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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2012 5:48:26 GMT -5
Transitioning the kids onto raw is so time consuming! I know the having to hold Alice and hand feed her will pass with time, but there's some other things I'm wondering about.
Here's how my nightly feeding routine goes....
1) Collect all items - Both ferret dishes, dog's bowl, 1/4 cup measuring cup, and scale.
2) Put 1/4 cup of canned dog food, put it in dog's bowl, microwave for 10 seconds. (Makes it easier to mix with kibble when it's warmer).
3) Clean both ferret dishes of icky soup leftovers. Dry off dishes.
4) Place one of the ferrets' dishes onto the scale. Turn on scale.
5) Measure out food in oz. on scale. (Will eventually figure out how much to feed each).
6) Repeat step 5.
7) Warm both ferrets' meals in microwave for 10 seconds so they're not fridge-cold.
8) Return upstairs with all bowls/dishes full, the scale, and the measuring cup without dropping any canned food or raw soupies all over the carpeted stairs.
9) Fight off dog and cat from soupies and ferrets' dinners while trying to free some hands.
10) Mix kibble with canned food for the impatient pup.
11) Battle cat so I can get into his bag of food.
12) Fill cat's food bowl.
I think the hardest part of it all is step 8. LOL We have a gate with a latch on it and both of my hands are full of dishes and food measuring items. I have to fight off the dogs that are trying to go upstairs, try not to trip over the one that is allowed upstairs, and make it upstairs with everything in one piece!
Does feeding raw get at least a little bit easier with time? LOL
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 17, 2012 8:05:35 GMT -5
Lol I do the balancing everything upstairs too, we have a gate so the dogs can't get up there but in the morning I have to take up raw for the cat and ferrets, plus veggie salad for my ig and try not to have them touch or get on each other. But now my routine is:
nightly=go the basement, grab and weigh dog, cat, ferrets meals and take them out
morning=make ig salad, chop ferret/cat meats up into 2-3 meals, feed and clean litter, feed dog
afternoon=repeat feedings minus iguana, dog gets stuffed kong
night=feed again minus iguana
also morning and night the ferrets get freeze dried soupies for meds but that's pretty easy, clean the bowl off right after so it's easier.
Once you get them eating chunks on their own you are set, just put the meat in and run lol, mine are waiting at the gate every morning for me even though they are never without food.
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Post by Sherry on Mar 17, 2012 9:39:24 GMT -5
Why not weigh and portion the ferret's meals out in advance, freeze them into ice cube trays, and baggie the cubes? That way, you take enough for a couple of meals out the day before, defrost in fridge overnight. That takes out Steps 3,4,5 and 6. They're already proportioned correctly. And if you get yourself a second set of dishes, you can just swap them out easily  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2012 10:29:53 GMT -5
I second what Sherry said. I too am in the midst of a raw switch. And yes...it is a lot of work. Every weekend (I don't have the freezer space to do this less often) I make large vats of soupies (my kids eat like pigs). I've found it much more cost efficient to buy whole chickens and hack them apart. More work, yes. But much cheaper. (There's a sticky in the food section about hacking apart whole chickens. Will take you to a nice youtube clip that is a "how-to"). I leave out what they will eat in the next 24-48 hours, and freeze the rest in icecube trays (dubbed "Meat-cube trays" in this house). You can even measure out how much you put in each cube, eliminating the need for weighing food all the time. Then when everything is frozen you can take it out of the icecube trays and put into ziploc baggies. Either one baggy per serving or one baggy per day, your choice. I don't do the ziploc baggies because I find I go through a million baggies per week which kind of cuts back on the cost savings from dealing with whole chickens  Instead I have a large plastic container and I transfer the meat-cubes from tray to container in a large enough quantity to last me for a day or two so it can defrost. I also put frozen cubes into bowls that won't be served 'til the next afternoon because they will typically defrost by then (I've found the reserve defrosted in the plastic container useful for when the kids are extra hungry and finish what I served them quickly & want more. This way I already have more defrosted.) The other thing I've done that has helped cut back on the number of times I do dishes was investing in more bowls. My kids typically get fed around 3x/day ideally, so they have 3 sets of bowls. Every night I dish out the next day's soups, wrap in saran wrap, and refrigerate. Then the next day all I have to do is grab out of the fridge add hot water and good to go. I used to do the microwave thing but got tired of it so that's when I switched to hot water. The kids learned  My other tip is to get a big tray to carry all your bowls upstairs. I used to dump bowls all the time (I Have to go through 2 doors and over a gate) and the tray has helped IMMENSELY. If that doesn't make sense or you have any questions let me know I may not be too much help on the technicalities of the switch itself (as I am just learning) but I think I've got a fairly good system down  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2012 10:35:00 GMT -5
Oh, and, uh...feel lucky...I have kids who won't eat unless I hold them the entire time they are eating  Talk about time consuming... |
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Post by rebel135 on Mar 17, 2012 12:26:30 GMT -5
Step eight switch dog and cat to raw too makes it so much easier
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Post by kittymalone on Mar 17, 2012 12:42:21 GMT -5
I feel your pain. I'm trying to switch too. My boys will eat the soup if I hold them and pretty much stick their faces into it but won't touch it if I just leave it there. I tried a little chicken liver this morning just to see what they would do and one of them ate it out of my hand (HOORAY!!!), the other didn't. When I put the bowl down they both seemed interested but didn't touch it. I'm being patient and reading everything I can. It'll happen.
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Post by sherik on Mar 17, 2012 12:59:18 GMT -5
This is where I decided I would rather spend more money for the commercial ground food. Is it expensive, yes. But I just don't have enough time to make raw soupies. I already blew up 2 blenders. The only thing I buy that is not pre ground is turkey and chicken. Which I cut up into chunks for them and freeze them in small baggies and take out as needed. Plus I can't get the variety if I just bought stuff from the butcher or grocery store. Small town, no selection. Plus with my two IBD guys, they can't have poultry of any kind.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2012 14:11:47 GMT -5
Step eight switch dog and cat to raw too makes it so much easier Will do that when we get a larger freezer, since I can't buy in bulk at the moment. (That would be more expensive than I'd like to imagine, having to buy small portions at a time). Haha. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 0:04:22 GMT -5
I use a serving tray for the bowls, and have a dozen or so bowls. I use 1 bowl per cage when they get fed in the cages, sometimes I use a party platter. Those large flat plates with dividers. Their are 4 dividers so this makes a nice group feeding spot. I have two of these.
I feed twice a day. Don't have to hold anybody. Section the meal and place in bowls or on the party platter. Tray climb over two gates sometimes. Feed. Pick up the previous meal's bowls or platter and climb out.
I did place a small table on the outside of the playpen, next to the fence panel, this serves as a place to rest litter pans for cleaning as well as a place to rest the serving tray for those days when I seem extra wobbly.
Yeah, it gets easier once they are eating hunks of raw!
Cheers,
Kim
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 1:28:35 GMT -5
Definitely need to get a platter, LOL.
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