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Post by marietta on Feb 26, 2017 0:25:08 GMT -5
Also how long does soup keep in the fridge?
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Post by LindaM on Feb 26, 2017 1:18:31 GMT -5
Nah, I never really bothered much with warming the soup, if you really wanted to warm it a bit, you can use a little warm water, or warm the bowl in some warm water. Not hot water though, and not in the microwave, as both may cook the food. But it's not necessary, they'll eat room temperature or cool just fine.
Uhm.. if I recall I used to be able to use it for easily 4.. maybe 5 days even. With normal food, I never go over the third day, but ferrets handle bacteria much better than we do, and usually won't eat if something has gone bad in their opinion. A good option is to freeze portions of the soup using an ice tray or small rectangular/square containers, and just thawing what you need.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2017 13:19:04 GMT -5
What I do is make a huge batch of soup and then use a scale to portion out a meal. I put individual meals into baggies and then freeze them. To thaw I just put the baggie into a bowl of room temperature water and it thaws out in like 10minutes or so! This is the best way that I know to prep most meals.
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Post by marietta on Feb 26, 2017 13:27:34 GMT -5
What I do is make a huge batch of soup and then use a scale to portion out a meal. I put individual meals into baggies and then freeze them. To thaw I just put the baggie into a bowl of room temperature water and it thaws out in like 10minutes or so! This is the best way that I know to prep most meals. How much soup to you portion out for a meal for one ferret?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2017 18:28:09 GMT -5
For Loki (6 months old) I did 2.5 oz per meal. Now that I have 2, I use 5 oz. there is always a little left over in the bowl which is a good sign because that means that your fuzzbutt ate his fill! If the bowl is licked clean, that usually means that he or she isn't getting enough and you should add some more next meal until you start seeing a little bit left in the bowl every meal! (:
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Post by LindaM on Feb 26, 2017 18:39:05 GMT -5
marietta It really depends on the age and gender of your ferret, as well as seasonal influence (eg. they'll eat more in the winter, and slim down in spring again). Which is why the first couple weeks (and in essence, the first year due to seasonal differences) is a trial run to see how much your ferret eats on average. Weighing their meals before and leftovers after, and keeping record of it will allow you to get an average. Empty bowls means someone might not have gotten their fill, a bowl with a little remaining by the time you switch to the next meal, means they likely got their fill. On average an adult female ferret will eat 1-3oz a day, and a male ferret on average will eat 2-4oz (sometimes more like 3-6oz), so I just try to keep in mind 2-6oz for adult males. A kit, like Kcal has, can easily eat several times the amount of an adult ferret, since baby ferrets are basically little endless tummies with teeth. Due to those amounts, I try to portion my meals into easy to use amounts like 2oz and 4oz, even if I have to take out a few containers versus one, it's simply easier for me to work with that way. My ferrets also refuse to share bowls, so they each get their food in separate bowls.
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Post by marietta on Feb 26, 2017 19:34:02 GMT -5
Thanks. They are both males that are a little over a year old. I tried to feed soup again this afternoon and night. If I stuff some in Albie's mouth once he will eat some out of a syringe and then if I slowly lead him to the bowl he will eat some out of the bowl. Albie won't eat it on his own without the first stuffing. I will have to start weighing the bowl before and after to know exactly how much. Gwin on the other hand I have to stuff a few times then he will eat a small amount out of the syringe and then won't eat anymore. I'm probably going to have to give them back their kibble over night because they haven't had much to eat today. Im hoping Gwin will start to make some more progress soon. He is very stubborn.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 26, 2017 19:44:04 GMT -5
Another thing to keep in mind, is when first switching to raw, ferrets will tend to eat a lot more, and then as time goes on, they will slow down again.
Yea, I would allow them to have their kibble up to the point where they start eating from the soup bowl of their volition, so without you needing to do anything at all.
With stubborn ferrets, you just gotta out-stubborn them yourself. Keep dabbing his gums with it during the day and also try offering some with your finger or a spoon, sometimes they really don't like the syringe and it stresses them out, much as it is a good idea to get them used to syringe feeding in case they get sick. I'd try to see if he perhaps takes better to one of those other methods, or if he's just borderline stubborn about all of it.
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Post by marietta on Feb 26, 2017 19:59:43 GMT -5
Another thing to keep in mind, is when first switching to raw, ferrets will tend to eat a lot more, and then as time goes on, they will slow down again. Yea, I would allow them to have their kibble up to the point where they start eating from the soup bowl of their volition, so without you needing to do anything at all. With stubborn ferrets, you just gotta out-stubborn them yourself. Keep dabbing his gums with it during the day and also try offering some with your finger or a spoon, sometimes they really don't like the syringe and it stresses them out, much as it is a good idea to get them used to syringe feeding in case they get sick. I'd try to see if he perhaps takes better to one of those other methods, or if he's just borderline stubborn about all of it. Unfortunately I will only have time in the evening during the week to work with them on this. I wish I could dab throughout the day. Thankfully once they are eating soup by themselves I can just place some in the cage in the morning but I don't have the time in the morning to force them to eat. I have tried the spoon and neither of them would eat from it so that is why I'm using the syringe. I haven't tried my finger. Gwin keeps coming up to the bowl next to me and sniffing it but he is being stubborn about eating.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 26, 2017 20:22:07 GMT -5
Doing it in the evening is fine too, I just meant whenever you have a chance to do so. Once they are on the soup by themselves, yes, you can just pop that in with them during the day when you are gone, I always tried adding some extra too if they are unsupervised in the day, just to make sure they will have enough food in case someone is eating more than usual that day before someone can get home to give more food. Try the finger method, it's a bit more personal for them, sometimes one has to start with the finger method and only then progress to the spoon method. Haha, he sounds like your typical ferret then. He knows it's a food bowl, what he doesn't understand is where the food is and why mommy is putting poison in it instead. He'll get over it, you just have to be more stubborn than him, if you keep being patient and persistent with it, it will eventually stick.
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Post by marietta on Feb 27, 2017 22:18:40 GMT -5
They both ate the soup on their own tonight!!!!! I put the bowl down on the floor and they went for it right away! I'm so happy! They eat a little then run away and play and come back for more. I have a video that I wanted to post but I can't figure out how. Anyway how long do you usually wait to add small pieces of meat to the bowl once they are eating soup? Also should I be weighing them? Here is a picture at least. Yay! Save
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Post by LindaM on Feb 28, 2017 0:36:15 GMT -5
That's great to hear! Yay! Some ferrets switch fast, some take a while, so you can try to add a few tiny slivers (think fingernail crescent) to the soup and see if they take them, some will, some won't. If they do not, perhaps try to switch to a thicker, coarse soup first or some ground meat (you can add water if you need to), if still no, keep on the normal soup a bit longer and just slowly make it thicker as you go along. This may help with sizes: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/4341/standardized-sizing-etc-meatsAs for weighing, yes, you will want to weigh both the ferrets and the portions of food they eat regularly and keep track of it.
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Post by marietta on Feb 28, 2017 7:55:30 GMT -5
I put soup in their cage overnight and they barely touched it. I put in six ounces and there is four ounces left. I'm not sure if I should give them kibble to make sure they are eating or if I should just put more soup in the cage so they will keep going with the soup.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 28, 2017 8:08:31 GMT -5
They might not have fully taken to it, or it can just be an off day.. sometimes appetites can fluctuate quite a bit. My two will also eat more through their AM meal, than their PM meal, I think it's because they like to spend most of the time in the cage asleep instead.
The fact that they ate from the bowl before without any interference from you should mean they do see it as food. And you said, between them they ate at least 2oz, so let's say 1oz each, that's still something. Remember, adult males will eat anywhere on average 2-4oz in a day, this is your AM and PM meal together.
Let's see how they do with the soup today. If they still need some encouragement, or you're definitely concerned they're not eating enough, you can do a few things to make the soup more appealing at first. If they eat raw eggs (as they should, each ferret needs 1 raw egg a week to prevent hairballs), then you can drizzle a little raw egg over the soup to entice them. Or if they get and like FDR treats, crumbling some of that over the soup can help. If they are already familiar with salmon oil, a drizzle of that can also help. Not too much of any of that, since we just want to get them to try it out, a "just start them off" kinda deal to get them eating and used to the taste of the soup in their mouth.
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Post by marietta on Feb 28, 2017 8:46:13 GMT -5
They might not have fully taken to it, or it can just be an off day.. sometimes appetites can fluctuate quite a bit. My two will also eat more through their AM meal, than their PM meal, I think it's because they like to spend most of the time in the cage asleep instead. The fact that they ate from the bowl before without any interference from you should mean they do see it as food. And you said, between them they ate at least 2oz, so let's say 1oz each, that's still something. Remember, adult males will eat anywhere on average 2-4oz in a day, this is your AM and PM meal together. Let's see how they do with the soup today. If they still need some encouragement, or you're definitely concerned they're not eating enough, you can do a few things to make the soup more appealing at first. If they eat raw eggs (as they should, each ferret needs 1 raw egg a week to prevent hairballs), then you can drizzle a little raw egg over the soup to entice them. Or if they get and like FDR treats, crumbling some of that over the soup can help. If they are already familiar with salmon oil, a drizzle of that can also help. Not too much of any of that, since we just want to get them to try it out, a "just start them off" kinda deal to get them eating and used to the taste of the soup in their mouth. Right I forgot that the 2-4 oz is in 24 hours. I just got a little nervous I guess. They wouldn't eat anything but kibble before this so they don't eat egg, salmon oil, or FDR. So hopefully they will eat more today while I'm at work. I put 4 oz in before I left for work and plan on going to check that they have enough during my lunch break. I'm hopeful, just a little nervous about them eating enough.
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