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Post by Celene on Aug 24, 2015 18:24:18 GMT -5
You don't need to be rough, just firm. Trust me when I say I really do know how hard it is, I went through it myself and I remember my heart breaking when they would look at me and beg, and look at the chunks of meat and throw a tantrum.
You have to be strong, and firm, for Freddy's own good. Just remember that you're doing this BECAUSE you love him and want him to have a long and healthy life.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2015 13:01:49 GMT -5
Ok, I am dancing in one place, but every time I don`t succed I am starting all over again, it could last I know...I need to tell myself affirmations " You will make it happend, you can do that"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2015 12:45:35 GMT -5
We are now on the spoon most of the feding time, I belive that is ok?for now :-)
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Post by Celene on Aug 28, 2015 16:00:35 GMT -5
Yes, that is probably a lot easier than finger feeding him!
Have you increased the amount of chunks in the soup?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2015 12:13:01 GMT -5
Yes, now is 50% - 50% is that ok? we are still on spoon, but that is progress too for me
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Post by Celene on Sept 1, 2015 12:48:05 GMT -5
You're doing great! Since the frankenprey diet is our end goal, I want you to start working on a modified version of the frankenprey menu: Monday am: edible bone in meat Monday pm: edible bone in meat (or muscle)* Tuesday am: edible bone in meat Tuesday pm: muscle meat Wednesday am: edible bone in meat Wednesday pm: heart Thursday am: edible bone in meat Thursday pm: edible bone in meat (or muscle)* Friday am: edible bone in meat Friday pm: ½ heart + ¼ liver + ¼ other organ Saturday am: edible bone in meat Saturday pm: muscle meat Sunday am: edible bone in meat Sunday pm: ½ liver + ½ other organ Since Freddy isn't eating bones yet, add a little bonemeal to the "bone-in meat" meals - 1/2 tsp per 225g. Then for each meal, drizzle with soup. Aim to work up to 75% meat and 25% soup this week. I am so proud of you and Freddy!! What size are the meat pieces he is eating? You can use the photos below as a reference if you like:
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2015 14:03:28 GMT -5
Since I can give him only rabbit bones, is that ok for him???
Beacuse he is only on lamb and rabbit.
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Post by Celene on Sept 1, 2015 14:41:56 GMT -5
Definitely. If he is getting a lot of rabbit, you should give him extra heart. The reason for this is that rabbit is fairly low in taurine.
A good "starter bone" for ferrets is rabbit ribs. I cut them individually like little french fries and then smash them up a bit <3
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2015 10:09:05 GMT -5
I smash them,and I even grind them, so they are the size of rice grain, is that too small?
For long term is it ok for him to stay only on rabbit and lamb?
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Post by Celene on Sept 2, 2015 11:03:17 GMT -5
For nutrition, getting rabbit bones very small like that is fine. However, it will not help clean his teeth. In order to clean his teeth, the pieces need to be big enough that he is crunching through them. This is Nova's teeth before and after raw. Before I would brush them all the time with special paste and brushes and it did absolutely no good. It's hard to tell in the "before" photo, but her molars were stained a dark grey/green/blueish colour and her other teeth were yellowy. Now they are all pure white like baby teeth! (She is about 3 years old.) I found the best was the tougher parts like rabbit spine. Even though she can't fully eat all those bones on her own, gnawing at them gets them really clean. It also helps tremendously with bad breath because when the teeth aren't getting cleaned thoroughly bacteria starts building up between them. For now rabbit and lamb is okay. Long-term, I would like to introduce at least 1-2 more proteins so extra balance. Rabbit is great but it is very lean and low in taurine, although feeding a little extra heart can help with that. I know Freddy has a sensitive tummy though so I want to get him fully eating chunks and bones before we try and add in new proteins. Nova has a very sensitive tummy too and is really allergic to chicken and cornish game hen. Surprisingly, she can tolerate quail and duck very well though. Quail/pheasant/partridge (not sure what you have available in your area) are very good sources of bone-in meat.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2015 11:58:31 GMT -5
Omg her teeth are wonderfull, I will start to eat bones to see if I will have such a white teeth like her We are going in october to the vet for check up,and than he will do him teeth cleaning too. I belive that I would be able to find samo pheasant with time. What about fish meat?
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Post by Celene on Sept 2, 2015 15:44:40 GMT -5
Ferrets can eat fish meat, although I recommend sticking to smaller fish wherever possible as larger fish will have higher concentrations of mercury and other toxins due to bioamplification. This chart is a good guide - try and stick to fish in the top right corner: Fish shouldn't be fed more than once a week though. I also find it gives very stinky poops, and smells REALLY disgusting in their cage very quickly. I don't usually feed fish because of that, although they do get frogs legs 1-2 times each month.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2015 15:21:06 GMT -5
Frog legs? This is the first time that I heat that they could eat that,I really have a lot to learn.
I know that this will be a hard for me and for him,since he is now 50-50% of a small chunks in the soup he still doesn't eat everything but we are taking little steps in progress,sometimes is hard to combine everything with my work,beacuse I work some days in the morning and some afternoon for 9-12h but I hope that those days when I am on the day off we will do bigger progress.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 12:46:40 GMT -5
What about dehydrated lamb/rabbit meat, is that ok for his gums and jaws?
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Post by Celene on Sept 7, 2015 18:13:58 GMT -5
You can feed freeze dried raw (FDR) food, although I highly recommend rehydrating it first. It isn't any different for their teeth than regular muscle meat.
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