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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2015 9:37:04 GMT -5
He's gained muscle~ He must be nice and firm too! He's a big boy omg. Big boys are the best to cuddle. Speaking of cuddle, I'm going to cuddle my boys after I reply. You shouldn't lie to the vet, Especially health wise. Incase of emergencies, its always best not to lie on diets even if you don't want them to freak out or make you feel 'bad' (which they shouldn't.) They do these things only for the best most of the time. Oberyn is nice and healthy and has good weight on him, thats proof that the raw diet is going incredibly well for both of you You're doing a great job, so be proud of your progress. The vet can advise you, but in the end its up to you as the ferrent and pet owner to decide on the best diet for your precious animal. After a while, the vets will respect that and won't cause any arguments if they disagree. Oh Oberyn ;A; Lucky that you caught on those ear mites. My Beavis had a bad case of them and they caused him to have a severe head tilt before I adopted him. Now Oberyn can get all fixed up and be ear mite free. Oh yes, All animals in the house will need to be treated if theres a single case of ear mites. Yay for no more vaccines (soon! apart from boosters) I was overjoyed when my lot finished up theirs. They hated their needles hahaha! I don't blame them! How does Oberyn behave when getting his vaccines? I'm sure he's a well behaved boy~ Heart is the best! I'm sure its on any ferrets favourite list. Mine adore Lamb and Ox/Beef Heart. Have you picked up on any other interesting things about Oberyn? Has he gotten favourite toys, other foods, dislike anything or does silly things? Every ferret is so different personality wise, I find it so amusing. >3< Bye bye for now~
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2015 21:07:32 GMT -5
Oberyn is such a good boy at the vet! He just let's them put the needle in. But he only holds still if I hold him, he likes to wiggle away from the vet tech. He just loves his daddy I guess. Oberyn loves tunnels! He likes to nap in tunnels and he also stashes most of his food in them too. He also likes to get underneath a dresser of mine and play/stashes things. He especially likes bubble wrap lol. He likes it when I throw bubble wrap at him lol. Like he does that cute little dance where he wiggles and moves back and oh my God it's the funniest and cutest thing ever. He also likes to run a lot. Sometimes he just runs back and forth in my room. He's a nut lol. I will tell the vet about his diet next week. But I'd like to find a vet that supports raw feeding if possible. He was very against last time. Like he wasn't open to it at all.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2015 21:09:24 GMT -5
Oh and how can I forget?! Oberyn LOVES feet! Shoes, socks, toes: everything about them! He especially likes smelly sweaty feet.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2015 21:45:56 GMT -5
Oh wow! He does sound like a good boy! My boy Yuki, is a good boy with vets too. But my girl Haru on the otherhand doesn't like the vets. On her second trip for her second needle, she nipped the vet and the vet couldn't hold her still so I had to hold her and that never worked so we had to get a towel. It took two tries to get the needle in and oh boy, Haru was not a happy ferret. Tunnels are so much fun!! Have you tried the towel ride game with Oberyn? You drag the towel and he can jump on it and ride as you drag it. My boy Yuki LOVES it. OHHH Oberyn does the weasel war dance omg! It's probably the most funniest and adorable thing a ferret could do. Oberyn has so much personality. He sounds so much fun. I wish you the best of luck when telling the vet about the raw diet. He will probably not be too impressed, but vets say what they say with the sake of the animal and pet owner in mind. You're doing all the research to make sure that everything is done right. Vet's are more concerned over people who don't do it right because an unbalanced diet can cause so many problems. However, you're doing incredibly well, so stand your ground with the vet. They can only advise you on diets, but in the end its you who has the final decision and you've made a very wonderful decision for Oberyn. Hehhe. Oberyn has a feet obsession i see. Does he try to steal your shoes or socks? Yuki would always take my socks from me, even if they were on my feet ahaha.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2015 21:54:54 GMT -5
Yes! He takes my socks right off my feet.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2015 21:42:41 GMT -5
UPDATE: Oberyn and I are now two weeks into the raw diet! Oberyn is handling everything well and his poops are normal (he's pooping a lot less and peeing a lot more.) He is very energetic and he seems to be very happy. He likes pork kidneys I came to find out. I am going to feed lamb kidneys tomorrow night along with beef liver. For bone-in I'm still relying heavily on Cornish and duck. I have the whole ground rabbit but where it has ground organs as well I don't feed a lot at a time. I mix with other foods and that seems to be doing fine. I found a website to get duck wings on but I need to save money and also I don't want to ship just duck wings by themselves because I'm afraid it wont stay frozen in transit (ships from Florida to me in Kentucky.) And little funny thing about Oberyn: is it normal for ferrets to excessively lick and chew on their owner? Oberyn seems to have a thing for my arms. He always licks them if he's around them. He will lick and lick and lick and if I pull him away he squirms back send licks some more. seriously I think my arms taste good to him lol. He does the same thing behind my knee caps. He'll just lick and occasionally try to bite into me lol. He's trying to eat me I guess! :3 My arms and legs are pretty hairy (fun fact for you guys [img src="http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/ .gif" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h352/JW_2012/Emoticons/.gif"].gif[/IMG]) so I'm thinking maybe he is grooming me? I see ferrets at the store lick each other all the time so maybe he's just showing affection for me? This is a thing? Lol
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Post by raynebc on Oct 3, 2015 22:39:11 GMT -5
My first ferret was kind of like that. There would be licks for the bare skin and a tooth-involved groom the parts of my arm that had hair. She was an only ferret though so she didn't have any other people to take care of.
Online stores that sell organs and whole prey seem to have different shipping options, but apparently they can get pretty elaborate with ice packs, dry ice and styrofoam boxes. Do you know if any of your local stores/butchers will special order duck wings? It might end up cheaper if so.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2015 23:46:38 GMT -5
Happy 2 week mark! Oberyn is a little champion. I cannot believe how easy he's been to switch for you already. You'll probably have him switched all on your own in no time at all. Have you made up a weekly menu? I'm very interested in seeing it. ^^ Did he have pork kidney today or tonight? if so, you may want to watch out by feeding him organs again the following day. he may get runny organ poops if there isn't a good break inbetween the meals. It's good to have a bone in meal following after an organ meal. For now, it would be fine to rely on CGH and Duck for bone in. When I started switching, I was chicken heavy. (CGH and Chicken are the same Protein.) I ordered duck wings from a state thats 18 hours from where I live (Brisbane to Darley/Australia)and they had to freeze it before delivery. By the time I got it, it already started to thaw but most were solid frozen. I thawed some and it took 4 hours just about. Some places will freeze them for the delivery while others will have refrigerated freight. It's best to send the place an email and enquire about it. It is normal, however excessively- all the time, can be quite concerning. However I strongly think its not the case for Oberyn. Sometimes it can be as a form of grooming. Like what you mentioned when they lick other ferrets, they groom their cage mates and those who they are close to. When I pick up my boy Yuki in the morning for a cuddle, he licks my arms so to me its like his way of showing affection in return. Some people say that the reason they do it is because of the salty taste to our skin. Excessive licking and chewing that causes ferrets to become distracted from meal time or is causing a disruption of some kind, is something to be concerned about because that can be symptoms to health conditions. For Oberyn, I really think its simply he's grooming you, or showing his affection for you. The biting, would more than likely be him telling you something like come play~
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 9:05:15 GMT -5
Here is my weekly schedule as of now:
MONDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE MONDAY PM- MUSCLE MEAT
TUESDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE TUESDAY PM- MUSCLE MEAT
WEDNESDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE (usually with egg) WEDNESDAY PM- HEART
THURSDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE THURSDAY PM- EDIBLE BONE
FRIDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE FRIDAY PM- 1/2 HEART, 1/4 LIVER, 1/4 OTHER ORGAN
SATURDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE SATURDAY PM- EDIBLE BONE OR MUSCLE MEAT
SUNDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE SUNDAY PM- ORGANS 1/2 LIVER, 1/2 OTHER ORGAN
What dp you guys think about this? Should I space his organ meals out more?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 18:18:33 GMT -5
Looks good to me would do Sat pm a muscle to make it 3 muscle meals for week.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 19:03:04 GMT -5
Here is my weekly schedule as of now: MONDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE MONDAY PM- MUSCLE MEAT TUESDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE TUESDAY PM- MUSCLE MEAT WEDNESDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE (usually with egg) WEDNESDAY PM- HEART THURSDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE THURSDAY PM- EDIBLE BONE FRIDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE FRIDAY PM- 1/2 HEART, 1/4 LIVER, 1/4 OTHER ORGAN SATURDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE SATURDAY PM- EDIBLE BONE OR MUSCLE MEAT SUNDAY AM- EDIBLE BONE SUNDAY PM- ORGANS 1/2 LIVER, 1/2 OTHER ORGAN What do you guys think about this? Should I space his organ meals out more? This looks good for a weekly menu with the correct amount of bone in meals/muscle meat meals and organ meals. Your Saturday PM meal is open and that's good. You can decide if Oberyn should have a muscle meat meal or a bone in meal once you see his poops. Some ferrets need more Bone In for firmer poops and some need less bone meals to loosen up too firm poops. Oberyn is young and needs his calcium, so the high side of bone in meals will probably suit him best. You listed heart for a meal, that's good. Heart is a muscle meat meal. I'd like to see what animal proteins you have for each meal. You want a minimum of 3 proteins and the more the better but you know that already. You have your egg meal with an edible bone meal. You might find that an egg works better with a muscle meat meal. It's a great way to convince them to eat red meat in a muscle meat meal. You'll learn what works best for your schedule and what Oberyn likes. As for organs, I do like to space them out a bit but you can decide what works best for you and Oberyn.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 19:30:59 GMT -5
UPDATE: Took Oberyn to the vet today and he has gained over 1/2 in the last month. No doubt from the raw diet I'm sure. ;-) he weighs about 2 and 1/2lbs and the vet said he is healthy as can be. He asked what I was feeding him and I told them kibble because last time he like freaked when I mentioned raw. I should have told him the truth and I think I will next time I go. But I digress.. Oberyn did have a small case of ear mites that I believe he got from my roommate's cat. So I'm going to make her get her cat checked so Oberyn can't get them again. Oberyn gets his rabies next week and then he'll be all done with his vaccinations! I fed lamb heart last night and it was a huge hit with oberyn. I think it's his favorite so far That's a lovely weight gain for him. Oberyn will be a nice big healthy boy. I had the same problem with my vet. He does not approve of raw feeding. He sees too many pet owners who don't pay attention to proper diets and doesn't trust the owner to feed an exotic correctly. Add to that a vet doesn't receive alot of exotic pet dietary classes and studies are funded by pet food companies. I can understand his concerns. However, your vet should know because any bloodwork will read differently with raw fed ferrets and will freak out your vet if he sees higher creatine levels and a few other levels read differently than kibble fed ferrets. I learned this when my vet called me in a panic about Roamy's blood levels. I posted to the forum and did some research and learned what differences there will be. You can prepare to have a raw feeding discussion with him. It will help you understand better what you are doing by preparing for that talk and having your answers to his questions ready. At some point he will ask about Salmonella also. Everyone will, sigh... Do you know the answer to that question? docs.google.com/document/d/1ayLi5Gra3cCbDLkUWpZXP-yOQ gfountain and I both did this at about the same time. The difference was that her vet was much more open minded than mine was. We were both new to raw feeding at the time and for our next visit, I will be going to her vet instead of mine. Hooray for the lamb heart. You've got a red meat meal and lamb heart is big so that helps your budget. You will get more than a few meals from one. You are doing great. Give yourself a pat on the back and a big hug to Oberyn. :wave3:
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 20:09:04 GMT -5
@poncesmom the doc you linked is saying "Sorry, the file you have requested does not exist."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2015 7:05:12 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2015 7:40:10 GMT -5
Sorry, stand corrected on Saturday muscle, as I was taught 3- 4 muscle meals, but yes poops would definitely tell the tale.
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