pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 16, 2017 23:16:05 GMT -5
*nods* I live in hunting country haha. easy to get those goodies.
I've been trying. He's just... he's difficult.
Nope, he doesn't like milk. But he will steal black coffee or green tea. I don't drink it black so it's not a problem for me but he used to steal a lap or two of my dad's.
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 16, 2017 23:31:57 GMT -5
I believe people hunt up here too.. I just don't know anyone who does that I could ask for parts, don't get to see any in the stores, and haven't gone up to hunt myself. Been thinking about going and doing it though. And been promising every bambi (what I like to call each and every deer whether doe or stag) that I see, that I will be coming for it/my ferrets would love to eat it.
Don't be hard on yourself, it's like their hobby in life to make things difficult for us. We will try until we've exhausted everything. Is there no cheese type at ALL that he might give a shot? Cheddar? Romano? Swiss? Parmesan? American? Havarti? H*ll, butterkäse (buttercheese) even!
Well, poop. I definitely don't want to be encouraging him to be a caffeine junkie, so that idea is out. And I don't think.. they should get tea..?
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 17, 2017 1:11:44 GMT -5
Haha I have a lot of people in my church who hunt. I am mooching their refuse. They don't want the heart so I get it. And I've tried cheddar, swiss, provolone, and Parmesan. And I guess Asiago. Pretty much any cheese that I bring into my house because I like it Uhh... I don't know? He only likes green tea I don't think that has caffeine
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 17, 2017 21:25:00 GMT -5
Yeah he just carried off the french fry as soon as he realized I had a can of wet food.
the boys loved their hammer beaten chicken leg and deer heart though LOL
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 17, 2017 22:04:58 GMT -5
So glad the boys are enjoying their meals. <3 And they are definitely eating the bones and not simply stashing them somewhere, correct?
Sigh.. this kitty. He really has a thing about the wet food huh... Let me talk with some people and see if we can come up with another approach for him.
How about a little pop quiz to see if there are any specific areas in the raw diet that we need to work on?
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 17, 2017 23:02:57 GMT -5
Yep. I found little bone bits stashed about the cage but it was only one or two. Not a whole leg's worth.
Yeaaah. He's a brat.
Sure!
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 17, 2017 23:21:19 GMT -5
That's fine, as long as most of it ends up in their tummies, then we are good. The problems arise when some of them just stash the bones and don't actually eat them.
So try to answer these without looking up the answers, we'll go over any you struggle with afterwards.
1. Name 3 different organs aside from liver. 2. How can you tell if your ferret has too much or too little bone in their diet? 3. Is heart considered a muscle meat? 4. You've run out of heart. Name two back-up sources of Taurine. 5. Which natural, healthy item can you give your ferret to help prevent hairballs, how much of it and how often? 6. BONUS Question: Describe the Blockage Protocol.
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 18, 2017 0:53:36 GMT -5
1: Pancreas, Kidney, Spleen. 2: To little is dark runny poo, too much is white and crusty poo and constipation. 3: Yes 4: Powdered taurine and I don't know 5: Egg once a week, not sure on amounts And I don't know
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 18, 2017 1:09:09 GMT -5
Okay, let's go through the answers. 1: Pancreas, Kidney, Spleen. Correct!2: To little is dark runny poo, too much is white and crusty poo and constipation. Sort of correct. Too little will lead to overly soft and runny poop, but it won't necessarily be different in color. The dark, tarry poops you might be thinking of are common with organ and heart meals, but doesn't denote too little bone in the overall diet. And too much bone will lead to chalky hard poops, and sometimes the poops may also look seedy.3: Yes Kind of a trick question. Yes, heart is a muscle meat. But due to its importance in the ferret's diet, it's pretty much in a category of its own.4: Powdered taurine and I don't know Yes, the other one is beef tongue (only beef tongue and not that of other animals).5: Egg once a week, not sure on amounts Yes, raw egg. Raw egg can be served with white and yolk whisked together, or with the yolk by itself. Never ever feed the white by itself, as it can lead to a biotin deficiency over time. Raw egg should be offered 1 egg (chicken) per ferret, per week. Double the amount in the shedding season. If you offer quail eggs instead which are much smaller, they can have 3 per week and about 5 during the shedding season.6. And I don't know Okay, so this one is very important for every ferrent to know, so I am going to link to the whole article: holisticferretforum.com/health/blockages/blockage-protocol/ But in short, it's 1tbsp of pure pumpkin, followed by 1tsp of original vaseline one hour later (repeat until big, gloopy orange poops occur which is usually in about 4 hours). If the ferret becomes very lethargic, crashes, or begins to vomit during any stage, rush to the nearest vet.Do you know how much of the taurine supplement to use if you do not have heart available? And speaking of eggs, have the wee fuzzles had some raw eggs? I can't quite recall right now. Also, if you have time sometime, could you make me a list of the available brands of either small cans of wet cat food or pouches of wet cat food that you can find easily in your area?
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 18, 2017 18:06:10 GMT -5
I don't know the amounts no. And they've had small amounts of raw egg on the days that the dog gets her egg.
And pretty much anything petco carries is available to me.... I have no clue how many brands they have
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 18, 2017 23:13:03 GMT -5
Okay, so should you ever find yourself in a bind and without heart, while beef tongue should be your first preference for replacing it temporarily, you can also use the taurine powder. The measurement is 250mg twice a day, once with the AM meal and once with PM meal, for a total of 500mg a day. Why two measurements? Due to a ferrets' digestive time, their wee bodies can only absorb so much of it at a time, and the rest will be excreted in their urine. Thus, twice a day to be sure they get that full amount.
Are yours shedding right now? My lot are going through a shed as their winter coats come in. So everyone is definitely getting a full egg and a half each, at least right now. You can offer 2 eggs per ferret during a shed to help prevent the hairballs when it becomes such an obvious bother, like I'm not kidding.. I cuddle anyone for a bit and I look like part ferret afterwards. Last week hubby went through 2 t-shirts a day, changing every time after they try to turn him into a ferret too. Kitty is also shedding for his winter coat. When giving the egg, just keep an eye on poops and I don't give more than a full egg on any given day, many ferrets will not eat more than the whole thing, if even that in one go, and it can upset some fuzzies' tummies more than others. You can always spread their egg out through the week, and it makes it much easier when you are doing the double egg in the shedding seasons too.
Do you have a Petsmart in the area too? Been a while since I actually went through a Petco, I could see if the hubby is up to letting me take a gander through one over the weekend so I can get an idea of the brands again. I'd like to see if there are any specific ones we might want to try with your kitty, I'll try an correlate it to which ones my own stinker was most willing to try too, because Lord knows, I had to go through sooooo many with him to find ones that he was willing to try when we first got started.
And I don't want it to be the poorest quality ones either.. though somehow those tend to be the ones they'd try the easiest, but we will avoid that as best we can. I'm not one for being happy about offering poison in a can or pouch, LOL.
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 19, 2017 0:49:08 GMT -5
That sounds good to me, but heart is easier for me to get from tongue. Mine aren't shedding bad that I've noticed, but when they start I'll start adding eggs No, only petco. And I've tried all the high end ones they have there. Merrik brands, halo, etc. Yeah I know <3
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 19, 2017 15:06:42 GMT -5
That's perfect, just making sure you know what you can do should you possibly ever come into the situation where you can't get heart for any reason. You'd be taught the same from a mentor, it's all just to make sure you are prepared for whatever may come. ^^
You can't get a hold of any of the following brands, can you? Evo Weruva Nulo Wild Calling ZiwiPeak Hound & Gatos Nature's Variety Instinct Wellness/Wellness Core
Another thing we can try to introduce the wet food, is to dish a teeny bit and crumble kibble over it, or stir in some crushed kibbles.
|
|
pegleg
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 180
|
Post by pegleg on Oct 19, 2017 18:25:18 GMT -5
If those, all I can get is the last two and I've tried both in the past.
And I can try that!
|
|
|
Post by LindaM on Oct 20, 2017 13:03:04 GMT -5
Hmm.. pity about that, those are some of the better brands on the market. Wild Calling and Hound & Gatos are both 96% meat-based ones.
As for NV Instinct, they recently brought out some pouches, you may give those a shot. Hades accepted those well before he accepted trying the canned they offer, and I am still very squirrelly about NV's canned foods as I've seen the bone shards in those and they are very brittle and sharp enough to get cut on.
As for Wellness/Wellness Core.. Wellness does some pouches too, sadly contains veggies in most, but it may be a starting point and then work him off onto the Core, which has a better/healthier selection. Though you could try some of their tiny cans, recently they have started offering "cuts/shreds" in the WC range where it was once just pates.. so perhaps try those before trying the pates. Hades always hated and refused to touch pate wet foods, and I think it may have been how used to kibble he was at first, so it may be the same for yours, so try with the shreds/cuts/minced first.
|
|