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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2015 12:40:38 GMT -5
I was encouraged to start an unofficial switching thread, so here it is! I picked up the supplies to start the transition to raw over the weekend. I found the chicken liver, chicken heart and chicken thighs at the Mexican farmer's market. I grounded some dried eggshell instead of looking for bone meal, since the boyfriend and I are always eating eggs. Since the boyfriend does oriental medicine, he had a scale I could use to weigh out the meats to follow the soup recipe, but I'll need a bigger one to weigh Yogi's toosh. Until then, I can't give a weight! Anyways, I weighed everything out and blended my first batch. My first question- The packs of hearts and livers come in no less than 2 pound packs. That's a lot of organs! The smell reminds me of cadaver lab  . I weighed some out, put them in individual bags (enough to thaw and then put into the next soup), and then put those bag into freezer bags and put them in the freezer. How do you normally store excess supplies? Bags? Jars? I wish there was someone feeding raw near me that we could split it! I put a few scoops in a bowl and put it in front of him. I didn't think he'd be into it but I tried it anyways. No interest. Then I tried the scruff and stuff. No interest at first but he eventually got the idea and I had him licking it off my finger in no time! This was in the afternoon after the kibble was taken away for about 2 hours before hand. Over night I gave him the kibble bowl back. This is the 2nd day doing this. I've been scruffing him and letting him lick the soup, and trying to get him to eat it out of the bowl but right now it's not clicking for him. He will sniff it but won't eat it unless I scruff him and put it on my finger. I put a little bit of ferretone on it to entice him to lick it but that surprisingly didn't work. I leave for work in about an hour and was planning on mixing in a few bits of kibble and leaving it in his cage while I'm gone. I'll let you know how it goes! I usually set him up in a section of my room so he can get out of the cage and stretch his legs, but he's been a real butthole about not going in the litter pan while he's out for the last few days (thankfully not on carpet!) so he will be staying in the cage while I'm at work tonight. He really likes eggs and will eat an entire egg himself, but I'm not sure when this should be incorporated in the menu... mixed with the soup? As a snack? Also, how often? How much soup should he get at one time? How long should it be left out for? Thanks everyone! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2015 19:18:59 GMT -5
Don't worry, 2lb of liver and heart is not a lot at all, and you'll use it up quicker than you think.  I store excess meat in ziplock bags, a lot of us do it that way. But reditainers are really awesome to use if you have the freezer space. For eggs, you can feed 1 egg per week, or 2 per week if it's shedding season. Any more and he'll get funky poops. As for how much he should eat, the answer is as much as he will eat. Ferrets self regulate so unless for some reason your Vet wants you to restrict their food, then feed him until he is full. If he eats everything in his bowl, give him more. Give him more until he leaves about 1-2 small spoonfuls. How often, most people feed twice a day, I feed 3 times a day because my boy is Insulinomic and has to eat more often. But every 12 hours is recommended. Also it's important to leave something out for him to snack on if he gets hungry in between those times. Raw holds them over for much longer than kibble, but remember these little guys metabolisms are very fast, within 3-4 hours anything they've eating is out of their system. Doesn't mean they have to eat every 3-4 hours, but they should be able to if they want. Keep doing what you're doing with the finger feeding, he'll get there in no time. You're doing great, and don't hesitate to ask more questions, we are here to help and we love answering them. :thumbsup: |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2015 23:45:06 GMT -5
Thanks!
Should I give him as much as I can with finger feedings and leave excess out or?
He didn't touch the kibble mixed with the soup at all while I was at work (~9 hours). I want to make sure he's eating enough.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2015 4:16:48 GMT -5
Yes, give him as much as he will eat via finger feeding. Try holding him in your lap, get a spoon and use it to dab soup on his nose with it to try and get him to eat from the spoon.
Once he is eating at least 2 oz a day of the soup, you can take the kibble away completely.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2015 1:21:34 GMT -5
I feed him a bit of the soup tonight from the spoon, but he still needs to be scruffed, otherwise he tries to run away. But while scruffed, he's eating it really well and is actually rather greedy about it! I put him away for the night about 45 minutes after feeding it to him. He went almost immediately to the kibble  . Just read that you should give a 2 hour break between raw and kibble, so next time i'll try for that or just leave the kibble out of the cage over night. I was thinking about picking up some frozen mice to see if it'd spark his interest. He likes to chew on fuzzy toys a lot... maybe the motion will translate over? Any suggestions? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2015 1:46:09 GMT -5
Pick him up and get some soup on your finger, and dab it on his nose and make him lick it off, gotta break the scruffing to eat thing so he doesn't get hung up on it, so if you can just get him to take 1 or 2 licks of it on his own then put him down that would be great. But when you pick him up to try, do not let him down until he has taken a lick, he has to learn that mom wants him to eat, and he doesn't get to play until he does. They catch on very quickly. You could certainly try him with whole prey, some ferrets will simply take the prey and try to play with it, so try cutting it open and drizzling some salmon oil in there and see what he does. But don't get yours hopes up too much, that is a BIG step for him to take since he isn't even on soupy yet. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2015 12:17:31 GMT -5
So we tried the no scruff and feeding from a spoon. A little resistance at first, but success! I tried slowly transitioning him to the floor in front of the bowl... he stood for a few seconds and kept eating from the spoon but then would try to run off. Still can't get him to eat out of the bowl for the most part. He likes ferretone, so I did put some of that on the soup and that did get him to eat some of it out of the bowl! Even though it wasn't much, still progress  No big hopes for the whole prey! Just gonna see what he does with it... thinking I'll give it a try tomorrow since I'll be working day shift and it'll be easier for me to grab it on my way home.  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2015 19:40:20 GMT -5
Yay! That's great! As a note, ferretone has BHA in it which is a cancer causing agent, so pick up some salmon oil and try that instead, much much healthier. Keep doing what you're doing, he's doing very well so far and so are you. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2015 20:27:56 GMT -5
akjsfioau349fuosfjiozf bah, it's always something. Any salmon oil you recommend? I heard it makes them stinkier  |
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 19, 2015 20:52:18 GMT -5
I would use a salmon oil that is purely salmon oil, there are a few brands out there and currently I cannot recall the one I use but I found it at petco without any issue in the supplement section. (Just realized you might not have a petco where you are. It you can try at a pet store or finding one online should not be too much of an issue either I would think.) I have never noticed a stronger scent from them after they have had some salmon oil.
The spoon method is like magic, usually only takes a few try's before they are eating out of the bowl but you may need to leave the spoon in the bowl for a little bit. Separating kibble and raw are a good idea to help avoid tummy upset or bacteria overload plus there is no chance they are full on kibble when you are trying to make them eat the good stuff. You can actually take the kibble away as soon as he is eating the soup on his own out of the bowl, he does not have to be eating 2oz of it a day, some ferrets just do not eat that much. You should absolutely be weighing everything though so you can keep track.
You are doing well! :goodjob:
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2015 18:59:19 GMT -5
So part of the plans for this weekend is to order some salmon oil from amazon and a bigger scale so I can weigh his fat butt. There's a petco nearby, but I like to avoid giving them any more money than they've already got from me.
I gave him some more soup today. He was fighting it at first, then I scruffed him to coax him into it, then I didn't need to scruff him anymore, but he was only eating off the spoon, not out of the bowl... and quite greedily too!
I also introduced him to a dead mouse today... Julesalot, you were right, I think he just wants to play with the mouse! He was chewing on the head a bit and running around with it. I grabbed the tail and tugged on it when he was chewing on it, hoping he'd get the idea that tearing it=yummy mouse meat. It tore a little and he took a few licks, but that was all! Pics below
I left the soup and mouse in his cage when I left for work a few hours ago. The boyfriend got home about 30 minutes ago. I got a text "Duuuuuude... your room smells awful... like dead garbage". I'm guessing the soup is getting a little rank. When I blend another batch this weekend, I'll probably take half of it and freeze it so it doesn't go rank as fast. Does the house normally take on a garbage smell when you leave meat out for them? Or is this more so because it's a blended soup?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2015 19:01:34 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2015 17:31:42 GMT -5
Haha silly Yogi, mice are for eating!  For the smell, it's normal if you've left it out too long. Which I do too often, lol. Soup is good for 6-8 hours at room temp, after about 12 hours or so it starts to smell. Any longer than that and it will start to really stank :puke: lol For the soup, instead of pouring it into the trashcan, pour the leftovers into the sink so it doesn't sit in the trashcan and rot. Once you start feeding chunks and such, I prefer to use a small trashcan that is just for the ferrets meats, using something like a walmart bag in it and you can take it out every 2 days or so to keep smell and flies down. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2015 12:35:14 GMT -5
(headwall)
Yogi has been such a brat for the last 2 days. Now he's acting like the soup is poison (not to mention that all of a sudden litter pans don't exist outside the cage =.=). I'm now having to scruff him to get him to start eating the soup and when I unscruff him, he stops and runs away. Maybe I made this batch a little too thick... maybe some water to dilute it out would help? I know he's hungry, I've been taking the kibble away once he falls asleep, and he's usually asleep for about 4 hours. I will try putting some more oil on it and leaving it in his cage while I'm at work... I just feel bad that if he doesn't eat it, he's going to be really hungry!
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Post by FireAngel on Aug 24, 2015 21:53:57 GMT -5
You can try to add a little more water to thin it down if you think that will help. You can also try to feed him off a spoon while you hold him for some reason a lot of ferrets really like that.
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