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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 20, 2017 7:57:44 GMT -5
Well, I have highjacked this post - not sure if I should make a new one.
I have been feeding 2-2.5 ounces both morning and evening. Last night the 2.5 ounces was gone before I went to bed so I gave another 1.5 ounces overnight. It was gone in the morning. I have 2.5 ounces this morning and now I am at work.
Question: Can ferrets overeat?? I am guessing it is because he is a baby, but, WOW, does he eat!
Side note, not going through his water anywhere near as much as when on the crap food. Poop is smaller and wetter (hurray) and starting to be less stinky. I love 'ferret smell' so won't notice if that is there are not, but I love less poop smell.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 20, 2017 8:16:25 GMT -5
Don't worry about a new one And yes baby ferrets, depending on age, can eat their own body weight in a day
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Post by LindaM on Oct 20, 2017 12:57:21 GMT -5
Ferrets can overeat, but on raw it is unlikely as they will generally self-regulate. However, when it comes to the easy foods.. soup and grinds (commercial frozen grinds and FDR), you may find the odd one who does overeat because it's so easy to basically slurp up as compared to needing to scissor off pieces of meat and crunch bones.
BUT! Since yours is a kit, this doesn't quite apply.. wee fuzzies stuff their faces because all that food goes into fueling their growth process into strong little ferrets. Kits can often eat up to 4x the amount of an adult ferret of the same gender, they do start slowing down a bit as they get older though, so don't worry, you won't be eaten out of house and home forever. Come the winter though, ferrets all tend to eat some more and pick up some chubbiness. When spring hits again they will lessen how much they eat and slim down again.
When you feed raw, you are giving the ferret its natural diet as required by a carnivore. Carnivores get the majority of their hydration through the moisture in their food, since his diet is now fulfilling that duty, he doesn't need to drink as much as he had to before. Poops being smaller is also because of this, as his little body can now use what is given to him, as compared with the crappy food like kibbles where there are many indigestibles which their wee bodies cannot make use of and just excretes it.
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 20, 2017 20:08:51 GMT -5
Found a bit of stashed raw soup. Does that mean I am feeding enough? I am guessing so. Don't need raw meat laying around so is it time to pull it from him and wait a certain amount of time before I feed again or just not give as much next time?
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Post by LindaM on Oct 21, 2017 18:07:17 GMT -5
Hm, sorry, can't quite help with that one. My lot have never tried to stash something liquid like that, pieces of meat sure, but never soup or rehydrated FDR that I can ever recall. They will take their last mouth-full to go, but they usually swallow it right before doing face cleanup.
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 21, 2017 21:27:26 GMT -5
That might be my fault. I think my definition of soup is a bit let soupy. My soup had a few chunks and it didn't always blend the skin from the thighs very well. I think it was a pink, slimy skin piece.
This afternoon I tried adding some of my chicken and bone mixture which is much more chunky and not the same as my soup mixture which was from the recipe. He had nothing to do with it. Silly boy. I will try tomorrow after this evening's feeding so he is a bit hungrier. I also have a defrosted chunk of organ meat mixture to try as well. Any suggestions besides an empty stomach?
On a side note, first trip in a harness and outside today -- finally cooler temperatures here in Florida. He loved it and so did I. So glad to have a little fuzzbutt around again. 15 years was way too long to wait. LOL
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Post by Sherry on Oct 22, 2017 8:56:37 GMT -5
No, I'd not worry about that one piece Sometimes they stash and forget where it is for clean up afterwards lol. And as long as your boy is young and healthy, an appetite just adds to the meal
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 22, 2017 19:16:26 GMT -5
Well, the weekend of trying chunked raw did not work. He did not like the turkey and bone nor the organ mixture. Going to make soup again and try to mix some of that into it so the flavor is similar.
silly thing!
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Post by Sherry on Oct 23, 2017 9:20:36 GMT -5
Textures can be a huge thing for them. Given chunks are a no go right now, start with the soup, work in ground meat textures slowly over a few days, then start mixing in slivers the size of the crescent on your pinkie nail and up from there.
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 23, 2017 20:48:15 GMT -5
ok - I made soup again tonight, leaving it as 'chunky' as I did previously. I will try to grind some of the 'ground meat' up as well so it is easier to blend into the soup mixture.
We happened to have chicken wings tonight so I took a meat cleaver and chopped up the wing part (two piece part) like shown on the video. He sniffed it a few times but has basically ignored it.
Still at it! I'll get him a true meat eater someday! :-)
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 26, 2017 20:11:15 GMT -5
The new soup mixture (even thicker and with more chunks) is going well. The chicken wing he ended up stashing but never did eat it. I gave him a raw chicken gizzard yesterday -- it's gone! I wasn't sure if he would eat it or not but I can't find it in his cage (where I left him for the night). I do a deep clean of the cage this weekend and hope I don't find it buried where I didn't look.
Still working on thicker and chunkier soup = he is eating the chunks of chicken that are in there.
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 28, 2017 10:08:24 GMT -5
Have another gizzard last night and it was eaten again. Trying a chicken wing today. Fingers crossed. He stashed it right away. Same like the gizzard.
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 28, 2017 12:23:55 GMT -5
He’s eating the chicken wing! I walked in the room while he was doing so. He stashed it in a clear plastic tub. He’s eating it inside of it. So exciting!
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Post by mermaidsirena on Oct 28, 2017 19:27:05 GMT -5
Well not as much luck as I thought with the chicken wing. He did pick at it but that was about it. I gave in and gave chunky soup. He did eat the gizzard both times so next I will try the chunky turkey since it is more like the chicken chunky soup.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 29, 2017 9:27:28 GMT -5
Next time try a wing again, but segment and smash the bones up a bit.
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