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Post by trippyferret on Mar 28, 2011 11:29:25 GMT -5
Things seem to be getting back to normal here. Salem ate out of the bowl on her own last night and this morning! I'm so glad, and I hope she continues to do this well. It was really stressing me out having to spoon feed her. This morning I just watched her eat and smiled. It truly is a relief. I'm really hoping to have Penny's ADV test results today. It's been 6 days since I sent them off, and I am so ready to move her into the ferret room(all these precautions are stressful too!). She loves her soup and once I get her moved in I'm going start adding some chunks. Oh, and little Gwen is doing great too! She is eating anything I puree for her; last night was kidneys and she seemed to like them! The only thing she is really iffy about is pureed beef.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2011 17:53:13 GMT -5
Sounds like things are coming together better now! Here's hoping that Salem keeps eating on her own, she really needs to get comfortable with that
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2011 17:55:01 GMT -5
I wouldn't fret too much about the beef on Gwen's part - that can be a really tricky meat to feed (my guys will only occasionally eat it, and generally only in the shedding time when they're rabid little stomaches with teeth anyway).
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Post by trippyferret on Mar 30, 2011 19:04:10 GMT -5
Oh, they're shedding alright, and bad too! Been dosing everyone up with pumpkin. Salem is doing wonderful eating out of the bowl. Three days in a row, I think she's back to normal! Tonight I'll put some gizzard chunks in Penny's soup, see how she likes it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2011 13:49:13 GMT -5
That's great - seems like she just needed to find her feet with the new diet. And Penny's really progressing? What's all in her soup?
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Post by trippyferret on Apr 1, 2011 15:59:59 GMT -5
Penpen's getting the same soup as Salem atm. I haven't started the chunks yet, but probably after this weekend. Stressed because we think Salem might have adrenal disease. She is having IBD symptoms(diarrhea and gurgly tummy, plus it makes sense with the way she'd been eating the past month), bloating, been more sleepy, and appears to have some sort of bruising on her abdomen, around where her spleen is. The vet I took her to this morning is not very ferret knowledgeable, he kept going on about hyperestrogenism which is just a fancy word for adrenal, but he kept saying it was different from adrenal and that there was little I could do if she did have it. He tried to take a blood test but he didn't even do it in the right place for ferrets, which is from the vena cava. So no wonder he didn't get any blood! Grrrr.) So I'm going to be taking her in to an exotics vet soon, it's about 40 minutes away.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2011 23:46:02 GMT -5
I'm so sorry - I know how frustrating unsuitable vets can be (I'm still trying to find a vet who knows about ferrets and aren't total jerks [although if they're ferret knowledgeable I can live with the jerk part, LOL]). I know you've got a lot on your plate, but the sooner you get the baby on chunks and stuff the better. She'll be less likely to get so attached to soup and be less likely to refuse chunks.
I'll be sending best wishes your way. Good luck with your babes!
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Post by trippyferret on Apr 2, 2011 16:47:51 GMT -5
Thank you Annie. At least if it's adrenal it is treatable for a while. I'm just sad, she's my baby girl, my soul ferret, and also my very first ferret! Hopefully I can get her into that exotics vet soon. However, I have a bit of good news. Last night I gave Penny what was left over of the big kids' chicken thigh. When I gave it to her she immediately latched onto it, and then tried to stash it in her litter box (which thankfully, I'd just cleaned). But I did not see her eat it. This morning, I couldn't find it anywhere, checked all the stash spots and came up empty... so, I think she ate it! I also added a good bit of small chunks to her soup this morning and she ate those no problem.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2011 21:49:11 GMT -5
That's so great! Young 'uns are amazing With Pen, I would try giving her the option of chunks, as well, to see if she'll skip the soup completely (and consistently). You might be surprised! And I completely understand. I have that same relationship with Pixie, especially after losing her littermate at a young age. It's nerve-wracking and stressful, but these little guys are definitely worth it
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Post by trippyferret on Apr 3, 2011 22:30:17 GMT -5
Gah. I was wrong. I found the darn thigh. It did look somewhat more gnawed on though, so I'm hoping she at least took a few bites. She's doing great with the chunks in her soups though. I'll try to see if she'll eat em on her own tomorrow probably.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2011 19:36:55 GMT -5
Even mouthing it is a good thing (she'll build up a familiarity with the taste of it). Definitely try the increased chunks and tell me how it goes.
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Post by trippyferret on Apr 6, 2011 15:46:51 GMT -5
So I've got Pen on half soup/half chunks, and I've been increasing the size daily so far with not too much resistance. She will stash the chunks at first sometimes, but I will come back later to find she has eaten them. So that's good! I've also started putting a few teeny chunks back in Salem's soups, and of course she has reverted back to spoon feeding. *sigh* I was trying to change the soup as little as possible to avoid a relapse, but I guess any tiny change is enough to set her off. Grrrr!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2011 19:41:40 GMT -5
Re: Pen - YAY! That's great, and we should be able to keep moving her forward.
As for Salem - sadly that's really typical. What it's going to take is you spoon feeding her the new soup until it "clicks" like before and she starts to eat it on her own. Don't give up, although I know it's frustrating and tedious to do it for every meal. You *can* outstubborn her!
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Post by trippyferret on Apr 9, 2011 16:52:22 GMT -5
Sorry I've been a little MIA lately, school just started back so I've been pretty busy! I've hit a little roadblock with Pen. I guess I went too fast for her because she is spitting out the chunks and only eating the soup around them. I'll go down a bit in size and see if she does better. Salem's still doing the same, still having to feed her from a spoon. I tried Gwen on some pureed goat last night but she was not having that at all!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2011 20:18:04 GMT -5
Oh, hey, that's okay - it's crunch time for me, so you definitely have my sympathies ;D
Sounds like you've got things covered, though. Pen's sliding sounds about normal, mostly because soup is a really easy, tasty way of getting food. A ferret that doesn't have to work for food, won't. And they'll throw a fuss if you try to change that! So, yeah, reduce the size of the chunk, but not the AMOUNT of them, first for a few days, and if she's still not having it, you can try for another light tasting meat she might accept. Last, since Pen is young and healthy, if her rebellion stretches out for long, I'd try still OFFERING some soup with chunks, but only enough to whet her appetite. Get her hungry and she might just give in.
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