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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2015 12:42:31 GMT -5
So from what I've gathered reading back,
When I asked when it's okay to take the kibble away, you said:
"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."
Because the ferrets aren't eating that much a day, I've been leaving them kibble at night. But you say the reason they are not eating enough soup is because
"If they've been snacking on kibble for a while then they won't be as apt to eat their soup."
So how exactly do I balance kibble and soup (with 2 hours between them) considering that my ferrets have not gotten into the habit of eating all their food at one time?
You also recommended replacing meals with soup, but so far, there are only 2 meals these guys eat, their morning meal, which lasts all day till night time, and their night meal, which lasts till morning. So I only have 2 meals to feed them, by replacing their nightly meal with soup, there's no room for kibble. So I'm back to where I was when I was feeding them just soup.
How do I schedule my day, giving them kibble because they aren't eating enough soup, and taking away the kibble so they are hungry enough to eat soup?
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2015 22:42:27 GMT -5
I talked to another mentor and she said that her ferrets started chewing on toys all through her transition until she got them eating bone. Take away any chewable toys when you can't supervise them.
Can you spoon feed them their meals? That way you know they're getting enough to eat. It sounds a bit like they eat a bit of their soup, but they know they'll get kibble again that night.
Is it possible that slink maybe be sensitive to the protein in the soup? You're using chicken right? What kind of kibble are they on? Has her puking stopped completely since the 're-addition of kibble?
I know this is tough, and a lot of its a guessing game to see what works best for you. I promise it'll all be worth it in the end though
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 16:04:35 GMT -5
We've taken their toys away for the moment.
Yes, I can definately spoon-feed them their soup. I have been doing that a little in the morning when trying to encourage them to eat.
Slinky has always had a pretty sensitive stomach. The vet says she has irritable bowles. It usually results from some sort of change or stress. Back when they were only on kibble, if they ran out for even a a couple hours she was prone to really strange poos. Sometimes she just eats too fast. We used to soften her kibble with water and that was helping her for a while. They ate Marshalls most of their lives, but they've been on ZUPREEM PREMIUM FERRET DIET, about a week before we started transitioning. Since adding back in the kibble for night time, Slink's puking has stopped completely.
If I'm able to spoon-feed them a meals' worth, can I remove the kibble at night?
Do you think it's a good idea to try feeding whole peices when spoon feeding?
Thank you for taking the time to help me!
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2015 21:16:01 GMT -5
Yes if you can spoon feed them enough then the kibble can be taken away completely. Poor slink hopefully once she gets settled on the raw her poos will clear up. You can always add small pieces just don't get discouraged if they don't eat it right away <3
Also I'm sorry for the slow response. My mom came into town and then my area had some really bad flash floods. I'm okay, but lot of people had to be evacuated and the river that flooded really badly was 27 ft above the flood level.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 13:51:21 GMT -5
No worries, I was busy all weekend.
And wow I'm glad you're okay, it seems it's been rainy everywhere! Do you think it will help with the drought?
As for an update:
Yesterday I was gone, so my roommate gave the ferrets their soup. He only had time to put it in the cage and didn't bother to mix it with water. So when I came home last night, it didn't look like they touched it, poor things, they really like soupy. I gave them just a little bit of kibble last night so they ran out by morning and were pretty hungry for soup.
I measured 1 0z per ferret and tried spoon feeding them. Slinky did really well and ate almost her entire oz before she started struggling to get away, I scruffed her and fed her some more but she was done pretty quick. Pali and Gnar were more difficult. I had to scruff them to get them to eat most of their 0z, until they started struggling. I didn't want to stress them out. I'm going to try and spoon feed them again tonight.
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2015 0:57:41 GMT -5
That's really good that they ate. Do they like any sort of oil or even ferrettone? We really want to get them willingly eating without scruffing (although sometimes its necessary). We can wean them off the oil or whatever later once theyre eating okay
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2015 13:11:10 GMT -5
I've been adding a little bit of olive oil, and for Gnarwhal who is the most stubborn, I give him a bit of ferret tone.
I've also been reducing the kibble I feed them at night, so that they are hungry by morning.
This morning they were really hungry, I gave them 2 ounces to share and they ate most of it on their own, Pali seems to eat the most. Instead of keeping the soup in the cage and waiting for them to eat it, I've been putting it in the fridge to feed to them later. With the weather warming the soup starts to smell funky if left in there. And I think it helps them understand meal times.
Overall it's difficult to get them to eat a full oz at one time.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2015 0:16:59 GMT -5
How's slink eating? Have you weighed them recently? It's good to keep a log of that so you know their normal weight fluctuations.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2015 16:12:26 GMT -5
Slink eats pretty good. So far she's close to 2 oz a day  , one in the morning and one at night. She and Pali are transitioning better than Gnarwhal, who I expected would be more difficult. They all have been eating more the past couple of days. So this is encouraging. I haven't weighed them since their last vet visit. The scale I got is great for food and can weigh slinky but Gnarwhal is too big. So I'm going to ask our neighbors if I can borrow theirs. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 18:29:53 GMT -5
Today I chopped up some pieces of chicken, about the size of my fingernail and Pali ate them! Woot, granted there was a little olive oil involved. But he seemed to like em.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 19:22:57 GMT -5
Hey a little oil encouragement is just fine right now. I'm so glad Pali ate them! That's really awesome :3
You guys are doing great
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 9:19:58 GMT -5
Hullo! so sorry for my late reply.
All the ferrets are accepting the soup without me having to be there to spoon feed them. The spoon helps them to continue to eat more, but when I put the plate down they start eating on their own. I'm pretty sure Pali and Slinky are ready to be taken off kibble. Gnarwhal is hard to say.
He won't eat as much as the others, but I think he's been hogging the kibble at night, so if I take the kibble away I think he'll be more inclined to eat the soup.
So I'm going to for the next couple of days, to replace the nightly kibble with soup and watch and see what happens.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2015 21:26:24 GMT -5
So today and yesterday Slinky has had green poos.
Should I take a picture to show you?
Is this common when changing their diet, or do I need to take her to the vet ASAP?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2015 6:43:09 GMT -5
Keep an eye on it and if she does it consistently then you might want to bet. A picture would be nice
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2015 13:03:50 GMT -5
Last night she was worrying me. She not only had greens poos, but she was pooping every twenty minutes. All the ferrets have been pooping more often since I started the switch, I think because it's runnier than kibble But with Slinky it was getting scary.
I gave them kibble last night because I was worried. This morning she still had to poop a lot, but they looked like regular kibble poos, no green.
Is this the right thing to do for Slinky? I wanted to get her switched because I thought it might prolong her life and give her her a boost of energy, but now I feel like I'm making her sick and giving her undue stress at her old age. Like I said before, I don't know how old she really is, she has crooked arthritis fingers, her teeth are see through (some are missing) and she has a hard time walking around, So I'm thinking she might not have a lot of time left in either case. Is it worth it to switch her?
If I switch the boys and not her, I might have to keep her in a separate cage so they don't eat her kibble, which would be sad since she likes to cuddle the boys. Maybe we can feed her kibble and soup while the boys switch over?
What is your opinion? and would it be too much to ask for a couple more opinions from other mentors?
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