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Post by LindaM on Feb 12, 2017 22:54:47 GMT -5
Count yourself lucky, lol. Both of mine are fully eating raw, but only Athena who is going on her 8th month of age, takes reasonably well to new proteins being introduced to their diet. Loki, who is now 1 year and 8 months old, is definitely a lot harder to introduce new proteins to. I'm currently introducing pork as a new protein to them both, Athena is happily munching chunks of it already, without the need of any salmon oil or egg, but Loki is still trying to pull his nose up at even slivers. Stubborn little man that he is.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 1:16:57 GMT -5
Cut up more of the chicken thighs plus some giblets into small pieces. He wouldn't eat it plain and the soup is all out, so I tried some mixed up raw egg on it instead and he's eating that with some prompting.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 1:19:47 GMT -5
(That's the carrier he came in, btw. He's only confined to it overnight or when we leave the house because we want to give the cat and him more time before being alone together. The rest of the day the door is open and he goes in there to nap a lot. We have a Critter nation on the way though!)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 1:35:29 GMT -5
Count yourself lucky, lol. Both of mine are fully eating raw, but only Athena who is going on her 8th month of age, takes reasonably well to new proteins being introduced to their diet. Loki, who is now 1 year and 8 months old, is definitely a lot harder to introduce new proteins to. I'm currently introducing pork as a new protein to them both, Athena is happily munching chunks of it already, without the need of any salmon oil or egg, but Loki is still trying to pull his nose up at even slivers. Stubborn little man that he is. Dang! And I know, I was so prepared for this to take a couple months. Trying to remind myself if I do adopt him a friend this old, it probably won't be this easy again..
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Post by LindaM on Feb 13, 2017 1:51:40 GMT -5
Hey.. who knows... you might just get lucky again! Honestly, ferrets are all different. Some switch like a charm, no matter how old they are, and some make sure you work for it.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 13, 2017 11:48:35 GMT -5
I would progress him quickly as you can through the steps of transitioning him as he is taking to it so well If he eats the chicken slivers fine, then increase the size to about double for the next meal. If he refuses, just take a step back and move more slowly But you can definitely ditch the kibble.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 17:07:49 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! I gave him his last kibble last night overnight just to be sure he'd eat (and I didn't have time to make new soupie with the scraps/want to leave egg overnight), and he's officially graduated onward! Today he really took to eating the meat bits with no soupie or bit of egg (used raw yolk & white fully mixed) to remind him that it's food, so I'm going to try longer strips for lunch/dinner and then depending how he's doing probably leave him with the shorter bits again overnight. He did need to be prompted with the spoon though. He also tried making a stash in his cat tunnel. I tried to slow down a bit because he was starting to grow hesitant about the bits without anything more liquidy on them. As for me, I think I'm starting to get a better hang of raw and less paranoid and confused by the whole process of preparing it. Less anxious leaving it out or in the fridge (vs freezer) for an ok amount of time, and also came up with the idea of feeding him on what was going to be his litter pan (he didn't like using pans, prefers paper right on the ground) so when he drags it out of the bowl it's not so messy. He also sat on it earlier possibly to indicate that he wanted more to be there, and if he learns to indicate hunger that way it'd be a nifty trick.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 13, 2017 17:28:13 GMT -5
Don't fear leaving raw out. The following will give a general idea of how long raw can usually stay out: Soups - 6-8 hours Grinds - 8-12 hours Chunks - 10-24 hours (Depends on size, larger can last longer) Bone-in Meats - 12-24 hours (Depends on size again) Whole Prey - up to 48 hours And, if ever in doubt, give it a sniff to see if it smells off, as sometimes the times vary a bit when it comes to humid and hot areas. Also, ferrets won't eat meat that they think is no longer good. If he starts consistently dragging meat off and stashing, it may be that he wants a feeding den. This is a safe, usually mostly enclosed space where a ferret will take his meat and eat it, as well as hide it for eating later and not be disturbed by someone or get their food stolen by them. Ferrets without feeding dens will often try to stash their meat in their litter boxes too, the smell of poop hides the smell of food from others. Feeding dens can be as simple as a 12 can soda box, or other small-ish box, up to a DIY modified plastic storage container (bit more sanitary than cardboard which absorbs, and more durable). But if you can get the ferret to use it properly, it makes it rather easy to keep an eye on how much stashed meat actually gets eaten, as well as make it easy to clear out when you need to. It's great that he's fully off the kibble now and doing so well with meat bits! You're doing very well too.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 20:04:22 GMT -5
LindaM, Ooh, thanks for the timeline. I thought I read that all raw meat was 24 hours, oops. I don't know if I went over regardless but I'll be more careful from now on. What about egg, though? The egg is why I was worried to leave it out over night, I read somewhere here that someone tosses it after a few hours, but I didn't look into it very much. Unfortunately the poor thing has had nothing but a travel cage since I rescued him; he's been free roaming except for bed time or when I left the house. His Critter Nation will arrive soon though, and I'll definitely set up a stash box for him then! I just realized I think I'd qualify for a mentor now......but I'm not sure I even need one! On one hand I don't want to take a spot when I have a decent hang on things, but on the other it'd keep me from crowding the forum with the small questions I have...
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Post by LindaM on Feb 13, 2017 20:33:12 GMT -5
Eek! Nope. If you left a raw soup out that long... you'll be getting a nasty nose surprise! Haha. But generally your ferret will be polishing off most of their food well within those time-lines, especially soups, grinds and chunks. I've had a few times where there were just a few scraps of bone-in meats remaining, so I tend to check for those in stashes the following morning. But again, a ferret won't eat something that they feel has gone bad. Their tummies are remarkably capable of handling bacteria, since in the wild they'd stash food, and even drag it through dirt and put it by their poop to hide it from others.
Er.. rarely do I ever get any egg left overs.. my ferrets basically inhale their eggs. But I have noticed egg yolk becomes a kind of gel tar relatively quickly, and a while after that, something akin to sticky, yellow, crunchy candy. Only once had a bowl with a bit of it been forgotten on the floor when hidden by the ferrets, and found one crunching away at it the next morning. Suffice to say, that never happened again, lol.
You can set up a feeding den anywhere in the house, if it works better for you to do it in the cage, then do that, if you think it'll be just as easy somewhere close in the kitchen or wherever you feed your ferret, you can do that too. Right now my little Athena believes that the underneath of my bedside table in our bedroom is her feeding den. I still need to modify the container we got her. Loki doesn't seem to care about a feeding den.
You can definitely apply for one, there's usually a bit of a wait to get one, so you can check again by then if you still would like to work with a mentor. The really nice things about going into this journey with a mentor is that they will be there to answer any questions, offer advice in the hard times, teach you new things and test your knowledge to make sure you know all you need to know for a successful and balanced raw diet for your ferret. Personally, I think getting a mentor would be a good idea.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 14, 2017 11:46:35 GMT -5
You can try just rinsing a bit with warm water to entice for now as well As for leaving meats out, I am bad. I've been known to add a bit more water to a grind after 12 hours and offer again. If the bacterial count is too high for them, they won't touch it Even meats that smell very slightly off to me, I offer to them before tossing.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 18:34:39 GMT -5
He seems to be eating meat chunks solidly today without any problems at all when it comes to willingness to eat (mix of thighs, hearts and giblets, all chicken) but he definitely has diarrhea. How worried should I be? Is he ok and this is normal during a switch, especially pre bone? Should I do anything? Before now his poop has varied a lot too with some of that but I didn't think much of it, due to him just starting a switch and he was even like that before because he came to us sick. But it got a little more consistent before this so now I'm a bit worried. Also thanks for the mentor advice! I think I will muse it over for the next couple of days, seeing how the two of us are doing.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 2:53:52 GMT -5
Update: it's happened several more times and it's all dark green now?
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Post by Sherry on Feb 15, 2017 11:17:17 GMT -5
I think i'd be taking a sample into the vet. No that type of stool isn't normal. Wetter. looser, stool is normal, and it will have funky colours at times, but not consistent dark green liquid stools.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 11:53:38 GMT -5
Ok, thank you. Update: This morning he had diarrhea again both in his cage and when he woke up but it's no longer green. Calling the vet and also thinking I'll add eggshell to his meat.
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