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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2012 15:12:52 GMT -5
I've been reading a lot for the past six months. I adopted/rescued three ferts of the x-mas holiday break. One was in bad condition and two were feed well, but have social issues. Noodles has shown a definite improvement in his health and had very little trouble changing from the walmart ferret food to zupreem grain free mixed with other similar foods. I completely understand the logic behind going grain free and will only be purchasing grain free foods in the future. I have played with trying to get them to eat some whole food and have had limited success. Noodles will eat soup, but the other two won't touch it. However I think both of the other two have tried mice. I breed high quality show descendant mice and have provided a few pinkies. I found the trick to be to put some ferretone on it. While I know I have a wonderful diet source, I am hesitant to breed solely for feeders and once the mice have fur I have a really hard time culling them. My goal right now is to wean them to a partial meat diet with grain free kibble. I know I won't be able to do a morning feeding due to my schedule, but evening feedings are usually doable. OH, I have also started offering to foster for the local animal rescue so I will need to be able to deal with that as well. Advise welcome!
p.s. I can help others with breeding mice and great places to get supplies at a fraction of most local store prices. I've even built my own breeding towers that save space and makes careing for them much easier.
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Post by Heather on Feb 12, 2012 19:18:51 GMT -5
Are you looking to start feeding a partial prey diet? or a frankenprey diet? Unfortunately, the older the mouse the better nutritionally it is for your ferret. So adults are the ultimate dietary food for your ferrets. Frankenprey is always an option though...many cannot feed prey. You can always use the pinkies as treats (they're a great starter food or treat) Once they become comfortable with their raw food you shouldn't have to worry about feeding them in the am other than putting their food out for them, same as feeding kibbles. They're fairly self-reliant once they figure out that the raw stuff is food. Prowl through the nutritional site for feeding and switching ideas, there is also a section on raising prey animals your input would certainly be welcome. ciao
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Post by Sherry on Feb 12, 2012 19:59:01 GMT -5
Hi! I can certainly understand the time constraints. That given, would You have time to offer a premade thawed raw soup in the am? If not, that's ok When I started switching mine, I made the soup in bulk on weekends, froze it in ice cube trays, then baggied those cubes. Then it was simply a matter of popping the cubes into the fridge a day or two in advance I do the same with their raw meat and bones. You actually work on it with them in the evening, and leave kibble in the cage til you get home at night. But whichever you decide to do, we can help you get there
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2012 16:28:26 GMT -5
I'd love to say I can do it in the morning, but I know I can't be consistant about it. What is frankenprey diet? I need to start simple and then see if I can handle more. My health becomes an issue at times too. I go through bouts of bad migraines and nearly shut down completly. I need to be able to have someone else feed them if needed, especially since I want to take a vacation this summer. With this in mind, what do you suggest as being compatable with providing them better nutrients and maintaining my sanity?
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Post by Heather on Feb 13, 2012 16:50:58 GMT -5
Frankenprey is another term for meats and bones that are put together to form a makeshift prey animal Chicken for bones, pork for meat, beef heart ...I think you get my drift ;D What I do is put together pkgs of what I want fed. That way if I'm in a rush then I just take that package out and thaw it in the fridge and then it's ready. It's also very simple way to get someone else to feed your little ones. Small baggies with the individual meals set up with times and dates. Anyone can follow that with a few written instructions. I've not fed kibbles in over 15 yrs (except to the wee ones when they first get turned in). I turn it over to the shelters or feed it to my mice (raised for prey). I also take holidays (sometimes I can't because of medications and such but my son and his girlfriend looked after my guys during the Christmas break when I went away and they had no problems at all) ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2012 16:57:05 GMT -5
I do the same thing- Tuesday is my day off, so I get their food delivered by a company that specialises in frozen food for pets, very cheaply (UK), and thenI divide it up into baggies and label it Monday AM, Monday PM etc, then pop it all in the freezer. Every time I take a bag out and feed them, I just move the next bag to the side/fridge to defrost. You could do the same with the soup switch, once you've gone through all of the planning stages and worked out what food you need, then it's easy, and you quickly get into a routine.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2012 17:07:54 GMT -5
and it's ok to leave raw meat in the cage for a longer time. I don't remember how long the kind of meat can be left in (Sherry had a thread a couple of weeks ago broken down time and kind of meat), but some for 12 hours... So even if you leave more food at night, it could cover your morning. Mixing kibble and raw is really not good. Defeat the purpose and confuses the stomach too.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2012 19:30:33 GMT -5
Where do you all buy your stuff in the US? For the frankenprey, are you basically talking about making patties from the three different ingredients? I'm interested in learning more, but dont' know what step to take next. Moring is about 6:15 for me and after work is around 3:00pm. Noodles is going to need two fangs removed, both on the same side. I'm told it won't impact his ability to eat, but I still worry. Thankfully he is the one that will eat the thin liquid part of soupie.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 13, 2012 20:31:37 GMT -5
Most people just get their food from their local grocers Beef, pork, chicken, lamb, what ever is on sale! And you can do a switch using the evening as the main meal, instead of morning. What I did was take kibble away a couple hours in advance to give them an appetite, and just keep dabbing a puree soup on their noses until they started licking it off my finger. Moved from there to eating out of a spoon while on my lap, then out of the dish. From there to thicker soup, then slivers, then chunks, etc. Mornings were easier for me to do that, but no reason you can't do it in the evening! Once they are actually eating raw, you could also just give them some commercial raw in the mornings for the convenience. And no, having the fangs removed won't impact his eating. Those are used to hold prey when killing it. And I generally don't use patties of meat. I feed things like wings, drumsticks, chunks, etc. Saves a lot of time when they reach that point
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2012 6:29:54 GMT -5
When I first started the switch I did not have time in the morning either. So I would take Flowers kibble away as soon as I got home in the afternoon or evening depending on the day and work on her then. And then I would leave soupies in her cage over night once she was eating a lot at dinner (2-4 tablespoons ar least) and for a little while she would not go to the bowl herself and eat during the night so then I would give her back the kibble in the morning before I left. But then she started to eat all by herself and I could tell she ate out of the bowl during the night so then I gave her another bowl of soupies for breakfast and she started eating it all by her self with out me having to spoon feed her! So then it was done with the kibble and all I have to do was put soupies in a bowl and throw it in her cage which does not take so long Sent from my Desire HD using ProBoards
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2012 16:18:52 GMT -5
SOunds like I need to concentrate on working some soupie into their schedule. 2-4 tablespoons isn't much. I think noodles is willing to eat that much soup, but he doesn't seem to like the thicker bottom section of the soup. How do I keep this from giving them the runs? Their stools have varied a lot since I started trying to introduce new foods.
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Post by Heather on Feb 14, 2012 16:31:03 GMT -5
Pumpkin and egg shell or bone. Powdered egg shell should be about 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of soupy and pumpkin should be about 1 tsp (you use a tbsp...to move those nasty blockages) ciao
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2012 20:02:15 GMT -5
My two younger ferts have lost weight the last couple of weeks. The vet thinks it might just be them dropping their winter weight since it had started to get warmer and the days are getting longer. Podo went from about 2.8 pounds to 2.2 pounds. They have also been shedding like there is no tomorrow. They were not shedding this bad a month ago. Is it safe to switch their diet when they are dropping weight or should I wait for them to level back off? BTW, their energy levels are still high and they have gotten better at jumping and climbing. I'm not sure if they were getting regular exercise in a large area before they came to me. I let them run around the living areas each night.
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Post by Sherry on Feb 14, 2012 20:27:20 GMT -5
They are definitely going through spring shed by the sounds of it. And yes, it's perfectly fine to start their switch at the same time
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2012 20:47:12 GMT -5
Noodles use to be the skinny one, weighing about 1.5 pounds when I got him. Now that the other two are dropping their winter weight, I'm thinking he may have the biggest belly. At last weigh in he was 2.2 pounds. He showed me how the weight is getting put on today at soupie time. I noticed he was more playful with the other two and more active than he has been. He slurped down the soupie, had me add more, and went back for the rest. I saw Podo poke at it, but never saw him eat. Kodo appeared to eat some. I soaked 6 tbs of kibble and chopped up 1/8 of a chicken backbone & the attached meat. Blended well, warmed, and few them after play time. Oh, I also included some olive oil and ferretone. Does that sound like a good mix to be starting with? I plan to try again tomorrow. I figure if I can get them to eat a fully meat soupie each afternoon, I'll be off to a good start. The need of bones was mentioned before. Right now I give them C.E.T. chews to help keep their teeth clean. They love a treat when going back in the cage so that is what I give them. I also sometimes give them a ferretone chew.
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