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Post by vkoslin on Oct 24, 2009 9:00:53 GMT -5
They all love beef and pork, I've decided. I bought boneless pork shoulder buy1 get1 free, so I had a bunch of that that I chopped and froze. They love that. They always eat all of their beef heart. I wish I could get them to a point where when I put their dinner in, they're so hungry they all eat it all up within an hour like some say. I could monitor so much better. How long CAN i take food out before? I've been doing about 3 hrs but some, when I wake up with dinner, go back to sleep and eat it later, like they're still not hungry. Let me know about that?
Until the 30th of this month I won't have money to go buy extra meats- we have a bunch frozen but no Hare-today groundchicken/organ/bone and no Duk soup from Petco till I get money. So I'll keep posting on dinners and what they've taken to. If for nothing else, it's for my accountability, so please don't feel like you have to respond to all my meal posts. It's good that I can look back and say...well they DID like that or, etc.
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Post by cristina on Oct 25, 2009 8:47:42 GMT -5
Thats ok I like to respond to give all the input I can ! When you get new meats just let me know how they take to it.....Im not sure if I understand your question about taking the food out? If you mean you want to put it out at a time they are hungry so they eat it right then and there, then thats pretty hard...my guys eat a little every time they wake up throughout the day (they grab a piece, eat it then sleep and its pretty repeatitive)....not quite sure what u mean though
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 25, 2009 21:09:48 GMT -5
I mean I want to get them where they eat two meals a day and the meals are spaced so far apart that they finish their meal quickly. Say, I put the bowl in at 7pm, and by 8 it should be all gone and they should be good till morning. A lot of other people say this happens to them.
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Post by cristina on Oct 26, 2009 10:30:29 GMT -5
I mean that doesnt happen to me....I know it happens to some and not others, they make up their own meal times (a little here and a little there ) I will ask around for you though if you want, mine dont do that they eat constantly throughout the day
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 26, 2009 16:13:12 GMT -5
No, that's ok. Last night they had beef cuts and this morning, the same thing. They seem to like it. I know they're eating more and more raw because the bags I had frozen that previously lasted two days now last a meal or two, so, that's good. Kinda. Haha.
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Post by cristina on Oct 27, 2009 19:44:56 GMT -5
That is good that they are eating more...just one thing to remember, they like to stash (once I realized my guys were eating so much so I kept giving them more and more raw and then one day I smelled something awful and realized they had been stashing all that extra meat I had given them under their dresser!) Needless to say I went back to the normal amount of food But thats great if they are eating more!! The more the better!
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 27, 2009 21:15:17 GMT -5
Yeah I know they do stash a couple things, but the cage is kept really clean and almost barren of anything except fuzzy shelf covers and hammocks so I can see. They stashed a chicken drumstick in the inside of my ramp cover once. Haha.
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Post by cristina on Oct 30, 2009 7:04:56 GMT -5
Thats cute....as gross as it is its still kinda cute So I actually mentioned about your eating issue to Giuli and she gave me some suggestions for you! (I totally forgot she feeds hers twice a day at specific "feeding times") so yes you can set out certain times...theres a method she uses that I will forward to you in my next post, so I hope it helps!!
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Post by cristina on Oct 30, 2009 7:06:14 GMT -5
Heres what Giuli does with her fuzzies and hopefully it may help you out as well! :
1. Break your busines of 6 up into 3 seperate feeding groups. Feed only 2 ferrets at a time. You don't have to pair up the same two ferrets each meal, just do what works and dont feed more then 2 at once.
2. Find a set area where you'd like to feed your ferrets. For me its a big, clear, sterillite tub. I don't know how many gallons, but its ALOT. Its big enough for my cat and 10.5lb dog to eat in at the same time. You can do this or you can feed in the cage, the bathtub, the kitchen floor. Just be sure you can and do sanitize the area after feeding. It might make your ferrets more comfortable if you put a small plastic box of some kind into the feeding area so they can "stash" their food or eat in private.
3. Set a meal time for each day. For ferrets 1-5 years you can feed 2x per day. Older and younger ferrets should eat more frequently 3+ times per day. Feed your ferrets at that time every day. Put two ferrets at a time into their feeding area. Put the food in the cage. If they start eating the food great. Let them eat till they are done and then put in the next 2 ferrets. If you put the ferrets in the feeding area and they arent interested in eating give them 5 minutes. If they still don't eat, take them out of the bin and they skip that meal (only do this if your fuzzies are young, healthy, and not insulinomic or suspected insulinomic). Your ferrets will soon learn that when they go in that bin they better eat or they forfeit their meal!
4. I like to keep their feeding area someplace the ferrets can access it. Why? No, not because I always leave food out, but instead I leave the empty feeding area within reach of the ferrets so they can "tell" me when they are hungry. They will go to the feeding area and paw at it, pace by it, or jump into it. If you see this happening I would feed them Or if you really want to stick to only x meals per day, offer more food at the next meal. If you increase the food each meal and they still go to their feeding area between meals, you may want to consider adding an extra meal each day.
5. It helps if you have a feeding area that your ferrets cant escape. A locked cage, a steep bathtub, a storage container with a lid (with air holes drilled into it). That way the little buggers dont trick you with the "Oh I'm so hungry!" act only to steal and stash the food you give them!
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 30, 2009 9:21:56 GMT -5
That sounds really good! I'll try it sometime. I'm not terribly upset with their feeding habits now at all, but I would like for it to be easier and not have food left out too long. Ok, so I'm at Hare-today.com. I was wondering...in freeze dried diets (might be easy for traveling) could I use things like: www.hare-today.com/index.php?cPath=22or do I need to stick with things like archetypal that would have all the nutrients in it for a meal? I'm interested in this because it's cheaper. Anyways, my cart has a sampler pack of: chicken, pheasant, rabbit, turkey, duck, which are all 1 lb packs of ground organ, meat, bone I did this so I can see what they like, PLUS, its ground, which means a higher chance of munchkin eating it. I think when I get this in, I might take away kibble altogether...we'll discuss later. I also have 5 lbs of ground chicken/organ/bones because I knew that was a big hit before. I got 2 lbs of ground goat/organ/bone and 2 lbs of turkey/organ/bone I also got a pound each of ground beef organs and ground chicken organs, because I'm not having luck getting them to eat liver. (chicken has liver, heart, gizzards, and beef has heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, gullet and trachea) *They have good prices on rabbit IF you get it ground whole with fur/carcass/everything. I didn't know if that was a good choice for my guys...what do you think?
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Post by cristina on Oct 30, 2009 9:57:49 GMT -5
I am going to ask the other mentors about the dehydrated meats as part of the meal, Im not 100% sure because I usually just get dehydrated things on the side as treats...Ill let you know as soon as I find out though. Your sampler pack sounds great! you can even move onto the course ground (its all ground, even though the pics look like chunks) And the rabbit is a great source of meat as well! I actually try to feed as much rabbit as I can (when I see it on sale) because its a prey they may normally eat in their "natural" habitat (due to its size and everything) So if you want to get rabbit, thats good too!! Something to note about getting them to eat liver and other organs.....like I said, only one of my babies eat dehydrated liver treats so I have to grind them up and make a powder out of them to add into their soups (they never know its there! ) I grind up any dehydrated organ meats I find (i.e. livers, pancrease, kidney....really what ever I can find) and I put like a tsp in with their soups and they get all the nutrients they need without me having to force them to try to eat the dehy. liver organ snacks *just a thought....if your interested in making your own supplement like I do, let me know and I can give you all the ingredients I put into mine* Also....if you have ground organs (not dehydrated), even though they are ground, you can blend them up even more and pu them in soups too (I do this sometimes and my guys eat it...except my picky little girl who I have to syringe feed for this soup) Oh and I dont know if I told you about this or not....I remembered you were worried about Munchkin and her weight loss.... What I do (and some others) do especially around the fall time is give them KMR 2nd step (its a cat weaning powder) that helps them gain weight (my vet told me its good to give when they are sick and not eating much and even during the transition into winter because their appetites get larger to pack on the lbs for the cold weather) so this is something I am feeding right now as we speak (every week) {if your interested I think a jar of it is like 9 or 10 bucks at like any large chain pet store, I suggest getting the duk soup to mix with it as well} Sorry in advance for how long this post is hahaha, Im really bored at work!
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 30, 2009 16:07:43 GMT -5
Hey, no problem for the long post! I'm bored too! I'm hoping these ground meats with organs will help Munchkin acclimate to raw.
I went to a natural food store today and saw duck breast dehydrated treats that were only duck breast (jerky for pets) and i tore it up and some took to it immediately. I also bought cans of 100% rabbit, 100% pheasant and 100% buffalo canned dog foods that were only meat and water. AWESOME, right? I'm going to feed them rabbit tonight out of the can with some kibble and see how it goes. I'm excited. Each can was 1.59 but it might be awesome if they will eat this!!!
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 31, 2009 8:28:07 GMT -5
the canned rabbit did not get eaten, needless to say. Right now they're munching on chicken wings to make up for basically not eating dinner last night.
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Post by vkoslin on Oct 31, 2009 11:19:38 GMT -5
Oh and Munchkin's weight loss wasn't bad. She was SO fat before, that now's she's relatively normal sized. She's by no means underweight. Her weight loss was GOOD! Just probably not in the way we'd like her to lose weight.
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Post by cristina on Nov 1, 2009 16:48:13 GMT -5
I mean at this time of the year they tend to lose weight (early) then start to pack it on for the winter so they are more hungry than usual, so I just wanted to suggest KMR because its good for alot of things (when they are sick, when they need weight gain and seasonal like now for added nutrition) I know a couple people who use it regularly including myself so just wanted to throw it out there in case u do get concerned about weight at any time The canned meats do sound pretty cool, what store did you get them from?
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