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Post by corrij on Aug 21, 2011 8:45:34 GMT -5
Good morning. It felt so weird not to update yesterday, but man were we busy. But I got a fridge!!! Not a fancy fridge or anything just a basic freezer on top fridge on bottom but it only cost 250 (well 275 with tax). The boys are doing fine. I have them in litter box boot camp at the moment and other then one spot it looks like they are back to using the litter box. Which is great. My father in law gave me some deer meat last night so I cut off a couple slivers to try on them this morning. They've sniffed it but want to play more then eat And I don't blame them they were caged for a lot of yesterday sadly. I'm going shopping this afternoon and I plan on picking up some pork (ground, chops, loin and country ribs if I can find all at an ok price). So that will be food of the week, with chicken wings as backup if they get fussy. The other thing I noticed late friday was that some of the brats poop was more not watery exactly, but thick and wet along with being a really dark blackish red. So maybe they did sample some of the organs while I had them out? Neither of them seems sick and I haven't seen poops like that today. Cyrano still tends to eat first and eat more then Draco. Which is odd given that Draco is the bigger of the two. Anyhow that's my update for the day. I'll get back to you tonight on how the venison goes over and if they'll take some pork tonight. Hope you are having a good weekend and that the fuzzies are doing well
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Post by corrij on Aug 21, 2011 11:19:39 GMT -5
Mini update: Venison was eaten quickly! Yay! By both of them. I gave them a couple bigger frozen chunks to nom on.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2011 15:01:23 GMT -5
Woo! Yay for freezer space! As for the dark stool, if it is clearing then I would assume someone ate a bit of organ meat Dark/wet/red stools in the absence of feeding organ meat (and sometimes dark red meat like beef) would be indicative of some type of ulcer or bleeding internally (not to freak you out, but just so you know ;D). And that is GREAT on the venison! They are doing so amazing with the switch let me know how the pork goes over (mine are very fond of it). The amount they will eat depends largely on the activity level. If one is more active than the other, they will usually eat more. They are also still babies and will be eating a TON for a while. Maybe 3 months at most. BUT then winter starts, and they start being piggies again ;D
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Post by corrij on Aug 21, 2011 21:15:40 GMT -5
Ok found some stewing pork on sale today grabbed that and pork necks were cheap so I grabbed a pack of that. As something for them to chew on mostly, though they do look like they have some nice marrow.
Poops are about normal. Rather dark today but I blame that on the deer meat.
:/ I hope I'm feeding them enough. They are eating a ton and so far I haven't had to throw anything out. Should I up the amount maybe? I know putting a chicken leg + thigh lasted from 8 am to almost 10pm. But other then that I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to how much I've been feeding them.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 2:24:58 GMT -5
Ok found some stewing pork on sale today grabbed that and pork necks were cheap so I grabbed a pack of that. As something for them to chew on mostly, though they do look like they have some nice marrow. That's great Hope they enjoy the pork. The neck bones will probably be too hard, but the marrow is great and they can have some fun pulling the meat off the bone. Rather dark today but I blame that on the deer meat. Most likely. It's pretty normal. You will notice the stools change daily with what you feed. I hope I'm feeding them enough. They are eating a ton and so far I haven't had to throw anything out. Should I up the amount maybe? I know putting a chicken leg + thigh lasted from 8 am to almost 10pm I would make it where they always have a bit of food in the cage. If they are finishing all the meat, they are probably still a bit hungry. I would just up the amount a bit and see if you get any left overs. If so, cut back a bit. If there's still nothing left, up it again.
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Post by corrij on Aug 22, 2011 18:48:25 GMT -5
The pork seems to have gone well. Was sort of in a hurry this morning, up at 5:20 am to be at my rides house for 6. There weren't any pork chunks left from the stewing pork, it doesn't look like the shoulders were touched though. I just tossed the last frozen leg/thigh in the cage this morning and there is still about half of it left. I'll probably just leave it over night and give them some more pork in the morning.
Tomorrow night I'm going to try giving them some trout. It's been scaled though and I was told it has lots of little bones in it. That wont be a problem will it?
Edited to add: They both got some squash too.
Is it true that you can freeze pumpkin to give them later. I did find some cans of it but they are big cans. I doubt my boys could eat it before it goes bad.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2011 21:58:04 GMT -5
The pork seems to have gone well. Was sort of in a hurry this morning, up at 5:20 am to be at my rides house for 6. There weren't any pork chunks left from the stewing pork, it doesn't look like the shoulders were touched though. Glad they liked the stewing pork! Did the shoulder have bone in it? I just tossed the last frozen leg/thigh in the cage this morning and there is still about half of it left. Wow, what good boys! I'll probably just leave it over night and give them some more pork in the morning. Sounds like a plan Tomorrow night I'm going to try giving them some trout. It's been scaled though and I was told it has lots of little bones in it. That wont be a problem will it? Trout will be fine. Watch to make sure they don't eat too fast and there should be no issues. I'd keep fish to a once a week meal type thing Is it true that you can freeze pumpkin to give them later. I did find some cans of it but they are big cans. I doubt my boys could eat it before it goes bad. Yes! You can What I do is I rub some olive oil into an ice cube tray. I add a bit of water to the pumpkin to help make it more like a syrup instead of really chunky and thick. Then I pour into the ice cube tray, let freeze, then baggie it up and store away. You can then grab a couple cubes to last a couple days, grab more when you're out, etc.
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Post by cubsfanhaynes on Aug 22, 2011 22:05:12 GMT -5
It was Pork neck we tried giving them, not shoulder, and it did have bone in it.
If you can imagine a T-Bone in steak...the pork neck had a very similar bone in it. I beat it up pretty good with a hammer, but it was already a flat bone so it was hard to break.
However, you could see marrow inside, some of the bones were already broken open, so they should have access to that.
The very first raw thing that we gave them was a breast (I believe) and they ate everything. Here lately they have been leaving the bones behind though. Should that be a concern?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2011 10:05:06 GMT -5
Ah, pork necks. My crew is too lazy for those ;D too much work to eat. I think the bone is rather hard too.
It would depend on how much bone is left over. If you mean you're finding little bits and pieces, then that's perfectly normal. On the other hand, if you are finding rather large pieces of bone not being eaten, then we will have to work a bit harder on getting most of it consumed. I would say you're just fine if they're eating about 90% of the bone in meals.
My babies will leave larger pieces like thigh or drumstick bones if I don't crush them. Same goes for necks and the heavier bones in wings.
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Post by corrij on Aug 23, 2011 19:02:45 GMT -5
I'll just boil up the neck pieces for some soup stock Things are about the same. The boys ate all their pork this morning. I got home early today and put the last few bits in from the package. They sniffed at them but didn't seem to interested. Gave them a beaten up egg to try. Draco sample a few licks and Cyrano ate about half. Based on their behavior so far I'm pretty sure the fish will go the way of everything else. I'm going to grab another chicken with organs on friday (not working then), and hopefully get them to eat those. And I'm going to try and make up a weekly meal plan by the weekend. I guess my guys have been pretty easy to switch
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2011 21:29:19 GMT -5
Yes definitely have been easy ;D So they're eating most of the bone? Good luck with the fish
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Post by cubsfanhaynes on Aug 23, 2011 21:46:21 GMT -5
They ate some of the neck bone, but they left a pretty hefty chunk behind. She gave them a wing the first time and they ate everything. Legs they tend to eat the cartilage and gnaw on the end and leave pretty big chunks. Haven't tried any other bone.
They're poop is also black and the consistency of tar. Any thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2011 22:56:40 GMT -5
Try giving the legs bone a smash and see if they eat more.
As for the black stools, what was the last meal or two? Any organs? Any bone meat?
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Post by cubsfanhaynes on Aug 24, 2011 9:58:23 GMT -5
There would have been bone in the pork necks that would have been the last meal before I noticed the black tar-like poop.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2011 14:02:50 GMT -5
Was this the first time you fed pork?
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