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Post by StephyWolf on Mar 13, 2010 2:05:35 GMT -5
I want my kids to have coats like that!!! *jealousy* Been a long day, but threw some liver in with the kibble (I really need to go shopping...) and that's been a no go as well. They are literally clawing kibble out of their dish and eating it from the floor rather than eating round the bits of liver. I tried scuffing and pushing some into Sora's mouth and while he ate that he won't touch it on his own (and he didn't seem a fan of the method). Tried putting some tone on it to tempt Twilight and apparently the smell of liver was such a turn off to him he wouldn't even lick the tone off it. I'm going to try throwing turkey in there next (I'm cooking a small turkey for myself- Easy enough to cut some off for the boys) and failing that the breading method next, but I likely won't get to do so until Sunday night or Monday morning sadly- I'll be out of town Saturday and Sunday and I'm unsure if I'll be back Sunday afternoon or late night. So basically I'm going to be missing in action Saturday, and likely until late Sunday or early Monday. Then back with results! (I'm sorry I didn't know I was leaving town until a couple hours ago- Thus is the life of traveling entertainment).
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Post by spiritualtramp on Mar 13, 2010 10:55:01 GMT -5
On raw, your ferrets will have gorgeous coats like mine, too! Granted, that is Diesel's winter coat, and his summer coat is never long and fluffy, but it is still silky soft. I wouldn't try offering more than one meat this early in the beginning. I know you're trying to find something that they maybe like, but too much change can confuse them this early on and not give them enough time to give any one thing a real chance. Stick with either chicken or turkey, boneless and cut into very small pieces for now. Liver (and other organ meats) are extremely rich and heavy and even ferrets who go for it immediately tend to throw it back up the first few times. So when we get to organ meats, I usually recommend blending it with plain yogurt, to help pre-digest it. Pureeing it also goes over better texture-wise, as a lot of ferrets seem weirded out by the texture of whole organ (who can blame them? It's gross!) Have a great weekend, and no worries about leaving. Your job is your job, and that's okay! I look forward to hearing how they do Sunday night or Monday
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Post by StephyWolf on Mar 18, 2010 19:09:51 GMT -5
I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disappear like that I stupidly thought I could train Sunday... Only to have my left elbow (the one I broke bout 11 weeks ago) give out and everyone worry themselves sick resulting in me being whisked away from my handy computer. Well update time, and here's the kicker- Twilight (the almost 3 year year old) is munching on some chicken, Sora (The 6 month old) won't touch it. Breading just caused them to lick it, but Twilight decided leaving it in the food a couple of days in a row (fresh each day of course!) must mean it's food. He seems to be having some issues tearing it but he's finally realized it is indeed food and not poison. I'm continuing this to see if Sora will follow Twilight's lead (as he's seemed to taken top spot in the duo having beaten up the poor lil ferret a bit).
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Post by spiritualtramp on Mar 19, 2010 12:34:32 GMT -5
Wow that's fantastic! Give it a few more days and his jaw muscles will get better accustomed to tearing and chewing. It can be a big change for them, but that's fantastic. Will Sora lick the chicken at all? What about if you cut it into teeny weensy slivers?
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Post by StephyWolf on Mar 22, 2010 15:25:55 GMT -5
Twilight is all for the small slivers, Sora... is still turning his noise up. I'm not sure what to do to get him to try it, he's sure not following Twilight's lead. And this isn't food related but I had a random question- Sora has a bad habit of laying on his tummy when going to the bathroom with some obvious messy results (urine all down him basically). Is this abnormal? Any way to stop it?
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Post by StephyWolf on Mar 23, 2010 19:12:01 GMT -5
My grandmother thought I lost my mind today... I took a chance and threw a piece of raw chicken into the food dish, and Twilight went right for it. I was jumping up and down, going "yay!" a lot, and Sora who can hear me was looking at me like I was nuts. So Twilight is going for the chicken officially. As for Sora?.... *sits and watches*
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Post by spiritualtramp on Mar 25, 2010 0:16:21 GMT -5
Okay let's try a different route with Sora. He's going to be a bit of a tougher switch. Keep Twilight eating bits of chicken for now, we can start adding tiny bones or other meats in a week or so. Do you have a blender you don't mind blending meat with?
Some ferrets get pee-belly often. My bigger boys do, especially when they are fat with winter weight. It's pretty common, especially when ferts are unneutered and 'marking' or messy kits - but not entirely uncommon for neutered adults, either. So no worries unless he is actually completely unable to hold himself up, or get in and out of the box.
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Post by StephyWolf on Mar 30, 2010 1:30:25 GMT -5
Sorry didn't mean to go AWOL on you there. Twilight did actually end up snagging a small raw chicken wing bone from me, absolutely loved it. He's enjoying the new food a lot, and I'm hoping that means he'll eat more and get some weight on him (He lost quite a lot being sick and hasn't really gained it back- All skin and bones sadly). Currently I do not have a blender though I can likely get hold of one. Any old blender will do or should I look for something specific? I believe I have a small meat grinder laying unused in my attic as well if that would be useful for anything. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get Sora to lay off Twilight a bit. He looks like he's trying to play but Twilight will run away, and be obviously trying to get away and Sora will keep chasing him down and biting at his ears and scruff trying to get him to play.
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Post by spiritualtramp on Mar 30, 2010 21:34:40 GMT -5
That's okay, I went a little AWOL too - oops! I ran off to New York City for the weekend spontaneously.
I use a little smoothie blender that I got at Walmart for $20, and it does all that I need it to! I just do organs and muscle meats in it, but if you have a meat grinder that could be helpful in maybe getting Sora interested!! Take it out and dust it off and let me know how fine/large you can grind stuff. I assume it will do bone?
Has Twilight been pooping out of fear? It's probably still just a domination struggle and will ease up if you give it more time. Sometimes they sound much worse than they really are, I've found.
How big are the wing bits Twilight is eating??
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Post by StephyWolf on Mar 30, 2010 22:06:49 GMT -5
Twilight ate a small bone that was thinner then my pinky (and I've got small hands), but about an inch long. I'm mostly worried he doesn't eat enough of anything in one go because he hasn't gained any of his weight back even with kibble acess at all times (he's getting weighed the 5th- God help me, Twilight for weight, Sora for his last rabies, and Aleu for a general check up all at once). Never used the meat grinder honestly, I'll see what it can handle as soon as I can get up there (likely tomorrow afternoon- Too bloody hot today for it).
No pooping or blood (though I found little scabs on Twilight's back from the nips). They just scared the heck out of me a moment ago though... Twilight is usually pretty quiet but he was being pretty dang loud and Sora just wasn't letting go. I ended up scuffing Sora and putting him in the timeout cage for a little bit.
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Post by spiritualtramp on Apr 1, 2010 17:23:25 GMT -5
Timeouts can be useful, but I would still let them work it out at this point. Sometimes all we do is prolong the battle rather than help.
A pinky-sized bone is great progress!! Keep offering them and he will come around. You are still leaving kibble available, so he's likely eating that and not eating as much raw. I know Sora is not quite okay with raw yet but if you can get the grinder in working order, you may be able to remove the kibble entirely from their cage and give Twilight the opportunity to fill up fully on raw foods.
Is Sora still not attempting any raw? Have you tried soups or baby foods at all?
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Post by StephyWolf on Apr 1, 2010 19:22:22 GMT -5
I've never separated them before this. I think Twilight liked the short break from the lil energetic kit honestly. Twilight likes bone, a lot. Is there any risk of him eating it too fast? Right now he's taking them from me by hand which means I can control how much he snags at a time, but he's trying to get more at once. He seems more excited about the bone then the meat even, and I've seen some improvement in his jaws and have been able to give him pieces of chicken that are a little bit larger now. When I got Sora I forgot to snag some of the god awful Marshell's food he was on, and was going to rush out as soon as the store opened to buy some. In the mean time I put a dish of EVO into his cage, prayed, and he ended up just eating that so I didn't bother with a proper transfer. In light of this I'm going to attempt something in the morning: I'm going to take all kibble from the cage, and just put cuts of chicken in the dish for a little while and see if he takes the hint. This will allow Twilight a chance to fill up some, and it'll give me a chance to watch if Sora will go after it (Most of the chicken disappears over night, and from experience just because Sora won't take from my hand doesn't mean he's not snagging some at night too). If this fails miserably I'll try my hand at baby food. This kit won't even touch tone though (and boy does that make nail clipping harder), so I'm not sure how he'll accept the new texture. As far a soup... I've never tried to make any sort. Also, a fun little story in regards to Twilight and bones: I was hand feeding Twilight some bone the other day when someone knocked on the door. I suppose the logical step would have been to put him back into the cage and answer the door, but instead I kept feeding him and took him with me. My father dropped by for a visit with his girlfriend, and while my dad is pretty use to me being eccentric, apparently the sight of a young woman coming to the door with a "bit rat" crunching on chicken bones taken from her hand freaked the woman out quite a bit. She didn't seem to convinced when I said he was dang well behaved and wouldn't bite unless sneaked up on and that only occurres because he is deaf and does not know you're there. I don't think she'll be coming back soon
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Post by spiritualtramp on Apr 2, 2010 11:32:04 GMT -5
Bahahaha ohhh now you are that crazy ferret lady That is hysterical! That sounds like a good plan, we need to know if Sora is willing to try even a little bit of the chicken. There really isn't much danger in Twilight eating too quickly, they're pretty good at pacing themselves and if for some reason he goes too quickly and gets a piece stuck or something, he'll soon learn not to be such a voracious pig They are smart about their food, and with time he will probably start laying down to eat, which helps to keep a nice pace as well as gives them the ability to use their paws as hands
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Post by StephyWolf on Apr 2, 2010 14:13:54 GMT -5
Nah I think I hit crazy ferret lady status a little while ago when people realized I went for two walks in a row- First I walk my dog, then I walk my ferrets. Kids think this is perfectly acceptable and want to meet them, parents look at me like I've lost my marbles (and considering I never claimed to have them all I'm just fine with that) So this morning Twilight chowed down, while Sora sulked until I gave in and gave him some kibble (put a minimal amount in nicely mixed with the chicken in hopes he would get a bite of both, but nope he worked his paws off moving the chicken away from the kibble). Twilight is pacing just fine with the meat, it's just the bone he goes nuts over. Maybe they remind him of the no longer allowed ferret stick things that I stopped giving him the moment I noticed the ingredients? I've had to request no one give him any as treats at the monthly ferret meeting now too- Generally they tend to be pretty food savvy there (kibble but the good quality stuff) and I guess I trusted that a little too much. I'm searching the wreck of an attic for the grinder. My grandmother says it's up there... somewhere. My father says he has a blinder in the basement so I'm going to ask if he could dig that up for me. Assuming he can't I'll go snag one at walmart though that will likely have to wait until the money from my tax refund comes in a week or two (I filled mine out as a dependent on accident considering this is my first year I am not, my amendment papers mean I get about $280 more with the stimulus check and all) I'm still between jobs at the moment making money a bit tighter then I care for it to be. I've been fiddling with the idea of a live mouse for Sora... Where as I doubt Twilight would go for it Sora seems more of the hunter type. Problem is- What in the world do I do with it if no one kills and/or eats it?
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Post by spiritualtramp on Apr 4, 2010 10:39:35 GMT -5
Live is hard for me, too. I know that ferrets aren't swift always in the beginning and know that I wouldn't be able to dispatch a mouse quickly if they couldn't. I offered live once, and surprisingly, Tank was the only swift hunter. I only do frozen whole prey now for several reasons, that being one of them. Have you tried any frozen mice with them? If you can purchase one pinky it might be a worthwhile dollar spent to see how they do.
Let me know if the grinder/blender turn up - those will definitely help in switching stubborn Sora.
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