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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 21:02:01 GMT -5
Dids, 2.61lbs- eats large chunks, normal poops. has been very playful since Thursday Cici, 2.03lbs- eats large chunks, normal poops. also very playful. Runs to her cage when food is being brought out Baby Legs, 2.31lb- eats large chunks, normal poops. still picky, doesnt want to eat w the group, but eventually he comes around. loves to hide food, very playful. Menu: (AM/PM): Monday:chicken 4.5oz/pork 6.1oz Tuesday: chicken 10oz Wednesday: beef 5.1oz/chicken 4.5oz Thursday: hearts 4.1oz/chicken 6.1oz Friday: liver 6.1oz/kidneys 5.9oz Saturday: chicken 5.2oz/pork 5.3oz Sunday: hen 12oz everything seems to be working out great still
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2011 21:45:48 GMT -5
Everything looks great As long as the chicken meals are all still the chicken wings (bone-in) then you've got 8 bone-in meals, 4 muscle meats (including one heart) and two organ meals (which we will work on getting down to either one meal or just spread organs throughout the week, whichever works best for you). For next week, since you are going to feed the organ pieces throughout the week, I recommend that you weigh out 6oz of liver and 6oz of organ at the beginning of the week (you can partially thaw it, weigh it and then cut it up and separate into baggies for each day, then re-freeze since it won't stay good all week in the fridge). This way you KNOW they are getting enough organ for the whole week. Then like I said before, just watch them to make sure they eat it. Now are you still going to do one organ meal? You can as long as you factor it in to the liver/kidney weekly amounts. Or you can skip it since you are feeding organ throughout the week. If you do this, replace the one organ meal with a bone-in meal, and the other with a muscle meat meal. So you'll have 9 bone-in meals, 4 muscle meat, 1 hearts (muscle meat) + hearts fed throughout the week, No organ meal (but 6oz/6oz organs fed throughout the week). Does that sound like a plan? Let me know when you get your hand on some duck or more turkey. You could replace one of the pork/beef muscle meat meals with turkey meat OR one of the chicken wing meals with duck (bone-in). Up to you
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2011 22:32:15 GMT -5
We can try and feed about 2oz a day worth of kidney/liver with one day off this week. No in a soup, in bite size pieces.
I'm hoping to squeeze in about 7oz of hearts throughout the week.
We are still working on the duck at the moment. I'm excited about that, i think they will like that.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2011 3:23:05 GMT -5
That all sounds perfect If they are doing really good with the bite size pieces, you can very gradually increase the size of the pieces every 2 days. Same thing with the hearts, if they seem to be doing well with the slivers you can also very slowly increase the sizes every 2 days. Let me know how that works for ya
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2011 19:55:46 GMT -5
hearts are going well today. they are eating bite sized and whole hearts all three of them.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2011 20:11:30 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2011 13:46:36 GMT -5
Cici - 2.05lbs - large chunks, normal poops, very very active, noticed her coat is getting much softer and more fluffy (thinkin winter coat) Baby Legs - 2.35lbs - large chunks, normal poops, obsessed with getting inside our couch (its getting very bad at this point), coat is getting softer and thicker. Dids - 2.66lbs - large chunks, normal poops, been scratching at door more than usual, coat is getting softer and thicker. Menu: (AM/PM): Monday:chicken 5oz/pork 5.5oz Tuesday: chicken 11oz Wednesday: beef 5oz/chicken 5.5oz Thursday: hearts 3.4oz/chicken 6.1oz Friday: 6oz liver / chicken 5.5oz Saturday: chicken 5.2oz/pork 5.3oz Sunday: hen 12oz Everything is going well for the most part. Tuesday and Wednesday they split 3.1oz of hearts (which went very well, all three ate whole hearts with not much assistance from us). We DID NOT as anticipated feed 2oz liver/kidney per day. We did feed 6oz on Friday (medium chunks) which went ok. They all ate (visually verified) yet they did only eat half, Baby legs was the most fuss but he did eat a few chunks. I'm proud they ate half of it because this is pretty much the first time they had chunks of organs. I felt like the soup might be going a little backwards so we went ahead with the chunks. I might try feeding a few livers with the *bonus* hearts on tuesday/wednesday. Still working on the duck, a bit hard to find down here at this time of year i guess. We could try some turkey but they don't seem crazy about it and i can't stand the smell
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2011 0:26:53 GMT -5
Everything is looking good Was the 6oz you fed just liver? Did they get any kidney during the week at all. Remember the "other" organ is just as important as the liver. And it's a maximum of 2oz liver per ferret per week so if they eat slightly less, that's okay, but we want to aim for around 2oz per ferret per week to be safe, and then roughly 2oz of kidney, but that doesn't have to be exact, it's just supposed to be 1/2 liver, 1/2 other(kidney). That is fantastic that they are eating chunks of organ though! This is a big step forward and you should be proud also super proud of the hearts If you cant find duck, aren't a fan of turkey, you can always see if you can get some lamb (stewing lamb chunks are usually the cheapest) and feed that as a muscle meat that would a good other protein to add Other than that, looks good. Let me know how you make out on the organs this week
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2011 12:43:55 GMT -5
I did sorta forgot about the kidney but i realized it after the post and gave them some of the lamb kidney, it was about as successful as the liver. I am so proud of them, i couldn't believe they ate the chunks the first time we tried! Its cute watching them eat those little chicken hearts, my girlfriend isn't a fan though One quick question. I was looking at the store and I could buy a "young chicken" for about $1.89/lbs but the chicken wings cost $2.79/lb ... If i just got a "young chicken" would there be enough bones in it for bone in meals? Or would the chicken breasts kinda throw off the amount of meat to bone ratio? Still working on that duck, not i can't get one by the end of the week we will try another turkey neck, the lamb here is almost $8.00/lb. Can't pay that much.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2011 15:42:20 GMT -5
A chicken should provide enough bones for bone-in meals, you can cut up the rib cage, neck, back and wings for meals. You can also give the legs but you will need to smash those bones. The cut up chicken won't provide as much bone as chicken wings (which are pretty much all bone) so I would alternate. Feed chicken wings for some meals, feed other chicken bones with meat for other meals. You have 9 bone-in meals per week so even if some meals have more meat and a bit less bone, you'll be fine . That being said if you notice softer stools/diarrhea let me know, as this can be an indication of not getting enough bone throughout the week. But I'm really not worried about that, your guys get plenty of bones Keep up on the liver and kidney. You are going to have to split it up throughout the week since they aren't eating enough in the one meal. Keep feeding the chunks, there's no need to go back to soup. But I would recommend doing one meal a week with 3oz liver, 3oz kidney (make sure you visually confirm they eat both) and then feed the other 3oz liver, 3oz kidney throughout the week. Let me know how it goes
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2011 16:11:53 GMT -5
sounds good. goin get 3oz kidney tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2011 20:33:27 GMT -5
Sounds good let me know how it goes and what size chunks of kidney they end up eating
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2011 8:40:36 GMT -5
they were bite sized but it didn't go as well last night as it did on sunday. They were not resistant but they just kept stashing it without ever eating it. Even Cici didn't eat any but they kept hiding it so that is positive. We just have to keep at it like everything else. I'm confident they will be eating it soon.
Thanks for all the help this has truly been one of the hardest but most rewarding experiences of my life. Again, i'm pretty sure that this raw diet has saved Dids life and we couldn't be happier with the progress they have all made.
Hearts tonight and i feel like there will be a small amount of leftovers from 4.5oz of hearts. Is 4.5oz enough between the three of them for the whole week? I'm not sure if we should be increasing the amount at this point. We made the bags of hearts kinda small because we didn't want to waste too much.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2011 11:22:06 GMT -5
hearts went well last night, there were some leftovers this morning but they polished off the rest right after they woke up. Super proud. Livers are going ok they have ate some and stashed some. We will just keep on putting it in their faces until they get used to eating it
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2011 1:09:17 GMT -5
Hey, I am so sorry I somehow missed seeing your last two posts Stupid iPhone app It's been giving me so many issues lately Were the kidney pieces bigger than last time? You could try making them a tiny bit smaller the next time to see if that takes better But like you said, keep at it and they will eat it eventually, silly ferrets ;D 4.5oz of hearts... how many hearts is that? Sorry I don't work with ounces for anything other than organ But like I've said before, you can't overdo it. As long as that equals at least 1 meal for all 3 of them, plus a bit extra for good measure, then it's enough. But you can always give a little more. Just keep in mind it does make their stools dark and loose, so you don't want to be giving a lot of it with every meal or you'll have icky stool too often. That's awesome about the hearts! Good ferrets! Sounds good about the liver, you can use the same method with the kidneys. Make them tiny bit smaller to see if they take to them better, then slowly increase the size Other than that, just post a weekly update tomorrow
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