|
Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2016 3:41:03 GMT -5
I used to be a germaphone as well! It's kind of freaky knowing there is really no escape from bacteria. Knowing we actually have bacteria inside of us pretty much tops the cake. I used to be haemophobic until the past few years and now I'm going into Vet Nursing. Life is hilarious isn't it? I'm sorry to hear that there are people who are accusing you of trying to kill your ferrets. Don't feel too insulted by it personally, a majority of the time they are just ignorant and close minded, even if they do mean well to some degree. Vets especially may sometimes mean well, they aren't exactly nutritionists (It's the vet nurse's job to educate on nutrition) so they try to encourage something "simple, easy cheap".... maybe even sometimes just to sell a product, but I do try to think they mean well. In the end, you know that this is the very best diet for your ferrets and their health. Don't stress too muc about the bacteria issue from the meat. Clean up to your best ability. All living beings on earth have an incredible immune system which helps to shove out any unwanted bacteria. I actually was taking it all for granted until this year when I began to learn more on bacteria. If it also makes you feel better, I found this huge stale wing (possibly a couple of months old) under my roommates bed... <.< Even if we clean a ton and doa thorough job, these ferrets get through at times haha. (Roommate was not impressed.) Food fighting, believe it or not, is common and normal. If you think about Polecats, they are naturally solitary animals and would hunt, bring back their kill tot he den and eat it in their own time. Through domestication, ferrets had to adapt to living in groups, and eating in groups. To some degree, fighting over some food is good enrichment. My four fight over wholeprey ALOT. It's kind of gross seeing them tear apart an animal, but I like the fact that it is enriching to them. It may look like they are going to kill eachother at times, but I'm certain that they won't. Mei and Max are young and greedy kits who want it all to themselves. I have a video of my Haru and Beavis fighting over food (they literally get into a wrestling match!) Anyway, some people opt for shower hooks, this may be something you could consider or try doing. You hook the meat onto it, and clip it to the cage. This meats they cannot take the meat until they chew off some. You could potentially place multiple hooks and see if that helps. Good luck with shopping tomorrow and looking for a freezer! The stools can change with new proteins, so you can expect a few funky stools with new proteins or types of food. Here is a thread on the topic of ferret proofing a boxspring. Hopefully there is something there that you can do to solve ferret proofing it~~ holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/15125/help-ferret-proof-mattressYou've all done a tremendous job, I'm super happy for you guys!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 18:33:41 GMT -5
@karliah357 Could you post the weekly questionaire when you can? Thank you!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2016 23:51:04 GMT -5
Hey Machan, this is Lance. I would like to apologize for the lack of posts on our end lately. Life has gotten extremely busy with finals coming up and Kelsey seems to have stolen the ferret's affinity for getting sick.
1. Ferret's name: Mei 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb 7.8 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. Mei has been eating about one oz on her own. 4. Stools on various proteins. Stools have been fluctuating in response to their meals. For example, after their organ meal their stools were much darker and looser. Kelsey then told me that that was fine. 5. Activity levels: She is acting normal and having a good time with the new open space. 6. Weekly menu: See Max
1. Ferret's name: Max 2. Ferret's weight: 3 lbs 3 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. All of it lol. 4-5 oz. Max tends to eat everything that Mei does not. 4. Stools on various proteins. Same as Mei. 5. Activity levels: Acting normal with high energy levels. 6. Weekly menu:
Monday: AM Chicken wings PM Cornish Game Hen Tuesday: AM Cornish Game Hen PM Ground Beef Wednesday: AM Duck PM Chicken Heart Thursday: AM Chicken wings PM Duck Friday: AM Cornish Game Hen PM Chicken Heart/Liver Egg soup (We don't have another kind of organ right now. We're going to try and stock up some tomorrow.) Saturday: AM Duck PM Ground Beef Sunday: AM Cornish Game Hen PM Chicken Liver + whatever we can find at the store.
Please excuse any mistakes I may have made. Kelsey is usually the one who does this haha. That said, I will probably be the one having to take over a few times during the holiday season. How often do I need to post updates now that they're eating solid food?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2016 4:11:54 GMT -5
Don't worry too much about lack of posts. It's Decemeber, so a very hectic month considering new year is approaching soon and we're all rushing about to get things done for the year. Since both Mei and Max are well past the soup stage of the transition and are on solids while following a menu, it will be completely okay to check in every 3 days to a week. The only thing that needs to be done now is to get in some more variety when it comes to proteins since the menu still looks fairly chicken/cgh heavy, but you can do this in your own time. For the time being, they've been doing fantastic and the changes in stools sounds perfectly normal. I may give a few small lessons soon, those can also be read in your free time. I can understand how stressful it can be considering the finals, good luck to you for that! I also hope that Kelsey feels better soon~
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2016 9:05:17 GMT -5
Hey this is Kelsey, my vacation plans just got complicated by a kitten. His name is Oz. Ferret update first: both are doing good. They had some pretty bad diarrhea for a couple days but the bone-in meals fixed it. I think the chicken I gave them was a little too far past its date and I'm too stuffed up to smell it. Bleh. They're back to normal now, though. We're getting their menu together and will post the weekly stuff tomorrow. Anyway, so my dad rescued this cute little black kitten a few days ago and they decided to keep him. He's hands down the most affectionate, quiet kitten I've ever heard of, but my furrbutts safety comes first and I have some concerns since I'm staying with them most of December. The kitten would have died if they'd left him another night. He's only ten weeks and when they got him he was horribly malnourished and all bone. I'm guessing his mother died shortly before the first snow of the year and he was alone a few days. Poor thing nearly froze. So Oz is here to stay and he's taken up residence in my room, which I use primarily for the ferrets. I'm a bit irritated they didn't ask me first, especially since he hasn't been properly vetted yet. They took him to a 24hr clinic to get the infestation of ear ticks out of his ears (poor guy had well over 20 ticks in his ear canals, I'm shocked he's not deaf) but they didn't do much else. He's supposed to be seeing our regular vet soon for shots and things but he's had free roam of the house without any testing. They have two pretty old dogs too, I figured they would be more careful. I'm concerned about the ferrets. I've already told them under no circumstances are the ferrets and Oz to play with each other. Last thing I need is one of them hurt or dead from an accident while playing. But now I have to question if the room is safe for them too. I don't know if the kitten has anything they could catch and my mother doesn't see the merit of having bloodwork done. Maybe if you have any serious concerns about possible disease or infection she'll do it. Maybe our vet will just ask to do it anyway, he's a pretty good vet. I'm not sure if they can get sick just playing in the room he was in and I'd hate to shove them off on Lance for the entire holiday season. I'd miss them too much, I like our "shared custody" arrangement So we've got a tiny, un-vetted kitten sleeping in my bed in my room where my ferrets play. I'm a little more annoyed than I should be at this point. I hate I know so very little about cats...the only two I've had were both really old by the time I got old enough to learn anything about them medically. Also, I'm trying to talk them out of getting the poor guy declawed. He doesn't even know how to use them and he's too timid to scratch anyway. I hate declawing. It's like having your finger tips ripped off...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2016 0:54:22 GMT -5
Hi Kelsey~ I hope you're feeling better. Poor little kitten! Sounds like Oz has gone through quite a ride so early on in his life. That is really sad to hear about, especially the amount of ticks he had in his ear. I'm suprised he survived! One thing I would be concerned about would be parasites. Protozoan parasites especially Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Coccidia, can cause intestinal disease among ferrets. Ringworm a fungal disease. Campylobacter Infection (campylobacteriosis) is a bacterial disease that can be shared. Toxoplasmosis is a disease which is sometimes spread through animal feces. Particularly common in cats, can infect ferrets. The obvious of course of mites and fleas Those appear to be the dominant ones. Best advice I can give would be to quarantine new animals for about 2 weeks. So for Oz, it may be best to have him in another area for the time being and limit exposure to areas where the kitty may have been until you can have a regular vet see him and make sure he doesn't have anything that could potentially infect ferrets. Declawing is very very very painful and a horrible procedure. It is completely illegal in Australia (other than for medical purposes), thank goodness. Removing the claws from the cat is like having our finger tips amputated. Later in life it can cause arthritis like pain and suffering. If scratching is the reason for considering de-clawing, I would suggest alot of enrichment activities. That typical scratching you see cats do is a visual aid for marking what is theirs, they also leave scent from their paw pads. I've owned many cats, I used to foster and I've had very little troubles with scratching or distructive behaviour. If you have a cat that is an outside cat, they also need these claws as tools for assisting climbing, and self defense. I've heard many horror stories of cats not being able to escape situations such as wild animals or dogs and end up being hurt or killed because of it. ;n; I find the topic of declawing ridiculous, I do hope that you can talk your parents out of having this procedure done.. ;u; I actually didn't know people actually did this until a couple of years back. Here is some useful information on the subject. www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html?referrer=https://www.google.com.au/
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2016 5:01:13 GMT -5
Just letting you know that something has come up and i will be away for a week. Some other mentors will active and watching over the threads in my absence so continue to post as you were.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 23:13:59 GMT -5
Hello!!! I'm back~ Sorry for my sudden absence. Just checking in as well @karliah357, I would love to hear an update on the little ones~
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2016 2:04:17 GMT -5
Hey @karliah357, could you check in please? Im keen to hear about how Mei and Max are going~ thanks!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2017 22:33:21 GMT -5
PM Sent.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 2:52:50 GMT -5
Sorry for the inactivity, we just got back into town.
Mei and Max are doing fine. We've been following the frankenprey menu Mei got into some plastic over New Years so we've been packing, moving, and treating her. She's fine now.
Lance was SUPPOSED to post over the holidays and didn't, which I just found out this morning. The deal was I'd take over again once we got home since I didn't have internet at home for the month we were there. To say I am annoyed would be a massive understatement.
I'll get their weights in as soon as I found the scale. It's in one of the boxes.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 2:58:34 GMT -5
Monday Am - Chicken wings Pm - Duck Tuesday Am - Cornish Hen Pm - Turkey Gizzards Wednesday Am - Duck Pm - Chicken Hearts Thursday Am - Chicken wings Pm - Cornish Hen Friday Am - Cornish Hen Pm - Beef heart, beef liver, beef pancreas Saturday Am - Duck pm - Turkey Gizzards Sunday Am - Chicken wings Pm - Beef liver, beef pancreas
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2017 3:20:36 GMT -5
Welcome back and happy new year~! No worries, I had a feeling you would be out of town for the holidays. oooh Sounds like Lance is up for litter duty! (rofl!) I'm happy to hear that everyone is doing well... Mei oh Mei, again with the eating of the inedible things. She really knows how to scare you guys doesn't she? How are Mei and Max going with their bone in meats? I'm assuming the Duck is Bone in meat? Is the Cornish hen also a bone in meat or muscle? You've gotten in some good proteins there too, I'm seeing more variety so that's fantastic. Menu may still be slightly chicken/cgh heavy, however good progress. It's shaping out wonderfully. Good work with that and with Mei and Max~
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 0:13:05 GMT -5
Happy new year to you as well! Yes Lance is in a bit of trouble but I liked the litter duty suggestion. Mei and Max are really loving their bones, they like to wrestle and play tug of war for them. The wings are their favorite since the bones are so palatable for them. The duck and cornish hen are bone-in, yes. I'm still looking for a different bone-in that they can easily eat.
The plastic was entirely my fault. We'd bought them a playpen so Mei and Max could have a nice, safe, open space outside the small travel cage to stay in all day. The playpen itself was perfectly safe and inescapable. At least, as long as I don't leave the trashcan next to it again...ugh. It was of course the night every store was closed and it took me several hours to even find an open grocer since I didn't buy any pumpkin prior to the holidays. We managed to go so long without a blockage scare too. Thankfully she passed it without a problem. I was pretty terrified since she'd never eaten a plastic bag before and I didn't know if it would fuse to her intestinal lining or not.
1. Ferret's name: Mei 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lb 9 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. Mei has been eating about one oz on her own. 4. Stools on various proteins: Diarrhea from traveling, currently. It's nearly back to normal. Usually a nice solid poo with very little odor. 5. Activity levels: Normal
1. Ferret's name: Max 2. Ferret's weight: 3 lbs 4 oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 4-5 oz. Max tends to eat everything that Mei does not. 4. Stools on various proteins. Same as Mei. 5. Activity levels: Normal
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2017 21:35:24 GMT -5
Oh wow that blockage scare sounds terrifying . In future you may want to start collecting items for an emergency ferret kit. I have a list if you would like for a basic kit you can build . Having spare canned pumpkin snd vaseline is important. If you're out of pumpkin but have vaseline, you can use the vaseline on it's own. The extra side of pumpkin makes the protocol easier though. I'm relieved she passed it easily. Thank goodness
|
|