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Post by katt on Feb 5, 2017 21:49:52 GMT -5
How have the last few days been RE eating on their own vs hand fed? Usually they will eat about half of what I give them straight from their bowl on the floor -- sometimes less, sometimes more. After they are done eating what they want on their own I will put them in my lap and spoon feed the rest of it to them. I try to slowly move the spoon while they are eating from it into the bowl. Works sometimes. That's good! Remind me - what is your current schedule for feeding raw meals? Like when do you pick up the kibble, when do you feed raw, and when do you put the kibble back?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 22:43:06 GMT -5
I don't have an exact time everyday -- some days I have classes or work all morning and some days it's the opposite.
I pick up kibble 2-3 hours before feeding the raw soup and replace it 2-3 hours after I feed the raw soup.
Also, just wondering. Tomorrow we are headed to the vets at 3 pm. for implants and a BG test. I've heard that you are supposed to fast your ferret 2-3 hours before a BG test. Is this accurate? I've never had them implanted before either -- will it be okay to feed the raw soup when we get back from the vets?
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Post by katt on Feb 6, 2017 2:03:50 GMT -5
I don't have an exact time everyday -- some days I have classes or work all morning and some days it's the opposite. I pick up kibble 2-3 hours before feeding the raw soup and replace it 2-3 hours after I feed the raw soup. Also, just wondering. Tomorrow we are headed to the vets at 3 pm. for implants and a BG test. I've heard that you are supposed to fast your ferret 2-3 hours before a BG test. Is this accurate? I've never had them implanted before either -- will it be okay to feed the raw soup when we get back from the vets? It's not that you want to feed them before the BG, it's more that you want to NOT feed them for 3 hours before. It's supposed to be a 3 hour fasting BG. That said, a lot of vets no longer recommend that because well - imagine fasting a ferret who DOES have insu... If they haven't eaten for a while and then you remove the food they could be fasting longer than 3 hours. This is more of a concern if you suspect insu, and for less perceptive owners. BUT if the test is not done fasted, the BG will be higher and you may miss a diagnosis of insu.... Trust your gut. Personally I haven't had concerns for insu for my boys so I typically cast them 3 hours before blood draws so the BG will be as accurate as possible (since the normal ranges are based off of 3 hour fasting), AND they are already briefly fasting before their raw meals. I think removing their kibble before the vet and giving raw when you get home (or even bringing some soupies cubes to put in a dish in their kennel after their labs/implant) would work quite well. Are you able to remove kibble and give them a bowl of raw soupies before leaving for work in the morning, so they are on soup during the day and kibble at night?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 20:23:48 GMT -5
The vet only had one implant so we did Jazmine today. Her BG level was 101. We are doing Jax's implant & BG test later this week. Jazmine has ear mites. The vet showed me them under the microscope and they are nasty little things. Got topical meds for both of the ferrets. Other than that the vet said they look wonderful. I was talking to the vet tech about transitioning to raw and she told me that she has heard of HFF before and they didn't seem to have any kind of issues with raw (she even started listing some of the benefits like better teeth, etc). I gave them each 1.5 ounces of soup mixed with 1/4 tsp. of salmon oil after the vet. Jazmine left about 1/4 of her bowl untouched, Jaxson left 1/2 untouched. I mixed both of their soups together and put it in a bowl in their cage because I went out to dinner with a friend. It hasn't been touched. Yes, I can put the soup out for the day time and kibble at night. I guess I am just worried that they will not eat it and go hungry.
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Post by katt on Feb 6, 2017 22:22:49 GMT -5
How many hours are you gone during the day? That's a great BG. Bummer you only got one implant, I would have thought they would have ordered 2 knowing you were coming in for them - frustrating. Also ear mites suck - did they give you Revolution? The typical treatment is Kitten Revolution once every 2-3 weeks (OMG Having a total brain fart on 2 vs 3...lmao) repeated 3 times.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 23:36:54 GMT -5
It seems that some days work better than others with my schedule. I try to fit in the raw soup whenever I have a 4-5 hour chunk in my day. I can give you a schedule of my week if you'd like. The hours of when I am home and for how long I am home vary everyday.
I made the appointment for both of them. I guess they had called me earlier that day to tell me they only had one left but it never showed up on my phone (I am not surprised -- my phone is really cheap).
They gave us Advantage Multi for cats. I am supposed to apply a dose tomorrow and then one more 3 weeks after. The vet is having me bring them in after the treatments for a recheck as well.
The leftover soup has been in their cage for about 7 hours and still untouched. Jazmine has been sleeping ever since we got back from the vets. Jax doesn't want to touch the soup at all. Replacing the kibble and going to bed now.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2017 11:53:25 GMT -5
Today I mixed 1.5 ounces of the chicken mince with a quail egg per ferret.
Jaxson only ate about .5 ounces by himself. I was able to spoon feed another .4 - .5 ounces to him but then he kept trying to hoard every single mouthful that he had or just run away from me in general so we stopped.
Jazmine ate about 1 ounce on her own. I spoon fed the other .5 to her, and I also spoon fed Jax's leftovers (another .5). So she is eating around 2 ounces. Today she didn't want the last spoonful so I'm pretty comfortable in saying that her average meal right now should be around 2 ounces.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2017 16:37:16 GMT -5
Jax's implant is done. His BG level was 114.
After we got back from the vets Jazmine had 1.4 ounces of chicken grinds with 1/4 tsp. of salmon oil and Jax had 1.2 ounces of grinds with 1/4 tsp. of salmon oil. I only had to spoon feed about three spoonfuls to Jazmine, whereas I had to spoon feed about half of Jaxson's meal to him.
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Post by katt on Feb 9, 2017 5:54:52 GMT -5
Sorry, I have not forgotten you. We were visiting some friends and then had an unexpectedly ridiculous trip traveling back - almost 24 hours solid of traveling. Ugh. I want to sit down and read your schedule and figure out how we can best work towards getting them to eat more independently. Glad the implant and BG check went well. I'm off to bed but will check in tomorrow with a better reply!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2017 20:23:09 GMT -5
Sounds like you've been busy! It's alright, I just post on here a lot just so I can look back and keep a record for myself! I don't expect y'all to respond to everything. Today I made Jaxson 1.2 ounces of chicken mince with a quail egg and Jazmine 1.5 ounces of chicken mince with a quail egg. I would have made more but I ran out and the new mince I just bought is defrosting in the fridge right now so I just used what I had left. Jazmine ate about half of her mince with no assistance. Once she stopped I spoon fed her just one spoonful and she ate the rest of her portion by herself. Jaxson ate about half of his mince too -- I had to spoon feed a couple spoons and then he just hoarded every single bite. I think this is how he tells me he's done. I am guestimating that he left around .3 ounces in the bowl. I left the bowls on the floor while I was doing some homework and Jazmine woke up from a nap and ate his leftovers all by herself.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2017 20:33:00 GMT -5
Monday: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm soup 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm soup
Tuesday: soup 2:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Wednesday: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm soup 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Thursday: soup 2:30 pm - 7:30 pm soup
Friday: soup noon - (anywhere from) 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Saturday: soup 4:00 pm - (anywhere from) 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Sunday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm soup
Here is a schedule of the times of the day that I am NOT home. I added in "soup" for the times of the day when I am available to do the soup and watch them and assist. I think my only concerns about leaving the soup during the day and replacing with kibble at night are on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
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Post by katt on Feb 10, 2017 1:21:35 GMT -5
Here is a schedule of the times of the day that I am NOT home. I added in "soup" for the times of the day when I am available to do the soup and watch them and assist. I think my only concerns about leaving the soup during the day and replacing with kibble at night are on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Weeeell how about this then. Leave them with soup only during the day on Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sun, and continue as you have on Wed, Fri, Sat. That will give you a chance to see how they do, and feel more comfortable about them eating it on their own before making the next step of removing the kibble entirely. Does that sound like a plan for now? FYI their BGs were FANTASTIC, so even if they were to not eat for the day while you are gone, it wouldn't do them any harm (as long as obviously they get food when you do get home). They clearly don't have insu or even impending insu, so we don't need to worry about them crashing on a fast. If they DO refuse to eat on their own, then that tells us we need to back up a step and give them a bit longer to get used to the new diet first, and then try again.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 3:00:02 GMT -5
Okay sounds good! I will start this on Monday. I'm a tad nervous to start this on a Sunday because I'm working 9-5, at least on Monday I will be able to pop in & out and see how they're doing! Soup is good for 6-8 hours out of the fridge, right? And since I am not there to watch, how will I know which ferret ate what amount? I am not concerned for Jazmine - she is doing great - just a tad worried for Jax.
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Post by katt on Feb 10, 2017 3:41:49 GMT -5
That's what tracking weekly weights is for - if one ferret starts significantly dropping we step back and say hmm what's happening here. Soup is good for 6-8 hours, and they won't eat it if it's too bad for them. Just like you know not to eat that leftover casserole in the fridge that seems off, they too are good at recognizing if something is too off. For ensuring they both eat enough, the best rule is always feed enough that there's a few bites still leftover by the next meal. That way you know they both had enough food to get their fill, but waste is still minimized.
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Post by katt on Feb 10, 2017 3:43:54 GMT -5
Also keep in mind that raw will keep them satiated much longer. So if you hand feed them each an ounce before you leave - they'll probably be full for a while and it may seem like they ate nothing while you were gone. Versus if you offer them the bowl, and show them it's there but don't spoon feed them a bunch - let them decide when to go eat it (for the days when you're leaving the raw out during the day). THEN if you get home and they still haven't eaten much, you can hand feed a bit.
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