Post by Sherry on Apr 9, 2011 10:52:59 GMT -5
Hi Sherik- you're Huck is truly another Boris The hassles that boy gave me were unbelievable!
I've just skimmed through everything. You mentioned he ate fine on his own in the drawer? Have you tried giving him more meals in the drawer? He may prefer eating solo in a den type setting. I do know Boris still won't eat from the plate when the others are- and these guys have been raw fed for 3 years now.
One thing that helped Boris, and it took several weeks, was while I was hand feeding him from my lap twice a day, I just used meat pureed smooth, then progressively thicker till it was the consistency of ground. I didn't start adding in organ or bone til they were eating chunks. I did use eggshell however. With the organ meats, I did wind up making a "liver smoothie" with some heavy cream to entice them to eat it. Even at that, it had to be hand fed for about a year before they finally started eating minced up chicken livers on their own
The only thing that ultimately worked with him was to go slow and steady. I had to give the smooth puree for at least a week with no changes in it at all, and had some fights during that time, all hand fed though, before I tried thickening it a wee bit. Not enough to make him back up and say "this is different, so I'm not eating", but if I'd added say, 2 tbsp of water to the original mix, I'd leave out maybe a tsp for the next step. And feed that for at least a week. Once in a while he'd eat it fine with a lesser amount of water in his puree after about 3-4 days. Most often, it had to be the week. A week was his "magical marker" somehow And it all had to be from a dish on my lap.
I also, after about 5 weeks, started setting little bits of meat to the side of the dish I was feeding him from. Every so often he'd pick one up and spit it out again. Then one day, he grabbed a bit and ran off and ate it
We still hand fed for quite a while afterwards, although I was finally able to graduate him to eating from the dish on the floor with my hand on his back for "moral support" ;D
When we finally made the move to the cage to eat, I'd just watch to see if he ate anything after the others were finished.
I hope at least one of these suggestions will help out, although I get the feeling he's going to progress slow and steady like Boris did
I also found my own frame of mind really made a difference. More than once, I sent a pm to my mentor raging about Boris ;D I would also have to take a few deep breaths to relax myself before even attempting to feed him from time to time ;D
I had, however, simply made the decision that these guys WERE going to eat raw come h*ll or high water!!! And they ultimately did
I've just skimmed through everything. You mentioned he ate fine on his own in the drawer? Have you tried giving him more meals in the drawer? He may prefer eating solo in a den type setting. I do know Boris still won't eat from the plate when the others are- and these guys have been raw fed for 3 years now.
One thing that helped Boris, and it took several weeks, was while I was hand feeding him from my lap twice a day, I just used meat pureed smooth, then progressively thicker till it was the consistency of ground. I didn't start adding in organ or bone til they were eating chunks. I did use eggshell however. With the organ meats, I did wind up making a "liver smoothie" with some heavy cream to entice them to eat it. Even at that, it had to be hand fed for about a year before they finally started eating minced up chicken livers on their own
The only thing that ultimately worked with him was to go slow and steady. I had to give the smooth puree for at least a week with no changes in it at all, and had some fights during that time, all hand fed though, before I tried thickening it a wee bit. Not enough to make him back up and say "this is different, so I'm not eating", but if I'd added say, 2 tbsp of water to the original mix, I'd leave out maybe a tsp for the next step. And feed that for at least a week. Once in a while he'd eat it fine with a lesser amount of water in his puree after about 3-4 days. Most often, it had to be the week. A week was his "magical marker" somehow And it all had to be from a dish on my lap.
I also, after about 5 weeks, started setting little bits of meat to the side of the dish I was feeding him from. Every so often he'd pick one up and spit it out again. Then one day, he grabbed a bit and ran off and ate it
We still hand fed for quite a while afterwards, although I was finally able to graduate him to eating from the dish on the floor with my hand on his back for "moral support" ;D
When we finally made the move to the cage to eat, I'd just watch to see if he ate anything after the others were finished.
I hope at least one of these suggestions will help out, although I get the feeling he's going to progress slow and steady like Boris did
I also found my own frame of mind really made a difference. More than once, I sent a pm to my mentor raging about Boris ;D I would also have to take a few deep breaths to relax myself before even attempting to feed him from time to time ;D
I had, however, simply made the decision that these guys WERE going to eat raw come h*ll or high water!!! And they ultimately did