but a girls gotta eat
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Post by linsul on Feb 22, 2015 19:02:09 GMT -5
Sleet and icy rain, no cleaver luck as I wasn't willing to get on the tollway in the weather. I did get the butcher at the store to cleave up some chicken wingettes though so that's good! I also got Kat some large feeder crickets and some toys. She was awake when I got home and ready to play despite largely ignoring her food. After her crazies settle down I'll give her the rest of the heart and the chopped wingettes. I found duck feet of the all natural dry sort, she's quite proudly carrying it around and gnawing at it. Her jaws are so teeny though it's pretty much just a fun time toy. Ferret (and dog) haul Buy one get one free beef, the best kind Duck foot
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Post by linsul on Feb 22, 2015 19:54:15 GMT -5
She was so into the duck foot gnawing that I figured I'd trade it for a wingette chunk and see if her energy and hunger would compel her to take a crack at some bones. Success! She only ate 1 piece, but I did offer her more. She wanted to play so they're on her plate in her cage when she's done. Video whenever it finishes uploading to youtube.Oh and yes @julesalot I have pulled the kibble! She ate it for a couple of days when I first got her while I got my initial diet stuff together.
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Post by Desiree on Feb 22, 2015 20:51:26 GMT -5
That's a good size piece for her! Don't let Her get away with not eating pieces like that now. Once she can she will!! Feed her a couple of gizzards to build jaw strength. She might not eat all the bones and that's okay. Keep an eye on her poops. Pork is a huge hit in my house. Maybe because it's so soft! Haha! Give that a whirl too.
Great job Kat and Mom!
Oh and organs are a finicky business. Once she has a favorite try making a organ soup and pouring some on top of her favorite. Then the next organ meal try putting soup out just the organs. For hearts or taurine I put gravy on top of hearts (I use beef tongue for another taurine source)
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Post by linsul on Feb 22, 2015 21:15:21 GMT -5
Yes she's got that size bone-in chunk expectation from now on for sure I have to admit when I saw the size they chopped up I was worried. I asked for a fine chop and explained it's for a ferret and they did it while I shopped so it was all wrapped up 'til I got home. I figured even my knives could handle it at that size though if a fully playful and hungry ferret couldn't hang and tried it anyway. Very happy for her, yay! No gizzards at the store close to me but they're on my list for when it's not icy absolutely. After playtime with her new teaser toys and many towel rides I hand fed her the other half of the heart. She was so sweet about it! Maybe she was anticipating a stuffing if cooperation wasn't had LOL! Organs are indeed tricky. So far it's been half hearted from her with the puree and she licks chicken off them. She's sort of "meh" about it, I'm not above a stuffing though as it beats kibble.
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Post by Desiree on Feb 22, 2015 21:21:56 GMT -5
Watch those fingers though haha!!
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Post by linsul on Feb 22, 2015 21:31:41 GMT -5
Indeed, she's gotten me! Do ferrets go through a teething phase? She even hissed once, but I never got the sense she was "mad." It's like she's practicing all her girl big girl weasel behaviors and I was the recipient a couple of times.
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Post by linsul on Feb 23, 2015 12:45:48 GMT -5
Left Kat with wingette chunks in her cage after giving her the half of heart before putting her to bed. Woke up at around 3am because she was dragging her paper plate all along the walls of her cage and clickety clacking away in general. I had to use my Kindle as a light because her cage is in our bedroom and what I saw was her pile of chicken bones by her water dish as she pranced with her plate down below. Got her a tablespoon of the organ puree since she'd confirmed eating some bone and had a heart snack. Got back into bed assuming I'd here her licking away but she decided she'd rather crunch on the bones. Some of the puree was gone in the morning, but only one larger bone is left from her pile. Going to try ground beef soon.
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