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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2011 16:18:19 GMT -5
I'm a dork. Replace "Zupreem" with "ZiwiPeak" in all my previous posts. ~Kelli
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Post by Sherry on Nov 18, 2011 20:23:08 GMT -5
I know what you mean I'm really on the fence about Ziwipeak, simply because of the chicory syrup in it. Most ferrets really seem to get addicted to this stuff, though! Likely because of the syrup ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2011 20:50:59 GMT -5
oh... it was part of my sample pack from CHP... I shall delve deeper! He ate a third bowl today of the chicken/venison, that might be why lol
~Kelli
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Post by Sherry on Nov 18, 2011 20:58:24 GMT -5
Sounds like he's doing really well on the freeze dried so far! Are you rehydrating it yet? To get him over to the actual meat, he's going to have to get used to a wet texture as well.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2011 14:22:32 GMT -5
I try twice a day with rehydrated, after the beef incidents it hasn't gone so well. Last night I dunked his turkey steaks in the soup after another spoon feeding failure and let him have those as treats, he ate em all up. Figured it would get the taste of the soup in his mouth. At bedtime I left a small bowlful of soup in his cage sprinkled with turkey steak bits and this morning most of it was gone. It looks like he drank all the liquid and ate some of meat. This morning I made a fresh batch and tried the spoon again. No go, still did the magnet thing. This is the frustrated momma part. Remember how if I dab it on his nose he runs to the broom to clean it off? Well... I was holding him and he was doing the magnet thing and the broom thing again so... I smooshed his head down into the bowl so it was all over his chin. Not nice I know. I didn't do it meanly but it was a battle of wills and I had to win... After that he figured out how much he loved it and ate half the soup including the meat bits. Maybe he's gun shy of the spoon? And oh holy poops. If I didn't know, from reading all the other posts, that they have less poo on a more natural diet I would be FREAKED out right now. When we first got him he was on Marshall's kibble and his poops were H U G E! I took him off that crap and got him on better stuff (for kibbles) and his poops halved in size, frequency, and smell. Now that he's eating freeze dried his poops have halved gain and don't clear the room. Plus he has this adorable fat roll around his neck I'll weigh him later today since it's been a week. I'm also out of liver, what I had on hand went nasty so I tossed it. Can you freeze liver? I didn't know if it would break down too much? And our Grocers have Cornish hens on sale 2-$5 and I think that's a decent price so I'm gonna grab one to have on hand and look for other organs I would love to work up to feeding whole prey (not live) as a 'snack' when Daddy isn't home *cough* Deviant *cough* I'm doing a pseudo-experiment with this process, since SO is allergic I'm tracking his symptoms along with Loki's improved diet to see if it helps. All the more ammo to use to up the ante on our agreement about Loki's diet. Muwhahahahaha! >;P ~Kelli
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 0:12:11 GMT -5
Good news Loki ate about 50-60ml of rehydrated freeze dried soup tonight, actually it was more like toothpaste consistency. The stella and chewys rehydrates better and I didn't account for that when I made it, but Loki ate it all up and then licked the bowl clean He's got lamb and venison freeze dried in his bowl for overnight snacks, I'll let you know how much he eats tomorrow. Todays weight was 3.25 lbs. Activity level seems increased but that might be because I'm looking for it. He also learned his first trick this weekend ~Kelli *edit* I just thought...as I removed Loki from my desk for the bazillionth time, that he's getting into more trouble this week. He's figured out all the naughty places and even sneakier ways to get into them. I don't know if its the improved diet or his age (almost 7mo) but it goes with his activity. Also, I made a second batch of chicken soup and I think he was full he licked it a couple times and ran off to play.
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Post by Sherry on Nov 20, 2011 11:45:37 GMT -5
I shouldn't laugh, but yes, the increased energy is because of the diet As for freezing meats, I do it all the time. Just portion, baggie and freeze That way, all you do is take a couple days worth out of the freezer and toss it in the fridge. And yes, it's also possible he's associated the spoon with feeling so ill(the beef). It does happen. For the longest time, Boris would only eat out of ONE dish. If his meat was in any other, it suddenly wasn't food With the cornish hen, toss it in the freezer til he's ready for whole meats. Then bring it out, portion and baggie it, and refreeze If your SO's allergies DO decrease, and I'd not be too surprised if they do, it won't be for a few months yet. Most likely after Loki's next shed. Although the extra moisture he's getting now will certainly help, and it decreases dried skin, and the resulting dander. How do his allergies display? Hay fever type with eyes and sinuses, or a contact dermatitis? And just to let you know- right now, Loki's going to be a little piggy for a while. His body has to make up on all the nutrition he'd not been getting on the kibbles. That will happen for a month or two, then he'll level out on amounts. So plan on him eating a TON! Once he's doing well on the whole raw, pick up some pinkies and we can go from there That's how I got mine eating whole prey, and hubby knew nothing about it, since he was so totally against it They got their meeces on Saturday nights after he went to bed! And if you like, since he's taken to the S & C so well rehydrated, we can start mixing in a raw puree in the next couple of days Let me know!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 23:20:12 GMT -5
Just posting so I can keep track of soup amounts: AM - 1 whole chicken patty (NOMNOMNOM) PM - 1/4 lamb patty (if I hafta) 1/4 chicken patty 1/2 a freaking huge chicken liver. ~Kelli *edit: I bought chicken livers (I hope its okay I only do chicken ones, I can get beef if its better to alternate but with his reaction to the beef freeze dried I didn't want to take the chance) I also got a package of chicken hearts and gizzards, I plan on portioning it tomorrow. I tried to get the package with the most hearts in it. As for chicken to puree, I can't find an answer anywhere, is there a difference between white meat and dark meat? I bought chicken thighs. Should I mix the two or is dark meat ok as his chicken source? I also didn't get the cornish hens, the sale was over and they wanted $10 each! For something the size of a drumstick! Hoping they go on sale again soon. ~Kelli
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Post by Sherry on Nov 21, 2011 0:48:52 GMT -5
With his reaction to beef, stay away from it in all forms. If you find a different type later, great. If not, don't worry about it And any part of the animal(of ANY) kind is fine. They certainly don't separate the meat by colour when eating whole prey . As for the Cornish hen, leave it til he's eating chunks and for trying none in meats. Think about the cost this way- my original four ferrets would eat on 1/2 Cornish hen for an entire day with some left over. So for one ferret that bird would wind up as almost 8 meals! Most hens are 1-2 lbs. most males will eat 4-6 ounces a day.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2011 16:51:55 GMT -5
This morning was 'one of those days' so Loki didn't get soup, plus he had most of the freeze dried lamb still in his bowl so I left him with that. He ate the rest of the freeze dried today while I was in class. He's eating lamb without reaction but very reluctantly, took him two days to eat the half bowlful I gave him. He was eating three times that of the chicken variety in one day.
I portioned out the livers into 3 to 5oz packages (some of those livers are Godzilla sized, eech! sad what they feed our food *shudders*) and the gizzards into 3oz packages. There were NO hearts in the package I bought so I must have put the wrong one back on the shelf, grr!
After class today I took a boneless, skinless chicken breast (meant for our dinner tonight LOL) and pureed it until smooth with just enough water it didn't bind up my food processor. I added a dozen pea-sized raw chicken chunks in there and chunked the gizzard into pea sized chunks to see how he's take it. I gave him 3ozs of this to try.
LOVED IT!
Ate a couple of spoonfuls (YaY Spoon!) and then started trying to stash the chunks so I put him back in his cage with the soup so he couldn't stash it my sofa (still working on a feeding den, his cage sort of sucks.) He ate another few bites, mostly the pea-sized chunks and he was happy hissing the WHOLE TIME!
So, after doing the crazy-ferret-mom-happy-dance, here are my questions: How often can he have liver as most or all of a meal? How often can he have gizzards? (He REALLY liked these!) Can gizzards be a main meal? How long can I leave the soup out? How many ounces (or mLs, I can work in either) should I be planning on per meal? I know he's tucking in right now for winter and b/c of the switch, I'm just looking for a ball-park for portioning purposes.
This is going a lot better than I expected, I still want to keep him on freeze dried for overnight/throughout the day but I'm cautiously optimistic. I have another protein question but I'll post that in the main boards section so other people can add to it if they have questions too.
~Kelli (Still dancing!)
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Post by Sherry on Nov 21, 2011 20:43:32 GMT -5
He's eating lamb without reaction but very reluctantly He'll get used to it They are a lot like us with likes and dislikes. But as long as he's eating it- it's another protein! some of those livers are Godzilla sized, Weigh them. No more than 2oz of liver a week. That is fantastic!!! If he's eating the chunks so well, add more, and reduce the soup How often can he have liver as most or all of a meal? As a whole meal? Once a week. How often can he have gizzards? (He REALLY liked these!) Mine love them as well. A natural version of "rubber" ;D As part of a balanced diet, he can have them weekly if you like. And yes, they can be a main meal no problem How long can I leave the soup out? If it gets a coating on it, he won't eat it. I tend to leave soup out no more than 6 hours. How many ounces (or mLs, I can work in either) should I be planning on per meal? Hard to say right now! My males will eat anywhere between 2-4 oz per meal. For now, I'd plan on 3. You can always put more in if he finishes it all.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2011 12:49:58 GMT -5
So yesterday Loki ate just under 3 ozs of chicken breast puree, pumpkin consistency, plus the freeze dried and half a turkey steak patty, the little lardbutt! No chunks in the puree since I didn't have any more chicken dethawed. Activity level is through the roof, the three of us are having a hard time keeping up. He also associates the sound of a faucet running with soups (rehydrated freeze dried) so anytime you wash your hands he starts begging LOL I left him with 2 ozs of chicken puree plus a half handful of FD chunks in his bowl last night, over night he ate 50%. Oink Oink. This morning he got 2oz chicken puree and 6 large marble sized chicken thigh chunks. Gone. I put more chunks in his bowl instead of the FD he normally gets to see what would happen so far he hasn't ate more but he might actually be full (doubt it!) I'm going to put it up for right now since he's out for the day and I don't want chicken stashed in my sofa. I'll give it back every few hours until bed time in case he gets hungry. Must.Find.Hearts. ~Kelli
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Post by Sherry on Nov 23, 2011 12:54:02 GMT -5
Wow! He's doing really well And yes, give him all he'll eat for now. He will eat you out of house and home for a while, likely put on some weight, but in a couple months will start slowing down, as well as slimming down come spring time Let me know how he does with the straight chunks!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2011 12:55:01 GMT -5
I forgot to mention I refill his water a lot less than I was. On kibble I used to refill his bottle daily, it wasn't empty but close. Now he has a bowl and I used to refill that 2x day, now just refreshed the once. I assume that's from eating so much soupie but with the heat being on he's losing water to the air. He has no signs of dehydration. What are your thoughts?
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Post by Sherry on Nov 23, 2011 12:56:55 GMT -5
Considering how much more moisture the raw and the soup have, I'd not worry I refill bowls once a day, unless they've dumped them by digging
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