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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2015 21:29:12 GMT -5
Hi everyone. Marley is not doing so well on her current kibble/egg/baby food path, so we are undertaking the journey. I basically need to ensure that she eats - she is insulinomic, and extremely prone to not eating. She has crashed a few times, and last night was her hardest. They have all been pure kibble babies until about 2 months ago when I started giving Marley egg and chicken baby food. She is SO stubborn, and has just started accepting it....however, that's obviously not enough. So today's the day.  I need some advice on what to feed, and how. She is not very receptive to the gentle "let's sniff/try/etc" method, though I am willing to try it again. We essentially have to syringe feed her anything but her kibble/kibble soup. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2015 8:12:53 GMT -5
I am so sorry that ur little one has insulinoma. Others are more qualified than me as far as instruction goes on how to keep blood sugar up on raw diets. I did have one die of pancreatic cancer, and she was on kibble. Did not know how she got it at the time. But anyway..... The soupie is preferably made with chicken thigh although breast is fine. The thigh has more nutrients. U will need a cheap digital scale for weighing ingredients. I have an old sunbeam postal scale. You will also need a cheap coffee grinder like at walmarts for grinding eggshells. However, u can use bone meal powder ---NOW or KAL. KAL is at Vitamin shoppe---make sure just plain bone meal. Raw soup recipe 8 oz raw chicken 1 oz raw chicken liver (about half a liver) 1 oz raw chicken heart (about 2 hearts) ½ tsp. eggshell powder Water to thin Blend all ingredients until soupy. Freeze in ice cube trays to make easy-to-serve portions and reduce waste. Chicken is the most common protein to start a switch with, but any protein can be used To get started with eggshells make everyone an omelet for breakfast  . It is best to dry overnight to dry out the membrane inside of shells. Babies do like warm. You can thaw and warm soupie up by putting baggie in some hot tap water. Best way to get soupie out of baggie is move it all to one corner and snip off the corner. You will probably have to finger feed by holding ferret in ur lap and daubing her mouth. Let her go if she wants to run, and in couple minutes or so, do it again. Do keep us updated |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2015 21:59:17 GMT -5
Thanks Abbey! We tried to get hearts yesterday and completely struck out...however, today I found a local butcher shop and we came home with a pound. I made the soup tonight, and we actually used a pill crusher for the shell, which was super tedious, but the results were perfect.
So far:
Marley is dubious. She DID voluntarily eat a few licks, more because it was from her syringe than from genuine like, before trying to run and flail.
Sax is extremely unhappy. She puffed out her little cheeks and made the same faces I made while making this.
Marie is a little receptive. She did give it a few tentative licks before trying to run.
Pickles is more receptive, being the little food demon that he is.
Jane, though. She's the youngest (2-3) and wildest we have, and she is ALL OVER IT. She is the third to try it, and she consistently tries to steal it so much that I have to put a huge glop of it on the floor for her on her own personal plate. Pickles steals a few more licks then runs away.
This is so much better a reception to a foreign food than I ever had with my first set of Marshall ferrets. They were so stubborn and would only eat Marshall's until the day they died.
I will get pre-switch body pics tomorrow - we have kind of cheated since Marley eats mostly egg and chicken baby food, but I'm sure no one will mind.
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Post by unclejoe on Sept 19, 2015 8:02:41 GMT -5
I got as far as grinding the kibble into powder and mixing it with raw turkey mince and water. From there you can possibly gradually reduce the amount of kibble. We've been able to go from turkey to chicken and back and add swap different canned cat foods (no vegies), so you could try that method to get them started. The first cope ferrets had to be "forced" to taste it, but every one we've gotten since has gone right for it because they see others eating it.
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Post by Sherry on Sept 19, 2015 10:07:31 GMT -5
Your best bet, literally is going to be repetition. During the time they are out for their run, every 5-10 minutes dab noses, or rub the puree on gums if they refuse to lick it off. Do this each and every time they are out. Even your more stubborn ones will start to come around. After a day or so of doing that, or if they seem at all receptive, try feeding on your lap from a spoon.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2015 14:15:58 GMT -5
We're on day 2 now and Marley sucked up her first 2 meals like a little vacuum. She's been a little spoiled with the syringe feeding, so I'm looking into getting her a big 60cc syrine (about 4tbsp) so we can get a better track on her eating. She has a little 1cc one, which one we get to 7+, it's hard to keep track of. We'll be able to top load the syringe, too - so less waste, until she gets accustomed to eating from her own bowl. Her BG was 61 about 2 hours after her first meal, so already higher than it has been in weeks. :big-smile:
Sax was still displeased. She did take a lick to appease me, but ran away and hid. We'll be trying to get her some more today.
Pickles and Jane are now completely uninterested in taking it themselves, but Jane will take it from a syringe. She was more interested in the hot water we used to warm it, though.
Marie took a half lick before flailing.
Just to confirm, kibble stays down for all until all are reliably eating, and Marley's stays down for good, right? We have 3 varieties down right now, so I can pull some once it becomes apparent who will actually eat their meals.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2015 15:10:23 GMT -5
Pickles has started gagging when offered the meat. He got a gloop on his nose, which he ate with displeasure.
Marie has come around a little. She willingly at about 1/4 tbsp with no flailing. Jane ran to hide the second I took the meat out....haven't gotten her yet. Sometimes having a young little speed demon is a bad thing.
I am Sax-hunting now.
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Post by Desiree on Sept 19, 2015 16:01:49 GMT -5
Is there a way to separate the older healthier four into a different area a few hours between eating the kibble and their raw? This way they are hungry and will be more likely to accept food. Your insu girl, if you are comfortable, can go 3 hours between meals, once she stabilizes she might be able to go 4-6 but I wouldn't push that just yet.
If there an oil they are fond of? or eggs? You can mix a little of either in their soup to see if this gets them a little more interested.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 15:06:52 GMT -5
They're free roam right now, so we're still trying to collect all their kibble stashes. The main problem I'm facing is that they all are eating at different times. We could take up 2 of the three kibbles and hit most of them that way. Marie and Marley are mainly the ones eating the third kibble. Sax won't touch it, Jane might, and Pickles will probably only take it as a last resort. The other alternative would be locking Marley up in the cage by herself, which I don't want to do just to avoid stressing her. We do salmon oil. Marley is the egg girl.  I can mix some of that in and see how it goes! About how much per batch, do you think? Marley's BG has been wonky today. She didn't want to eat so much this morning @8:30, so I figured she was full and gave her the two hours to get the kibble clear. A mistake, I guess. She had a little wobble in the back-end by around 12, so I fed her a bunch of times to get her tbsp in and tested her BG around 2:30 but it was only at 31. Her balance got a little worse, but it is better now after another feeding. No seizing or anything. Just watching her like a hawk. She has been doing ferret ballet the entire day, and keeps leaving her heating pad, so she can't be feeling that poorly (she sleeps very flat and still on her heating pad when her BG is causing her serious issues). |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 15:08:11 GMT -5
She is having a re-check tomorrow, a specialist consult Thurs., and an appointment with a new ferret vet next Wed....my stress levels are through the roof right now.  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2015 20:42:56 GMT -5
SO I missed a bunch of days.....remember that stress I mentioned? Too tired to sleep, just about. However, Marley has been on almost exclusively raw. She has access to kibble during the night and snuck some during the morning today, but we actually fed her raw in the car (still from a syringe) at the vet today (Tufts is super anti-raw, officially). I have grown lax with the others for the moment, because we had to make a bunch of med adjustments and I was working super late all this week and was way too over life to try and force raw. And now we have ear mites.  So tomorrow, we're cleaning the cage and the entire bedroom, removing ALL kibble stashes, removing the kibble they won't eat anymore (8-in-1 Ultimate; everyone loved it before *shrug*), finding all of Pickles' poop stashes to clean up and cover the area (in case of meat poops), and starting from scratch with them. On the bright-side, Marley is doing fantastic, and so is everyone else pending the death of their horrible ear bugs....have to go to the laundromat tomorrow, too.  Just gotta keep swimming. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2015 21:08:11 GMT -5
Having ferrets is just like having children ----- cleaning and stress ) |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2015 19:33:31 GMT -5
Just a quick update - Marley is still going strong on her raw soup. All the others are about the same, though Sax is not gagging anymore.  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 18:20:07 GMT -5
Everyone is successfully eating meat from a syringe/spoon but Pickles. Any suggestions on when/how to pull up the kibble with Marley still recouping from surgery? She will eat off a spoon but not out of a bowl. Is the assumption that she will put 2 & 2 together? Or do they need to willingly eat from the bowl first?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2015 21:48:12 GMT -5
I may be wrong, but I think she should eventually put it together. Maybe try making it very obvious that the spoon and bowl is the same food by taking the spoonful from the bowl right in front of them? Or taking some from the bowl on your finger and dabbing it on their nose/mouth/gums, and just sitting near them and the bowl to continue coaxing... One of my boys can be slow and will randomly forget about the water bottle in the cage (I have both a bottle and a bowl), and won't drink if the bowl is dry. It takes a while, but by coaxing him over to the nozzle by the dabbing method, then showing him that the nozzle will get him water (as he's being stubborn and drinking the dripping water from the bowl anyway  ), he eventually understands. Be patient and good luck! |
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