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Post by katt on Apr 15, 2015 20:26:39 GMT -5
Rosemary Extract is fine actually, it's Rosemary OIL you have to watch for. Essential oil of any kind is toxic to ferrets. See here: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/15519/rosemary-safe-toxic-read-findSalmon oil is VERY strong tasting. And it all smells like butt - fish butt! I don't mind the smell of fresh salmon, but salmon oil is a much more concentrated fishy smell. You almost have to treat it like it's own switch. I would start by putting a little salmon oil in a dropper bottle mixed with some Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or even ferretone if you really have to (NOT ferretvite though), and then gradually decrease the other oil while increasing the salmon oil. It will take a little time to introduce them to but is SO worth the work. I would first start by mixing it into an oil they like (extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, even ferretone if the others don't work - but NOT ferretvite) and slowly increase the salmon oil while decreasing the other oil. At first Koda hated salmon oil, but I mixed it with olive oil and gradually increased it. Now he will sell his furry little soul for the stuff - if I so much as walk by the bottle he comes running to beg. lol I keep it in a little dropper bottle that is always handy. The dropper bottle allows me to dispense it in small amounts so they don't OD on it and get raging diarrhea. And the salmon oil is super good for them - great for their skin and coats.
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Post by Desiree on Apr 15, 2015 20:54:10 GMT -5
Ah! Thanks Katt! I knew I heard rosemary was bad somewhere. LOL. Must have been an essentials oils talk. (shy)
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Post by katt on Apr 15, 2015 21:36:08 GMT -5
Ah! Thanks Katt! I knew I heard rosemary was bad somewhere. LOL. Must have been an essentials oils talk. (shy) Actually it's a pretty common misconception. Somewhere along the line someone started saying Rosemary was bad and it spread so you probably DID hear Rosemary is bad. It didn't make any sense to me....so I did some research! It probably shouldn't be given to an animal with epilepsy but otherwise it's just the oil that really needs to be avoided. I know the article is long but it's worth reading. I try to encourage people to read the whole thing and decide for themselves.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:17:22 GMT -5
I do have coconut oil in the pantry. It's the kind that is solid at room temperature. Would that work??
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:47:03 GMT -5
So I've been getting better at recording how much I've been giving them each meal. It usually varies from 70-100g of thawed soup plus some additional water to thin it out a little bit more. All in all what I give them ends up being about 25% added water. So far today they've had 457g to eat - minus the added water that's 343g which is about on target for the day I'd say. I'll give them more at bedtime but I'm pretty happy so far.
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Post by katt on Apr 15, 2015 23:21:27 GMT -5
I do have coconut oil in the pantry. It's the kind that is solid at room temperature. Would that work?? Yes that should work. Coconut oil and salmon oil don't mix super well, so you will probably want to warm it a little and shake/mix them each time but it should work that way. Do they like coconut oil? Olive oil?
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Post by Desiree on Apr 15, 2015 23:30:27 GMT -5
That is awesome news! I like those numbers too! Have we started of slivers yet or is this all soup and water? Which protein have they been eating?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 23:48:33 GMT -5
I do have coconut oil in the pantry. It's the kind that is solid at room temperature. Would that work?? Yes that should work. Coconut oil and salmon oil don't mix super well, so you will probably want to warm it a little and shake/mix them each time but it should work that way. Do they like coconut oil? Olive oil? I haven't tried to give either yet. I always forget to try since I don't use oil terribly often anymore. I do need to make that my next project though.. No slivers yet, but tonight I am going to put some in their dinner. They've been having beef and pork this past week.
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Post by Desiree on Apr 16, 2015 0:07:39 GMT -5
Awesome. The oil is just nice to have on hand. It really helps when they want to be picky about things if you have an oil that they like. You can drip some oil on organs or bigger chunks to get them excited about it so it is a really nice tool to have.
Great! Lemme know how they do with the slivers.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 0:51:03 GMT -5
I GOT PEANUT TO EAT SLIVERS. I admit to using just a couple drops of ferretone but I was curious to see if I could get someone to try it and it WORKED. After I put their main dish together I put in a little side dish with 14g of very thin, barely bite-sized slivers with the tiniest hint of ferretone. I figured they would probably just lick off the ferretone and leave the pork slivers to dry up. At first, that's what Peanut was doing, but after licking a piece enough times, she went for it. Then another. Then another. I also mixed just 6g of slivers in with their soup to get us started. I'll slowly bump it up from there.
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Post by Desiree on Apr 16, 2015 10:04:27 GMT -5
Yay! That's fantastic. Some ferrets just go for it. A little oil is a good incentive. Soup "gravy" will be another good tool as well. If they like eggs, that's a good one too.
Did the rest eat the slivers last night?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 13:22:31 GMT -5
She only ate like 3 but that was good enough for me haha. The rest didn't touch the slivers-only plate.
This morning in their main food bowl only 2 slivers were left over - 2g. So right now they will only eat them if tricked. grr.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 13:23:09 GMT -5
I did put 150g of meat, I think about 20g of water? and 14g of slivers in the bowl this morning.. we'll see how that goes when I get home!
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Post by Desiree on Apr 16, 2015 14:10:59 GMT -5
That's okay. Tricking them is how most get switched. Keep it up!
And good job Peanut, even eating just a few a them is better than none.
How big are the pieces? Is it the skirt steak?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 14:32:08 GMT -5
Very small - I think they way about 1g each if that. They are a little smaller than my 24-year-old-female-who-is-5'2 pinky hand. They are very thinly cut.
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