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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 20:33:21 GMT -5
Yeah she gave me cuddles and kisses today but i think that's because i took her and sissy out to play in the cool afternoon sunshine, fresh air, dirt and grass she was happy little bugger. I ha e updated weights gonna do photos tomorrow as my phone is crap and need fiancé. They got pork slivers tonight bordering on chunks mixed with their chicken and they ate all the pork :-)
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Post by LindaM on Jun 11, 2017 20:56:26 GMT -5
Excellent work, both you and the fuzzers! I'm so glad to hear that they are so willing to accept different proteins. The bigger the variety of proteins you can offer their diet, the better.
How have they been doing on the bone-in end? Still as eager to go for it?
Can you give me an updated list of which proteins they are happily eating right now?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2017 14:44:48 GMT -5
06/12/17 Monday Spazz 1. Ferret's name: Spazz 2. Ferret's weight: 1 lbs. 14oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 1-2oz 4. Stools on various proteins. Ranging in multiple colors, little watery some days others solid. 5. Activity levels: Normal, playful, active 6. Weekly menu: Slivers of: Chicken, Pork, Rabbit, Chicken Liver, Beef kidney, Chicken heart, chicken feet Mimi 1. Ferret's name: Mimi 2. Ferret's weight: 1lbs. 10oz 3. Ferret has eaten "X" amount on average per meal. 1-2oz 4. Stools on various proteins. Ranging in multiple colors, little watery some days others solid. 5. Activity levels: Normal, playful, active 6. Weekly menu: Slivers of: Chicken, Pork, Rabbit, Chicken Liver, Beef kidney, Chicken heart, chicken feet
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2017 15:01:59 GMT -5
LindaM Ok list of proteins ive offered and outcomes: Chicken- They do well though sometimes seem bored of it. Slivers slowly moving larger to chunks. Rabbit- Both girls seemed to show a love for this protein. Slivers moving larger also pieces with bone in busted up. Duck- They didn't touch it, seemed to have no interest at all for the duck. Will try again Pork- Got this when I stopped by the market figured hey lets try, it was a major hit, both times I put it in with their chicken they ate all of the pork. Going to work with this with moving to larger pieces seeing they will even take the pork from my hands where they wouldn't with other meats. Beef kidney- at first they weren't so sure of this organ, im wondering if I should try pork kidney? I know the different types can have more or less a strong or mild taste not sure if this is the same with organs. Chicken liver- eat happily Chicken heart- mimis favorite meal As for bone in, im 100% im at a stand still and only from my part not the girls. I know they will eat the bone in with the rabbit, and the chicken feet spazz seems to adore. Butcher got deliveries that didn't have wing tips he called me to let me know he will try his best but in mean time im going to look and see if I can get them else where. I get paid Friday so im going to be ordering from hare today for some of the things ive been unable to get yet. I've read this docs.google.com/document/d/1ysfT1bIvXixXYv6QFjW_EZZqHymtRXRTc3E_wAxLbxU/edit and this holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/146/meat-bone-organ-weekly-menu but im still struggling a little with exactly what bone in meats I should have right now that will be easy for them to learn with. I know chicken feet, chicken/duck wing tips......these are ones I don't need to bust up? (Sorry in advance im a slow learner and sometimes get confused)I do have chicken necks and feet, and I know the girls aren't eating bone in 100% yet so exactly how should I go about adding it if they should only have chicken feet once to twice a week? Like example im feeding slivers working on moving the girls up to larger pieces, should I be maybe breaking up a chicken thigh or rabbit leg and putting it in with their slivers cut up? Should I be giving them just meat with the busted bone to see how they handle the larger pieces with bone? I do apologize im the type person needs things step by step till I learn and I hate sounding stupid.
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Post by LindaM on Jun 12, 2017 16:27:00 GMT -5
Things seem good, weights are more or less the same as last week and seem to have been mostly remained the same these last few weeks. On the days that they have watery poops, are those the days that they get organ or heart meals? Because of the high blood content of hearts and organs, they can make poops much wetter, and sort of resemble a soupy, black-ish tar. This is normal. But it's always a good idea to offer a bone-in meal after these kind of meals so they can help firm up the poops again. The poopies can also be a wee bit odd right now too as you are introducing new proteins. As for the pork kidney instead, if you can get a hold of some, I'd say give it a shot. It could be that they will like it more than the beef. For the chicken wingtips, you can just buy a packet of chicken wings from the grocery store, and cut them up like the photos on that one site I linked to before. The tips will be easiest for them to eat, but if you smash up the bone, and since they do eat rabbit bone, they might just happily eat all parts of the wing. The bone-in meats I had a lot of success with myself has been offering Cornish Game Hen (the entire thing is edible for them), Quail (again, entire thing) and Chicken (start with wings and necks) at first, then I went on to Rabbit and Duck, and finally some Turkey. A lot of people have had pretty major success in trying Frog Legs (Asian store will sell these if one is nearby) as well, though as these are a lean meat, make sure to have only a few of it in the week and more of other proteins. As your ferrets are new to bone-in meals, you will need to bust almost all bones up a little at first until they get more used to it, and then you can decrease until they are eating the bone without help. Weight bearing bones like thighs, or tougher neck bones like Turkey almost always need to be smashed up for them to even bother with. You can see if you segment the chicken necks if the girls will eat them without you smashing them too. We're working on getting the girlies used to the bones right now, and they are doing good already. You can feed more chicken feet right now too, but just add some muscle meat with them in the meal so it's not too bony and risk constipating them. But if you want to give it just as is for a treat, I'd still keep to the 1-2 week limit. Since most of the meals in the week for a ferret is bone-in (7-9 meals out of 14), your focus will be to give them more bone-in meals overall as they get more used to eating the bones. But since you're also introducing new proteins right now, which tend to work easier as slivers, you can give some meals of muscle meat with bonemeal powder added to those for now too. The problem with mixing meal types eg. bone-in with muscle or bone-in with hearts, etc. etc. is that picky ferrets will just pick out what they feel like eating and ignore the rest. So Mimi for example, might gobble up the hearts and ignore the chicken wing, or the girls will gobble up the rabbit bone-in and ignore trying the duck slivers. Therefore, it's best to not mix the types of meals. Let's revise your basic menu to include bone-in, since the girls are starting to eat bones: Monday AM: Bone-in Monday PM: Hearts Tuesday AM: Bone-in Tuesday PM: Muscle Wednesday AM: Bone-in Wednesday PM: Organs (1/2 liver + 1/2 other organ) Thursday AM: Bone-in Thursday PM: Muscle Friday AM: Bone-in Friday PM: Hearts + Organs - 1/2 heart, 1/4 liver, 1/4 other organ Saturday AM: Bone-in Saturday PM: Bone-in Sunday AM: Muscle Sunday PM: Bone-in So right now that shows 1.5 heart meals, 1.5 organ meals, 8 bone-in meals, and 3 muscle meals. Grab a pen and paper and see if you can write a menu for the week based on that. Let's see how the girls poops do, they might be fine with 8 bone-in meals or need one of the muscle meals changed to bone-in if their poops are too soft, or if their poops become too firm, one of the bone-in can change to muscle. PS. Don't worry about apologizing dear, you're not slow or stupid at all. You and the girls are doing really well with this and I'm proud of your progress.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 14:32:25 GMT -5
LindaM Ok so on the muscle meat, you mean meat in general rabbit, chicken, duck, pork, ect as in meat itself correct? I know heart is considered a muscle meat as well. So by muscle meat do you mean like boneless chicken thigh cut up? I want to stick to gizzards as like a treat like the chicken feet.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 14:39:49 GMT -5
LindaM How's this look for this weeks menu: Also I answered my own question about muscle meat by back reading through links
Monday AM: Bone-in Rabbit thigh Monday PM: Hearts
Tuesday AM: Bone-in Rabbit thigh Tuesday PM: Muscle Pork Slivers/Chunks
Wednesday AM: Bone-in Chicken Wing Wednesday PM: Organs (1/2 liver + 1/2 other organ) Chicken Liver + Beef Kidney (They are eatting it just doesnt seem a favorite)
Thursday AM: Bone-in chicken neck Thursday PM: Muscle Pork Slivers/Chunks
Friday AM: Bone-in Chick Wing Friday PM: Hearts + Organs - 1/2 heart, 1/4 liver, 1/4 other organ Chicken heart, chicken liver, beef kidney
Saturday AM: Bone-in Rabbit thigh Saturday PM: Bone-in Chicken
Sunday AM: Muscle Duck (going to try duck again) Sunday PM: Bone-in Duck neck (going to try duck again)
On a side note I do have frog legs they are easy to get around here, haven't tried them with the girls just yet but if you think I should try it in maybe Saturday for bone in?
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Post by LindaM on Jun 13, 2017 14:50:20 GMT -5
Yep, muscle meat is just the meat. While heart is considered a muscle meat as well, because of it's importance in the diet and to make the menu work easier, I just try to keep to heart being it's own thing. It makes it easier to avoid mistakes. Menu looks good to me for now. Let's see how the girls fare on the chicken bone-in meals, and see if they will give duck a shot. If you wish you to do a few more of the bone-in meals as just muscle meat with bone-meal powder added to work on introducing more proteins for the interim, you can. Let me know how the girls poops do, so we can see if we can stick to doing 8 bone-in meals, or need to down to 7, or up to 9 instead. Were there any other proteins you'd like to introduce to the girls?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 17:31:44 GMT -5
Yes im ordering other proteins i cant find locally friday
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Post by LindaM on Jun 13, 2017 17:46:51 GMT -5
Wonderful! You're well on your way to providing a very nice variety for your girlies. Oh, I forgot to mention, I may not be around on this Friday since it's going to be my birthday and the hubby and I will probably be out for the entire day to do something to celebrate. I will check my phone of course, but sometimes it buggers up when trying to respond on the forum. *
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2017 18:57:37 GMT -5
Proud of myself, entire week portioned up and ready to go! So heres to seeing how they do with bone in all week. Fingers crossed
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Post by LindaM on Jun 13, 2017 19:03:34 GMT -5
Good job! Let me know how the girlies do or if you encounter any troubles.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2017 15:16:55 GMT -5
ok soo first time bone in chicken bashed up started with 4oz, weighed remaining 1.3oz yay (searched their area didn't find any random chicken bits laying about aside from their stashed chicken feet. As for kidney and liver girls are doing fantastic! 4oz start 1oz remain when weighed after. Today was first day for chicken necks ever, haven't weighed remaining but noticeably was less in their bowl, will search out their stash spots and hidy holes in just a bit and make sure.
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Post by LindaM on Jun 15, 2017 16:01:21 GMT -5
That's great news! It sounds like the girls are doing great with more bone introductions. I'm very proud of you and the girls, you guys have done amazing so far, bravo! Hopefully the girlies will be more accepting of when you try to offer them some duck again. But overall, they are doing so well. Now that they are getting the idea of munching bones, did you want to start trying to see which whole prey you can get your hands on to see if they'll eat them? Most people start off with offering mice. We can wait on starting this one for a while until you're more comfortable with the Frankenprey menu and have sources ready to get some WP from. When adding WP to the weekly menu, we will need to rebalance it. So you can let me know when you want to try for it. Would you like to try another little quiz to see if there's anything specific you should learn about?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2017 7:16:26 GMT -5
Sadly I have to put off ordering from hare today until next paycheck we will work on the duck and maybe try the frog legs
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