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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2011 18:31:34 GMT -5
You have (by my count) 4 different proteins - cgh, chicken, pork, and rabbit. You have two types of organ; I'm counting 8 bone in meals; two meals of hearts, and the rest muscle meat.
So, all that looks good. All we need is the part where the type of meals are moved around for variety's sake, but I take it - from what you said - that that'll be forthcoming when you get it worked out to where it fits best with you?
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Post by melcab on Aug 22, 2011 7:51:34 GMT -5
Yes I'm working on getting it so that it's alternating both between bone-in meats and organs and muscle meat and also between different proteins.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 13:06:25 GMT -5
Ok, sounds good. It can be a bit confusing so let me know if you want any help
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Post by melcab on Aug 22, 2011 21:55:49 GMT -5
Well they had CGH yesterday morning and hearts with squash last night. CGH this morning and I was GOING to give them organs tonight, but I noticed that they both have a greenish diarrhea today. Before I totally freak out I'm giving them bone-in rabbit and squash tonight and hoping they just need more bone. They aren't acting any differently, this morning they were their usual, perky selves during their OOC time. But you may have noticed the other thread(s) I have going about Ginny having a rash that I think might be due to fleas. Ron has them too, but no rash. It's odd. So I gave them a bath in Dawn (as suggested by Sherry) and that really seems to have done the trick for the fleas. Hopefully the diarrhea is nothing and the bone will help with it. They have an appt to see the vet next Wed. anyway for their first "meet the vet" checkup so unless there is a real emergency before then (GODS I hope not!) I'll mention it if it hasn't cleared up.
I'm hoping this vet is open to the raw diet. I ain't changing even if she isn't, but it would be a lot easier if she is at least open minded about it. I'm a little nervous because the vet tech or whoever answered the phone, it wasn't the actual vet, told me that the ferrets can't get Distemper from a dog and that the vaccine was for Ferret Distemper. Is that true? I was pretty sure they could get canine distemper. Anyways, that's not about the diet so I'll stop here lol.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 22:08:10 GMT -5
It's okay! You can discuss any questions here. I might not know the answers, but I'll tell you what I know and you can x-post to the main forum as well Ferrets DO get canine distemper, research says that they do not contract FELINE distemper, despite claims to the otherwise. So, yeah, I'd be a bit :\ about the situation as well. (of course the most promising course for vaccines is baby boosters, 1st year, and 4th year, if you don't want to revaccinate each year, esp. for distemper. titers have shown levels are sufficiently high to forego vaccines following this course). Yeah, I'd see how they act with more bone. Greenish loose stool isn't always a precursor to bad things, just sometimes they get a little GI upset going on and it passes
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2011 23:33:23 GMT -5
how we doing?
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Post by melcab on Aug 31, 2011 14:07:06 GMT -5
Sorry. I was at a conference all weekend (drove back and forth, so fuzzies were fine, but no time for anything else.) And then lost power for two days because of the hurricane! That was fun for about half a day, but after that it got old. So because of the whole diarrhea and then we had to deal with the freezer being off we still haven't gotten to a perfect menu yet. They are still eating CGH, rabbit, pork and chicken plus 2 heart meals and 1 chicken liver + pork kidney meal per week though. I think the diarrhea might have been due to stress from fleas because it got better after their baths when the itching went down. I gave them hearts 2 meals ago and they seem to be handling it ok again. They had hearts right before this happened and were due to have them again according to the menu I put together but I decided to delay that in favor of bone-in meat. I'm sure that helped with the stress poops too. They have their first vet visit today and are getting their rabies shot (apparently it's the law in MA...that is if "the law" knows you have ferrets ) Distemper will have to wait for my wallet and their systems to catch up. I didn't want to overload them with vaccines that they may react to. We are to wait in the office after the shots just in case. I hope the vet doesn't freak when she finds out they eat raw...too bad for her if she doesn't like it though cuz clearly they are healthier. They have more energy and their coats are delicious!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2011 14:11:25 GMT -5
It's the law here in VA, too, but my vets never pressure me into it so I guess I'm lucky! That's fine, but thanks for telling me what happened - I appreciate it. Good luck working with the menu, and when you get it rearranged just post it here
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2011 17:43:15 GMT -5
check in?
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Post by melcab on Sept 14, 2011 9:06:50 GMT -5
Hi. Sorry I've been MIA. School just started up.
Well I'm still working on alternating the menu, but I make sure they are having the 8-9 bone in, 2-3 muscle meats, 2 hearts and 1 organ. Right now the organ is chicken liver and pork kidney.
Sunday: meal 1: CGH quarter, with 2 teaspoons of babyfood squash mixed with a bit of chicken babyfood meal 2: chicken hearts
Monday: meal 1:Bone in Rabbit w squash meal 2: chicken liver and pork kidney
Tues: meal 1: chicken wing meal 2: pork chunks
Weds.: meal 1: CGH quarter w/sq bbfood mixture meal 2: chicken hearts
Thurs.: meal 1: Bone in rabbit w squash meal 2: pork chunks
Friday: meal 1: chicken wing meal 2: rabbit
Sat.: meal 1: rabbit w/bbfood mix meal 2: CGH
I bought some lamb this week to try out too. I hope they like it because I don't lol. Maybe I'll give it to the cat if they don't like it. He eats anything. Anyway, how does it look? I think it has everything, but I can't see it all in this little typing box.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2011 13:14:12 GMT -5
I was starting to worry about you! This menu looks good - 4 staple protein sources, organ meals with variety, 2 meals of hearts. The only thing I see is that you have 7 meals of bone in, not eight (I take it the meals labeled just "rabbit" are not bone in, since you specify elsewhere "bone in rabbit." Correct?). I'd personally add another bone in rabbit to a day when you have cgh, OR if you can get small pork bones (button bones and riblets), you can have a pork bone in day since you only have 2 other pork meals); or you can add in turkey bones for a new meat that may (depending on where you are) be easy to keep as a staple.
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Post by melcab on Sept 15, 2011 21:49:05 GMT -5
Sorry. Kids went back to school. Major schedule changes and it's back to "early to bed, early to rise". Actually, I just missed labeling one bone-in although they eat less of the bones when it's the leg vs the ribs and back. Pretty much everything I give them except the pork so far has bone in it. Usually though they eat only the smaller bones even on CGH and rabbit. So should I be counting the larger leg parts of the CGH and rabbit as muscle meat only? They tend to eat the joints off, but leave some of the leg bone behind.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2011 12:24:07 GMT -5
It does depend on how much they eat. It sounds like those bones really are more stimulating to them than a source of nutrients, so I would really label that as boneless (leg bones are thick, and tend to be left behind for most ferrets, as are most weight bearing bones are).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2011 21:22:13 GMT -5
hey, how's the menu coming?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2011 0:56:08 GMT -5
check in?
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