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Post by LindaM on Jan 28, 2018 23:08:36 GMT -5
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lycorisousa
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 29, 2018 10:17:46 GMT -5
Yea it's was a little off because I didn't get much to change up until this week. I'll make sure to make those adjustments for this week. Waiting for the mice still might have to get some from petsmart until they come in. Is it okay for them to have those 4 times a week or is that too much of one type?
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lycorisousa
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 29, 2018 11:10:27 GMT -5
I do want to take the time to thank you for helping me with this. I am so grateful and hope none of my comments come off as rude or short, some times I get a little paranoid about it.
Going into the third week I am seeing more changes in them. It's nice to see Orion up and running around rather than taking to the cage to just sit and eat. Arioch, while hi energy when I got her, certainly has more now. Not sure if it was just a warming up stage but she is a lot more active with us. Normally if I tried to she would run away or just squirm out of my hands she would greet me when I got home. She lets me hold her longer, chases me around the house and plays games.
We are still struggling a bit with those organ meals, they are eating them but it seems to be roughly around 1.50 ounces they are eating of those I cut it down to 3oz (organ only others have been 4oz) since that's the estimate over all they were eating. I don't know if it's the blood that eventually pulls in it that turns them off from it or what. Roommate even tested last night by pulling out the cod skins, they wanted those but not the organs (obviously their favorite but it's for treats only) we didn't let them have them they know where we keep them and if we walk over there they follow us.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 29, 2018 14:07:04 GMT -5
You are very welcome hon. Glad to help out. And no, none of your comments have ever come off as rude or short, don't worry. Arioch may have a taken a little to warm up to you more (it seems to happen with the girlies most), versus it being an energy thing. But if they are happily bounding around and playing games, versus just sitting in the cage, then that's great. I remember when I first switched and started noticing the changes in my own, Loki was always more concerned with sleeping somewhere and like an hour or so of being active, and suddenly he'd be up for hours in the day... and getting into more trouble, haha. Remind me how you offer your organ meals again? My lot get theirs pureed (so they don't go stashing it since it just rots vs the other types) and fed to them by spoon so I can be sure all four ate it. If they only eat a little of it, you can offer the remainder to them with a spoon, or maybe a tiny drizzle of salmon oil as incentive. And ferrets will ALWAYS go for the treats, no matter if they are hungry or not, so it's not quite the best way to gauge things with. As for the mice 4 times a week, yes you can do that. Using 4 Alt. meals will mean 7 Bone-in, 1 Muscle, 1 Heart, and 1 Organ to be balanced. Just make sure that you still offer enough other variety too, eg. turkey and chicken for bone-in, and maybe pork or beef for the muscle. You can also ALWAYS change up your menu with whatever proteins you have available, your menu isn't ever set in stone. Just be sure to offer at least 3-4 different proteins in it each time, 2 of those being the minimum different proteins in bone-in meals.
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lycorisousa
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 29, 2018 17:17:42 GMT -5
I was a little jealous when Orion was all friends and cuddly with my roommate but I ended up just trying to get bonded with Arioch. Arioch was always into things and causing trouble she even learned how to break out of her first cage (which was horrible). Orion would just sit and eat maybe play for an hour and then go eat and sleep.
The organ is being ground up and if I remember I mix a little salmon oil in with them, lately the salmon oil has been going into their eggs but I can change it back over to the salmon oil to see if that will work. They don't have any issues taking to eggs. oh yea, it always seems like they want those cod skins when we can get them. They are really popular at Petsmart right now.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I'm making their menus in the future, and I have to get my roommate adjusted on what they should be eating. I have the charts readily available to look at.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 30, 2018 1:53:44 GMT -5
If they have no issues eating the eggs as is, then I feel their weekly dose of salmon oil will serve you better in the organ meals.
Hmm, which Cod Skins do you get? I'm not familiar with Petsmart really selling the healthy treats (I get mine from a holistic pet supply store or online). There isn't any salt or anything like that in the ingredients, right?
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lycorisousa
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 30, 2018 15:25:48 GMT -5
If they have no issues eating the eggs as is, then I feel their weekly dose of salmon oil will serve you better in the organ meals. Hmm, which Cod Skins do you get? I'm not familiar with Petsmart really selling the healthy treats (I get mine from a holistic pet supply store or online). There isn't any salt or anything like that in the ingredients, right? I checked the makers website before giving them to then and cod skin was the only ingredient. They are from only natural, they started selling freeze dried raw treats think pure bites is the other brand they are carrying. Mine has a single table with just raw treats on it but I try to check before purchasing. We cut them up so they last a bit since we try not to give them too often. m.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Only-Natural-Pet-Freeze-Dried-Raw-Cod-Skin-Dog-Chew/999596.9.aspx
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Post by LindaM on Jan 30, 2018 16:27:25 GMT -5
Ah, good, just checking. I do know about them selling PureBites (they also have some other brands but those tend to include salt or another bad ingredient), I used to buy the PureBites from them before I stopped using it since they mostly focus on liver treats. Now I kinda just do Orijen, Vital Essentials and Sojo's Simply.
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lycorisousa
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 30, 2018 17:51:14 GMT -5
I noticed that with the pure bites too then j noticed the cod skin on the other display. They have other treats that would probably go better for my dogs but the cod skin is .99 plus there is always a $2 of coupon with them so I try and get 4 at a time. People grab handfuls of them when they actually have them.
I used to do the nbones before I knew better but they only ever had 2 of them. What I hope was my dog stole the bag and ate them found the evidence later in the ferret stash but I'm certain they just stole the empty bag since the day they went missing they weren't let out until I noticed they were gone.
Meat itself is going to have some natural sodium right? I always grab the ones that say no added salt but there seems to be sodium in it.
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Post by LindaM on Jan 30, 2018 18:02:15 GMT -5
Yeah, there is always a very small amount of naturally occurring sodium in raw meats, but the problem tends to come in when people have also soaked them in a sodium/salt solution to tenderize meat (most often seen with pork), or to cure meats. You'll notice that the pet jerky treats pretty much ALWAYS mention salt in the ingredients.
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lycorisousa
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Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Post by lycorisousa on Jan 30, 2018 19:35:27 GMT -5
Wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy or over salting my ferrets.
The blade is coming in tomorrow and I had decided to wait on the rabbits until they came in. They have already been deskinned what would be the best way of dividing up the meat for the meals? What about the head?
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Post by LindaM on Jan 31, 2018 14:49:20 GMT -5
Nope, you're not crazy at all dear.
Yay! New knife to MAUL things with! Personally, I just chop up the whole thing into some large chunks and weigh out portions to the amounts I know my ferrets consume. I always make sure that my chunk sizes will make them work for the food, they have to crunch through the bones and shear off pieces of meat to be able to swallow it. When it is a totally new protein though, you may opt for starting with some smaller pieces first and then working their way up/mixing some in with an already beloved protein, if they end up fussing incredibly hard over it. My bunnies sadly do not come with head as I get it from the Asian Market up in the city most of the time, cheaper for 4 ferrets, lol. But usually you can take the head and simply cleave it in half so they can get at the goodies inside (BRAAAAAAAAIIINNSSSSSSSSS!) or you can even chop the whole thing into some chunks for them to munch at.
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lycorisousa
Junior Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
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Posts: 133
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Post by lycorisousa on Feb 4, 2018 21:50:58 GMT -5
Nope, you're not crazy at all dear. Yay! New knife to MAUL things with! Personally, I just chop up the whole thing into some large chunks and weigh out portions to the amounts I know my ferrets consume. I always make sure that my chunk sizes will make them work for the food, they have to crunch through the bones and shear off pieces of meat to be able to swallow it. When it is a totally new protein though, you may opt for starting with some smaller pieces first and then working their way up/mixing some in with an already beloved protein, if they end up fussing incredibly hard over it. My bunnies sadly do not come with head as I get it from the Asian Market up in the city most of the time, cheaper for 4 ferrets, lol. But usually you can take the head and simply cleave it in half so they can get at the goodies inside (BRAAAAAAAAIIINNSSSSSSSSS!) or you can even chop the whole thing into some chunks for them to munch at. It looked like one of them had it's head and the other one didn't head is currently in the freezer like I'm some sort of crazy person. We are going to try and make our way to that asian market during a not later part of the day because they carry stranger meats like kangrooand such which might be interesting for them to try. It seems like I have been moved to an official transitioning thread, thank you again so much for your help. You have been amazing and hope to take what you have taught me into this. Thank you!
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Post by LindaM on Feb 4, 2018 22:00:15 GMT -5
You are absolutely welcome hon!
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