stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Jan 22, 2018 14:11:07 GMT -5
Yeah he seems fine now. His blood work is back and all is fine except his BG was super low which is weird because they had taken it just a week prior to that and was fine. (Both times he was fasted). So we go on Wednesday to do another one without him fasted and see what happens.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 23, 2018 9:02:15 GMT -5
I believe I saw Amanda mention about the difference between in house and out of house with bg over on the fb group. I honestly think you should have a meter at home.
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Jan 23, 2018 9:53:20 GMT -5
Is there a particular type that is recommended? I can also research around. I just have no idea where to begin with that. Echo went in her for dental appointment this morning. Keeping my fingers crossed for a smooth appointment for her.
Echo and Winston ate over 7 ounces yesterday including the 1.5 that Winston threw up which probably makes up for the extra consumption. They're handling slivers well but as soon as it becomes a small chunk they pick them out. They pick them up and set them outside the bowl and eat everything else. So I'll keep up with the slivers. The most I've put in so far has been about a dozen. Maybe a tad less.
Echo and Winston's poop continues to be weird. Sometimes a bit more watery than I'd prefer but that could be the salmon oil and introductions with the babies. So I can't really say I'm worried about it but definitely aware of it.
Rogue and Calamity are handling it all well except that their food stashing has a new level of enthusiasm that didn't seem to exist before. I went ahead and knocked out that 15th meal that I had on the menu and figure it's fine if they have loose poops when it's a chicken heart, one bone-in meal, then an organ day.
I'd really like to find another bone-in option in order to get rid of duck. Duck has so much fat compared to meat and they either don't eat the fat or they throw it back up. So as much as they love it I'd like a different bone-in besides rabbit, quail, and chicken. Any ideas?
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Post by Sherry on Jan 24, 2018 8:12:26 GMT -5
As for meters, Alpha Trak 2 is meant for animals, but expensive. I use a Reli-On human meter. For those, you have to take the meter in to the vet with you, have the vet do a blood glucose test, and you do a blood glucose test, then compare the two numbers. That will let you know how much you need to add or subtract each time you do a reading. As they are handling slivers well, start increasing the number of slivers to the amount of soup. When it gets to half and half soup/slivers start increasing the size a bit. Again, just about half again the size, and a half dozen to a dozen pieces. With spring around the corner you are likely starting to see appetites decreasing as well for Rogue and Calamity. Can you feed whole prey, like mice? That is always a good addition for them. Turkey necks are another, though you need a good cleaver to chop them up. There should be others listed in the basic frankenprey menu in the raw feeding board.
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Jan 27, 2018 11:52:13 GMT -5
Sorry about the delay! It's been crazy around here.
I'll wait until February to buy it for budget purposes but I'll get the Alpha Trak 2.
When I upped the sliver size Echo started picking them out of the soup and leaving them beside the bowl hahaha. She'll eat some of them but not others. Still progress though. Their eating has been all over this week... 5 oz some days, 7 oz other days, even 10 oz one day. At this point I'm just making sure to feed them as much as they'll eat.
Now that Calamity and Rogue have been introduced to them and everyone is getting along great (yay!!!) I'm having a hard time keeping Rogue and Calamity from eating the soup unless I separate them and I feel weird about keeping food from Winston for too long since he's been officially diagnosed with insulinoma. So I haven't figured out a solution for that yet...
They put him on prednisone but I think I'm going to see the other ferret vet next month and get him some prednisolone based on that big thread on facebook.
I am seeing diets decrease a bit for Rogue and Calamity and am so glad to have the warning up front or I'd be really worried about it! It's not much of a decrease yet but definitely eating less. Maybe an ounce a day less right now.
I technically can feed whole prey yes but my husband is not sold on the idea and one step at a time with him too haha. Maybe once I get all four up to speed with frankenprey I can introduce whole prey without much of a fuss. He loves the fuzzbutts and takes great care of them but is still a bit squeamish with the raw food thing.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 28, 2018 10:22:18 GMT -5
Sometimes when switching a new the others backslide a bit. I'd not worry overly. What you CAN do with Winston is simply feed him a small separate meal sometime between the other feedings. The great thing about raw is even ferrets with insulinoma don't need to eat as often as they are MUCH more stable. Even our girl with a malignant pancreatic cancer was stable(as stable as she could be) on every 6 hours. And her "stable" was a BG in the 30's.
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Jan 28, 2018 22:06:50 GMT -5
Rogue and Calamity only ate 1.9 oz combined today. I think it's probably a combination of things.
1. I've moved their food area so I can have a better place for Echo and Winston's food. I assume they'll get used to this but may take a couple days . 2. They're pouty that I won't give them soup. 3. I've opened up another room for them to have access to and they're super distracted.
So. They'll get the meal again tonight (chicken heart which they usually love these days).
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Post by Sherry on Jan 29, 2018 8:25:53 GMT -5
All in all sounding pretty good ![:)](http://www.holisticferretforum.com/images/Ferret_Smilies/smile.GIF)
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Jan 30, 2018 7:44:42 GMT -5
Do you think it's okay that Winston only is interested in eating once every 12 hours or so? He eats big meals when he does eat and he'll eat some more if I encourage him at other times but when left to his own devices he only eats about every 12 hours. Maybe this is how adult ferrets eat and I'm just used to the seven month olds? Who probably munch every 4 to 6 hours? With his insulinoma this 12 hour thing worries me but he is eating "enough" from what I understand.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 31, 2018 7:15:14 GMT -5
Sounds about right ![:)](http://www.holisticferretforum.com/images/Ferret_Smilies/smile.GIF) If he starts showing signs of nausea and not wanting to eat at the usual time then you may have to hand feed a small extra meal part way. But otherwise just make sure there is enough in there for him to have a snack if he need it. I feed twice a day. Some feed once a day. Same amounts, just either all at once or split.
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Jan 31, 2018 8:15:54 GMT -5
Okie dokie. Here is the current slivers situation: imgur.com/a/rbiFq. That's got Echo's name written all over it. They're bigger than the end of a pinky nail. Probably the full size of a pinky nail. She probably ate a few of them but that's the majority of them right there haha. Winston won't finish it off when it's just chunks but he will eat them when they're covered in soup. This soup phase seems so slow! They both go to a different vet on Monday. After reading more into insulinoma and healthy BG levels I can't help but think she has it too. And I want a second opinion on adrenal because they continue to itch like crazy and when they were in the bath that first day I got them I could definitely see thinning hair at the base of their tails. The first vet insists that they don't have adrenal but I'm not convinced. Rogue and Calamity are doing well and I've been slowly increasing the size of their chunks. It seems if I get carried away with myself and put out too big of chunks they just go stash it and don't eat it.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 1, 2018 10:48:02 GMT -5
Not bad for beginners ![:)](http://www.holisticferretforum.com/images/Ferret_Smilies/smile.GIF) if you like, you can make them a bit smaller around, and longer. Again like before, think meat "spaghetti" in larger form ![;)](http://www.holisticferretforum.com/images/Ferret_Smilies/wink.GIF) The itching could well be adrenal, but spring shed likely has something to do with it the itching as well.
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Feb 2, 2018 11:38:50 GMT -5
Do you think I can also start trying to introduce them to grinds? Or should I stick with one route at a time?
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Post by Sherry on Feb 3, 2018 10:00:43 GMT -5
If grinds are going to be part of their diet definitely ![:)](http://www.holisticferretforum.com/images/Ferret_Smilies/smile.GIF)
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stacylo
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Post by stacylo on Feb 8, 2018 9:54:16 GMT -5
There seems to be some forward progress with Finn (Winston) and Echo with the texture of the soup. Yesterday I was in a hurry and put out a bowl that was thicker/chunkier than I had wished it was and I thought to myself "oh they're just going to lick around those pieces" but when I got home they had eaten everything in the bowl. So to get them into grinds I have mixed a bit of the grinds in with the soupy. So at this point it's about 50% grind, 30% chicken pieces bigger than slivers but not chunks, and 20% soup.
They've been eating a lot more lately too. 8-10 ounces the last few days.
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