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Post by birdyyy on Jan 22, 2018 9:58:03 GMT -5
So, we've still been stuck on soupies. I'm currently freezing some wild duck we shot and so in a couple weeks, we'll be able to see whether a change of meat will help spur the process a bit more. We also weighed everyone and Hyde is our dominant male at two or three and he weighs less than our Cornelius who is only 3 or 4 months old. Cornelius is also much softer, smells less, is more energetic, and overall seems healthier than the older two. It's been amazing to see his transformation.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 23, 2018 8:51:41 GMT -5
What have you tried so far to get off the soup? Have you tried mixing in a bit of ground meat, or thickening the soup up to the point of a wet ground meat texture?
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Post by birdyyy on Jan 23, 2018 12:15:30 GMT -5
I have tried turkey, chicken, and a bit of pork. I think maybe we need to make the consistency more along the lines of what they're used to rather than soup. I don't know if the soup is going to work for them or if I should just keep forcing them to lick it.
What do you think about trying to make a sort of "gravy" over their current kibble? Do you think that this would work? I also think that I've been babying them a bit because they were new.
Going to run to the grocery tonight and pick up some more items. I have around 3-4 eggshells I've been prepping for them. I'm going to try and use the ground eggshells with some ground meat to give it some "crunch" and hopefully they're going to mistake it for kibble.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 24, 2018 8:15:13 GMT -5
I am a bit confused here. Your menu when I looked back mentions whole meats, but you are talking about soups?
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Post by birdyyy on Jan 24, 2018 9:31:20 GMT -5
Sorry for the confusion, our Cornelius was the only one that had transitioned to whole meats immediately. He's all set and on frankenprey 100%. Hyde and Kelso are the ones that we've been working with for transitioning because they are 3 year old rescues and did not gravitate towards the meat at all.
Last night, we ground up some beef, heart, and eggshells into a "ground" mixture rather than the soup/paste to try and mimic the sort of solid consistency they're used to with their kibble. We hand fed them around 1/3 of a pinky size of the mixture each. We use the "scruff n stuff" method on Kelso who still flings meat everywhere. Hyde is better about it and will at least try to lick the meat and will eat it when we "scruff n stuff". I have removed their kibble completely so we can actually get them to eat the meat. Is this ok? At what point should I be concerned about them losing too much weight? I weigh them regularly so I have a good baseline.
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Post by birdyyy on Jan 24, 2018 9:32:32 GMT -5
Also, we did the same method this morning with the same result. Kelso flung meat everywhere and we got him to eat just a bit. Hyde licked the meat and we were able to get him to eat 1/3 of a pinky finger sized serving.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 25, 2018 7:15:02 GMT -5
For right now, please onky remove kibble two hours before attempting soup. Give it back an hour or two later. At their age being without food for too long could precipitate a blood glucose crash. And tbh nothing about raw remotely resembles kibble. It is cold wet and slimy, whereas kibble is hard and dry. Doesn't matter how it's prepped. However of you can coax them to eat grind texture that's great tge reason we usually start with the soup is that once they gat past the taste/texture it is easier (for most- not all) to go from grab and dab to licking from a finger, to a spoon, then the dish.
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Post by birdyyy on Jan 25, 2018 9:02:24 GMT -5
I understand. I'll order some more kibble then. They honestly eat more of the solid meat with the scruff and stuff than the soup. The soup they just move their face back and forth and spray the soup everywhere. Little devils.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 26, 2018 9:45:49 GMT -5
Ferrets can be so bratty.
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Post by birdyyy on Jan 26, 2018 11:20:46 GMT -5
Yesterday morning, my SO looked at me and groggily mentioned that I had raw meat in my hair.
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Post by Sherry on Jan 27, 2018 9:03:05 GMT -5
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Post by birdyyy on Feb 7, 2018 8:25:54 GMT -5
Even though we're not making much progress with Hyde and Kelso, Cornelius ate his first whole prey this week. We froze the coots we shot in the freezer for two weeks and then gave it to him. He now throws hissing tantrums if we don't give him his food on time.
Side note: Cornelius likes to grab my dogs jowls and try to stash it. For some reason, my dog loves it.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 8, 2018 10:03:27 GMT -5
First, I need a reminder as to where hyde and kelso are at. And good for Cornelius!
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Post by Sherry on Feb 14, 2018 8:18:10 GMT -5
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