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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 18, 2018 20:50:58 GMT -5
Yeah, I have lots of things in his room too and he doesn't play much with them anymore. You need to rotate stuff around in their room. lol What's in the chicken meal tonight? Do you have bone meal in there too? I've read that their stool can be different because you are doing kibble and raw. I know they are at different times but it takes time for their digestive system too. It's a blend of chicken liver and gizzard with some chicken chunks. I did throw in some raw bites they did not finish as I didn't want to waste them. The raw bites contain ground bone but I did not add any bone meal. They both have been eating it but not at the rate they usually do. I don't think they are very fond of liver but it looks like they will finish it when they are hungry. You could be totally right about the kibble and raw messing up their digestion. Maybe I should just remove it entirely now. The only thing I'm missing right now from the basic Frankenprey menu is the other organs. I haven't been able to find them in any store in my area, I may need to order them.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 18, 2018 23:06:15 GMT -5
Yeah, I have lots of things in his room too and he doesn't play much with them anymore. You need to rotate stuff around in their room. lol What's in the chicken meal tonight? Do you have bone meal in there too? I've read that their stool can be different because you are doing kibble and raw. I know they are at different times but it takes time for their digestive system too. It's a blend of chicken liver and gizzard with some chicken chunks. I did throw in some raw bites they did not finish as I didn't want to waste them. The raw bites contain ground bone but I did not add any bone meal. They both have been eating it but not at the rate they usually do. I don't think they are very fond of liver but it looks like they will finish it when they are hungry. You could be totally right about the kibble and raw messing up their digestion. Maybe I should just remove it entirely now. The only thing I'm missing right now from the basic Frankenprey menu is the other organs. I haven't been able to find them in any store in my area, I may need to order them. Since you don't have bone meal in there then it will be interesting to see if their stool is "seedy" again. If not, then you will know that it could be the bone meal from the previous meal. If they are eating enough if the raw food then you may just want to take out the kibble. You can always make tiny pieces of raw beef as treats and feed them during play time. I taught my ferret to stand up and roll over. Now when I'm in a kitchen at the counter or stove preparing food he stands by my feet or stands up against my leg waiting for little pieces of raw meat. I make them really small because if the pieces are too big he will run to stash it somewhere. Lol it's so cute feeding him raw meat when I'm prepping food. Lol
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 19, 2018 21:36:40 GMT -5
No more super seedy poos today! I didn't feed any turkey or kibble today, and they are back to having nice looking stools. I fed small chicken and beef chunks with eggshell this AM which they ate all of! Before work, I left them with some lightly blended chicken, chicken heart and gizzard but they didn't eat much of it when I got back. I think they are grumpy about the chunks, lol. I gave them a generous amount of chicken and beef soup (blended this time) to fill them up but they've only sipped so far. I think they will eat more later. My Darwin's introductory order is coming soon. Excited to try this! I plan on ordering special organs from Hare Today but they don't ship out this week.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 20, 2018 10:39:39 GMT -5
If they really protest the chunks, you can try lightly covering the pieces with soup, sort of like a gravy on fries
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 20, 2018 21:09:41 GMT -5
If they really protest the chunks, you can try lightly covering the pieces with soup, sort of like a gravy on fries I think I've been making the chunks too big to start for them, they keep stashing them away and not eating them. If they are small enough, they will eat no problem. Guess I will work my way up to the bigger chunks!
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 22, 2018 1:01:05 GMT -5
Update- my youngest, Howl, looks like he may have lost some weight recently. He did come to me quite chunky, he was bigger than my 4 month old at only 12 weeks. He had been in a single ferret nation with his sister for a whole month, no exercise. He may have just lost the extra weight. He has been extremely active.
Pazu looks great!! His coat is super smooth, he has bulked up in both muscle and fat, and he is eating most meals. His energy levels fluctuate depending on the day, but he is more willing to play with his brother.
Howl again looks a bit thinner (less of a pear shape, more of a long straight line lol), and his coat is quite brittle compared to Pazu. He has become a bit more reluctant to eat his meals, but eventually I do catch him eating. It seems he has his own schedule, and he is usually the one that cleans up what's left in the bowl. He was like this with kibble as well.
Today, I introduced ground duck breast and a Darwin's chicken cat meal. I wish I knew how much liver and heart were in these meals so I could measure what they are eating. I did reach out to them, and they don't know. Hope it will be okay for now and not too much liver.
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 23, 2018 13:07:14 GMT -5
This week has been fairly successful. No more kibble, they are eating bone (in the Darwin's meals) stools have evened out, new meats have been introduced. Here is what the menu looks like from this past week (11/19-11/25) today, tomorrow, and Sunday's meals are subject to change. Let me know if I should change anything. They have been chowing down 3 meals a day. *Darwin's meals (aside from Lamb) include bone, heart, meat, gizzards, liver. 11/19- am chicken + beef chunks w/ ground eggshell pm ground beef + beef chunks, raw bites later 11/20- am 3 chicken strips + beef chunks and bone meal (no more of this, does not agree with bellies!) pm ground beef + 1 chicken heart + 2 gizzard, 1 chicken liver to share with raw bites later 11/21- am raw bites, blended duck breast + chicken chunks, egg yolk (only Howl eats this) pm Darwin's chicken meal 11/22- am Darwin's turkey meal for thanksgiving pm more turkey meal, ground beef + chicken chunks later 11/23 am Darwin's chicken meal pm blended duck breast w/ ground beef, Darwin's chicken meal later 11/24 am ground chicken thigh (I have a lot of these I need to use up!!!) w/ chunks and a tiny bit of salmon oil pm Darwin's turkey meal 11/25 am ground beef w/ beef chunks pm duck breast, Darwin's lamb meal later Please let me know if I should add any more items this week.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 23, 2018 16:00:22 GMT -5
Are you able to find any rabbit? I find my ferret likes rabbit and so does my sister's ferret!!
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 23, 2018 17:42:04 GMT -5
Are you able to find any rabbit? I find my ferret likes rabbit and so does my sister's ferret!! I have yet to find that! So far we have tried and liked... chicken turkey beef duck I have venison and lamb in the fridge to try next!
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Post by Charlie on Nov 23, 2018 22:12:44 GMT -5
You are doing awesome!! You are almost at 6 different meats!! The more variety the better!
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 23, 2018 22:50:56 GMT -5
You are doing awesome!! You are almost at 6 different meats!! The more variety the better! The encouragement is much appreciated!! In the beginning I was so determined to drop the diet as I didn't think I had the time and patience. With the help of my willing boys and support from this page, I have been able to keep at it! Thank you very much.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 24, 2018 14:07:31 GMT -5
When they are young the switch is much easier!! Eventually you can even give them mice!! It's just amazing to see them eating what they were intended to eat in the wild!! I started out with just a pinkie to start. I wanted to see what he would do with it. Instinct took over and he liked it!! Then I graduated him to a bigger mouse. I just used them as a snack. Once you get to a full size mouse then it's considered a meal. He gets 2 mice once a week which is about 2 oz like his food portion.
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 24, 2018 22:25:07 GMT -5
When they are young the switch is much easier!! Eventually you can even give them mice!! It's just amazing to see them eating what they were intended to eat in the wild!! I started out with just a pinkie to start. I wanted to see what he would do with it. Instinct took over and he liked it!! Then I graduated him to a bigger mouse. I just used them as a snack. Once you get to a full size mouse then it's considered a meal. He gets 2 mice once a week which is about 2 oz like his food portion. Wow! I can't wait to try the pinkies with them. Today the boys did not eat much. We are in the process of ripping up the carpet in their room so they no longer scratch it up and accidentally swallow pieces so they have been in the cage for the majority of the day sleeping. They finished up the overnight meal of Darwin's chicken but did not touch breakfast ( ground chicken thigh + turkey ) they usually love this meal, but they did not want it today. I had to spoon feed them both but they still did not get the amount they are supposed to. I had to throw it away and start fresh with Darwin's turkey. They usually gobble this up but they have yet to touch it without me spooning it to them. * they are currently sleeping again. I hope when they wake up later they will romp around some more and then finally eat.
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Post by Charlie on Nov 25, 2018 19:01:32 GMT -5
Oh no, I hope they get back into eating their favourite meals!! They may have eaten their dinner meal (over night) and didn't want to eat breakfast then. That happens here too so I leave their breakfast meal in all day until dinner and even then sometimes I leave in breakfast if they hardly touched it. As long as it doesn't smell bad. lol
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Post by pazupazu1 on Nov 25, 2018 22:05:14 GMT -5
Oh no, I hope they get back into eating their favourite meals!! They may have eaten their dinner meal (over night) and didn't want to eat breakfast then. That happens here too so I leave their breakfast meal in all day until dinner and even then sometimes I leave in breakfast if they hardly touched it. As long as it doesn't smell bad. lol At the end of the night, they both finished up the food (Howl needed spoon feeding) and the overnight meal had been all eaten by 8-9:30am (I am not sure who ate the most) I decided to give them the Darwin's lamb meal for breakfast for the first time and that was a no no. Neither of them wanted it. I tried topping it with ground chicken thigh which they love, but they wouldn't touch it. They went all day no food unless I spoon fed them (the chicken part) They both didn't like eating from the bowl. Later in the day, I removed it and put in a Darwin's chicken meal as that's their favorite. Howl only took it spoon fed but Pazu has been picking at it when he gets hungry. I am not so worried about him, he looks amazing since changing to raw and actually is a tad pudgy, haha. I don't know what changed with Howl. He's 15 weeks old now, and should be eating a lot. He used to be the first to chow down on the raw soups and had no problem. He even liked the Darwin's meals when I first introduced them. It worries me since he has lost a lot of weight since I got him at 12 weeks. Again, this could be due to him being able to free roam mostly now and he has a lot of exercise during the day. He is still playing a lot and drinking a good amount, it still is worrisome. Pazu, my 19 week old did however look like him at his age until he turned 4 months. Maybe I'm freaking out over nothing. Maybe I'm used to them slurping down the raw soups as it was just thigh meat or ground meat. The Darwin's meals include bone, liver, gizzard, meat etc. So it may be more filling for them? Could Howl be associating his food bowl with the new meats he doesn't care for? I will try feeding more chicken meal tonight but on a plate instead.
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