|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2011 11:07:50 GMT -5
That is excellent So they are all eating soup that is mostly organs now (with some chicken) on their own now, correct? I think you'd have success offering them tiny slivers of kidney and liver with the organ soup, if that's something you want to try. They are accepting of the taste so really the only thing that might put them off is the slippery texture, but I think with some coaxing and soup covering/oil on top, they'd go for it And are they all eating the heart slivers on their own as well? You would also be fine to increase the size of the heart slivers since they have also accepted the taste and texture already. Some ferrets do enjoy their food cut smaller, so you dont have to work up to feeding them huge chunks, just sizes that don't take you so long to prepare into tiny little slivers Sounds good with the hen, let me know how that goes. Hen is still technically the same thing as chicken though so I do still want you to try find some pork button bones / duck bones / rabbits bones / Quail bones / Turkey necks or wings (do have to e smashed / cut up) to work into the menu. As well, I take it they are all eating the beef up still? How do you feel about adding lamb as the next protein. It's pretty expensive, but if you are able to find a reasonably priced place, even feeding it just once a week would be good. It's a great protein, very gentle on the tummies and definitely adds some taste variety too. The 3 current proteins that you are feeding are the minimum amount of proteins, but the more the better. It's completely up to you (and cost, availability) how many you want to feed though. So where would YOU like to end up with their weekly menu? How many protein sources would you like to incorporate? This will help me better judge where we are / how far we have left to go
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2011 13:04:37 GMT -5
Just wanted to check - is it a chicken Hen your girlfriend is picking up or is it a Cornish hen (or rock cornish hen) because Sherry just let me know that Cornish hens are actually genetically different enough from chickens that if you were feeding Cornish hen it would be a different enough protein than the chicken to add some variety, which would be great
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2011 21:16:10 GMT -5
Any updates?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2011 8:43:19 GMT -5
Yeah they are all eating the soup with about 3oz livers, 2oz kidneys and about 7-8 hearts. It lasts about 3 days. so its pretty much right on track with the 6oz each they are supposed to get each week.
not 100% if they are all eating the heart slivers. they are being eaten just not sure by which ferrets.
It is a cornish game hen. They ate half of one yesterday. about 12oz total.
The beef and pork is working well for dids and cici but baby legs is still on the fence about it. when we feed either of the beef or pork we make sure we hand feed him, and he hides it. last night he took about 5-6 pieces from our hands (with olive oil on it) but i just can't be positive if he eats it yet.
I would love to move onto another food source but i really wanna get baby legs on the beef and pork 100% before i try and move on.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2011 14:23:29 GMT -5
That's why it's important to keep me updated with who is eating what as I was under the impression baby legs had been eating the pork well for weeks now and that he was doing a lot better with the beef. Which is not the case. It is also important for you to pay closer attention to who is eating what, I know it can be difficult with three ferrets, but it's important to know that everyone is eating what they should be so that you don't end up with a ferret who isn't getting a proper balance. If you are unsure, I would recommend doing some separate feeding times for a couple of meals, that way you can know for sure who is eating what (at least do this for one pork meal, one beef meal and one meal with heart slivers) Please let me know who is eating what as well. We will hold off on adding another protein for now. Keep hand feeding baby legs with the beef and pork meals and see if offering smaller slices of beef and pork works better for him. I also want you to hand feed everyone the heart slivers as well to make sure they are all eating them. If you could give me daily (or every other day if that's all you can manage) updates from now on, stating what meals were fed and who ate what, I think that would be beneficial and enable me to give you advice with whatever problems you are having with that particular meal. I only have what you tell me to go off of, so the more information, the better
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2011 21:35:32 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2011 17:25:02 GMT -5
Sorry its been a few days. Ok, -2 ice cubes of soup equal 2oz worth of their 6oz of the total week and 3tsp pumpkin. I cage them when they eat soup so i can watch and make sure they share it. It can be hard to tell if Baby Legs is eating the heart pieces or just around them. I normally do things around the house while they eat because i have to watch them little sneaky weasels when their out. The soup is made from 6oz lamb liver, 6oz lamb kidneys and 4oz chicken hearts. (am/pm) Tuesday - (chicken wing 4oz / chicken wing 5 oz ) They shared chicken. They all eat well on that. 2 cubes of soup I added about 4 hearts and cut them up very small and 3tsp of pumpkin. Wednesday - (Pork 4.0oz/chicken 5oz) They share 2 ice cubes soupie( no heart slivers in the morning), 3tsp pumpkin. 1 chicken wing. Baby Legs- I hand feed him 5 pieces with oil and stashed it. (he never eats with the other two except soup) This might be a good time to feed him separately? I don't know if he eats because I leave after i feed them. Cici - eats well on pork, its so chewy and hilarious to watch. Dids - eats well. There are always leftover but not too many, a few bones but porks gone. Thursday - hearts 1.5oz plus soup/chicken 4.5oz They share 2 cubes of soup with heart slivers in the morning. They still eat well on the chicken. Baby legs always wakes up after the other two eat to eat alone, i dont know . Today - (livers/kidneys 4oz / beef 3oz) 4 cubes soup in the morning with small liver slivers which they share. They still asleep but will be up shortly. They all get fed soup, play, and food before bed. We used to feed them when they got up but once the food started getting stashed around the house we do it right before bed. We always wake them up too if they are sleepy. We let them eat leftovers from the night before then let them out sometimes. Should i begin feeding them right when they wake up? Could this be an issue. I will send the pictures later tonight.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2011 17:30:30 GMT -5
2 cubes is equal to 1oz !!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2011 19:40:37 GMT -5
this was about 2-3 days in. We don't know what Cici weighed but she was tiny. Dids was a bit over 3.1lbs. Baby legs 2lbs. Dids has been the most dramatic. Cici has put on weight but its mostly muscle weight. They currently weight: Cici - 1.96lbs, Dids - 2.57lbs, Baby Legs- 2.30lbs. Dids Cici Baby Legs
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2011 0:19:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the pictures and weights I will check with the other mentors and get back to you Now are the soup cubes you offer every day the ones with the organ? They are getting 6 oz of liver and 6oz of kidney shared between them throughout a week right? (I tried adding up the ounces but I kept getting confused ;D) Also are you ONLY feeding them at night? (one meal a day) I would suggest feeding them twice a day. You don't have to feed first thing in the morning, just space the feedings out at roughly every 12 hours. I feed at midnight and noon, for example, but if the girls are out playing they don't eat till 2pm. You want to make sure your older guys are getting food regularly and that they have access to food to keep blood glucose stable. For baby legs, do you have a place you can put him besides the cage (a tub/bin) for feeding? Maybe try putting him there with the meat and see if he will eat it right away rather than stashing it. If he won't eat it right away, put him back in the cage with the food. Now, Do you have a ferret nation or what kind of cage do you have? Is it possible to separate levels of it?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2011 11:55:23 GMT -5
The soup is pure organs and hearts, no more chicken, they didn't even seem to notice. Baby Legs is shy around it if there are heart pieces in it but he will eat it. They share 3oz per day which is around 1oz each ferret each day. monday-saturday. they get 6oz in a 6 day period. Sometime soon i'm going to make a nice 3oz live/3oz kidney/2oz hearts and make them eat it all in one sitting for their organ meal. Just not sure if they are ready for that yet. They eat twice a day. everyday is a solid routine with them. wake up morning (6am-7:30am)- 2 soup cubes + 1 pumpkin. They play for a while. Then they get fed real food and go to sleep. They play until around 9-11am. depending on the wake up. wake up evening is exactly the same. (7pm-8:30pm) out playing anywhere from 8:30-11pm. They always have food. First thing in the morning i always check for food and there is always something left from the night before, same thing goes for the evening, there is always soemthing leftover from breakfast. We have some plastic tubs we could feed him in. I hate to separate them again because the first time we did that during the initial switch seemed to be counter productive. But i can just during feeding times. This is our cage we build (got the idea from some youtube video) its made from wire build it yourself storage bin things. $40 for that, $5 zip ties. Its giant. This is an older picture from when they were kibble fed but you get the idea. I can separate the top and bottom levels with no problem.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2011 9:21:49 GMT -5
Friday night - Cici and dids ate well on the beef. Baby Legs stashed it but not sure if he has eaten yet.
Saturday morning - they shared two chicken wings - 1 in the early morning and another around noon. no soup.
Saturday evening - There were plenty of leftovers last night. Fed 2 cubes of soup, 3tsp pumpkin. They just didn't eat much last night.
Sunday morning - 4oz pork they share. BABY LEGS ATE 4 pieces AND dragged a huge pork bone ( i gave just for the heck of it) half way through the house. So now i KNOW he eats pork.
Cici and Dids eat fine.
The pork was for last night but since they had so much food leftover we just held off on the pork. It worked and got the chance to visually see Baby Legs eat pork.
Cornish game hen tonight and I'm expecting no issues ( 6oz).
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2011 13:58:57 GMT -5
YAY baby legs! That is awesome news For baby legs for the beef, since you are still not sure if he's eating it...rather than separating him (which we know stresses him out) what you can do is a "test" to see if he's actually eating the beef. Feed beef 3 meals in a row (to everyone) and then watch baby legs closely over that day and a half to see if he's pooping. If he's pooping he's eating. If he's not pooping, then he's not eating (in way case let me know right away and you can give him food he will eat). For this to work, you can`t give baby legs anything but the beef for those 3 meals so no soup, hearts, etc. Or the other option would be to separate part of the cage for a day, put baby legs in the separate part, count the pieces of beef you give baby legs, let him stash it and then see if after that day any of the pieces have been eaten. But as you mentioned this could be stressful for him. So its up to you which `test metho you want to go with, just let me know Otherwise, everything looks great That is AWESOME that they are eating the organ soup with no chicken anymore I would keep giving it as you are now for another week until they are eating it really well and then for the next week you can try do the organ meal with just the soup Keep working on baby legs with the heart pieces. Make them smaller if you have to and cover them in soup. It sounds like he`s almost at the point of eating them, but is just a little hesitant so keep on him and I`m sure he`ll eat them soon Let me know what you are going to try with baby legs and the beef and then once we know whether or not he is eating it we can go from there
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2011 8:16:48 GMT -5
tomorrow night is beef and if i cant visually confirm he is eating it then i will go for the 3 meals in a row. i was thinking of trying the organ soup next week too! ince they have been getting it this week so far i will try andnot feed them soup all next week until friday morning.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2011 19:43:27 GMT -5
have a comment. my dew dids is starting to turn kinda yellow. a few weeks or heck last week he was snow white and looked amazing. all the sudden i noticed him starting to change. maybe his coat changing? its just now starting to turn cold outside own here in florida.
|
|