|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2011 22:00:27 GMT -5
Have you had a chance to give the organ soup a try yet? Let me know how they like it when you do Also are all of them eating the beef now? ?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2011 5:43:38 GMT -5
I made soup with the lamb livers and they eat it just fine only 2oz though so i will work the way up to 3oz soon. I have been putting 1-1/2 hearts cut up in one meal every other day but it appears they aren't taking to it yet but still hope : D
No Cic and Dids are still the only ones eating the beef. I will cut up a few smaller pieces for baby legs and get him to eat some Wednesday morning.
I haven't tried feeding them just straight organs yet or is that what you meant by organ soup? Could i make a special batch of soup with the kidneys and liver with less chicken to see if they will eat a more organy soup? I can substitute this soup for the Friday morning organ meal with pumpkin, and olive oil on top.
Other than that everything seems to be going fine except for those baddies ripped a hole under my couch and pulling all the stuffing out. I hate that i have to keep them locked in their spare room but its their fault : P Hope none of them been trying to eat that stuff.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2011 14:46:25 GMT -5
By organ soup I just meant their regular soup with the lamb organs mixed in. That's great that they are eating it! You CAN do the other form of organ soup just one meal a week where you have mostly organ and a little chicken for flavour, but if you do that, they shouldn't be getting organ in their soup the rest of the week. This mostly organ soup would be the next stepping stone before getting them to eat organ by itself. That being said, You can split the 2oz of liver per ferret per week up over the week however you please. So if you calculate how much liver they have each had so far this week, and it doesn't equal 2oz per ferret then on Friday morning for the organ meal you can offer a soup with some chicken and however much liver is remaining to make up the 2oz per ferret for the week and then don't give them anymore organ in their soup again Saturday/Sunday and then mon-thurs they can have the little bit of organ in their regular soup again + Friday they can have the more concentrated organ soup again. Then eventually you can remove organ from their regular soup and have them just eat 2oz liver each (plus other organ) in soup form Fridays and then eventually in non-soup form Fridays. Does that make sense? You can do it however you want just make sure they are getting no less than 2 oz liver each + ideally 2oz other organ each per week but also no more than this (we don't want them having too much liver and other organ either). Let me know how baby legs take to the beef. As for the heart, since they are not taking to it on their own, I want you to start feeding JUST heart for one meal per week. For this meal, cut the heart up into tiny pieces and hand feed them eat until you get them eating it on their own. Heart is extremely important for taurine so don't let them out-stubborn you I think thats it for now let me know if any of that was confusing.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2011 14:49:57 GMT -5
Oh and as for the fluff, mine have been ripping it out of a blanket lately I keep having to repair, they don't seem to ever eat it. Give them some extra pumpkin and hairball medication (I.e. Tonic lax) just in case. Fluff is similar to hairballs so if they did eat some, that will push it right out. I always say better safe than sorry in these cases. A little extra pumpkin never hurts anyways and if nothing else you help prevent hairballs
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2011 10:43:49 GMT -5
everything is going fine still. I just wanted to say, to all the mentors and moderators here who might read or have this forwarded to.
I love you all so much. I seriously think raw feeding has saved Dids life!!! He looks, acts and just has an overall amazing glow about him. This 5 year old boy, who hardly wanted to leave his cage or play, is now keeping up and sometimes wearing out my 1 year old babies. THANKS AGAIN FOR PATIENCE AND WILLINGNESS TO SHARE YOUR WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE WITH PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF ALL OUT OF THE KINDNESS OF YOUR HEARTS AND LOVE FOR THESE AMAZING ANIMALS!!!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2011 18:41:25 GMT -5
Awwww, I am so happy and will pass that on to the other mentors for sure Thank you for your patience and willingness to work with your guys too! Now let's get them eating those organs and hearts! Especially the hearts! These little guys need all the taurine they get, especially with the bad genetics they get from the ferret farms. My 7 month old ferret is going in for a very expensive ultrasound tomorrow because she most likely has cardiomyopathy Keep me posted
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2011 16:29:34 GMT -5
AWE i'm so sorry to hear about your baby! Still tryin get some hearts in them. I only have a few left and they are frozen for soupie at the moment. I went to the store three days in a row to get more but they haven't had them in lately. I have been using 3 hearts in the soup for about two weeks now so that should be helping
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2011 18:07:31 GMT -5
i hate to bug ya for something simple like this but i have been going through the forum and can't find exactly what i'm looking for. If you could either copy or link me to something like this or recommendations. Treats - We have stopped feeding treats since the raw feeding began. Anything we can do at home or would we have to buy some freeze dried stuff for treats? They are all so naughty they prolly shouldn't get any dang treats
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2011 19:55:21 GMT -5
Thanks, her ultrasound actually looked okay, she has an abnormal heart rhythm but there were no obvious physical abnormalities so that's a good sign The heart in the soup is definitely keeping them balanced for now eating hearts on their own is just the next important step in the switch As for treats, Its really up to you. You can definitely feed bits of raw meat as treats but if you're wanting something for like training purposes, freeze dried works well I've found. I use "pure bites" freeze dried cat treats (or dog treats they are the same ingredients). Make sure you break them up a bit though, my ferrets tend to inhale them and have choked before. I also use ferretone but only for nail trims and at the vet to get them to stay still because it has BHT in it which is a carcinogen. Freeze dried food (like Stella and cheweys) would also work just fine for treats. Personally id stay away from everything else. All of the commercial ferret treats contain sugar and corn and other things that are terrible for them! I know some do feed those N-bones, but I've read the ingredients and am not a fan myself. So yes either small pieces of their favorite raw meat or freeze dried treats that only contain meat ingredients (no sugar) are fine as treats if you are feeling really creative you can also dehydrate your own meat (this would require a dehydrator) and make ferret jerky but any of the commercially availible jerkys have salt and other terrible ingredients. You would think they'd figure out how to make some healthy treats! Just remember to feed treats in moderation, they shouldn't make up more than a few % of their daily food intake, no matter how much they enjoy them Hope that helps
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2011 20:37:34 GMT -5
How are the ferts doing? Have you gotten any of them to try hearts yet? How is Baby Legs doing with the beef? How much / what form of organ are they getting for this week?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2011 8:14:51 GMT -5
they are doing well. I gave them beef in the morning and around noon the other day but it didn't seem to get eaten. It got hidden which is good but not much was gone.
Gave them some kidneys with the same outcome. I'm going to give them some pork in a few mins so we'll see how that goes.
I finally got some hearts yesterday and i'm going to feed them some tonight. I didn't wanna use the rest of the hearts i had for feeding, wanted to save them for soup.
I made soup this morning with 2oz of liver, 3 hearts and only about 6oz of chicken.
I'm starting to feed the soupie without chunks in it first. I let them have their fill of it, then when i put them to sleep i put the chunks in the bowl. This way i know they are all eating the hearts and livers. Pouring the soup over the chunks was great for the start but now i feel as if they want the chunks of chicken more than the soupie. That is why i'm giving the soup first and chunks for when i'm not around.
Lamb livers, lamb kidneys and chicken hearts. But i wouldn't say they are eating enough of the livers, kidneys and hearts by alone, even with soup over it.
The next coup of days are going to be really busy for us and i prolly wont have to the time to sit down and try entice them with the organs and hearts. i'm trying to just put a little bit in with their food every other day or so. To get the used to the smell and it being in there as a food.
The next batch of soup i make might be just livers, kidneys and hearts about 3oz worth with about 4 oz of chicken. If they will eat that with pumpkin then that will be great. Maybe i can just keep cutting less chicken so eventually they are getting the organs/pumpkin first thing in the morning and evening.
sound like this might be a good way to move forward or should i be focusing on getting them to eat the chunks of them?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2011 12:08:18 GMT -5
That all sounds fine to me. A lot of people have to feed organ in soup form long term anyways because their ferrets just never accept the whole organs. Just make sure that they aren't getting too many organs per week. Stick to the 3oz organ maximum per soup batch, Two batches of soup per week. And you can definitely feed them organ daily - you can split it up over a week however you like so this method will be fine. You should also use no more than 3 oz of kidney per soup batch, two soup batches per week. And as for the heart, it is supposed to make up at least one meal per week so try ball-park at least that amount in the soup since they aren't eating heart on their own yet. it sounds like you will need to hand-feed the beef as well, so leave that out of the menu for a few days since you will be so busy. So give them the soup first every meal, then make sure they are eating chunks and still eating their bone afterwards. You can still add 1/4 tsp of bone to the soup, and make sure you watch their poops. If anyone starts having diarrhea or way too liquidy of poops for more than a day or two, let me know and we'll figure out a way to balance the organ and bone better. Too much diarrhea can cause prolapses (where the inside of their anus prolapses outside) so that's why nice solid poops are important Try post once or twice over the next few days, but since you aren't necessarily changing much, if you're too busy to post much, that's fine I'm gonna be swamped with thanksgiving and midterms and cleaning anyways but ill check the thread daily just to make sure you aren't having any issues
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2011 8:15:33 GMT -5
So i am thinking of getting a dehydrator. I think the price i would pay would be balanced by retail prices of other things. www.amazon.com/Nesco-American-Harvest-FD-37-Dehydrator/dp/B003I4F7AS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1318165407&sr=8-3seems cheap enough that even if i got like 20 lbs of treats out of it that would pay for itself. Ok sorry but the main reason i'm writing this is because i was wondering if worse case scenario i could feed them these dehydrated meats in case of emergencies ... right? If i had to over night them at the vet or hurricane ... stuff like that. They would only get treats for making good poops before they come out to play, stuff like that. They are spoiled but they wouldn't get treats for no reason. I dont know anything about dehydrating meat but is there anything i would be able to put on the meat that would make the ferrets more excited to eat? I know sugar, salt is bad and i'm fine with just regular raw meat jerky but just curious if there would be something we could flavor them with so they dont get sick of em. Change up the flavors and see what they prefer. I'm going to look through the forum for some answers to these questions, maybe google some of this stuff too. Any info would be great but i'm mostly just asking in case i can't find any other info. if you know someone would does this maybe i could private message them. THANKS!!!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2011 16:17:37 GMT -5
I know there are a few threads on dehydrating meat, but I am not sure about them being used as emergency food. I am sure you could do it in an emergeny, I'm just not sure what dehydration does to the nutritional value of the meat, so for long term use (like a long vet stay) I'm not sure whether or not it would meat nutritional needs. Have you ever tried feeding baby food? (Just plain meat baby food - no veggies, no seasonings, no MSG, et.) Vet offices will feed them this when they are sick, and it works great for emergencies too. Now would be a good time to get them used to it and eating it so that if an emergeny does arise, you know for sure they will eat it As for flavouring the jerky the only thing I can think of that would be safe to use would be different oils. I.e. you could use extra virgin olive oil on the jerky for one "flavour", a salmon/fish oil for another "flavour" and maybe some ferreVITE (not ferretone - it has cancer causing preservatives and should only be used once in a while) - which has emu oil in it for another "flavour". That's the safest thing I can think of anyways. I will ask the others about using dehydrated meats for emergency/medical feedings and let you know! How's the switching process going? Any progress made over the last few days?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2011 22:49:39 GMT -5
So dehydrated meat is fine to feed in emergencies You can add the oils on for flavoring but only do this right before feeding the dried meats (do not put the oil on the meat before putting it in the dehydrator though because it will change the dehydration process). Instead put the oil on the already dried meat right before feeding to add different flavors.
|
|