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Post by LindaM on Sept 22, 2017 14:32:21 GMT -5
YES! Good babies! Remember to give them lots of praise for being such good boys. I look forward to hearing how they will fare with just slivers today and hopefully, they'll take to some of those larger pieces as well. Personally, I'd throw a chicken wing out as is and see what they do with it. If they seem to struggle or not willing to try it, then we take a step back and smash it up for them. Kits will often be surprising and chewing on a chicken wing is great for when they teethe and want to chew everything. I'm gonna link the video from on here on how to smash bones just in case anyway, that way you will know how to. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/18359/smashing-bone-beginner-ferrets
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Kaitlyn
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 22, 2017 16:47:37 GMT -5
They are 6.75 oz today, they were hungry! All the beef was eaten, and the pieces in the bowl were the extra large pieces. So they are bigger pieces but not huge pieces.
Hubby is thawing out some chicken wings for them so we will see how that goes!
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Post by LindaM on Sept 22, 2017 17:09:07 GMT -5
I'm so proud of you guys! You're all doing great! I hope they will surprise us just as much tonight with the chicken wings, but either way, they are doing great! So, let's recap, they will now eat chicken muscle, beef muscle, and heart as slivers, yes? If they are fine with the bigger slivers, you can increase to that size and see how they do with it.. and we just keep upping the size from there. I'm also gonna link you to the size chart for slivers-chunks, you may find it helpful as well. holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/4341/standardized-sizing-etc-meats
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Kaitlyn
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 23, 2017 7:06:32 GMT -5
Chicken wings didn't go over as well as we hoped. They did eat some of them. But they only ate the meat and bones of the smaller sections. The large bones and meat around them were pretty much untouched Edit: I stand corrected. Hubby went to take the wings away after I asked (I'm coming down with something), and they are still eating the wings. Paint won't give his up! So we're going to leave them in there for a bit longer. This is all that was left. Leftovers imgur.com/gallery/zldHXShould I start trying to feed them the basic menu and just make the chunks of meat and organs smaller than normal until they're used to it? I have soupie on standby.
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Post by LindaM on Sept 23, 2017 22:09:15 GMT -5
Blagh, sorry for the late check-in, today's been one big dramarama from morning till now.. 9pm, LOL.
AHAHAHA! Good wee little stinkers! Give them each a big kiss for being such good boys. Well, that is EXCELLENT news! I am so proud!
Since they are running at such a lovely pace with us, yes, let's get started on making a basic first menu, and then we can start upping the sizes and adding in new proteins for them too.
Let's do the menu as follows for the whole week: Sunday AM: Sunday PM: Monday AM: Monday PM:
And so on. I will look it over afterwards and see how we can adjust things as we progress. Also, do you perhaps have some bonemeal powder on hand?
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Kaitlyn
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 24, 2017 7:53:06 GMT -5
I'm pretty proud of the little stinkers too. I can't believe the pace they're transitioning at! I've only had them a week!
I don't have bone meal powder, but I do have powdered eggshells. Here's a menu. I kind of based it on the basic menu, but I want to give them variety too. The amount of chicken wings...my hubby got a little over zealous, and I now have 5 pounds of frozen chicken wings I need to get rid of. I have other organs on order from mypetcarnovore.com, and they're shipping tomorrow. So I'll have them to feed later in the week. I added the soupie on organ days jut to be sure, if they turn their noses up, they have something to eat.
Saturday PM: Beef
Sunday AM: Chicken Wings Sunday PM : Liver & Soupie
Monday AM: Chicken Wings Monday PM: Pork or lamb or Fish
Tuesday AM: Chicken Wings Tuesday PM: Chicken Wings
Wednesday AM: Chicken Wings Wednesday PM: Heart & Soupie
Thursday AM: Chicken Wings Thursday PM: Pork or lamb or Fish
Friday AM: Chicken Wings Friday PM: Heart, Liver, and Other Organ (Beef Spleen, Kidney or Pancreas)
Saturday AM: Chicken Wings Saturday PM: Pork or lamb or Fish
Also, I got my fish oil in today. The boys didn't want anything to do with it. I'm tempted to mix a teeny bit with dinner tonight to see if that helps. I really want to use it as a treat.
Edit: I gave liver last night. They barely touched it. Not sure how to get them to eat it.
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Post by LindaM on Sept 25, 2017 13:45:36 GMT -5
Sorry my reply is late! Yesterday and today are those kinda days where you want to curl into a dark corner with a blanket and a cup of cocoa and just glower at the world around you.
Eggshell can work for a bit, they seem to transition fast enough. Bonemeal powder is of course a bit better than eggshell as it's from actual bone, but again, isn't as good as legit bone, lol.
As for hubby getting overzealous.. just be glad he is on board! Haha! It usually sounds like the men are the least concerned with getting into the switch most of the time. So you are lucky, enjoy it.
So a tip about fish, fish should only be a single meal per week, and no more. When I offer fish treats (I don't count salmon oil under that mind you), I forgo the fish meal, and vice versa too.
You can use the Dab'n'Grab method to get them used to the oil. Don't worry, they will come to enjoy it.
As for the liver or organs and even hearts in general sometimes it is a struggle, you can puree these into a soupie by themselves and then use Dab'n'Grab or try spoon feeding with them sitting in your lap.
Okay, so for the minimum 3 protein variety, this counts for both muscle meals and bone-in meals each separately. So yes, we will need to introduce some more variety with the bone-in, but we are just starting, we will get there! I don't recall, do you guys have an Asian/Ethnic store nearby? It would be cheaper than ordering online, but if all fails, there is that too.
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Kaitlyn
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 25, 2017 14:12:38 GMT -5
No worries on the late reply. I have those days too. There's a reason I have a service dog lol.
I love my hubby, he lets me overrun the house with animals, puts up with me wracking up enormous vet bills, and feeding the most expensive food we can afford. And he genuinely cares for all of us. Ratchet has wormed his way into hubby's heart, and I don't think either is about to let go.
We do not have an ethnic store nearby. We had a Mexican meat market, but it flooded during Harvey, and hasn't reopened yet, and may not, the building was in an area where it was flooded almost up the roof. We tried another place, but they don't speak English at all, and my Spanish is really, really bad. I'm apt to say something horrible, like "Your mother was a pig kidney" or something. I just ordered the other organs. It wasn't horribly expensive, and I got several pounds.
I squirted some oil on their wings this morning. It didn't dampen the enthusiasm for attacking them, so I'm sure they'll start enjoying it soon.
I'll make some liver soupie and try that. I'd put a chunk in their mouths, but I'm a chicken about liver. Hubby has to cut it up for me.
We need to go to the store anyway, so I'll make a list of what the local store has, and we can go from there.
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Post by LindaM on Sept 25, 2017 15:22:51 GMT -5
Hmmm.. maybe I can get a service fox.. I wonder if they'd allow that. The Red Fox is legal as a pet here in Utah and there's apparently a breeder deeper into the SLC area, we may go visit in spring to see their kits.
My hubby is the same.. though right now, and understandably so, he's holding my reigns on adding another furry family member just yet. But we get ours the things they need, vet when we need to vet, give the best food they need/want often costing us $300-400 a month easily. But they are not pets.. they are family members and thus deserve to be treated as such.
Ahahaha, Ratchet may be his heart ferret then. Keep an eye on them, he may spoil that little one rotten. : D
As for the language barrier.. uhm, I just point at what I want, or point at it and point at a part on me or vice versa, images from Google also help. You'd be surprised how decently that works some days. Hmm, pity. I was kinda hoping more for an Asian store.. since they carry quail, duck, rabbit, frog legs, etc. not to mention some usable organs too, and usually quite cheaply. Now, these can also be ordered from Hare Today, but may run a bit of a price by comparison.
Are you opposed to offering whole prey by any chance? Doesn't have to be live, it can be pre-culled. But I know that can make some of the best of us squirrelly, and I am currently working on myself to get to the stage of offering whole prey as well.
Let me know if you guys make progress on the liver soupie, and don't despair if it takes a few tries. Think of it like little kids and you are offering them veggies. ; P
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Kaitlyn
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 25, 2017 15:38:49 GMT -5
Foxes can't be service animals. It has to be a dog or miniature horse. And they have to be specifically trained to assist with a disability, and a doctor has to write you a letter prescribing the service animal for your disability, and pass a public access test. It also takes up to three years to train a dog. Not for the faint of heart, and not every dog can do it. I'm on my third candidate. My first one washed (we still have her as a pet), the second was PTS for rage syndrome, and Levi is the newest. Levi is only 8 months, and he's blowing his trainers socks off. But Levi still has a long road ahead of him until his "in training" patch can come off. I'm thinking about making a thread for his adventures in the off topic chat.
A fox can probably be an ESA (Emotional Support Animal) though. They don't have public access rights, but they can live in no-pet housing, and fly on airplanes. I used to have two ESA rats.
Yeah, it's really cute, we let them out, and Ratchet runs up to Hubby and takes a flying leap into his arms. Ratchet loves him so much. Paint is pretty aloof, unless he's biting my feet. I'm his favorite target.
I'm not opposed to whole prey at all. It might actually be easier to use mouse/rat as a different protein. We will look for more Asian markets, but most of the ethnic population down here is Hispanic.
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Post by LindaM on Sept 25, 2017 16:22:02 GMT -5
Haha, yeah I know. But it's not uncommon here for people to have emotional support service animals. Some even have ferrets registered for that. As for proper service animals, I do know they require a lot and that it takes a lot of work to get them up to par. I always have to control myself to not go running over to try and pet someone's service animal. They're on the job and they don't need any useless distractions.
As for ESA, yes, exactly like I stated above, so crazy common over here for some reason. But it was more in joke than anything, I don't feel I have anything medical that will count as a disability, and if I do, I don't feel it's worth to be counted among that list, I am sure there are other people out there with much bigger needs. We bought a house just recently, so I can honestly own pretty much whatever I want and how many I want, other than livestock as I can't keep those out in the yard, lol. HOA rules.. sigh... and hubby holding my reigns for now. ; P
I think it will be great if you make a thread about Levi's training as a service animal and how that progresses, I'm sure many of the members will find it interesting to learn more about the process and follow along in this journey. We had another member on here who shared her starting journey as a falconer and I know it was fascinating to us.
That's great! Once you get to the stage you are ready for doing Whole Prey with the furballs, I'll try tagging in one of the mentors or other whole prey raw feeders to give you some pointers, as whole prey is most certainly not a specialty of mine, haha.
It's great that Ratchet has bonded so well, so quickly. Don't fret about Paint, some of them take a bit of time to settle fully like that, and some are just.. a wee bit aloof and more loner ferrets than anything.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 25, 2017 18:03:30 GMT -5
No worries. I'm sorry if I came off as rude or anything. I tend to go into educator mode about service animals. A lot of people think you can just slap a vest on a dog and take it anywhere. And it's not quite that simple.
I'm jealous, I would love a fox! They're illegal in TX. If you get one, please show me pictures!
I'm currently waiting on a mentor. I signed up right after I started this thread. And you showed up and became my unofficial mentor! And you're amazing!
Yeah, I was told by someone that ferrets nip the people they like. So I'm hoping it's just Paints way of telling me he likes me lol.
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Post by LindaM on Sept 25, 2017 18:29:32 GMT -5
No, you are totally fine hon. I was worried I may have come off flippant or something myself. I tend to go into educator mode a lot myself, so there's no worries there, and I truly enjoy to learn new things. Knowledge is power after all, that age-old saying has proven itself time and time again.
I really hope we can get one, we're currently still a bit on the fence with it, because of course the safety of my ferrets are important. So we have to figure out some stuff there. Luckily the house is quite big and we do have a yard, haha. If we do get a kit, I will most certainly post up some photos. I wanted a skunk.. aka striped ferret... lol. Sadly, skunks are apparently illegal as pets here in Utah.. so yeah, I understand the woes of illegal exotic pets.
Aww, thank you! We know there can sometimes be a wait for a mentor to become available as plenty of people often sign up at once, which is why we recommend doing unofficial switching threads while waiting. That way, some of the admins, mentors or raw feeders like myself can step in and offer help until a mentor becomes available.
As for nipping.. hmm, my lot will do it if they are trying to get our attention but it isn't working.. it often starts off as a paw being put down on a foot.. then maybe a lick.. then maybe a scratch.. and then nip! You guys have kits, so you should be teaching them some bite inhibition as all ferrets need to be taught this. You can teach them what level of biting is tolerable to you guys. If it draws blood, then a 3 min timeout in the sin-bin (empty carrier or the like works perfect). If it hurts you, then sin-bin. If it's during play and it's only light nips and nibbles that are okay to you guys, then it's fine. Sometimes they get a wee bit excited during play and can give a harder nip than wanted, ours will usually apologize for it right after it happens.
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 25, 2017 20:00:37 GMT -5
Yeah, Ratchet doesn't nip at all. Paint nips enough for both of them. He runs up to my foot, and licks twice, then chomps. Then after 3 minutes in the box, he will run right back to me and chomp me again. He spends half of playtime in the box because my toes are tasty. I don't squeal or anything so he's not getting a reaction. I've had puppy bites hurt more, but still, it feels like someone pinching me.
We didn't make it to the store tonight. Hubby got wrapped up with work, and I don't go out on my own. People can't keep their hands off Levi, and I'm too chicken to tell them to quit. So I thawed some beef.
I'll make some liver soupie later this week, and pair it with the hearts or something. I know they will eat hearts.
I've never heard of skunks being illegal anywhere! That's crazy! But I guess ferrets are illegal some places too. :\
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Kaitlyn
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Occupation: Wife, Dog Enthusiest, Ferret Lover, and Gecko Chew Toy
Posts: 170
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Post by Kaitlyn on Sept 26, 2017 20:17:38 GMT -5
The boys are getting pork tonight.
We also found pork tails for another boney meat so yay!!! Now we just need one more boney protein.
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