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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 3:40:20 GMT -5
Good morning to you! Such a great progress so far. Fingers crossed he's a hungry boy and munches on those veal riblets during the day. Gomez is such a well trained boy with his litter. Did you litter train him? A lively ferret is a healthy ferret. I noticed there is a big difference in energy levels when it comes to kibble diet vs raw diet. Before I switched my guys, they were not as lively but now they practically glow. (in the dark, hehehehe kidding.) Have a good day at work! Well. Little Gomez did not partake of the riblet.... . He was however hungry for dinner and put away 2 ounces of soupie. I had .5 ounces of chicken slivers. He did very well eating from the plate on his own for almost all the soupie. Had to spoon feed him the last 2-3 bits. When it came to the slivers I had to almost mince them.... and some I had to keep my fingers and or hand in front of his mouth to keep him from spitting it out! He can be quite stubborn on this issue. He comes across something mixed in his soupie....he tries to spit it out!!! Just like a little kid. Needless to say we did end up getting all the soupie and chicken bits into him for dinner. Is it OK to block his attempts to spit out the actual meat bits and slivers?? I don't want to be mean... but thought it was best to be a little more stubborn than him . He is still having what I would call switching poo... . But is definitely going and is actually peeing quite a bit. He doesn't seem to drink an over abundance of water but he does have access to it in both cages.... his large cage that he spends days in and the little cage in our bedroom that he sleeps in... plus we provide him with a splash tubby to play or drink from and he can get to the water dispenser that we have for him and our cat. We actually lucked out on the litter training --- he came to us that way. Lucky us!!! He is most definitely fitting right into the household and is becoming quite spoiled in the process!! Just love him to pieces!!!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 9:13:57 GMT -5
Funny, I responded to this post and it showed up on the previous page. Lucky you and Lucky Gomez. He has found himself in one very loving home. What a little character. He is just so adorable. They really are just like a little kid and just as smart in their own way. I don't think you're doing anything other than showing him that you want him to eat. They're smart enough to play us and he is young and you're being a ferrent. Just make sure that meals are pleasant for all three of you.
He's peeing more because he is hydrated properly on his new raw food. Mine all love water and love water play. They seem to take little drinks alot here and there and we use puppy pads so I can see they all seem to pee alot.
Hugs to Gomez and really you and Jamie are doing a wonderful job with your sweet funny boy.
Read more: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/19219/gomez-transitions-natural-diet?page=12#ixzz3pJ2OnSe7I'm glad he ate some of his riblet. Did he eat some of the bone also?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 13:34:25 GMT -5
He did not eat any bone at all. ...then this morning we cut some of the meat off and that is what he ate. Scarlett
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Post by Celene on Oct 22, 2015 17:30:20 GMT -5
Just wanted to pop my head in an offer an alternative method of smashing up bones. A mallet and a hammer seems to work well for some people, but when I tried it I just made a giant mess and smashed my thumb
I'm horrible at videos, but this will give you a good idea. You can also cut the chunks smaller as well. A favourite "starter bone" for me is either rabbit or chicken/cornish game hen/quail ribs - I cut them like french fries!! One other "trick" that is really difficult to master is body language and attitude! When I first transitioned Mocha and Nova I was new to raw feeding and terribly nervous. I would cut meat into the teeniest little bits and they STILL wouldn't go near it! I would drown it in egg yolk, and then they'd eat it - only to spit out any chunks they could find. Things got so much easier after I adopted the "tough love" approach. It broke my heart not to cave into their big, glossy eyes staring up at me begging for soupie. But the truth is that ferrets are really (really) freaking smart and manipulative, AND lazy. If you give in once, they know if they hold out they can just get soupie instead. Also because they are so smart, they will NOT let themselves starve. If the only food they're going to get has bones in it and they're hungry guess what? They'll eat it. I adopted Ziggy earlier this month. I started with grinds and fed him that for a couple weeks since I was in the middle of moving into a super run-down house AND very busy at work. One day my OH forgot to thaw grinds, so I had nothing to give him but bone-in rabbit, so I chucked it in his bowl, topped it with a couple drops of salmon oil, and left him to it. By morning the bowl of large, bone-in chunks had disappeared entirely except for a few bone shards. Of course some ferrets take to it quicker than others, but I think Ziggy picked up that the rabbit was his food and that was it. No options, no begging or coaxing to eat it. I didn't give him any option to hold out for soupie so he got hungry and ate it. After that I put him straight onto a 100% regular frankenprey diet (i.e. what my girlies eat) and he ate it. New protein? Organs? He knows if it's in his bowl that's what's for dinner and he'll eat it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 20:01:32 GMT -5
Just wanted to pop my head in an offer an alternative method of smashing up bones. A mallet and a hammer seems to work well for some people, but when I tried it I just made a giant mess and smashed my thumb
I'm horrible at videos, but this will give you a good idea. You can also cut the chunks smaller as well. A favourite "starter bone" for me is either rabbit or chicken/cornish game hen/quail ribs - I cut them like french fries!! One other "trick" that is really difficult to master is body language and attitude! When I first transitioned Mocha and Nova I was new to raw feeding and terribly nervous. I would cut meat into the teeniest little bits and they STILL wouldn't go near it! I would drown it in egg yolk, and then they'd eat it - only to spit out any chunks they could find. Things got so much easier after I adopted the "tough love" approach. It broke my heart not to cave into their big, glossy eyes staring up at me begging for soupie. But the truth is that ferrets are really (really) freaking smart and manipulative, AND lazy. If you give in once, they know if they hold out they can just get soupie instead. Also because they are so smart, they will NOT let themselves starve. If the only food they're going to get has bones in it and they're hungry guess what? They'll eat it. I adopted Ziggy earlier this month. I started with grinds and fed him that for a couple weeks since I was in the middle of moving into a super run-down house AND very busy at work. One day my OH forgot to thaw grinds, so I had nothing to give him but bone-in rabbit, so I chucked it in his bowl, topped it with a couple drops of salmon oil, and left him to it. By morning the bowl of large, bone-in chunks had disappeared entirely except for a few bone shards. Of course some ferrets take to it quicker than others, but I think Ziggy picked up that the rabbit was his food and that was it. No options, no begging or coaxing to eat it. I didn't give him any option to hold out for soupie so he got hungry and ate it. After that I put him straight onto a 100% regular frankenprey diet (i.e. what my girlies eat) and he ate it. New protein? Organs? He knows if it's in his bowl that's what's for dinner and he'll eat it. Hey, thanks for poping.....he is doing good and still on soupie. It amazes me still how smart the really are..... ella was smart and so us Gomez. Can't wait to get another one soon. I'm gonna get some Cornish hen or quail and try the french fry approach lol:)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 20:03:35 GMT -5
Just wanted to pop my head in an offer an alternative method of smashing up bones. A mallet and a hammer seems to work well for some people, but when I tried it I just made a giant mess and smashed my thumb
I'm horrible at videos, but this will give you a good idea. You can also cut the chunks smaller as well. A favourite "starter bone" for me is either rabbit or chicken/cornish game hen/quail ribs - I cut them like french fries!! One other "trick" that is really difficult to master is body language and attitude! When I first transitioned Mocha and Nova I was new to raw feeding and terribly nervous. I would cut meat into the teeniest little bits and they STILL wouldn't go near it! I would drown it in egg yolk, and then they'd eat it - only to spit out any chunks they could find. Things got so much easier after I adopted the "tough love" approach. It broke my heart not to cave into their big, glossy eyes staring up at me begging for soupie. But the truth is that ferrets are really (really) freaking smart and manipulative, AND lazy. If you give in once, they know if they hold out they can just get soupie instead. Also because they are so smart, they will NOT let themselves starve. If the only food they're going to get has bones in it and they're hungry guess what? They'll eat it. I adopted Ziggy earlier this month. I started with grinds and fed him that for a couple weeks since I was in the middle of moving into a super run-down house AND very busy at work. One day my OH forgot to thaw grinds, so I had nothing to give him but bone-in rabbit, so I chucked it in his bowl, topped it with a couple drops of salmon oil, and left him to it. By morning the bowl of large, bone-in chunks had disappeared entirely except for a few bone shards. Of course some ferrets take to it quicker than others, but I think Ziggy picked up that the rabbit was his food and that was it. No options, no begging or coaxing to eat it. I didn't give him any option to hold out for soupie so he got hungry and ate it. After that I put him straight onto a 100% regular frankenprey diet (i.e. what my girlies eat) and he ate it. New protein? Organs? He knows if it's in his bowl that's what's for dinner and he'll eat it. Hey, thanks for poping.....he is doing good and still on soupie. It amazes me still how smart the really are..... ella was smart and so us Gomez. Can't wait to get another one soon. I'm gonna get some Cornish hen or quail and try the french fry approach lol:) I love the video!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2015 4:15:28 GMT -5
Celene Has given some good advice! I too tried the smashing up bones with a mallet and almost killed my hand in the process. I don't personally think using a hammer or mallet would be the best approach for breaking bone. The sharp pointed bottom end of a cleaver does the job so well so I took up doing it that way. You mentioned the shedding earlier and that is normal especially since I think you mentioned going into winter. Gomez would be shedding his short coat and getting his winter coat in. Hurray! Getting them to eat bone would probably be the most toughest stage of transitioning. Well thats what I think, I'm sure some have had it easy but I sure did not LOL In any case, Gomez will get there. Next time you try riblets, Try holding on to it and rub it into the side of his mouth around the gum line. I did this with half of a chicken wing with my Haru and she was resistant at first but I held on to her until she started doing an eating motion. Its sort of tough love forcing them to eat a bone in meat, but the more you be persistent, the faster they are to start eating it to the point of eating without assistance.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2015 4:23:23 GMT -5
I actually remember making a video of feeding Haru. I might find it now. Oh here is one. They were on my instagram. So here I'm basically holding it and she's in my lap eating it. I had to encourage her to start the chewing motion before I started recording cause I couldn't hold her and record at the same time http://instagram.com/p/6CiLPePwoa Oh and I found this one too! Its raw chicken wing that I chopped up with the cleaver. As you can see, it looks crushed http://instagram.com/p/5i97Lpvwme
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2015 5:52:16 GMT -5
I actually remember making a video of feeding Haru. I might find it now. Oh here is one. They were on my instagram. So here I'm basically holding it and she's in my lap eating it. I had to encourage her to start the chewing motion before I started recording cause I couldn't hold her and record at the same time [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] http://instagr.am/p/6CiLPePwoa Oh and I found this one too! Its raw chicken wing that I chopped up with the cleaver. As you can see, it looks crushed http://instagr.am/p/5i97Lpvwme [/quote] Cool, we'll go look, Jami does instagram. He ate breakfast but still no bone. I am getting wing tips today and CH this weekend. He is sleeping on my chest right now. Breakfast pic And he cleaned the plate.....soupie with 1.5 oz of ground steak, 2 oz of chicken slivers/small chunks.....good boy
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2015 9:30:26 GMT -5
Morning from NH, Gomez is playing around this morning. We had our wood stove removed yesterday and Jami cleaned the pad (concrete) and this morning we put his condo on it. He ate 2 oz soupie, 1 oz ground steak and we had weigh in today.....drum roll please 1130 grams today so gaining, yahoo. Pictures later as he is napping now. Have a great day
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2015 9:31:09 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2015 10:21:27 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2015 11:39:29 GMT -5
Hi!! Wow! I'm impressed at Gomez being at 1130 grams. He's a very nice weight. Very cuddly~
I'm quite envious at that last photo! Its one of those photos that makes you wish you were a ferret too, so you could curl up on that comfy looking bed. Hehe.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2015 12:22:06 GMT -5
Ok you like that one.....look at this
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2015 9:45:46 GMT -5
Weight 1130 grams and this week's photos, including this morning's poop. Poop actually this week has looked better.
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