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Post by Blue on Nov 27, 2015 13:57:02 GMT -5
You're right, I should probably stop with the egg as condiment! I was only giving her 2 eggs a week, but splitting each one up into 2 or 3 meals, which yeah, probably gives her the impression that it's always on the menu. I'll go back to only one egg -- I've been seeing less fur, and she isn't coughing on fur anymore. So should I give her the 1 egg per week in one go, rather than splitting it up and spreading it out over several meals?I totally see the reasoning behind always serving the same thing until she eats it, but what about the balance? Is feeding her only chicken thigh for a week OK? Now that I'm not adding the soup cubes, which were balanced, I'm afraid it'll get unbalanced very quickly. I could add bone meal and taurine powder to the weekly egg in the meantime? BTW this morning I found an almost empty food bowl upside down in the water bowl!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2015 15:45:45 GMT -5
Since she's not coughing, or shedding like crazy, let's omit the egg for a few days to see how she does without. Maybe the middle to end of next week she can have one. Unbalances take some time to show up. In the next breath, she *shouldn't* be having chicken thigh all week...meaning she should give in before that! Say you offer her a meal of chicken thigh-once she eats almost or all of it, then you can offer her heart or liver. It may take 3 meals before she gobbles everything up, maybe she'll have dinner tonight and clean her plate. Even though her dish was flipped, I'm glad she ate!
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Post by Blue on Nov 27, 2015 17:08:18 GMT -5
OK gotcha. I'm pretty sure she's ready for chicken thigh with no water. I hope! And yeah, back to 1 egg a week. But next week when I do give her an egg, should I give it to her in one go, or can I still use it added to 2-3 meals? What I do is I mix it up in a bowl and then just use 1/3 or 1/2 of the egg mix added to a regular meal, and put the rest in the fridge. (I have too many questions today )
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2015 19:02:54 GMT -5
That's okay, questions are great! Keep them coming! Umm, let's see how she does and I'll think about the egg. Do you give her the just the yolk or the whole egg?
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Post by Blue on Nov 27, 2015 21:35:37 GMT -5
(I give her whole eggs.) So on the menu tonight: 1 oz of slivers and small chunks of chicken thigh. I was treated to several reproachful flat ferrets which are so hard to resist, but I managed! I told her it was you that had forbidden it (you don't mind being the bad guy, do you? ). So far she's eaten maybe 2 or 3 pieces, and now we'll see what happens overnight! Hopefully she'll eat some of it before flipping it into the water... although this time I used a different bowl so that might give her pause! Thanks
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Post by Blue on Nov 28, 2015 8:30:31 GMT -5
Morning verdict: it looked untouched, but thankfully unflipped. It weighed 0.4 oz less so even with evaporation, she must have eaten something, right? Yay! This morning's offering: still 1 oz chicken thigh. Still only ate two pieces by being tricked into it (I was holding it high enough that it dropped in her mouth when she went for it). The second time she actually took off to eat it behind a chest of drawers (at least I hope she ate it, not just stashed it, I haven't checked yet). So then I tried to give her a feeding den, ending up putting the bowl in a big paper bag. She has actually used this paper bag once before as a feeding den -- well, it was an N-bone that someone had given her. Pic below. But now as I'm watching her circle back to the "den" a couple of times, still not eating anything, I'm not sure it's the best idea. I'm not sure if it's the food she's rejecting or the den. (Probably the food.) In any case she hasn't eaten any more yet so I guess it's going to stay out all day... I'll weigh her tomorrow on her usual Sunday weigh-in and make sure she's not wasting away (it doesn't look like it and she has a lot of energy!).
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Post by Blue on Nov 29, 2015 18:18:21 GMT -5
OK, weekend verdict! I tried weighing her several times in bigger containers but she keeps jumping out, even if there's salmon oil to be had. What on earth happened at the sitter's that she doesn't want to sit in a bowl with a treat for a few seconds?? Anyway, between the multi-jumps, I think her weight is 2 lbs 1 oz, which surprises me since she's been eating so very little. I'm going to have to find a way to weigh her properly. So, recap of the last few meals: in all cases, 0.7-1 oz chicken thigh offered in slivers and small chunks: Fri PM 0.4 oz eaten Sat AM 0.2 oz eaten Sat PM 0.3 oz eaten I haven't reweighed this morning's food, but it's comparable. I managed to get her to eat 5 pieces by finger-feeding them with a drop of salmon oil on top. She felt the need for a den a couple of times. It's interesting that she's only starting this behavior now -- maybe because it's taking her longer to eat? So, I dunno. That seems like way too little food given what she was eating before, but she hasn't lost weight, and she still has plenty of energy. She is doing so much better than this time last year (gastritis, etc.). She also seems to be finally learning some new tricks. Tonight is the first time I've seen her go in front of a treasure, turn around, and drag it backwards! Simple enough but she didn't know how to do it before So I may be in trouble Anyway, let me know when I need to start panicking about the chicken thigh diet! Thanks
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2015 21:21:40 GMT -5
That all sounds great! It does sound and seem like she's not eating much...but if you think about it, liquid fills you up too. So, if she was eating 2 ounces and half of that was water or soup, then the sliver amount it about there. Plus, now she has to chew instead of slurp...since that takes longer, she will realize she's full faster than before. I'm sure tomorrow's breakfast will be chicken thigh so could you try to add heart slivers for dinner? Maybe do 0.7 thigh and 0.3 heart. Try that ratio for 2 meals and see how she does. Then we can try a 50/50 meal if she's accepting of the heart. The goal for this week will be to get her eating bigger chunks. Continue weighing her meals, before and after, and give bigger pieces of thigh vs slivers of heart. That way, she'll be more tempted to try the heart. Our goal day will be Friday again. You are doing great! I can't wait to hear how she did tonight and tomorrow!
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Post by Blue on Nov 30, 2015 13:04:05 GMT -5
I'm not sure we're ready for the next step!! Latest data: she ate very very little yesterday (Sunday), and her weight's a lot lower than I thought it was. I finally managed to find a container tall enough and narrow enough that she would stay in it long enough to get a proper measurement: Sun 11/29/15 1 lb 12.5 ozYikes! I think the 2 lb number is from her pushing down as she is jumping out. The last time she weighed that little she had gastritis She's acting much much healthier than that, though. Lots of awake time, playing, and trips outside. I've been at home the last 4 days so she's been completely free-roam. Sunday AM, PM, and this AM so far, I'd say she's only eaten 0.1 oz per meal, plus some salmon oil. This is how it's been going: I give her 0.8 oz slivers of warmed raw chicken thigh, she looks at it and walks off. I grab her and more or less force feed her a piece that has a drop of salmon oil on it. I don't scruff, I have her on my lap and I hold her head in place. She tolerates it because of the salmon oil. She tries to get away with just licking off the oil, but I push it into her mouth. If I put her down, she'll go to a feeding den type place, sometimes eats it, sometimes spits it out. If I keep holding her, she'll swallow it. She was eating a lot more before, because the 1 oz soup cube has 0.5 oz meat, and she would eat maybe 0.6 oz on top of that. She does fill herself up with water, she drank sooo much this morning, but she's simply not getting the calories. I guess the salmon oil helps a little? I'm not super worried yet, but I think we're on the edge :-\
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 14:12:07 GMT -5
Aww you sound worried but I don't think you need to be. (hug) I think she's being stubborn and you have to stick to your guns. Try placing her dish in her cage. Show her the dish and if she's walks away, show her again. If she walks away a second time, let her. She's not hungry. If she goes towards a feeding den, she does not want you to see her eat. I hope you offer her some heart slivers tonight. Even if it's only 3 slivers, that's fine! She maybe have a "drizzle" of salmon oil but no more than that. She needs to get used to eating meat without any added liquid. I'll tag bitbyter to see if he has any suggestions too. Remember to weigh her meals, before and after eating, too. Also try to get a dangling picture and/or an overview picture of miss Maisie. That will really tell us if she's losing too much weight or not.
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Post by Blue on Nov 30, 2015 14:51:08 GMT -5
Thanks! Yeah, I'm probably a bit too anxious I hope that's all it is, and that we have enough margin to hold out! I would never dare do this on my own!! Yep, I do that overnight. Yep, done that. Except for the times she spits it out and leaves it there! I will. Maybe we'll luck out and the fact that she dislikes heart will drive her to eat the thigh! And yeah, I don't want to give her too much oil. Do you know that it actually doesn't work if I put drops on her food in the bowl? It has to be on a piece of meat that I am feeding by hand!! Yes, I have been since Wednesday, that's how I get the "eaten" numbers. I will! The funny thing is that when I dangled her this morning, she still seemed to have a small belly. However, from above, her hips look a little sunk in. I'll get some good pics tonight. Thanks for the support; without it I would already have given in 5 times by now. The little monster rules the house and she knows it
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Post by Blue on Dec 1, 2015 12:21:11 GMT -5
All right, some progress! (Whew.) Mon AM: 0.2 oz including the rest of the day, so she did eat some in her cage Mon PM and Tue AM: offered: - 0.6 oz chicken thigh - 0.3 oz chicken heart For these two meals the dish I was using was heavy (~10 oz) and I think the measurements aren't as accurate as before. I think she ate a bit more than the numbers below. Mon PM: 0.2 oz eaten (0.1 on the spot and 0.1 oz overnight) Tue AM: 0.3 oz eaten so far !!! So this morning I let her drink a little tepid water but not too much, because you're right, she does fill up on that. If she's really thirsty there's cold water available. So I think she was hungrier than usual. I made mostly small slivers because one battle at a time. I put the dish at the back of the paper bag that she likes. I put her in there in front of the dish and she started eating right away! Without any salmon oil! She ate 0.3 oz on the spot and we'll see if she eats any more over the day. Here's a pic of her dish this morning after eating the 0.3 oz. There's 0.6 oz remaining so basically she ate half of what you can see, and it looks like she did eat some heart: And here are her body shots (haha): :thankyou:
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2015 17:38:17 GMT -5
That's great news! Good job!!!!!!! She looks wonderful too! I see why you mentioned her hips looking a bit sunken in, but in Maisie's case especially after seeing her dangle pic, I think it's more her fur that it's creating the look of being sunken in. I don't think she's too thin either-she's perfect! Give the same meal tonight and both meals, breakfast and dinner, tomorrow! Keep up the good work! Let me know how she does tonight/tomorrow morning!
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Post by Blue on Dec 1, 2015 18:12:01 GMT -5
Have the next 3 meals be the same as this morning, or have them all the same but different meats? Glad you think she's looking fine My little girl. I hope your crew is doing well too?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2015 7:44:43 GMT -5
Yep keep the meals exactly the same. Repetition is key with little miss Maisie! Thanks for asking! The PREZZ business is doing great, including Zekrom! He's starting to get softer, darker, and chubbier! I found some 'wine sweaters' that I'm going to try to make them wear! Hehe
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