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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 14:58:27 GMT -5
Hi. It's still much the same really. They won't finish a bowl of meat. They will eat a little and then just starve until the kibble comes Back. I'm looking after my friends ferrets while she is away at the moment so I have 5 extra! Aaaaaaah! Been a bit hectic so haven't really tried much with the meat for a week or so.
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Post by Sherry on May 17, 2011 15:01:08 GMT -5
Brats!!! Ok, do you want to hold off on the switch til the others go back, then we can start over with them? Just keep giving them what they'll eat for now, then get hardcore on their little butts ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 15:24:34 GMT -5
Ok they are going back at the end of this week. These 5 are absolutely mental. Takes me ages to get them all back in their cage. I end up with them jumping out the cage onto my head, shoulders, up my sleeves.....as i get 1 back in, another 2 jump out....and my OH just stands there laughing!
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Post by Sherry on May 17, 2011 21:11:35 GMT -5
You have my sympathies- and I DO understand where you are coming from ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2011 13:40:59 GMT -5
Hey. The surplus ferrets have now gone home so I'm ready to resume Im thawing them out some whole ground rabbit for tomorrow evening and I'm going to do my best to make them eat the lot! I bought a bottle of salmon oil too so I can drip some onto the meat to entice them to eat it. I also really want them to start eating chicken wings properly. Do turkey necks have bone in and are they good for cleaning teeth like wings are? I was thinking that if so, it might be easier to start them off with them as they might be easier to get their teeth into. What do you think?
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Post by Sherry on May 23, 2011 14:15:28 GMT -5
Good idea about the rabbit. Just don't overfeed them ;D try it without the oil first,see how they do. Then if you need it, put it on. With fish oil, it's pretty high in vit A, so you don't want them to have too much of it. Example, I give about 1/4 tsp every 3 days. When you give the wings, you may just wind up giving ONLY wings for 2-3 days, so they start eating the bone. If they've been eating some good sized chunks for a while, where they've had to chew it, their jaws should be getting strong enough to tackle bone. Before turkey necks, you may want to try the with chicken necks. The bone is much easier to eat. Turkey necks have some harder bone that will challenge them. And yes, all necks have a LOT of bone in them
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2011 4:16:43 GMT -5
Hi
I'm very confused. I gave them ground rabbit yesterday. I split it in half so I put half in when I got home from work and they ate the lot. Then I put the other half in before I went to bed so it would last better over night. They didn't touch the 2nd half and all 3 of them let themselves starve overnight. When I put the kibble back in they dived in.
Why would they suddenly seem to really like the meat and then just not eat it?
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Post by Sherry on May 28, 2011 11:04:48 GMT -5
Because they're ferrets? Since they are eating the grinds really well, try leaving the kibble out completely for a couple of days. It won't hurt them to miss a meal. Next time, give them what you are doing for that meal. When next meal time comes around, remove all the old food, give them the fresh. If they don't eat it, NEXT meal time, remove the old again, and give them some more meat, but make it one they prefer to eat. We need to wean them off the kibble habit entirely I think.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2011 10:39:18 GMT -5
Hi It seems to be going well with the ground meat at the moment. They still have kibble during the day as I'm still trying to get them to eat meat chunks and chicken wings. They will only seem to eat the tip of a wing and won't touch the rest. Maybe it's the way I'm hanging it up to the cage. I tried them with some diced turkey yesterday but all they do is drape it all over their cage and stick it to the walls.
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Post by Sherry on Jun 5, 2011 10:56:50 GMT -5
Ok, we need to ramp this up a bit ;D Since they all recognize ground raw as food, ditch the kibble for at least 2-3 days. Hopefully, you can ditch it permanently. With the ground, sliver up some meat bits, just a bit larger than the ground, about 1/4 meat bits to 3/4 ground. Mix it in well and give them that. For now, we'll leave off the wings, etc. since they aren't doing well with them. Let me know how they do with that.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2011 12:21:16 GMT -5
Is it safe to defrost meat for them in the microwave?
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Post by Sherry on Jun 5, 2011 14:17:42 GMT -5
I'm always hesitant to say yes, simply because it's far too easy to cook it. And if there is any bone, especially the bone in a commercial grind, they then become like splinters of glass for them. That said, I have been known to very slowly defrost something like heart, or other muscle meats.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2011 12:23:05 GMT -5
Theyre still confusing me!
I gave them a bowl of chicken mince last night and watched them all eat a little so I left it overnight. In the morning it looked untouched.
I took it out and gave them a fresh bowl of ox heart. When I got home from work this also looked untouched. I'm worried they are going to starve themselves as they haven't eaten for 24hours so I put kibble back in. They didn't all rush to eat it as if they were ravenous.
Could it be that I'm just so used to the amount of kibble they usually eat and that they need a lot less food when they're on raw meat? If they'd only eaten a couple of mouthfulls each I may not have noticed that there was less food in the bowl but should they be eating more than this?
There was also only 1 poo in the litter tray.
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Post by Sherry on Jun 6, 2011 13:39:01 GMT -5
I think you may need to go back to hand feeding for a short while, just to make sure they are eating enough. But first- what's the last thing they ate willingly? Try them with whatever it was. Put some ground up kibble on top of it if you need to. Leave the kibble out over night, offer the raw, and if they don't eat it, hand feed. They are yanking your chain right now, the brats! You may have to stay with ground meat for a bit. Since you had the other ferrets there, they are convinced they should only eat kibble again.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2011 13:55:03 GMT -5
The last thing they ate was the rabbit which I have run out of. I have just ordered a load more stuff and more variety so I should hopefully find something they really like.
I've got some boneless turkey mince for tomorrow, I can't imagine them not liking that. I've thrown out so much meat this week! Little terrors!
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