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Post by Sherry on Feb 15, 2011 22:02:51 GMT -5
as for your meat eaters, something like this for a feeding den might be more helpful: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=raw&action=display&thread=4160For Sasha and Anks, keep using the heavy cream for now if it gets them eating Same thing with Dozer. You can always reduce whatever lure you are using later on. Don't forget- it took me over 6 weeks to transition 4 ferrets- you are doing 14
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Post by acodlin on Feb 15, 2011 22:19:27 GMT -5
Thats exactly what kind of den I'm using. Once they rip it off they go and stash it =/ only difference in mine is that its a sterilite container and not a cardboard box. Its really bad with the wings, if they do dig into it they can rip it off easily no matter where I hook it through. They had a harder time with the drumstick I think because they hadnt eaten enough off of it to pull it off the hook..
Why must they stash meat!
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Post by Sherry on Feb 15, 2011 23:41:26 GMT -5
Because they're ferrets?
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Post by acodlin on Feb 17, 2011 23:42:35 GMT -5
Kodiak and Church are ripping into some duck neck tonight yay! I'm proud of myself, I butchered a whole duck lol. I usually just ask my boyfriend to cut up any of the bigger pieces but he's been busy and I was afraid it would go bad if I didnt get it cut up soon...soo that was an hour long experience, duck chunks and blood everywhere! I saved all of the skin and fat, I'm going to try to add some of that to the next batch of soupies. I added a few little chunks to start with into their night time bowl of soupie so hopefully they will eat it. Berry kinda turned her nose up at the neck, but I'm thinking about locking her in our bedroom at night with us and only her raw meat to eat. She keeps eating the kibble I set out at night for gizmo and dozer.. I'm thinking maybe if she has no access to it that she'll get back on track. I hate keeping her from the other ferrets but its only for a few hours.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 18, 2011 11:08:51 GMT -5
First- YAY on the duck neck success(AND your first real butchering attempt ). As for Berry- def. keep her separated for now to keep her eating raw. Kibble is addictive for them. It's the carbs. And that's ONE addiction a carnivore doesn't need
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Post by acodlin on Feb 21, 2011 16:33:23 GMT -5
Berry is doing a little better. She's eating soupie and lastnight I caught her eating some duck leg *yay*. Weighed her lastnight and shes up to 2 lbs! weighs more than some of my other girls and shes smaller, shes a chunky little thing!
Had another little one dumped on me three days ago. A friend of my boyfriends bought a baby ferret and then decided that he was too much work and so we ended up with the little guy. He's 2 1/2 months old, been fed almost straight mushy marshalls food. Poor guy had a very tiny cage with nothing but wood shavings in it. No hammock, no bed of any kind, no toys.. just him the shavings and a bowl of food/water bottle. His nails are past ridiculous, his fur was full of clumps of who knows what. He's doing pretty good so far, offered him soupies but he only tried a little bite before he walked off. He's not as bouncy or curious as my other ferrets when they were babies.. not sure if its from the lack of stimulation he had or what it is. He's got a vet appointment in two weeks but I can move it up if I think he needs to be seen asap. He does get up and explore a little bit, and he'll wrestle with my hand so I'm not completely worried. Maybe its just his personality so far? Hopefully I'll have more success with the soupies tonight, might try to mix it with some wetted down marshalls.
Everyone else is doing okay with eating soupies, I added some duck chunks to their regular soupie and it seems to be going over well. Naobi is having troubles again with the strange color poops, she's going back to the vets to be retested for giardia. If thats not it then I hope its just IBD. I'm a little worried about her, she sleeps ALOT, easy to wake up though and shows no other problems.. but I may only see her actually awake twice a day, I'm sure she wakes up to eat more often than that but she must go right back to sleep. Shes got a pretty round belly too, the vet felt her belly really well last time and didnt feel anything abnormal but it doesnt look right to me. I'm hoping theres no tumors or something that we are missing =/
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Post by Sherry on Feb 21, 2011 22:02:01 GMT -5
Starting from the bottom- that round belly sounds like an enlarged spleen. They can enlarge over low grade infections, adrenal, insulinoma, or nothing at all, for whatever reason. But that combined with the lethargy and the funky stools makes me wonder a bit. How old is she now? Those are all also symptoms of adrenal disease. Not all ferrets get the sexual aggression, nor the fur loss. And congrats on taking in an unwanted baby He obviously needs you. Right now, he'll need a lot of extra TLC, since he is so unsure of where he's supposed to be. He was yanked from mamma and sibs at 4-5 weeks, surgery, resulting owies, to a holding station, to a pet store, to a "home", where he got NOTHING, and now to you. All in just over 5-6 weeks. Not much wonder he's needing some lovin's. I'd actually try him with some chopped meats, diced small. He'll quite likely enjoy the difference in diet. And Berry is being SUCH a little stinker Since she's eaten the duck leg, I'd just keep giving her regular meats. Don't let that little monkey play you ;D With the rest, just keep adding more chunks, and less soups, til they are eating all chunks.
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Post by acodlin on Feb 28, 2011 14:14:15 GMT -5
Naobi has a vet appointment for next week so we'll see what the vet thinks about her. She's somewhere in the 3-4 range. I really dont know for sure, I adopted her and 5 of her brothers and sisters from a humane society back in october and they said they were 3 years old then. Dean (her brother) is already adrenal and has a des implant, I suspect sam (another brother) could be too, but he's not showing classic signs either like dean did. Lastime I went about the funky stools he said she could have IBD. The new baby is doing pretty awesome, he loves soupies and he really likes to chew on bone. He found some homemade ferret duck jerky and went to town on it *yuk!* I put some fresh out and he did pretty well with it as long as there wasnt alot of skin. Once he gets some jaw strength i'm sure he'll be okay with it. He is having diarrhea so i'm trying to get some pumpkin in him, but he hates it! he'll eat it disguised in soupie but it doesnt seem like he's getting enough that way because he's still having some really runny poo. Berry is doing much better, she's eating mostly solid chunks at night and whatever I put out in the den, during the day she'll eat soupies with the rest of the gang. I keep trying to get someone else to cross over to the dark side lol but no one seems to make the connection that the meat in the den is the same thing as in the bowl. I added a little rabbit to the soupies yesterday and it was met with some resistance. I got that look.. you know the -Do you think I wouldn't notice mom?- look. Highly suspicious stuff. About half of it was eaten this morning. I really only put maybe 1/4 cup of it in there, didnt think they would be able to tell the difference once it was all mixed in! Duck is definently the new fav around here though, they LOVE the wings, it doesnt have much meat on it at all but its the best chew toy ever lol. Necks are wonderful, they've eaten 2 whole necks so far and they go quicker than anything else. They seem to like anything in the poultry family best. I put out a pork neck the other day and they didnt even eat it at all =/ Still absolutely refuse beef in any form. We made some stir fry the other night and when I was slicing the meat up I saved a few pieces and ofcourse they acted like it was poison.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 28, 2011 20:09:07 GMT -5
It really does sound like they aren't going to take to beef. Some do, some don't! If you really need them to(as an extra protein), you could start it well- disguised in their soup. Teensy bit of pureed beef(approx. 1/2 tsp) well mixed in with the rest of the soup, and just keep increasing the beef, decreasing the other. If it's not going to be a concern, ignore the above ;D With the little one, just to be on the safe side, have a stool spec done. If that rules anything out, then just chalk it up to stress and diet change. It should settle down in a week or two more. It's quite possible he was on something really cheap and his tummy is having a problem with the richness of the diet, even if his mouth doesn't Since they don't yet make the connection of box= food, try just moving the dish closer and closer to the box, then finally INSIDE the box. That way, they have their dish, and you have the feeding den Once they go there for their food, you can remove the dish!
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Post by acodlin on Mar 3, 2011 23:02:57 GMT -5
I did want the beef as another protein to give them variety but I can try and work that in later once I've got everyone eating plain raw chunks.
Baby dexter's stool is looking better, I think it was just a big change for him.
Question though, exactly how long do you let them chew on a piece of meat? I had a chicken wing out the other day and it smelled a little funky but they were still eating it. Not sure if I should take it away or let them finish it off.. It seems like the meat is more appealing after it's sat for a little while O.o
Another question, I realized the other day that maybe I'm not giving them enough heart. Each ferret should have atleast 1 chicken liver and 1 heart (for taurine) a week right? I made soupie twice a week and I dont add in 15 hearts each time, usually 5 or 6. Should I buy some taurine supplements to make sure they are getting enough? Even once I get them all completely on raw it'll be hard to tell if each ferret is getting enough taurine unless I hand feed their heart to them, same with the liver.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 4, 2011 0:37:54 GMT -5
You can add supplements if you think the switch is going to take a while. When they are on full raw, they'll likely eat 3-4 hearts each, at least once a week, preferably twice to cover your bases. If it's only once a week though, they should be ok. When I feed heart, that's all I give for that particular meal, to make sure they have enough. With the liver, yes, it's one chicken liver(or equivalent of another type) per week. As for how long to leave the meat? Generally if it's bad, they won't eat it. Chicken can smell "funky" without being bad, though. And yes, some do prefer it "aged" ;D With the baby, it would be the diet change, the new home, new friends, etc. All a LOT for a little fellow! Glad to hear he's doing better
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Post by acodlin on Mar 10, 2011 0:43:36 GMT -5
Baby dexter is starting to eat lots of chunks of raw meat if I hand feed him (If I dont he stashes it and Im not sure if he eats it or not). He'll gnaw on whatever I put in the feeding den and he eats soupies. He hasnt had any kibble in two weeks now and he's doing pretty well with that. I'm going to try and feed him some plain organs. He's pretty much eaten anything I've put in front of him.. I'm thinking I might try beef with him and maybe since he's young he'll accept it better. Berry is eating chunks again, she's really only wanting chicken or duck. She's ignoring everything else so I think i'll get some turkey legs, would that count as three different proteins since its still all poultry? She's a picky little brat and she likes to grab mouthfuls to go, too busy to sit and eat all in one sitting! I've got Tasha eating tiny chunks of chicken/duck if I hand feed her too, I had to put a drop or two of ferretone on it at first to get her started but she doesnt need that now. She still nibbles on the kibble at night but I think she's almost ready to be seperated from the kibble bowl. So far I have Dexter, Berry, Kodiak, Church and possibly tasha soon eating all raw. I think Dean will be the next one I push, he's been absolutely great with the soupies and he'll always eat that first at night before he'll touch kibble. IHopefully he'll take to the chunks he sniffs it and walks off usually but I know he really liked chicken baby food so I'm thinking a little dab of that might encourage him to eat it, have to get some though!
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Post by Sherry on Mar 10, 2011 10:22:41 GMT -5
Wow- you're working your way through them quickly ;D With Dexter, have you tried hanging his food for him? Some do seem to prefer it that way. They can't resist biting something dangling over their heads Berry's being a fussy little brat. Try giving her some pork chunks for an entire day and night. I'm willing to be if she gets hungry enough she'll eat it And she's healthy enough to last that long. Although those are technically 3 different proteins, I'm not overly comfortable with her just having fowl, but let me check with Heather. She'd have a much better idea since she's fed raw a LOT longer than I have. If you can keep her food to a feeding den(or mostly!), she'd be able to nibble all she wanted Although they don't always like to go along with OUR plans ;D That's fantastic about Tasha! How are the raw eaters doing with the bone and organ?
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Post by acodlin on Mar 10, 2011 12:49:50 GMT -5
All of the raw eaters will eat meat out of the feeding den, usually what I'm hanging in there are chicken/duck wings, chicken/duck drumsticks, chicken thighs I still put out pork neck bones but they dont eat those bones as well. Tasha hasnt started eating bone yet but like I said, she's getting there slowly, she showed some interest this morning in a chicken thigh that I had slashed up for dexter. As for the organs, they do best when they are mixed with something. No one seems to want anything to do with plain liver. Dexter nibbled on some heart this morning, he was still sleepy when I woke him up so he didnt eat much but I don't think it'll be too much of an issue for him but the others I still have to mix it in with soupies to get them to eat it.
I havent tried dangling the food for dexter, its just attached to the feeding den usually, and he does awesome with that.. I hear him in there all the time shaking the crap out of it. He hasnt quite figured out how to get around in the FN142 cage yet but I'll try and hang it on the side of the cage and see how he does.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 10, 2011 19:08:03 GMT -5
If he's doing well with what he's got, that's what counts And I know what you mean about the liver Took a year of hand feeding liver soupies before mine would even consider touching plain chicken livers, let along turkey or beef! Sounds like things are coming along nicely
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