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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2015 20:12:30 GMT -5
I would feed them a meal before you put them to bed and then leave some soup in (frozen is good because it stays fresh longer) and then feed them again once you get up in the morning
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 10:23:57 GMT -5
Cool.
So far I've given them soup in the morning and at night. About 2 oz in the bowl. They've been eating it all, but I'm not sure who's doing most of the eating. I'm pretty sure it's mostly Pali, who is fine eating it straight out of the bowl.
This morning I'm going to feed them individually and see who's eating it out of the bowl and who still needs spoon fed. I'll let you know what happens.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2015 17:37:54 GMT -5
Sounds good! I would go ahead and give them more than 2 oz especially if theyre eating it all. 2 oz for each of the boys and 1 oz for Ms. Slinky.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2015 18:19:51 GMT -5
Hi hi,
So Pali is having no problem eating from the bowl provided there is some olive oil or ferretone in it. The other two will only eat it off the spoon, I don't need to scruff them, but they like the spoon for whatever reason.
So about 5 oz in the morning and at night you think?
Also, I thought for sure City Market would have hearts and livers. They don't. There is another city market I can check though. I still have enough organs to make another soup which I need to do tomorrow. My mom has a cow heart. Can I chop that up into smaller pieces and use that in soup?
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2015 0:13:30 GMT -5
Yes you can use cow heart in soup. Just be sure to keep the same ratios yay Pali! For the others try resting the spoon in the bowl. Is it a shallow bowl? Sometimes they like to have it very flat so a plate works better at first.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2015 4:27:13 GMT -5
Hey haven't heard from you so just checking in
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2015 10:58:18 GMT -5
Hi. A lots been going on and I actually have a a few questions.
So I finally went out and bought an ice cube tray. So the second batch of soup has been easier to defrost. Yay! I bought chicken livers, so I have plenty, and I cut the cow heart into 1 oz chunks. But! I'm kind of confused how I'm supposed to replace meals with soup. When they were on kibble, they ate when they were hungry, so they "grazed" instead of eating meals. And I just filled the bowl when it was empty.
Now I've been giving them soup cubes in the morning and at night mixed with a little warm water to help it defrost. They don't eat it all right away, they eat it through out the day like they did with their kibble. So I haven't been giving them any kibble in fear it would make them sick. They've been eating all the soup I give them, so I'm starting to give them more. Kinda just refilling the bowl when I see it's empty. But they act like they're starving, they turn their noses up at the soup when I first put the bowl in, then go off and chew on their toys like they're desperate. I've had to take away all the toys because they're taking chunks off.
I'm worried I'm making them sick, The past few days they've been trying to poop, but hardly have anything to poop like they're empty. And I'm hoping Gnarwhal didn't swallow any toy chunks.
Do I need to be spoon feeding them to make sure they're getting enough to eat? I've seen Slinky and Pali eat the soup on their own, but I haven't seen Gnarwhal do it in a while.
Also can I try giving them little chunks of meat, they might like the more solid texture?
If the soup is in the cage all day, when can I give them kibble? Should I give them kibble?
Can I ask what your schedule looks like when it comes to preparing food? I feel bad because the ferrets have frozen cubes in the morning, do I need to be defrosting their morning meal in the fridge over night?
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2015 10:58:45 GMT -5
Also the flat plate worked really well.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2015 21:04:27 GMT -5
Hmmm well my schedule is just plopping a bag of frozen meat into their dish. I have a sort of schedule on my dry erase board, but its very loos. It just says whether or not to feed a bone meal, muscle meat meal, or organ meal. You can most definitely try chucks of meat, but they might not eat it. How long has it been since you've seen poops? It's quite possible they have a blockage and you'll need to perform blockage protocol and if that doesn't work then vet.
Protocol is as follows: 1st hour: 1 Tablespoon Plain Canned Pumpkin 2nd hour: 1 Teaspoon Plain White Vaseline 3rd hour: 1 Tbsp Pumpkin 4th hour: 1 Tsp Vaseline
Just in the future (I'm not sure what kind of toys these were) we really don't recommend any sorts of rubber toys and it your ferret ever chews on it even if its not rubber its best to just throw it away.
Alright so if you can get the boys to eat 3-4 oz a day and Slink to eat about 2 oz a day then you can take away the kibble. You might need to hand feed them some or give them their soup warmed up or with extra water. Usually they like it warm, but I've gotten mine used to eating frozen food. Are they finishing their soup when you give it to them? Do you know how much they're each eating right now? It might be helpful to feed them seperately for a meal just so we can get a good idea of how much exactly theyre eating.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2015 13:36:39 GMT -5
They pooped this Morning, but I'm definitely writing the blockage protocol down. Last night Slinky had a strange poop, one part looked like just runny poop and the other part looked like chicken fat. I think the first soup batch I made, had too much fat, the second batch didn't have any though.
This is the first time I've ever seen them chew on the toys. Gnarwhal always liked hiding his rubber ducks but that's all he ever did. Poor guy is going to be upset when I throw them all away. He'll get over it though.
Yesterday I gave them 5 soup cubes in the morning, two in the afternoon when they ran out, and another three before bed. There is still a little soup leftover from last night. So I would say ten cubes every 24 hours.
Tonight I'll feed them separately and see what I can find out.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2015 23:27:56 GMT -5
They will not eat soup right away when I give it to them, like a meal. They graze on it like they did kibble. When I take them into the kitchen and try to gauge how much they're eating, they eat a few bites from the dish, then leave.
I've watched Slinky and Pali eat more from inside the cage while I was working, a couple hours after giving it to them.
Slinky has been throwing up. I'm worried about the stress on her since she's old and frail.
I'm going to feed them kibble at night and soup in the morning for the next few days. On Sunday I have time to watch and see how much they will eat in the morning.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2015 23:21:44 GMT -5
She's throwing up? I don't think it's because she's old and frail. I have a 10 year old adrenal girl who switched about a year ago and it did wonders for her. When she throws up what does it look like? and does she eat the throw up? Sometimes they just eat too fast. Has she pooped?
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2015 23:43:50 GMT -5
It looked like white foam, and no she shakes her head and hops away. The day she threw up she had only little watery poops, but since then her poops have returned to normal. She's done this before and I've had her checked again and again for adrenal, and the vet thinks she be eating too fast. She's always had a delicate tummy. I think it's because I was too quick to remove the kibble, and she wasn't getting enough to eat. Since I started giving them kibble at night and soup during the day, she's been doing fine. This morning I was able to watch them individually eat their soup. Pali: I gave him 2 oz this morning with a little bit of water. He ate about 1/4 of it on his own without encouragement. Then he got distracted, walked around for ten minutes. I was able to call him over to eat some more, a little olive oil helped. He ate 1/2 to 1/3 on his own. Slinky: I gave her an ounce of soup with water. She started wolfing it down, but ate only about half of it and wouldn't have any more to do with it, even if I added oil or tried to spoon feed her. Gnarwhal: 2 oz with water. He started eating a few bites on his own. Then got distracted. I added olive oil, he was a little more interested, but only ate about 1/3 of it on his own. I encouraged him to eat a couple of bites off the spoon without scruffing, then he was done and ran away. I saved the leftovers in the fridge and gave it to them several hours later. They weren't interested. Because they aren't eating all of the soup on their own, I'm going to closely monitor them in the mornings if they start eating all the soup, I'll start giving them soup at night. Till then I'll give them kibble at night.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 11:48:46 GMT -5
Are you feeding then when they're hungry? If they've been snacking on kibble for a while then they won't be as apt to eat their soup.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2015 12:04:19 GMT -5
I don't know what else I'm supposed to do.
As I've explained, When I took the kibble away they started getting sick, and chewing on their toys.
When I give them their soup in the morning (2 to 3 hours after taking away the kibble) they won't eat it all in one go, but if I leave it in their cage they eventually get through most of it by 8pm. I wait two hours and put the kibble in.
As soon as I put the kibble in they start eating it like they're hungry. Even though they've had soup all day, and even some left over.
I don't know when I should give them kibble, and when I should give them soup. especially if I need to separate the two by by a couple of hours.
Even when they weren't getting kibble, they ate through out the day, not all at once so it was hard to tell when or how hungry they were. They didn't act hungry when I gave them soup, but Slinky was throwing up and pooping very little and they were all chewing on toys.
Since giving them kibble only at night, they stopped chewing on toys, and Slinky stopped throwing up.
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