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Post by gfountain on Nov 21, 2015 23:41:45 GMT -5
Yes, that's correct. You mentioned her having organ last night and then switched things so she didn't have them tonight too. Just wanted to reinforce the reason for being careful with organs.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2015 7:58:27 GMT -5
Oh ok. Yeah, I was going back over everything and I don't know what happend with the organ issues and her menu, but I have it straight now. I got everything mixed up and trying to get it sorted out and back on schedule. I am also wondering if she has the right balance of fat and protein, because I know that rabbit is very lean and the quail is so tiny. So should I add some sort of fatty meats? She is still doing great with eating. Although we had a situation with my sister's dog last night that I am upset about. The dog (while we were out) decided to rip wisp's cover off of her cage, then tried to rip out her blanket while she was in it. And all my sister says is that if she does it again, wisp will have to be banished to my room. It's the dog, not wisp. Why should she be banished to solitude when she didn't do anything.
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Post by gfountain on Nov 22, 2015 9:32:19 GMT -5
The size of the quail doesn't matter too much as long as she gets as much as she wants of it. Rabbit is a lean meat. As long as she's getting other fattier meats, it will balance out. Use fatty cuts of beef, chicken thigh rather than chicken breast, duck. As far as the dog situation, it sucks. But if it's your sister's house, there's not much you can do about it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2015 18:31:00 GMT -5
Yeah, it's supposed to be both of our apartment. We split the bills but it's annoying that the dog gets all of the freedoms and destroys everything but wisp would have to be banished to my room. Anyway, I will be getting the chicken thigh after the holidays. It's kinda crazy here at the moment since we are trying to get prepared for the NYC trip Wed. So much to do.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 20:43:52 GMT -5
So, just wanted to give a quick update on how wisp has been doing. She hasn't given me a moments trouble and for the most part, eats all of her food (aside from a little stashing here and there). She now gets the chicken added to the bone in meat meals. And that's chicken thigh that's been smashed up. She has a bit of trouble still with eating solid bone aside from the quail. But the fact is, she does get it eaten. I think she is doing great on the 1 oz in the morning and 2 oz for dinner. There is usually very little left before the next meal. She mostly doesn't care for the liver but she has figured out that if she finishes her liver, she gets her yummy quail egg for dessert. I have stopped coating the organs with the egg to try and get her used to eating them without egg. She is making progress. And she hasn't had any problems with the chicken thus far. Even with the trip to NYC, she was a perfect Angel the entire time. I am still somewhat shocked about her finally deciding to accept the raw meat. She is mind blowing.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2015 20:55:01 GMT -5
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Post by gfountain on Dec 1, 2015 10:10:22 GMT -5
Aww... what a good little brat! Since she's doing so well, let's start the process to get you graduated. I'll have to post your 'exam' later when I have more time, but you can go ahead and post a final menu. I'll check it and make any corrections, then submit it for approval. Make sure to include ALL proteins including the ones that you might rotate weekly. Heather will want to see everything that she's eating.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2015 16:26:21 GMT -5
Sorry it's been so long since my last post. We are still working on getting her menu worked out. She has been going from runny organ poo to straight dried up poos. I have been working on getting everything balanced out. Also working on getting the amount of food down pat as well. I have changed to 1.5 oz for breakfast and dinner because it's just much easier to prepare everything when it's the same weight. I have also been dealing with pneumonia from this crazy weather we had thanksgiving. I'm just now getting to the point I'm able to get out of bed for any extended period of time. I will continue to get her menu finalized within the next few days hopefully. I also wanted to ask about her teeth. Since she has been eating bone on a regular basis (as per her freinkenprey setup) do I still need to continue brushing her teeth 2x a week? I was doing that because she was on fdr and wasn't having to chew. Her teeth look great, and I was under the impression that's part of the reason for bone being part of the diet. Am I correct in that assumption?
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Post by gfountain on Dec 7, 2015 10:19:58 GMT -5
Sorry you've been sick. Pneumonia is not fun.
If her poop is not fairly consistent, she is not getting the correct amount of bone. Some ferrets just don't need as much as others, so you may need to give her only 7 meals of bone per week instead of 9. It is also possible that her bone meals are TOO bone heavy. Make sure there is plenty of meat on the bones.
Since she is eating whole bone, you do not need to brush her teeth.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2015 12:30:41 GMT -5
That's why I'm trying to tweak her menu right now. I think we have it almost worked out. And she doesn't actually get alot of bone in her edible bone meals. It's mostly meat. The begin, she was getting 8 edible bone meals per week. We are now on 7 but definitely not 2 bone meals in a row. I think that's the problem.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2015 12:39:24 GMT -5
This is the progress of the changes in her menu to one edible bone meal per day. Her poops have better look vs being very chalky and dry when she was getting 8 bone meals with some days being entirely bone meals. This was poo from 1.5 oz of rabbit. It was more of the knee area so it definitely was more meaty than boney.
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Post by gfountain on Dec 7, 2015 13:01:09 GMT -5
That looks like a pretty normal bone poop.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2015 19:47:16 GMT -5
Ok. So maybe stick with the bone once a day? Is this still keeping her balanced as far as her ratio? Or is there enough wiggle room for playing with?
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Post by gfountain on Dec 7, 2015 20:27:57 GMT -5
Yes. It should be 7-9 bone in meals per week. Once a day is 7 meals, so you're still in the right range.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2015 22:45:41 GMT -5
Perfect. So waiting to try and get a final draft of her menu. I will try to get on the computer tomorrow sometime because it's so much easier to type everything up vs using my phone. I'm hoping that I have everything correct although she seems to be flourishing and has yet to give me too much of a fuss about eating. She has a day or two where she will only nibble on her food and hide the rest in her litter box. It's mostly the liver that she doesn't care for. But she still only leaves maybe a 1/4 of her liver to bask in the box. And I have tried to stay on top of her cage because I really don't want to smell rotting meat. I have yet to really find her stashing too much for too long. We also added an air purifier because frankly, between the dog and wisp, it gets a little funky. I'm a super sensitive when it comes to smell. I love her anyway, even though she sometimes smells like the woods. It's mostly her blankets and such and not so much her. She smells lovely. I wash everything 2 times a week, but I need to scrub the cage down. And with being sick, I have slacked off with the cleaning a bit and I am starting to notice. But luckily, my sister can't complain too much because her dog smells worse than wisp. :-)
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