Ernie, Didjeridu and Ramona start the switch!

[Forum Administrator]

Im happy to hear that they were interested in the bone (even if they didnt really eat it, its still a good start!) Im also happy to see that you are determined. It sounds like your kids are making good progress, so hang in there and keep on pushing through. They'll be eating bone in no time!

[animalsgetrevenge]

I haven’t updated in a few days- sorry! I’ve been distracted. The kids haven’t had kibble for… an entire week! They have been good about eating their food for the most part. They love the ground chicken/chicken organs mix from New Seasons and have eaten kibble size chunks of chopped up chicken wing and drum stick but prefer if it is mixed with the ground mix. I tried giving them chicken liver and they didn’t want to try it, even when I put some in with the ground mix.

Today they ate the last of their ground mix and had just chopped up drumstick for dinner. I went to New Seasons and bought two whole chicken legs ($2.09/lb) and a Cornish game hen (3.99/bird). Are these reasonable prices for hormone-free, antibiotic-free, cage-free, veggie-fed, local poultry? It wasn’t too high for me… as far as I know. I chopped up one chicken leg for the next two days and decided to give the fuzzies a little chunk of bone each to see what they would do. I have been chopping bones up into little pieces so they will eat it with their meat chunks and they have been doing well, except Ernie. Well the 3 bone chunks I gave them were about the size of three nickels stacked (2) and the end of the leg bone (1, 2 inches). Didjer went NUTS. He ate the two smaller chunks and went back for the third. He spent about 20-25 minutes working on them, and didn’t quite finish the largest piece. I put a small cardboard box in their cages with a few openings and he ate them in there, in his little den J. He loved it! I am shocked he is eating bone so quickly! Now I have to work on the other kids… and organs, too.

[Forum Administrator]

Sounds like things are going well! I am happy to have an update

Just a word of caution, when crushing the bones there is a certain size you want to avoid. You either need to crush them so fine that they wont cause issues like choking OR you need to leave them in pretty big chunks (so that SOME chewing is involved and your ferret doesnt just try and eat the chunks of bone). This will help you avoid choking What I like to do is take a bone and just break it in half (lengthwise) so that the yummy marrow is exposed. This way you know that if they are gunna eat it that they are really going to sit and chew on it

Some ferrets simply dont like liver (amyandfuzzies7 and dalamar have ferrets that dont like liver), but its important because its a good source of vitamin A and C. There are several ways to get them to try the liver:

1. Lightly cook the outside (while leaving the inside raw) and offer small, warm chunks to your ferrets.

2. Try beef liver instead of chicken liver

3. Offer whole prey (mice and rats and other frozen-thawed prey) in the diet so that they get their source of organ meat fromt he mice and other prey

Any chance you can get pics of them eating their raw foods? I'd love to see pics! I look forward to your next update. Thanks for keeping me posted!

[animalsgetrevenge]

This morning I gave the ferrets breakfast of little chunks of drumstick. The chunks are bigger than kibble but still pretty small.

Didjer heard me put the bowl down and raced upstairs. He sat there, alone, and ate over half the meal himself! Once he finished I put Ramona and Ernie up on the top to eat. Ramona ate some but Ernie wouldn't eat. He actually HID in the cardboard box den to get away from my nagging! The only place he was interested in the food was when I offered it to him as he lay in his hammock. That lazy man! He thinks he's a king! Even then he just licked at it. Before I leave for school I will give him a special breakfast to make sure he eat, that little poop!

[Forum Administrator]

How are they doing today?

[animalsgetrevenge]

So there is what has been up for the past few days:

I bought a Cornish game hen and so far Didjer likes it, Ramona tolerates it and Ernie won’t eat it.

Didjer is eating big chunks on bone and chicken and Cornish game hen, about the size of my thumb.

Ramona is eating chunks of meat, about the size of my middle finger nail and just as thick.

Ernie is on a hunger strike. I thought he had been eating because he would lick the meat and take chunks into the cardboard “den”, but after a day of that I realized he has been taking the meat in there and spitting it out! Tricky jerk. He has eaten very little in the past 3 days. I’ve tried covering the meat chunks in ferretone and ferretvite and chopping it into much smaller pieces and adding more water. The first two don’t help and when I watered it down he would just lick up the juice and leave the meat. When I took out the “den”, he would pick out pieces of meat and lay them all over the floor of the cage… this morning, when I fed him, he laid the chunks all over, it looked like he had killed something!

Last night I gave in, feeling partially defeated, and fed him some kibble and meat soup. He ate around the meat and didn’t eat much kibble. I did the same this morning. I am worried about him because he hasn’t eaten much as anything the past few days and has lost a lot of weight. I didn’t let Didj or Ramona eat any of the kibble, they are doing fine with raw and I’m not letting them go back!

Any suggestions?

[Forum Administrator]

Well for Erine its important to get him eating SOMETHING. Get him some meat based babyfood and syringe feed him just once (sometimes when you get REALLY hungry you get almost nauseus and even though you are starving you just dont want to eat. Getting food into his belly can help with the hunger and then he SHOULD start eating on his own). Be sure he poops out the food your syringe feed, this is key. If poop doesnt come out then please take him to the vet asap. I am probably just a little paranoid because I just lost sams to a blockage, so please dont let me scare you, just moniter him, ok?

If you syringe feed him 1x then get him away from Ramona and Didjer and give him some wet kibble mixed with a little raw. I know he didnt eat much when you last offered it, but get some food in his belly. This will help.

Another high cal food to get him to "perk up" is raw egg yolk mixed with 1tbsp of organic heavy whipping cream. Its sugar and lactose free, but please try to find a cream that is free of carageenan (sp?) which can cause some tummy irritation. The cream is very high in fat and calorically dense, and many ferrets LOVE it, which is good when you are trying to get them to eat You can mix this together, warm it slightly, then suck it into a syringe and feed like that. If they like tone you can add a little bit to the mixture. Very few ferrets will turn this down. Even sams who was suffering from a blockage (and as a result wouldnt eat ANYTHING) would eat this, so its good stuff....well...to a ferret

Give these little tricks a shot and then let me know what happens. Im proud of ALL of your babies, especially Didjer and Ramona. Keep offering them their raw foods and work with Ernie and in time they'll all be on the same stage

Hang in there and keep me posted

[animalsgetrevenge]

Last night I tried giving them a blended mix of raw ground chicken/chicken organs with chicken liver and NO ONE liked it though they all tried it. This morning I'm going to try offering it again, if they don't eat it, I don't really know what to do... I guess I will defrost a chicken leg for Didj and Ramona and them give Ern some kibble mush, he needs to eat

[Forum Administrator]

Don't worry, some ferrets take a while to acquire a taste for organ and liver. You have several options:

If you tried beef liver, try chicken liver (and vice versa)
Im sure you already tried organic liver, but if not, give it a shot
Try mixing the liver with a little heavy cream (most ferrets love this stuff)
Try mixing the liver with some kibble (yes even for Didj and Ramona)
Try cooking the liver (and then as time goes by gradually cooking it less and less until its just raw)
Puree it up and put it in a feeding syringe and syringe feed it to them (if they actually TRY it they might find they like it)

These are my suggestions. Give am a shot and see if you get good results. In the mean time give em some food you know they'll eat (chicken for D and R) and kibble mush for E. Hang in there, you are doing great and we'll get em eating organ

[animalsgetrevenge]

Thanks for the suggestions Giuli!
Its 2am here and I can't sleep! This past week (weeks, months, no!... YEAR) has been so hectic.

Everyone is eating ground chicken/chicken organs plus some extra chicken liver and bone meal and have been for the day. I am leaving town tomorrow afternoon until late Sunday for the beach so my mama is coming over to feed the ferrets, the dogs will be at her place.

Tonight I made up containers of food for each meal so it will be easy for her. I made the same meal as I did today with extra, meatier chunks of chicken for Didjer, he goes for those first!!! I'm so proud of my little carnivore! Hopefully things will go well while we are gone for the weekend. I have been so paranoid lately!

Wish us luck!

[Forum Administrator]

They are ALL eating it? Even Ernie?!?!?! If so, that is great! Have a fun weekend at the beach! Im happy to hear that your mom was willing to help feed the ferrets the meat for you

[animalsgetrevenge]

Thanks Giuli. I think Ernie thought it was just too big of a jump from the ground raw chicken "pet food" to tiny chunks of chicken. What a poop! So now that we are back to the ground stuff he is happy, I am just going to have to make the switch to actual meat chunks EXTREMELY slowly.

Maybe this is my chance to add new flavors to their meals? I am concerned that once I have he eating one thing he will never try something new. So far they have eaten the ground chicken "pet food", chicken, cornish game hen and chicken liver. Ernie wouldn't touch the CGH and none would eat the chicken liver unless I pureed a small quantity into something else meaty. While their food is still mushy (for Ern's sake) would this be a good time to add some pureed heart, lamb, beef, ect? Or would It be better to wait until I have them eating larger raw chunks. I know they need variety but I don't want to piss Ern off and take more steps backward. What is your opinion?

Have fun on your trip Giuli! The email you sent out to everyone was very sweet

[Forum Administrator]

Have fun experimenting with various meats. That is okay. you might find a meat that he likes that makes the transition easier. Be prepared for somewhat funky poopies (from the new foods).

[animalsgetrevenge]

While I was gone at the beach, Ernie didn't eat much at all. He is so skinny. He had been gaining the weight back before I left, but I think the change of me not being at home scared him. He is eating now, but I wish he would gain weight more quickly!

Today I fed him ground chicken/chicken organs with bone meal and ferretvite/tone for flavor. He is so weird about eating... He will take a few bites of the mush when I put the bowl down in the cage, then walk away. Yesterday and today I have been hand feeding him. If I hold him in my arms and hold the bowl up to his face or a spoon full of mush he eats it like he is starving. But if he gets a little chunk in his mouth that is too big for him (in his mind) he wiggles and squirms to get out of my arm. His neck gets ridged and straight and once I set him down, he chews it a little and then spits it out! Grrr! My poor skinny baby

I have good news though. For the past week and a half or so, Didjeridu and Ramona have gotten HUGE! They aren't growing (all my fuzzies are 3-5 years old) but they are CHANGING!

Didjer has always been pretty big, not fat but nice muscle mass. He neck and shoulders had bulked up and he looks like a football player or the incredible hulk!

When we got Ramona about a month and a half ago she was SKIN and BONES. She had been found wandering the streets and we took her in. The people who had found her had her for about 10 days and I don't know if she was skinny from being out in the world or from the cat food they were feeding her. She had gained a lot of weight on Natural Gold but was still fragile. In the past week I have noticed that she is so much bigger! She is as big as skinny Ernie now (which is good for her but bad for him) which I never thought possible. I never see her eating very much, but she is so tiny that she must not need that much food. The food she eats is doing her body some good!

[animalsgetrevenge]

Yesterday I went to a different New Seasons than I usually go to and they had a larger selection of raw pet food!

In their pet freezer they had pork liver, beef liver, chicken heart, and chicken neck/back. I bought some of each for the fuzzies. The prices on the chicken were lower than buying winds/legs/etc. too!

I gave the kids a sampling of each of the new organs and none of them liked it, at least not yet... Even Ajax, my dog, wasn't to sure about eating a chicken heart, I had to convince her.

I forgot the one thing I had gone to buy... Ground Chicken mix! Dang it! I'm headed back to the store tonight I guess.

Ernie is still skinny as hell. For each meal I take him out and practically force feed him. Well... It isn't that bad but he won't eat unless I hold the food in my hand or on a spoon close to his mouth, then he eats it like he is starving... What in the world is wrong with my poor Oonie?