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Post by raven on May 23, 2018 14:42:15 GMT -5
Well scratch the ice pack idea, lifts the food mat too high and she just flips it over, I tried leaving them by the food buuuut it was stolen go figure lol. I read somewhere here that you can leave food out 12 hours before it goes bad in ferret terms, i'm not so much worried about them getting sick knowing they are made to handle that stuff, but more so worried about when the food is no longer appetizing to them so I can know when to swap it out so that when they are hungry it's there. Also if it is okay to leave it out 12 hours maybe I could start leaving some in their cage instead of the kibble? On the plus side Usagi ate all by herself today not much but at least that gives me the idea she'll come and go as she pleases. Akira has still had better things to do so far today so we'll see.
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Post by raven on May 23, 2018 22:49:42 GMT -5
I guess now it's technically easier for me to say what they are eating in combined ounces, I've been trying to keep track who's eating what but i'm not doing well. I lump the food into two groups so they each and have their own but there's nothing really keeping them to that lump. Usagi ate by her self today, but I've still been leading them both with a spoon to the food on the mat about every hour sometimes they'll eat, sometimes they wont. they don't eat for very long though. 5-6 pmish is when they start gearing up to nap and Akira is just not all that interested in eating still. I've been feeding them on a mat right outside their cage because I thought that was easier access especially while they are out running a muck. I saw them getting drowsy, it's around 5 so I put the food in their cage where I normally feed them their kibble and Akira started eating it right away. And when they went to sleep I put the ice pack back under the board for my on peace of mind. I tried to spoon fed them as it go later in the night since they didn't eat as much as i hoped during the day but over all they ate very little. Guess I backed off a little too much.
Should I just feed in their cage from now on, or switch between inside and out? 1. Ferret's name: Akira 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten Kibble available at night, 2.3oz (1.15oz per ferret) combined raw soup 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Think they slept more today 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil
1. Ferret's name: Usagi 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten Kibble available at night, 2.3oz (1.15oz per ferret) combined raw soup 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Think they slept more today 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil
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Post by LindaM on May 24, 2018 12:01:16 GMT -5
Excellent! You girls have made great progress in my absence, LOL! I'm very pleased that Usagi and Akira will eat by themselves now.
So just so you have it, I'm gonna list the entire time frames for raw to be left out.
HOW LONG TO LEAVE RAW OUT FOR: Soups: 6-8 hours Grinds: 8-12 hours Chunks: 10-24 hours (depending on size eg. the bigger the chunks are, the longer they'll last) Bone-in Meats: 12-24 hours (again, depending on size) Whole Prey: up to 48 hours
Now, if your home is very hot or humid, these times will need to be decreased a bit accordingly. Our home is kept around 68-72F at all times, and I haven't actually dealt with meat rotting issues, at most the meat my crew stashes will air-dry into ferret jerky.
I would feed wherever you feel they are most comfortable to eat. When my babies were still kept in cages at night, I would feed breakfast for them in the kitchen (it was open plan in the apartment we had before we bought our house) when they came out in the mornings, but feed their dinner in the cage while putting them away for the night. Now that my crew have their own bedroom and are free-roaming 24/7, I simply put their bowls down on the floor of their room for breakfast and dinner. (Other than Loki and Apollo right now who are fed in the cage at night because I am still needing to keep Loki as still as possible and Apollo keeps him company.) So keeping things like that in consideration, you can honestly feed them wherever you feel they'd be most comfortable or what would be easier for you, but if you are seeing a lot of success using the cage, then go for that.
I would be pretty wary using an ice-pack, ferret teeth are sharp and could pierce it, the liquid inside is poisonous to be ingested. Often when one needs to provide extra cooling on hot days for example, you can use frozen water bottles, which would be a safer option to use.
As for the mat, is the grippy surface on the bottom using something like rubber or silicone? If that's the case, I wouldn't be using it at all. While the grip it gives is nice, ferrets are like crows to shiny things when it comes to rubber and the like, and they will chew bits off and ingest them which can very quickly lead to a life-threatening blockage.
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Post by raven on May 24, 2018 15:07:41 GMT -5
Yeah i had thought about that with the ice packs I ended up just filling some plastic baggies with water and freezing them, and I just place it under the food while they sleep and then I remove them when they are awake because it will just become a toy lol. Akira is obsessed with water bottles, it wouldn't stand a chance.
The mat is Polypropylene, it's more textured than a soft grip. I haven't seen either one of them show interest in chewing on it so far. Is that still too risky?
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Post by LindaM on May 24, 2018 18:16:19 GMT -5
A very large majority of ferrets are obsessed with water bottles. Mine have around 10+ empty Dasani water bottles stashed in their room and elsewhere, if the amount hits below 10, then the equilibrium of everything has been upset and little ferrets scramble to find and steal more to replenish the stash. Ares and Apollo will sometimes argue over whose bottle a specific one is too. Personally, I wouldn't risk it myself, but most definitely don't leave them unattended with it. So the problem with ferrets that usually arise for people when it comes to a totally unexpected blockage, is that their ferret has never shown interest in chewing things for years, and then just once decided to give chewing something a go, and it ends up fatal. Reference: holisticferretforum.com/health/blockages/
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Post by raven on May 24, 2018 19:39:00 GMT -5
Akira seems to be a go big or go home kind of gal. Usagi is perfectly content with stashing little toys, Akira wont touch them if it's not a water bottle, my purse, anything larger than her it's not worth her time Lol. Neither seem to be interested in socks.
Hmm bummer that seemed to be working out well for them, maybe i'll see about some flat marble coasters or something like that i'm just hoping that will be less flip-able but I might as well try a plastic plate like you mentioned before while i'm at it.
Speaking of I don't think either have eaten on their own today but they have been when I lead them to it, but not eating much when they do, we're barely at 1oz each so far today.
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Post by LindaM on May 24, 2018 19:52:11 GMT -5
There's always the option of a large, flat, heavy ceramic serving plate. Some ceramic pieces can be quite heavy and they struggle to move or flip them. I use a large ceramic bowl for their water in the room while the cages have lock-crocks.
Athena loves all things to stash, big or small. We often buy toys from Patchwork Pets, she adores those and will run around with a toy twice her size that she needs to stuff in somewhere.
Hmm, I'd continue to work with them a little more over the next few days, get them good and used to eating from their food, making sure they know where it is. Even on days I have some that don't want to eat right away, we show them where the food is at least.
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Post by raven on May 24, 2018 23:56:54 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Akira 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten Kibble available at night, 2oz combined raw soup (1oz per ferret) 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Think they slept more today 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Thursday: Wysong, Raw soup
1. Ferret's name: Usagi 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten Kibble available at night, 2oz combined raw soup (1oz per ferret) 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Think they slept more today 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Thursday: Wysong, Raw soup
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Post by raven on May 25, 2018 14:28:15 GMT -5
So I got a heavy marble soap holder to use for their food, I took off the rubber things from the bottom so it's just a hard slab all around no extra pieces.
Last night I gave them less kibble, and then left a small plate of raw food in their cage. They ate all the kibble and maybe 0.2oz of the raw food lol. Not much but it does look like hey at least touched it. I wonder if it's safe to only leave raw in there or maybe it's too soon because they really arn't eating enough right now.
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Post by LindaM on May 25, 2018 15:44:49 GMT -5
If you want, we can try for one evening to see what they will do if you remove the kibble and just put raw in with them. It's not a permanent removal quite yet, just a single evening trial for now to see if they will be fine eating from just the raw in their cage.
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Post by raven on May 25, 2018 23:22:42 GMT -5
Usagi ate for at least a minute straight after I eased her to the food from a spoon, I would say she ate about 0.5oz in one setting. Akira is still too busy to be bothered lol. I tried to entice her more with a little egg on top and she sniffed it and walked away. I tried her again about 5 mins after she was more interested in the egg parts of course but she did eat some of the raw as well.
1. Ferret's name: Akira 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten 2.6oz combined raw soup (about 1.3oz per ferret), about 1/3 of egg 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Normal play day. 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Thursday: Wysong, Raw soup Friday: Raw soup, Egg (More than Usagi)
1. Ferret's name: Usagi 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten 2.6oz combined raw soup (about 1.3oz per ferret), maybe 1/4 of egg might be less. 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Normal play day. 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Thursday: Wysong, Raw soup Friday: Raw soup, Egg
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Post by raven on May 26, 2018 9:53:49 GMT -5
So they didn't eat anything last night..
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Post by LindaM on May 26, 2018 11:00:48 GMT -5
Okay, let's work with them some more on the raw during the day only then, before we take the kibble away at night entirely. I would ideally like them to be more eager starting by themselves, because that is always a good sign of acceptance of the raw as a food source, which would mean more success at them accepting it when hungry through the night.
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Post by raven on May 26, 2018 14:21:48 GMT -5
I thought they would be more willing to eat today seeing how they didn't eat last night but still very little willingness and no eating on their own since that one time on wednesday. If I wait for them to eat on their own it's very little, if I keep trying to lead them sometimes they'll eat a bit more but not always, and then if I hold them and feed them they will eat a bit more but usually there is lots of struggling. I'm not expecting much progress today after their nap but we'll see.
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Post by raven on May 26, 2018 23:31:26 GMT -5
1. Ferret's name: Akira 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten Kibble available at night, 2oz combined raw soup (about 1oz per ferret), about half a tablespoon of egg 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Normal play day. 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Thursday: Wysong, Raw soup Friday: Raw soup, Egg (More than Usagi) Saturday: Wysong, Raw Soup, Egg
1. Ferret's name: Usagi 2. Ferret's weight: 3. Ferret's Daily Medications: None 4. Ferret has eaten Kibble available at night, 2oz combined raw soup (about 1oz per ferret), about half a tablespoon of egg 5. Stools are a bit wet but have shape 6. Activity levels: Normal play day. 7. Weekly menu:
Monday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Tuesday: Wysong, Raw soup Wednesday: Wysong, raw soup, Salmon oil Thursday: Wysong, Raw soup Friday: Raw soup, Egg Saturday: Wysong, Raw Soup, Egg
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