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Post by kpaz on May 26, 2012 12:38:06 GMT -5
So, in the future, I can feed like a meal of liver, a meal of brain/uterus for the 2 organ meals? Do I need more heart in the diet?
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Post by katt on May 29, 2012 2:42:55 GMT -5
So, in the future, I can feed like a meal of liver, a meal of brain/uterus for the 2 organ meals? Do I need more heart in the diet? Their heart looks okay but I'd honestly try for 10% if possible, even then a little more never hurts as long as their poops are not getting too soft from the extra blood content. You can never get too much taurine. And yes you could feed one meal of liver and one of brain/uterus for the two organ meals. That would fill the 10% organ requirement and would be half liver half other organs. Though really that puts them a little closer to 15% organ. So you might consider cutting one of those meals with a little heart (or some other meat). If I had to pick one, I'd pick the brain/uterus meal to cut down with a little other meat. But you could alternate too. One week make liver day liver+heart, and one week make brain day brain/uterus + heart (or a different meat). It's a really close call though because brain is so high in taurine too that you are probably equally fine feeding one meal of hearts and one meal half brain. I'm thinking as I type can you tell? I'd say your two organ meals and one heart meal is fine because of the brain. If you used say kidney instead of brain though, I'd add more heart. Make sense? Sorry if I'm rambling. How is Goomba doing?
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Post by kpaz on May 29, 2012 18:57:11 GMT -5
Goomba is doing well! We stopped blending the soup ingredients and instead cut them up into slivers, no water added, just eggshell. He's taking to it completely, and we're only putting maybe 20 pieces of kibble in the bowl each meal so he can smell it. Which is less than 1/8 of a cup and he doesn't even eat them all.
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Post by katt on May 31, 2012 2:47:04 GMT -5
Goomba is doing well! We stopped blending the soup ingredients and instead cut them up into slivers, no water added, just eggshell. He's taking to it completely, and we're only putting maybe 20 pieces of kibble in the bowl each meal so he can smell it. Which is less than 1/8 of a cup and he doesn't even eat them all. Good boy! What meats is he eating in total now? Have you tried any bones yet? He might like the chewing. Keep increasing the chunks and work on decreasing the kibble. I don't want this to discourage you (cats can be a LOT more difficult than ferrets), but I thought you'd get a kick out of it. Someone on the forum (maybe it was Sherry?) had a cat they switched to raw. It took a long time and they always had to add a piece of kibble for the smell. To this day, YEARS later after the cat has been eating nothing but raw diet, they still have to put a single piece of kibble on the food or the cat will not touch it! The cat never eats the kibble, but it will not eat the raw food either unless that single piece is there.... Talk about stubborn! ;D Never fear though, no matter how long it takes, we'll get Goomba kibble free! ;D Have you tried your ulu yet for smashing bones?
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Post by kpaz on May 31, 2012 18:14:19 GMT -5
OH gosh, I bet that will be Goomba ;D He's just eating turkey, chicken heart, and chicken livers. I am going to make the next batch with turkey, beef, and pork just to see if he'll eat it. He does not like liver. If he gets a chunk of liver he'll make every face possible and run away However, if he gets a sliver with some of the other stuff then he's fine. I have tried the ulu...it was fun Daniel is obsessed with it and always wants to prepare the food now lol (hey, i'm not complaining!!! ;D )
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Post by katt on Jun 3, 2012 17:52:19 GMT -5
Hey that works! I'm glad you both like it! Let me know how Goomba does on the next batch. Slowly but surely he is making progress! How are Pippin and Ellie doing?
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Post by kpaz on Jun 3, 2012 20:40:02 GMT -5
Goomba is doing better with the liver, he's still eating the same amount of kibble but with larger pieces. We've been building a new room for the ferret, so things have been beyond hectic. Other than that, Pippin and Ellie are sticking to the weekly diet with no problem. When we're done with the room I'll try to revise the menu and make it better. Pippin and Ellie are also tolerating the turkey, I may smash up a neck this week and see if they'll eat some of it.
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Post by kpaz on Jun 7, 2012 8:55:22 GMT -5
Goomba and Ellie have diarrhea Ellie eats out of his bowl sometimes and only has diarrhea sometimes, and Goomba almost always is having really runny poop now. He's not going more often than normal or anything, but when he does go potty it's just a pool of yuck. Should I add more calcium or pumpkin or something? Could it be a sensitivity flaring back up?
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Post by katt on Jun 9, 2012 17:50:23 GMT -5
It could be, but I don't know. It's possible that they need more bone and fiber. How much calcium are you putting in the soup? Any pumpkin? IT could also be stress - didn't you say you were renovating the ferret room? It could be his previous problems flaring up again, but with Ellie having the same problem I'd be surprised if it's that or sensitivity. If it was just him, then maybe.... How are they doing today?
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Post by kpaz on Jun 9, 2012 20:56:30 GMT -5
Now that you mention it, it may just be the stress from the move. I'm adding about 1/4 tsp to each meal that doesn't have bones, sometimes a smidge less. No pumpkin though, I can't figure out a way to keep it from going bad after a couple days. I can add some pumpkin and see if that helps. Oddly enough, Pippin has the best looking poo now. Maybe it's also because Ellie will eat the kibble in Goomba's food, and the mix of the kibble and meat is upsetting their tummies? Is pumpkin the best way to add fiber?
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Post by katt on Jun 10, 2012 1:48:52 GMT -5
Now that you mention it, it may just be the stress from the move. I'm adding about 1/4 tsp to each meal that doesn't have bones, sometimes a smidge less. No pumpkin though, I can't figure out a way to keep it from going bad after a couple days. I can add some pumpkin and see if that helps. Oddly enough, Pippin has the best looking poo now. Maybe it's also because Ellie will eat the kibble in Goomba's food, and the mix of the kibble and meat is upsetting their tummies? Is pumpkin the best way to add fiber? Pumpkin or lettuce**** ****Lettuce ABSOLUTELY MUST be frozen and/or blended. Preferably both. And Iceberg lettuce only. Buy a head and blend it up SUPER well, then freeze it. (Or vice versa, it just makes more sense to me to do it in that order). The combination of blending and freezing helps to break the plant fibers down enough to allow them to pass through. This method is much less convenient than canned pumpkin that you can just scoop, but it it also lower in sugars (though pumpkin is already pretty low sugar) and the lower the better with ferrets. Maybe add a little more calcium and see if that helps? If it doesn't make a difference, drop it back down. Eating kibble could definitely cause some upset actually, that's a really good point. I totally spaced that actually. The two digest and very different rates. How much have you been able to decrease the kibble for Goomba? I would suggest crushing it up, and sprinkling it over the food rather than putting whole pieces in. Then he can still smell it, but it will hopefully pass through a little faster and be easier on his belly. Also, it will make decreasing the kibble easier. You can crush a bunch at once and sprinkle 2 tbs on the food, then 1, then 2 tsp, then 1, then half...etc. Try to transition him from whole kibble to crushed (do it gradually if you have to, but try and see if he won't just do it cold turkey). See if that helps any.
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Post by kpaz on Jun 15, 2012 23:11:35 GMT -5
Ok I'm down to 4-6 pieces of crushed kibble, nickel to quarter sized chunks of turkey, and slivers of heart and liver (he doesn't like those as much, esp. the liver). I've been giving him a little pumpkin before and after the meals, which are helping a ton. However, his rectum prolapses after he goes potty-maybe a quarter of a centimeter- but it goes back in after a few minutes.
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Post by kpaz on Jun 16, 2012 12:07:38 GMT -5
He's also doing the death shake for the first time
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Post by katt on Jun 18, 2012 0:55:22 GMT -5
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Post by kpaz on Jun 24, 2012 10:36:01 GMT -5
So we've switched up the proteins, added beef and pork to his soup. It set us back a little, he's at 6-8 pieces of crushed kibble but we're decreasing it now, and he's still eating chunks and shaking his head violently He did have to go to the vet and is on metro, he has a prolapse and is still going between pumkin-poops with blood in it to runny diarrhea
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