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Post by lorelei0922 on May 17, 2011 12:03:20 GMT -5
Hey guys.. just want to pick brains here from other long term raw feeders or perhaps breeders if there are any
Cammy has developed a bit of a picky streak!
She Loves her Mice!! and when i feed her other things.. she turns her nose up at the moment and waits for the mouse.. or stashes it under her box and comes looking for her mice...
if the mouse isn't forthcoming she'll huff and eventually pick at the food on offer...
So.. question is...
Is Cammy telling me something? would it be a problem to keep her on mostly mice till she delivers..
can you think of any problems she might have doing so? anything she might be missing that's very important in the next few weeks? Poo's are completely normal ... and she's definitely into them... eats the heads first ( brain is the best protein she can get right now) then finishes the rest off over a period of a couple hours.
I'm thinking she knows this is the best package deal available to her at present... the right amounts of offal to bone to roughage percentages and perhaps instinct is telling her this is what she'd likely be catching on her own in the wild...
any thoughts? our pet store offers pinkies, small, large and xtra large mice.. currently she's eating a combination of small and extra large ( my thought is they would be different ages etc)
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Post by Heather on May 17, 2011 12:11:12 GMT -5
Mice and rats have the highest taurine levels....a little low on the calcium I would think for a jill about to deliver....but maybe it fits well into her frame of mind right now. I hate using just one protein type. What about some scrambled eggs (raw or cooked with some calcium powder)? I know I've allowed my sick ferrets this privilege (within reason) but she's feeding not only her needs but the needs of her little ones. She's not eating any other protein or she's doing this under duress? ciao
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Post by fearless on May 17, 2011 12:29:47 GMT -5
Pregnancy cravings? Haha. I suppose you could try mice for a few days then try some scrambled eggs with some eggshells. The other girls and guys here would be more help.
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Post by lorelei0922 on May 17, 2011 12:32:47 GMT -5
the problem is switching up her diet too much at this point...
she'll dehydrate quickly if she gets diarreah from unfamiliar foods... i'd think she's getting the protein she needs but may lack in calcium... will try a few other bits and bobs she's use to maybe... see how she does with an egg with shell maybe...
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Post by Heather on May 17, 2011 13:47:29 GMT -5
No, you're right. No trying of way out there new foods. At this stage of the game I too would be tempted to keep to the tried and trues. As I mentioned my biggest concern would be the calcium levels. If you feed only adult mice, that would offer the optimum in the calcium that could be offered by the mice. Nothing else that she's not turning her little nose up at? ciao
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Post by joan on May 17, 2011 14:23:44 GMT -5
I've never had a pregnant jill turn up her nose at any food she was familiar with, but I did have a jill years ago who refused to eat anything but mice for the first 5-6 days after she whelped. She gradually began eating her regular diet again after that.
I'd be concerned, too, that Cammy might not be getting sufficient calcium at this stage of her pregnancy if she's eating only mice. Does she get lactose free milk or goat's milk regularly? If so, I'd suggest adding some bone meal to it as it contains all the elements of bone. You don't want to give her just calcium, as it could cause problems unless the other minerals and vitamin D which are needed for proper utilization are present in the correct amounts.
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Post by lorelei0922 on May 17, 2011 15:59:19 GMT -5
well tomorrows dinner is lamb.. she ate the lamb fine last week... so we'll see how she does... maybe if she'll eat it i'll work some eggshell in just to boost the calcium on top of her preference for mice...
she doesn't get milk at all.. gives her the runs even in small ammounts so i skip that sort of thing..
her normal diet consists of squirrel, pigeon, rabbit, supermarket mark down meats, and free flow mince ... Lamb, chicken, Chicken and Tripe, beef ... and of course her Mice lol.. the outside group have squirrel tonight.. might go steel a leg.. and see if she'll eat that... and crunch the bone as well .. ( has no problems with bones)
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Post by joan on May 17, 2011 19:14:29 GMT -5
Has she been fed soup, baby meat, eggs...anything with a texture that the bone meal could be mixed into? Mine are started on baby meat/goat's milk at 3 weeks and that's continued on a regular basis throughout their lives so that I have something to use if they're sick and need to be fed something easily digested. I also feed raw egg yolks, about half the egg whites, mixed with goat's milk once a week. Any supplements are easily mixed into either one, as well as into the Nature's Variety medallions I feed.
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Post by lorelei0922 on May 18, 2011 4:16:35 GMT -5
no.. we dont tend to do that here... our ferrets are in general very robust here in the UK...
she has had the occasional bit of milk... or kibble mush when she was a small kit ( would turn her nose up at it now.. and eats a combination of whole prey and raw chunks and mince.. she might take the bone meal mushed into some mince which i'll try if she goes off the mice
to be honest.. so long as she's eating ALL of an adult mouse she is getting at least as much calcium as in an eggshell per day.. which is about half what her vet has suggested as a supplement for a ferret of her size in a week's time.... so i think we'll let her dictate her diet in this case..
her body is telling her something i think...
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Post by joan on May 18, 2011 9:25:47 GMT -5
Mine have always been very healthy, too, so I've never had to feed a sick one a bland diet...but I know they'll eat it willingly if it's needed. I do give the baby meat/goat's milk daily to the pregnant and nursing jills as I add a small amount of bone meal and a vitamin/mineral supplement to it.
I think you're right in that her body is telling her what she needs. I'm seeing that with Cybill right now, as she's eating all of the mouse instead of leaving the intestines as she used to.
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Post by lorelei0922 on May 18, 2011 13:25:22 GMT -5
amazing how they just know isnt it... she had some lamb today with some eggshell powder mixed in and ate thats fine.. so long as she generally has what she needs i'll be content..
she's finished completely blowing her coat today lol.. poor love has lost every guard hair on her body!! had to help her strip the rest of it off her back she kept dashing for those emergency itches.... she just sighed and laid in my hand like oh hhhhh thank you !! seems to be resting a bit more comfy too
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Post by Heather on May 18, 2011 13:31:23 GMT -5
I'm glad that she found relief from those horrible itchies. It's really got to drive them crazy how they fire themselves out of a hammy to scratch. Poor wee things. How is she doing? I have a hard time pulling up the webby so haven't visited as much as I would like (things are a little crazy here so the time factor weighs heavily too) Give her a big hug ciao
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Post by crazylady on May 18, 2011 13:48:31 GMT -5
Hi lorelei mine go nuts for lactol ( powdered kitten replacer milk available from pet shop ) and to up calcium on the mice you could simply split one open and dust with bonemeal ( you can get a good meat and bonemeal mix from pet shop too the calcium and potasium levels are nicely balanced ) I often split open a bunny for them and simply dust with a bit bonemeal powder if there too tired to crunch bones which they don't like to waste time doing when nursing at least you know the calcium has gone in lol good luck with your expected litter take care bye for now Bev crazy lady
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Post by lorelei0922 on May 18, 2011 16:02:41 GMT -5
tried lactol with her last year.. she hates it... wont even touch it
yeah i'll give the bone meal injection a try lol... though she' happily tucked into a bit of lamb today so maybe she'll decide the rest of her food is fine soon too lol but yes.. we do try to boost the vitamins just now!
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Post by joan on May 18, 2011 16:26:35 GMT -5
I pluck the dead coat off the pregnant jills when it loosens sufficently to come out easily. The new coat is visible at that point and, by the time they whelp, it's a nice short coat and I don't need to be concerned about the jill or the kits ingesting any of the dead hair.
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