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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2011 15:45:43 GMT -5
great info. the switch is going fine still. they are all eating pork since monday. they got beef this morning but ts been hidden just not sure by who. baby legs is the only one we waiting on for the beef.
still not muvh luck on the kidneys or livers but they are still eating the soup which has alot less chicken in it now than before and they seem to love i. they know its coming before the rest of the food now nd look forward to it, tharts the impression i get atleast. thanks again and i will let you know how hearts and livers go this week
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2011 19:24:16 GMT -5
Are the others eating a fair amount of beef or just stashing it and not eating it? For baby legs (and the others if they are stashing more so than eating) I want you to cut the beef up into nice thin slivers and try covering it in soup and or oil and hand-feeding it to them. They should ideally eat the smaller pieces, rather than just stash them. If this doesn't work, the next step is to make beef soup and slowly increase the size of the pieces in the soup (like you did with the pork). Offer the slivers or soup (whichever ends up working) for the "beef meals" only. For the "less chicken" soup, does it have organs in it? You said the organ wasn't going well so I wasn't sure if you meant straight organ or organ soup that they weren't eating. For the organs: mix them in with the chicken soup and slowly increase the organ amount and decrease the chicken amount until you are feeding pure organ soup. THEN you can start adding chunks of organ to the soup and slowly work your way up to less soup and more whole organ. Feed this soup Every OTHER day before their meat/bone. And do NOT include hearts in this soup. For hearts: make up a separate batch of chicken soup and use less chicken and more hearts. Feed this soup on the non-organ soup days before the meat/bone. Do NOT put organ in this batch. Slowly decrease the chicken and increase the heart and then add slivers of heart and slowly increase the sizes and decrease the soup amount. This way, they aren't getting hearts and organs at the same time every day and this way you won't be giving too much organ during the week and they'll get used to the organ taste and heart taste separately. Does that sound like a plan to you? So your menu will look like this: Monday: organ soup then meat/bone Tuesday: heart soup then meat/bone Wednesday: organ soup then meat/bone Etc. Let me know if that works for you Having 2 different soups going might be complicated, but if you make big batches at the beginning of the week, it shouldn't be too bad. And this way we should *hopefully* get them eating both hearts and organs soon!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2011 9:05:54 GMT -5
Dids and Cic stash alot of the beef but i know they eat it. Baby legs hid 4 pieces of beef this morning, with olive oil on it. Then a 5th without so that is a positive sign. They haven't been eating as much lately, i'm not sure how long that part of the switch takes. The part where they will start eating less. It may have started. I used to give them like two or three chicken wings and soup, now one chicken wing and soup will last a whole day. Yes, the soup does have organs and hearts in it. Almost 3 oz between the two, about 2oz liver/1oz hearts. Not sure if i mentioned this but i have been putting heart slivers in with soup, about every other day, the soup is gone first but eventually the hearts are gone too. They have not began to eat straight organs yet. The soup i made yesterday, and they have eaten today already, was only about 4oz of chicken. Ok ok i see where you going with the two different types of soup. That sounds like a good idea. Maybe i will make two batches on sunday to give this a shot during next week. Thanks again, everything seems to be going well.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2011 16:11:55 GMT -5
That all sounds like good progress! How long are you leaving the beef in the cage for? My girls will stash food, let it "season" #hehe# and then won't actually eat it for 2-12 hours after stashing it. So try leaving the beef in the cage for 12 hours at a time before changing the food. Your ferrets are mostly out of the cage right? I can't remember - are you feeding them only in the cage or out of the cage too. I leave my girls out of the cage most of the day but I actually put them back in the cage a few times a day for a few hours at a time and this is when they eat. I'm just thinking it's possible your guys arent eating all the beef because they aren't given long enough to eat it (ferrets can be SUCH slow eaters! #lol#) Thats great news about the heart slivers! I did not realize you were doing that. That's great progress. I don't think you need to make a heart soup because they are already eating slivers. Just focus on trying to increase the sliver sizes and then do the soup --> slivers ---> chunks method with the organs. Keep in mind some ferrets (especially older ones) never graduate to eating whole organs. So even if you can get them eating organ soup with very little or no chicken, that's great! And you don't have to feed organs as just one meal. If you want to keep giving the organ soup every day like you are now, that's fine as long as they get enough organ over a week Just let me know which you decide to go with Other than that, just keep on the hearts and organs and keep my updated how they are doing Once they eat hearts and some form of organ regularly, I'll get you to add another protein source or two and then we'll work on your revised menu
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2011 18:06:03 GMT -5
Also wanted to add, that they probably are eating a lot less as this point in the switch, since they've all been off kibble for quite some time now. Just make sure they are each getting enough bone for the bone-in meals. So instead of having them eat lots of soup and only one chicken wing, give them less soup, and 2-3 chicken wings. Sometimes one ferret will "hog" the food, so I just want to make sure they are all each eating the bone, and not just one of them.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2011 9:24:50 GMT -5
actually our babies are caged alot. they do get about 2-3 hours in the morning and equal amount of time in the evening. ometimes they dont play long and go to sleep after like an hour but we try to leave the cage open if we are hme to give themsome more time if they want.
they are getting two cubes of soup and one cube of pumpkin. in the morning and evening
baby legs is stashing food around the house now. so what we have been doing is feeding the soup right when they wake up then when we cage them we feed them the bone or meat meals. if someone is asleep we wake them up and put them infront of the food before we leave them to it.
typcally when we feed the beef its in the mornings when we are gone all day or night before bed. the beef is in the cage for quite a while but i feel its being eaten and wont be long before all three are taking to it.
to be honest i dont mind making organ soup. esspecially if it gets to a point where i only do it once a week for the organ meals.
maybe i buy too big of chicken wings. one weighs 5.5oz give or take they dont all weigh the same. should find smaller ones? i cut these big wings into 5 pieces and leave the giant bone whole.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2011 10:28:15 GMT -5
Okay good good they are getting plenty of time to eat then as long as you think they are eating the beef that is great. It sounds like organ soup is the way to go then you can always make or chunkier as time goes on and get them eating little pieces of organ in their too so slowly work the chicken out of the soup and then once they are eating pure organ soup, offer it just once a week (there should be 6oz liver, 6oz kidney/other organ - see if you can find some other organ too like spleens, brains, etc. - and a bit of water and maybe some pumpkin and oil in the soup). You can leave a little bit of chicken on for flavour, but they will need to eat all of the soup between them on that one day. If they can't finish it all you might have to offer the soup twice a week to make sure they eat enough Wow that is a big chicken Wing! The chicken wings I feed are tiny so that's why I was thinking one chicken wing per three ferrets wasn't enough no - that sounds fine - as long as you are cutting it up for them, no need to get smaller ones
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2011 10:44:13 GMT -5
yeah they are giant wings. i cut them in a way that every piece has bone in it so no matter who takes what they all get the bone.
i feel like you been over this with me but since they are getting less chicken in the soup i have been giving them 1 cube of pumpkin twice a day to help them eat the soup. now i know its my fault for no measuring but each cube weighs about 1 oz. so each baby is getting about 2/3 oz everyday. is that ok or not enough?
they were chewing on pork bones yesterday i was so proud.
if i make organ soup 6oz liver 6oz other could i just divide that up for the whole week kinda like now. i just have a feeling that 12oz organ at one sitting might not appeal to them at first. maybe down the road but maybe still early for that.
i got some chicken pure bites two days ago. of course cici and dids love em but baby legs is just such a picky man and wont eat them yet. they are the dog ones so i break off small pieces for them.
oh gosh this might be something for a vet but baby legs seems very very sensitive to sounds compared to the others. he gets very cautious when something loud happens but the others dont even notice. he has always been like this but i always forget to ask you about it. he is also the only one that plays with hings that make noise im not worried about him but just wondering if all ferrets are a little different in these ways.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2011 13:34:15 GMT -5
Sounds good with the chicken wings - I am glad to hear everyone is eating bone so well! Have you been successful in locating other edible bone sources? Chicken wings really shouldn't be their only bone source. Turkey, Duck, Quail and Pork all have edible bones, same with anything minced with ground in bones. Try locating something other than chicken with edible bone in it this week as for the soup, honestly I don't weigh food and even if I did I can't tell you each ferrets need ___ oz of soup per day to be getting enough food because there's no set formula with these guys! As long as they are getting meat and the soup cubes, and as long as there is always meat leftover when you go change it then they are getting enough food As for getting enough organs, like you said, just make up the one big batch and divide it up over the week. You may need to feed more soup cubes per day in order to use the batch up but as long as it is finished after each week then you know they have all gotten their organ fill for the week. The only thing I would be concerned about them not getting enough of right now is hearts. How many hearts are they getting per week? They should be getting at least one meal's worth As for baby legs, I don't believe that is a medical issue, it sounds more like a behavioral/psychological issue to me. Where did you get baby legs from? Was he ever abused or mistreated? It's possible that he expeienced a traumatic event where something loud scared or hurt him and this is why he is so sensitive to loud noises. Or it's possible he just doesn't like them. Like the way some dogs get absolutely freaked out at thunderstorms and wind or the vacuum cleaner! I wouldn't worry too much about it, just try not to do anything extra noisy around him like vaccum, or move noisy things, etc. If it gets to the point where it is interfering with his daily life or stressing him out substantially then you can talk to your vet about sedatives for extra noisy times. The other thing you can do is to work with him and make noise a positive experience. So next time he hears a scary noise and panics, pick him up, cuddle and reassure him and then give him something tasty like ferretone or oil. By turning noise into a positive experience, you may be able to curve his negative reactions to it. Although I know from experience with dogs, it's not that simple and he may always be scared but no I don't believe it's a medical issue
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2011 13:37:42 GMT -5
just realized you might have been asking if they were getting enough pumpkin, not soup, oops! The recommended pumpkin dose is 1/2 tsp per ferret per day. Try measuring the pumpkin next time before you freeze it in cubes and if 2 cubes = 1.5 tsp then you are good I have no idea is 2/3 ounce = 1/2 tsp for each ferret though, sorry im terrible with measurements!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2011 7:55:00 GMT -5
K on the other bone source.
They have been getting about 4 per batch of soup, twice a week. thats 8 for all three. plus i have been putting about 4 in with soup about every other day, so another 8-12. so anywhere from 16-20 total per week. That doesn't sound like enough. I didn't think about this. I have 6 ready for them to eat with soup tonight, forgot to put it in this morning.
We got him from a pet store. But who knows what happens there, i'm not saying anything happen but i can't be certain. He is a real brat though and LOVES the vacuum cleaner. Its not that he is just scared he just seems alot more audible than that other two. He hears things that they seem to ignore. Almost as if his hearing is just turned waaaay up compared to the others. Yeah i dont think its an issue either just taking a shot in the dark : D
I will try and measure from now on. I was going to slow down on the pumpkin once i got them eating the organ soup anyway. That is the only reason they have been getting two cubes a day because the soup is becoming more and more organ so i'm hoping it helps make them wanna eat it.
Thanks again!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2011 15:50:55 GMT -5
K on the other bone source. They have been getting about 4 per batch of soup, twice a week. thats 8 for all three. plus i have been putting about 4 in with soup about every other day, so another 8-12. so anywhere from 16-20 total per week. That doesn't sound like enough. I didn't think about this. I have 6 ready for them to eat with soup tonight, forgot to put it in this morning. Sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about here ... hearts??? If so, I would make sure they are getting close to 20 hearts per week. Basically one ferret could probably eat about 5-7 chicken hearts in a meal, depending onn their appetite/eating habits and one meal per week is the MINIMUM heart intake, so it's better to give more than less. What I do is feed 1 meal of straight hearts (3 turkey hearts and a tiny piece of pork heart chopped up for 2 ferrets) then I also feed some turkey heart pieces with one other meal during the week and some pork heart pieces with one other meal per week. So they get 1 meal of hearts + some heart "snacks" twice a week with other meals. Basically more is better than less ;D We got him from a pet store. But who knows what happens there, i'm not saying anything happen but i can't be certain. He is a real brat though and LOVES the vacuum cleaner. Its not that he is just scared he just seems alot more audible than that other two. He hears things that they seem to ignore. Almost as if his hearing is just turned waaaay up compared to the others. Yeah i dont think its an issue either just taking a shot in the dark : D I will try and measure from now on. I was going to slow down on the pumpkin once i got them eating the organ soup anyway. That is the only reason they have been getting two cubes a day because the soup is becoming more and more organ so i'm hoping it helps make them wanna eat it. Thanks again! You might just have a very inquisitive ferret then ;D the other ones might still hear the noises (unless they are deaf), they just might not care Sounds good with the pumpkin I am terrible for giving them too much pumpkin ;D Really they only need 1/2 tsp each per day, which really isn't a lot. You just might find that freezing the pumpkin changes the consistency, so if its really watery when it melts, you can give a tiny bit more to compensate Keep up the good work
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2011 20:48:43 GMT -5
sorry i was kinda doing the math on screen. i would say the get 16-20 a week between all three but im thinking if i can work an even 20 or 21(3 a day) should be enough.
he is very mischievous! his best and worst trait.
i just watched baby legs eat heart pieces so thats awesome. tomorrow is liver and kidney so im oing to double the soup to 4 cubes in the dmorning and 2 at night and add about another 4 hearts.
if it goes well and everybody eats then we are getting there.
working on getting a hen tomorrow. if its not too big we could give the whole thing through the day on one of the bone-in morning and evening days
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2011 20:51:08 GMT -5
That sounds good to me let me know how the organ goes tomorrow And a hen would be good - they can pretty much eat all the bones Keep me posted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2011 9:46:33 GMT -5
organ soup went fairly well. Baby Legs need some coaxing but he is eating it on his own now. We got a hen but caitlin forgot it at work but we got one so we will try and feed them it tomorrow.
All is good. Thanks.
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