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Post by jadewolf on Oct 5, 2011 9:16:33 GMT -5
I'm back! Everyone seems to have made some progress while my husband was doing the feeding the last two days, too.
Snorri and Dominique now wolf down chicken chunks, no soup or anything on them. When I got home, they actually gave me pathetic looks over the empty chicken bowl until I refilled it, and they had kibble out they could have eaten. Still have a problem with Snorri stashing any "leftovers" and not coming back for them. I guess I'll have to wake up Dominique when I bring in chicken so Snorri doesn't hide Dom's portion. Neither one seems to go back and eat stashes, although I am not certain.
Last night Will ate small pieces of chicken in a little soup. Smaller than Snorri and Dom eat, but larger than a mince. He polished off his bowl and Minnie's. This morning he ate two bites and wandered off. Wasn't in the mood, I guess.
Minnie is coming around. Last night she ate a good amount of mince in soup from the bowl. This morning she ate a little from the bowl and a lot off my finger. Plus we've almost used up the chicken, so I can soon try some beef or pork that I bet she'll like better.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 5, 2011 12:34:04 GMT -5
They're all making wonderful progress . A different protein now sounds like a good idea. Let me know how they do with it!
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 6, 2011 10:43:48 GMT -5
Tried ground beef this morning with a light coating of kibble soup over it. They were all confused, but willing to try it off the spoon. Minnie couldn't make up her mind. She'd eat some off the spoon, try some from the bowl, attempt to run away as if I was trying to kill her, then eat more off the spoon. Crazy weasel. I'd say she ate more beef than she does chicken, but certainly nowhere near how much the others eat. Will tried it off the spoon, and after a few bites tucked into the bowl of meat without even needing me to hold it. Then after a minute he left it. I'm not sure if it's because I wasn't paying enough attention to his majesty, or he was full, or he decided he did not like it. He was enthusiastic about being spoonfed when I tried again a bit later. I also did not get up early enough to carafate him before meat, which I think makes a difference. He seems to eat more when I get the carafate in an hour before soup, so I have to be better about it. Dominique and Snorri ate okay off the spoon, and ate a bit from the bowl. They kept trying to carry it off to eat in the feeding den or under the cage, like they do with chicken. They almost seemed confused by the fact it was ground. They both ate a bit from the bowl then left much sooner than they do with chicken, same as Will. But everyone knows it's food, I'm guessing they just need to get more used to it. I'll try again a couple times today. Aaaand, I'm going away for the long weekend again! Trying to get the travel in before we're snowbound. I'm leaving them with a sitter until Monday so I won't have updates after tonight until Monday night. And, thanks for your help with everything!
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Post by Sherry on Oct 6, 2011 13:49:04 GMT -5
Not a problem, and enjoy yourself ;D as far as the beef gies, it is much stronger tasting. Texture also can play a big part in what they will and won't eat.
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 10, 2011 20:28:43 GMT -5
Hi Sherry! Went and got the weasels back from "weasel camp." They all had a good time. Tonight I went with chicken, since they didn't get any raw at the sitters and I wasn't sure if they'd forgotten about it. Nope! Snorri sniffed it then wandered off, but as soon as Dominique started chowing down Snorri came back, and the two of them put away about 2 ice cubes (now thawed- I portion the chunks into an ice cube tray and freeze for ease of thawing the right portion) of medium-sized chunks and wanted more. Will I gave small chunks mixed with enough soup to coat it, and he chowed down and was looking for more. He gave some speculative glances to Snorri and Dom's chunks, but didn't venture it. Minnie I gave a teaspoon or so of fine mince mixed with soup, and she ate a good amount but did manage to leave some of the chicken. She ate a few pieces off my finger once she'd stopped eating from the bowl and started her desperate, flailing escape attempts. Since I was out of thawed chicken, I gave Snorri and Dominique some small pork chunks I'd planned to start experimenting with tomorrow, with a light dusting of some of Minnie's leftover soup. Snorri was dubious but ate a sliver off my finger. Will also ventured a sliver. Dominique tucked right in and ate about half an ice cube worth right off. I've left the other half of the cube's worth in to see if they'll eat more overnight.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 10, 2011 21:08:05 GMT -5
They are doing wonderfully well And sounds like they know good food when they see it- even Minnie ;D Try the pork and let me know how they do! Keep pushing Minnie as fast as she'll let you, slowly increasing the mince to tiny slivers
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 11, 2011 20:36:25 GMT -5
Pork again this morning and evening. I wish I'd gotten in midday to give them more, but I was running around on errands all day. My husband gave them all minced this am and "everyone ate." I think he doesn't watch as closely as I how much. Tonight Dominique dove into the pork, and Snorri, once I held him with his nose by where Dom was eating, started eating too. They ate an ice cube worth and were begging for more. I gave them a still frozen cube, and Dom tried several times to gnaw bits off. He seems to love pork.
Will ate a lot of mince coated in soup. Minnie ate some, and without being held, she just ate right from the bowl.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 11, 2011 21:45:55 GMT -5
You've passed the first hurdle- they ALL know it's good food That's fantastic! Okay, now. Give them what they are eating for another day or two, and start very slowly increasing the size of bits they are eating. Not by very much, and see how they do!
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 12, 2011 22:15:35 GMT -5
Not much change, except Will ate just a ton of pork and soup mix tonight, like three times what he ate at the last 3 feedings. Everyone got pork this morning, Dominique and Snorri got a bowlful put out midday that they ate without me there, and everyone but Minnie got it tonight. She slept through soup and hall playtime. Got up for her weekly n-bone, though!
I tried putting Dominique and Snorri's pork in an egg carton "foraging toy" tonight. They kept trying to get to it, but didn't quite realize that they could tear the carton. After they'd been at it off and on for a half hour, I partially opened the carton for them and Snorri wolfed down all the pork. I gave them another bowl with more, then.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 12, 2011 23:21:56 GMT -5
You go Will!!! Fantastic and keep trying with the egg carton. They'll get it sooner or later if they've not has foraging toys before, it can take a while to understand the concept.
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 14, 2011 13:47:49 GMT -5
Pork continues the same. Snorri and Dom now go over to the empty pork bowl and stare at me accusingly if they're hungry and out of pork. I'm trying to walk the line between giving enough that they can eat just pork and giving too much so Snorri starts stashing it all over again. Will sometimes eats a lot of mince in soup and sometimes isn't in the mood. Minnie eats just enough that I'm willing to let her stop, usually 3-5 slivers. And she licks all the soup coating off the rest of the pork Today I had time to go through the freezer and pick out meats to give them. I cut the meats into roughly meal-sized hunks so the night before I'm giving it to them, I can take it out of the freezer bag and put the chunk in the fridge to thaw. I have bone in chicken breast, ground pork (in addition to a day or so remaining of frozen pork chunks), and beef skirt steak. I also have had for a while some beef heart in the freezer. I'm not sure how best to get them to eat it, since it's really strongly flavored. I was toying with trying to blend it into soup, or mincing it into soup. But Snorri and Dom are eating almost all meat, it seems silly to intentionally give them kibble-based soup...
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Post by Sherry on Oct 14, 2011 13:57:38 GMT -5
For the amounts you give, if they are asking for more try putting in 2 or 3 pieces. If they stash, that's it. If they eat it do another couple pieces, etc. That will hive you a better idea of how much to put out. I've got one who stashes what he wants first, then gies off to eat it . With Will and Minnie, for right now give them what they'll eat. And try then all with the beef heart. Who knows- they may love it!
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 14, 2011 21:45:39 GMT -5
Tonight Snorri and Dom got chicken chunks and ate like champs. Minnie and Will got minced beef with soup. Will ate a ton, and Minnie ate much less than Will but much more than she did of chicken or even pork. Yay!
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Post by Sherry on Oct 15, 2011 11:12:13 GMT -5
That's great news!!! And remember- Minnie will likely eat less, being female. So that's all good. They've improved faster than I'd though they were going to. I think we need to step it up a bit with Snorri and Dom. Can you get either cornish hen or chicken wings? It's time to introduce bone to them Chicken necks are the ideal for this, but can be kind of hard for most to come by. With either, use a cleaver or a heavy chef's knife to chop the bone really well so the bone and marrow gets mixed in with the meat. You want to make it kind of appear like a very course grind. Offer them that and see what they do. With Will and Minnie, since they seem to like beef so much, start adding small slivers the size of the end of your fingernail.
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Post by jadewolf on Oct 16, 2011 12:13:30 GMT -5
This month's chicken was all bone-in breast, no whole chickens. Usually I get the whole chicken, with the neck in with the giblets. That would have been good. But anyway, I tried chopping up some of the ribs really fine, also chopped a bit of the meat, and then put that mix on top of their usual sized chunks of chicken. Dominique ate a little bit of it, at least some of the bone. Then I went out, and just now when I came back most of the chicken is gone from the bowl. Remains to be seen if they spit the bone out in the feeding den like they did the one time I gave them larger chunks. Will continues to be impossible to predict. Last night at 7 he barely looked at a bowl of beef and soup, then at 9:30 he ate a bowlful of slightly larger beef shreds with soup, and begged so hard for more that I gave him and he ate another bowl, this time ground pork with soup. This morning I made Will slightly-larger chicken shreds in soup and made Minnie ground pork in soup. What do they do but insist on switching bowls! Will ate a good amount. Minne ate all the soup and maybe 3 shreds of chicken, if that. Little monsters. Tonight I'll try Minnie on the slightly-larger beef shreds.
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