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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 13, 2008 22:47:49 GMT -5
OMG, Attila is adorable! He has a mini blaze on his head like Gadget! Love that round fuzzy belly! This is a bit of an oversight but I'd been busy dishing out soupy 3 times a day -- first thing in the morning around 7:30, when we get home from work at around 6 and then a midnight snack before we turn in. I left their kibble bowls in the cage and hadn't bother to look if they needed topping up. I'd say they had been eating less kibbles but there's definitely evidence that the ferts had been snacking on them. I know we talked about not going cold turkey with these guys in the beginning. But do you think they're ready for me to hold back their rations of kibbles? It's definitely still Poley's main diet and I'm not sure if Merry is going to go without for 10 hours straight... or can he?? or maybe we should wait until we can rely on them to eat on their own without prompting? My friend made a comment the other day when I told her about the boys' progress and how much they like the RMB diet. She laughed at me and said, "You don't have time to make supper for yourselves but your ferrets are getting a homemade organic meal 3 times a day.... there's something wrong with you two." Yeah, if you put it like that, we're pretty sad... ::)but we love our ferts!
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Post by Heather on Nov 13, 2008 23:28:26 GMT -5
Considering your guys health issues, I'm not sure I would go cold turkey yet. I would like to know they're not going 10 hrs without food. Do you put some of your mix in with the furkids as well as their kibbles? That might be an experiment that you might consider if you haven't already been there. One thing that I found that I did after I saw my guys eating from their raw bowl, was I stopped feeding kibbles during the day, offering it only at night. I would feed them in the morning, and then again at super, but that way if they're hungry during the day they might eat during the day from the raw bowl. The thing is I'm at home during the day, so if I see someone flagging or they're not quite there then I will hand feed them until they start eating comfortably on their own. You might try this on some day where you're going to be in all day or popping in and out so that you can keep track of what they're doing. If you're still having to spoon feed a lot they're not ready yet. Just my idea on it . ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 14, 2008 10:01:01 GMT -5
Well I guess this is the only frustrating part we'd hit so far. They just somehow won't eat from the raw bowl unless we're watching them. Or maybe it's the "fresh from the nuke" warmness that they're after (we put the soupy in for about 15 sec until it's barely body temperature -- still raw obviously. They won't eat it if it's stone cold from the fridge). they don't need spoon feeding anymore these days, we just plonk them in front of the bowl and they'd dig in. Maybe eat half a bowl and they want to go play. We try to get them to finish the other half after play time, and they would, as long as I reheat it for them... And they never touch it if I just leave some extra out in the cage for later...OMG what kind of monsters have I created?? Yeah I agree Merry should always have access to some sort of food, with his insulinoma and all. I mean, thank goodness he'd never once crashed on us (knock on wood) but why chance it if he's stable? Actually I was wondering the other day if pumpkin would be too much sugar for him... <shrug> It's Friday and I got tickets to see the National Ballet tonight. Woohoo~ Hubby's going to stay with the boys (He doesn't see the point of ballet like I don't see the allure of football ) It's a boys night in! Will let you know how they make out! Have a good one!
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Post by Heather on Nov 14, 2008 11:19:35 GMT -5
ohhhhh I'm so envious....the ballet. My daughter used to dance both ballet and highland. Once she was in the higher grades of ballet syllabus going to the ballet was part of her studies and that allowed us special tickets so I got to go. I'm afraid that my hubby can't see the use in it either, so now I watch it on tv....something's missing when you watch it that way. Anyway, hmmmm your spoiled little furmonsters....what indeed have you created . My guys aren't fond of food straight out of the fridge either. They like it room temp. So it sits out there until it is. Loki was digging into some stuff that had been left out from the last night. Looks like it was a rough night in the ferret room, everybody crashed and nobody ate much of anything, so I just left the food down (I go to bed about 2 or 3 am) So the food was there from then to about 10:30 am when Loki decided it was his dinner and he ate it all. Thor was running around with a very dehydrated chicken neck, I've no idea where he had stashed that thing....bleck...they haven't had necks since the beginning of the week...grosse So you might try leaving a small amount for them and seeing if they will eat it. They may not but it's a start. I'm working tomorrow morning, so I will check with you in the afternoon or evening (5 am is an ugly start so I may crash when I get home )
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 16, 2008 18:45:07 GMT -5
Hope you had a good day at work. 5 am is indeed nasty. Keep a supply of coffee! The ballet was fantastic. It's a dance about dancers. How old-school and avant-garde ballet clash... 2 styles in one piece. Very cool. Went on the hunt for drumsticks yesterday. Drumsticks happened to be on sale so we hauled 15 lbs of those home.... Let's see if the meat grinder is going to hold up to the heavy duty processing required. The boys are holding steady with their raw diet. Saturday was really icky outside but we had all these errands to do so the boys didn't really get any extra attention. Just the same routine as the weekdays. Today they have the run of the house all day Tassy and Gadget both ate some of the small chunks of thigh meat we added to the soupy. Merry tried to hide them but also chewed on a piece of a couple of second. Poley's a bit touch and go. One meal he'd hoover up his cream, next meal he wouldn't touch it.... it's a game of who can out-stubborn who Still got some work to finish up before we start our marathon meat grinding session. will check in with your tomorrow... if I can still move my arms!
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Post by Heather on Nov 17, 2008 0:37:03 GMT -5
You have my sympathies I can remember hand grinding a case of chicken backs...I got so I was getting really good. I could do about a case in an hour. I'm glad to hear that your furbabies are starting to eat chunked meat too. Could it be that Mr. Poley isn't hungry on that second meal? I find that there are days where my guys aren't all that hungry, it really depends on what they've been up to. This weekend for example....they spent most of their day in their room, so not much food was consumed. Tomorrow, they will be out most of the day, I expect that they will eat double what they've eaten today. You also still have kibbles available to them too...right? So it would also depend when the last time he hit the kibble bowl as to how hungry he will be. That's why some people advocate making the furbabies hungry before switching. I've been quite successful with doing the limited hunger thing, I don't believe in making them go for whole days at a time but I've allowed a healthy ferret to go without during the day with me feeding him first thing in the morning and again at night. I also find that ferrets do the "monkey see, monkey do" thing too. They watch what the other guys do, and if they see them eating they will try it. So I have it easier in that the rest of the business actually helps switch the newbies. I will check in with you tomorrow morning to see if you still have any arms left after processing all that meat ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 19, 2008 16:31:26 GMT -5
Sorry I disappeared for a couple of days. I have to give a talk at a conference for work this afternoon and I was freaking out over this public speaking thing. But now the deed is done and I didn't screw up too badly so I can re-focus on my babies! Hubby was really good with taking care of the boys while I was busy with work. The guy processed all 15 lbs of drumsticks in one sitting! The boys are eating more and more of the raw these day. Hubby kept forgetting to put in the meat chunks so we'll have to work on that this week. Remember I said Poley was being fuzzy with his cream? Turns out he actually like it thick, like rice pudding thick, with chicken. We try to make sure we feed him before he fills up on kibbles but that boy works in mysterious ways. Other than that, not much to report. Gonna go cuddle with my boys and I'll check in with you tomorrow! Dooks and hugs!
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Post by Heather on Nov 20, 2008 1:08:18 GMT -5
Congratulations on your public speaking....i hate that stuff passionately Give yourself a pat on the back (give the hubby one too for processing all that meat for you and give your furbabies a big hug...They're doing fantastic. You're right, considering that your guys are chomping down large amounts of ground meats, it's time to work on the junky stuff You can do this a number of ways, you can just add larger pieces to your ground mix, or you can add is separately. You can begin by offering slightly larger pieces as each level is accepted or you can offer something like a chicken wing or a scored chicken leg and see if they'll go for it. I will check with you tomorrow and see how it's going Give your guys some hugs from me, and give the Naked Mr. Poley a kiss and tell him to grow some fuzz...winter's here and it's really cold to be naked ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 21, 2008 15:59:48 GMT -5
yeah we got some snow in T.O. last night and I was thinking about taking the kids out to the backyard. They'd never seen snow before as far as I can tell. The problem is, they're not great with harnesses. In fact, Tassy is so good at slipping out of them, I can't tighten the thing anymore without chocking him. I ordered an extra large harness and a fleece hoodie for Poley but they're not here yet. I guess we'll have to bring the snow inside for them. Remember that 15 lbs of drumsticks that my hubby had painstakingly ground up? Well, turns out when I was panicking about speaking to a roomful of people, he didn't finish the job -- he left them in the fridge instead of freezing them into pucks. So when I popped open one of the vat-o-chicken yesterday, the smell hit me like a ton of bricks. the lesson? Ground chicken seems to go off way faster than whole chicken pieces. And we didn't save any money by buying in bulk. I didn't need to say much more, he felt stupid enough as is. But now we have to go on the hunt for chicken again. This is the first weekend in awhile that we don't have to either work or be sick. I'm looking forward to spending it with all my fuzzy children. Stay warm and we'll check in with you soon!!
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Post by Heather on Nov 22, 2008 0:24:12 GMT -5
Ground chicken....hmmm bad ground chicken I"m sorry that you had that experience. I've done that too. I'm glad that you're getting a weekend off We all can use those once in awhile. I'm going to try and keep in touch this weekend but I took in two new rescues and Armemis is doing a turn for the worse so I'm a little preoccupied. I will try and check in with you tomorrow evening. Have a great weekend ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 22, 2008 23:59:57 GMT -5
I'm so sorry to hear that Aremis is not doing well. The kids and I are going to send good brainwaves his way. Hope he's going to feel better soon. And I hope your new rescues are not in too bad shape. Do let me know if there's anything I can help with, money or time-wise. Don't worry about my boys. They're all being lean,mean chicken disposal machines Got more chicken... processed and frozen right away! We also picked up some ground pork this week. The ferts are kind of indifferent about it. they seem to prefer the chicken. I forgot to get pick up liver so I put in a/d instead for their breakfast this morning until I can get to the market. Guess what? They hated it! They turned their noses up to the soupy until I got the liver in the afternoon!!! I guess it's good thing that they love fresh liver so much! Take care! Extra get better kisses for Aremis. And welcome to the brood hugs for the new guys.
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Post by Heather on Nov 23, 2008 1:03:05 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear that your guys are turning into raw munching machines That's fantastic. How's Mr Poley and his cream soupies? Have you tried cutting back on the cream and feeding more the same of what the rest of your guys are eating ? Ahhh what good little fertskies....they're starting to understand what is good for them...they won't eat the A/D That's great Not for you at that point but they're into the raw, congratulations Aremis is holding his own. There is no win in this battle only postponement of the inevitable He's so painfully thin but he's still fighting. He sleeps most of the time now and has to be force fed. The two newbies are in excellent shape, they were very loved. Right now they're getting rescue remedy and lots of snuggle time. The little girl is very depressed and both are very confused. Poor little things. They were a surrender of circumstance. Their people didn't want to give them up...they just didn't have a choice I've got them eating a few mouthfuls of raw so we will see where it goes. When I first offered it there was much gagging and spitting and the little girl just spat the stuff everywhere. I wore more than I even go near her face I will check in with you tomorrow to see how your pork meal was received. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 23, 2008 9:53:04 GMT -5
Oh Aremis... what a brave boy! Give him some extra snuggles for me! It breaks my heart when people have to give up their animals because life throw a curve ball at them. To me, that's no different from having to give up your own children. The only bright side is that they'd found you. I'm sure the pair will be loved and well taken care of. Maybe one day things will look up for the ferrents and they can be reunited with the kids. Served the pork for breakfast this morning but no takers. Well, the cats love it but fuzzbutts were looking at me like, "okay, this looks close enough but where's my chicken??". I got the same look last time I served lamb. Maybe they're only into milder meats? We are quite proud of my boys becoming connoisseurs of fine meats. Like my hubby says, the boys now know the difference between a gourmet sirloin burger and Micky D's and they demand the best! Poley is still being a fuzzy eater. Like you said it really depends on if he'd filled up on kibbles before soupy time. He's totally on a different feeding schedule from the other guys. Gadget, Merry and Tas get their chicken first thing in the morning and when I get home from work. They eat and then the come out and play almost like clockwork these days. But who knows when Poley had been snacking on EVO? If we catch him hungry he'd eat a nice thick bowl of cream of chicken soup all by himself. For the last week or so, he'd only done it once or twice, other times he's just too busy charging down the hallway, dooking his hearts out. We gotta watch him in the cage this weekend, intercept with soupy when he heads for the kibble bowl... It's a chilly day out! Stay warm, lots of hugs for the new kids (what are their names?). Me and the boys will check in later!
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Post by Heather on Nov 23, 2008 18:17:35 GMT -5
Hi I'm sorry that your guys didn't appreciate your change of menu....the next time try stuffing it in the freezer in small pkgs and trying it again on a later date. Not a matter you tried, some of my guys won't eat pork. They may be more prone to trying things later after they're more comfortable eating their new foods . My guys are going to try venison this week...something new. Some have tried farmed venison and elk but wild stuff is entirely different both in flavour and texture. I think that you may have answered your own question regarding Mr. Poley and his on and off eating habits. Is he putting on weight at all? Any sign of fur yet? I'm a curious as you regarding this one. I hope that it's just him waiting to put on his new spring suitings. I hate to think that he's going to have another surgery. I'm getting to be rather fond of the little sod Ohhh, I'm so longing for spring....sad...yes No names for my newbies yet. I'm still getting to know them, soon I hope to have names. Maybe I will go prowling some name sites. Check with you later. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Nov 25, 2008 12:14:05 GMT -5
Well, we just got back from the vet the news is not good. It's time. Poley bear is going to lose his right adrenal gland. He's not responding to melatonin at all and our vet thinks that Lupron is just a temporary solution. And apparently Dr. Bruce Williams thinks long term use of Lupron might cause carcinoma... it's just postponing the inevitable. I don't know what to think. We have the surgery booked for next Wednesday and I'm still trying to convince myself that we''re doing the right thing. I got a whole lot of reading to do... (yes, I'm a pure nerd. I read when I got a problem to solve.... ) We calibrated my glucometer against the vet's and they give the same readings. So Merry's blood glucose had been constantly low for the last little while. Poor Merry got so upset when they stuck him with a needle, he peed himself twice. His blood glucose is still low so we have to bum up his pred again. <sigh> We're supposed to check his BG again in a couple of days and adjust his pred if BG still doesn't come up... Sorry for venting. I'm just frustrated with not being able to tell if the kids are feeling okay. Why don't they speak English?? Wish I could be home giving them snuggles instead of getting all antsy at work...
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