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Post by lyles on Jul 20, 2015 1:05:15 GMT -5
Nei didn't eat much at all today. She has the flu and has been coughing and sneezing here and there. Slept a lot today but I still managed to have her come out to play for a couple of sessions. Her stools look great except for the last one which was mostly mucus.
She started sleeping in the dig box of rice. It is completely enclosed with a tunnel that leads in and out. I don't know that she likes to sleep there now because sleeping on rice is cooler than bedding, the texture or because it is enclosed (no air movement)ie more comfortable for flu symptoms. The flu is still kicking my butt, it's out of my lungs and sinuses now but I still have that awful feeling and fatigue that comes with it.
I think I may have to find Chicken Kidneys for Nei. She will not touch the Beef Kidneys even if I drizzle some Salmon Oil on it. I also caught her munching on some stash from earlier today instead of eating her organ meal. She did ate 1 chicken heart and a piece of chicken liver, but the rest just dried up in her dish. I really don't know what's wrong with my house. This area has had the most humid and rainfall in years, yet this house sucks the moisture out of everything! If I don't put some water in the meat and turn it over every couple of hours it will look cooked and rubbery on the exposed areas. She won't touch it then. She has been itching a lot too, not near as much as Crystal did but I suspect it is because of the dessication in this house and it dries up her skin. My skin is dry all the time too and I have to constantly apply aloe vera and shea butter to keep it from burning.
I went ahead and ordered a nice humidifier, should be in by Wen. Hopefully that'll keep the meat from drying up so fast.
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Post by lyles on Jul 20, 2015 8:02:03 GMT -5
She didn't touch the rest of her heart/livers I left out at 3am last night. When I threw them out they were hard on top. Gave her a few pieces of leftover turkey neck while the pork thawed out.
Was very hyperactive this morning but managed to weigh her in at 1.3lbs. that's .1lbs heavier than last week.
I noticed another quirk of hers. When she has managed to eat most of the bone save for the hardest part, she'll take the bone back to the food dish before getting another. It is as if she is saying she is done with it. lol
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Post by lyles on Jul 22, 2015 17:00:10 GMT -5
While I was shopping today I kept an eye out for chicken kidneys but didn't see any. I'm throwing out the beef kidneys with the trash take out tomorrow, she will not eat them nor anything that is mixed with them and they STINK when left out in room temperature. I swore I saw some for sale at one of the two grocery stores, but neither of them had them when I checked. I found some small game cornish hens so I bought 6 of them.
Nei is doing great, all of her poops look great and she continues to gain weight (I can see a visible difference every day). She was tiny when I brought her home, now she is the size of an average Marshall female. She is out of the puppy stage, no more licks to the face (which I'm glad because of the raw feeding). I noticed that she has been rough with play lately, she broke the skin a few times but it was in the areas of my psoriasis (where the skin is very thin). Because of the condition the cuts heal fast but I may have to hold back and walk away if she wants to play rough. Got some more toys on the way to keep her busy. I love to play with her but if she gets too bored she'll wake me up in the middle of the night and won't let me go back to sleep until she's ready to. lol
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2015 17:09:12 GMT -5
You know, I can't say that I have ever seen chicken kidneys. Try looking for pork kidneys. They are mild and inexpensive, plus you will get a nice amount of organ meals out of them/ Cornish game hens are wonderful. You can cut each one in half and use a half for both meals of the day. Here is a good video on this thread and I believe Celene has one somewhere around here also. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17123/preparing-cornish-game-henStock up on Bandaids. My husband bleeds easily too. I think he enjoys showing off his 'war wounds'. Nei is just too cute and coming along nicely. You're doing so well with her. :wave3:
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Post by lyles on Jul 22, 2015 19:08:31 GMT -5
You know, I can't say that I have ever seen chicken kidneys. Try looking for pork kidneys. They are mild and inexpensive, plus you will get a nice amount of organ meals out of them/ Cornish game hens are wonderful. You can cut each one in half and use a half for both meals of the day. Here is a good video on this thread and I believe Celene has one somewhere around here also. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/17123/preparing-cornish-game-henStock up on Bandaids. My husband bleeds easily too. I think he enjoys showing off his 'war wounds'. Nei is just too cute and coming along nicely. You're doing so well with her. :wave3: Thank you. I don't mind it, the psoriasis areas are paper thin, I can break the skin in those areas just by brushing up against a hard surface. Pain isn't a problem, I have neropathy in both my hands and my feet (the numbness in the hands is slight though), so it doesn't bother me if she treats me like a ferret. Only downside to it is when she decides to get my attention via my feet and I don't notice until she tries to be more persuasive and hits the right spot where there's a nerve left. lol
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Post by lyles on Jul 22, 2015 23:27:19 GMT -5
I noticed while I cleaned Nei's litterbox just now, that she must of ate some rice, as 1.5 poops was rice. Thankfully they were long grain but I wonder why she ate it. Only possibility was that she stashed food in her 'play room' and dragged a piece inside the dig box to eat. I found no remains inside it but in the closet I found 4 pieces of large chunks from yesterday.
I fed her tiny pieces of steak today and she ate them all in the dish. I am starting to think that the larger the meat the more she wants to stash it. Her stashing didn't start until I started giving her larger pieces with bone. I'm going to chop up her chicken tomorrow and see if she'll stash them.
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Post by lyles on Jul 23, 2015 0:56:57 GMT -5
I decided to take the plunge and trim Nei's nails tonight. They were very long and sharp as talons. I bought the smallest clippers I could find with the guard on them and worked fast as I could while she was distracted with the salmon oil. I did great until the very last one when I hit the quick on the inside claw on a hind foot >.< She chuckled for a second but stopped when I placed a septic pen on it. Unfortunately, she wanted to put her mouth on the septic pen while I was applying it and got a nasty surprise, lol She was cool though, didn't hold any grudges for the booboo and she was playing and cuddling as normal. 9/10 isn't bad.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 9:25:00 GMT -5
I noticed while I cleaned Nei's litterbox just now, that she must of ate some rice, as 1.5 poops was rice. Thankfully they were long grain but I wonder why she ate it. Only possibility was that she stashed food in her 'play room' and dragged a piece inside the dig box to eat. I found no remains inside it but in the closet I found 4 pieces of large chunks from yesterday. I fed her tiny pieces of steak today and she ate them all in the dish. I am starting to think that the larger the meat the more she wants to stash it. Her stashing didn't start until I started giving her larger pieces with bone. I'm going to chop up her chicken tomorrow and see if she'll stash them. She probably accidentally ate it, like you said. Stashing her food and then a piece of rice sticks to it. Maybe try something else for her dig box. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Wynstan does with large pieces. He stashes them. I found them in "his" room. They will eat them if I leave them, but it's summer and I don't want bugs. I tried hanging large pieces like msav and others do, but no one touches them. I tried a feeding den but Wynstan simply leaves the biggest pieces. I can't leave a whole half a CGH out or it would be gone. So, you'll have to experiment with sizes and maybe find a place to feed her, where she can't run off with those pieces.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 9:30:10 GMT -5
I decided to take the plunge and trim Nei's nails tonight. They were very long and sharp as talons. I bought the smallest clippers I could find with the guard on them and worked fast as I could while she was distracted with the salmon oil. I did great until the very last one when I hit the quick on the inside claw on a hind foot >.< She chuckled for a second but stopped when I placed a septic pen on it. Unfortunately, she wanted to put her mouth on the septic pen while I was applying it and got a nasty surprise, lol She was cool though, didn't hold any grudges for the booboo and she was playing and cuddling as normal. 9/10 isn't bad. Ouch! She was a good sport though. It's hard to clip nails with only one person. They are such wiggle worms. Are your nail clippers, the small animal kind or human ones? I have to go super slow while Paul holds ours. I hate clipping nails, it makes me nervous. The funny thing is that Juliet who arrived eating kibble and has super soft fur, the highest energy levels and is fully grown, has nails that rarely need clipping. I've only had to clip her nails, maybe 3 or 4 times in the few years that she has been with us. She is a terrible scratcher though. She scratches at doors, furniture and any where else she can find. I think she keeps her nails down that way. I don't like getting my nails down at salons and maybe she is like that also. (giggle)
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Post by lyles on Jul 23, 2015 11:19:23 GMT -5
I decided to take the plunge and trim Nei's nails tonight. They were very long and sharp as talons. I bought the smallest clippers I could find with the guard on them and worked fast as I could while she was distracted with the salmon oil. I did great until the very last one when I hit the quick on the inside claw on a hind foot >.< She chuckled for a second but stopped when I placed a septic pen on it. Unfortunately, she wanted to put her mouth on the septic pen while I was applying it and got a nasty surprise, lol She was cool though, didn't hold any grudges for the booboo and she was playing and cuddling as normal. 9/10 isn't bad. Ouch! She was a good sport though. It's hard to clip nails with only one person. They are such wiggle worms. Are your nail clippers, the small animal kind or human ones? I have to go super slow while Paul holds ours. I hate clipping nails, it makes me nervous. The funny thing is that Juliet who arrived eating kibble and has super soft fur, the highest energy levels and is fully grown, has nails that rarely need clipping. I've only had to clip her nails, maybe 3 or 4 times in the few years that she has been with us. She is a terrible scratcher though. She scratches at doors, furniture and any where else she can find. I think she keeps her nails down that way. I don't like getting my nails down at salons and maybe she is like that also. (giggle) It was the smallest one I could find for small dogs and cats. It has a guard on the other side to help keep from cutting too close, but she is too small for it to be effective. It is very hard for me to cut nails, even my own. My hands aren't steady and the fact that I have to act fast before she has her fill of salmon oil and will no longer cooperate makes it a real challenge. I was sloppy with nail clipping in the past and all my ferrets always dreaded nail clipping time. I want Nei to, if not enjoy nail clipping time for salmon treats, at least tolerate it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 11:31:20 GMT -5
Most local petstores like Petco and Petsmart will clip nails for you. I don't know the cost, but it might help since you have trouble with your hands. You'd probably only have to go every few weeks depending on the season.
It might be fun for both of you to get out and about and pay a visit to her "nail salon".
The other idea would be to look into a small pet stand like dog groomers use. Something to hold her gently still and give you easier access to her little paws. Amazon might have something like that.
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Post by Blue on Jul 23, 2015 12:11:56 GMT -5
My vet tech recommended kitten nail clippers but I think I have the small dogs & cats size too because that's what the store had. Looking online I can see some kitten/rabbit/guinea pig clippers.
Anyway, what happens is that Maisie stashes her clippers, and I and use my human clippers instead. I feel more confident with them, and they're an acceptable substitute. I cut her to the quick once with the kitten clippers and she bled everywhere, it was awful! I HATE clipping her nails and anytime I'm at the vet I get them to do it for me. That and her ears.
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Post by lyles on Jul 23, 2015 13:01:01 GMT -5
As long as you clip just the tips with a human nail clipper and the clipper is very sharp I think that might be better. You can get a better view of the nail as you clip them and the gap is small enough to block the quick. I know I've seen some tiny human nail clippers before, I might look for one and give that a try.
Cleaning ears has never been a problem for me. A quick scruff and two gos around the ear and a bit in the hold is enough to get most of the excess wax without having to use any ear cleaner. Ear cleaner solution bothers them the most, and I found it really isn't necessary.
I been using a really nice room humidifier for a day now and it has made a huge difference to both our health and the problem with the food drying up. When it first started up it showed the room's humidity to be 40%. Now at 53-55% the air feels heavier but my mouth and throat doesn't get dry anymore and neither does her food. She doesn't scratch as much either, which I think is due to dry skin.
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Post by lyles on Jul 23, 2015 13:12:42 GMT -5
I found something neat here. I'll let yall know how it works after I give it a try.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 13:57:36 GMT -5
Oh that is really cool. I want one of those. Let us know how it works. If Nei is overly itchy and you know how itchy ferrets are, then try adding some more fat to her diet. You already know that baths will dry out her skin, so maybe a little extra fatty meat. She's already getting salmon oil. You're lucky though, it's so humid here. If you leave a wet wash cloth out, it's mildewy by the next morning. Some day, I'm going to live someplace with no humidity.
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