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Post by amymelissa on Dec 12, 2008 17:57:38 GMT -5
Have fun this weekend!
There is a winter storm heading in starting tonight. We're suppose to have blizzard and white out conditions. We are suppose to get close to 10 feet of snow over the next 4 days! I don't think we'll lose power or have any problems but if you don't hear from me for a bit it could be because of the storm.
The diet is going great, as long as I don't try and give her beef and stick with the chicken. I did find the Natures Made fish oil and will start to add it tonight to her food.
She isn't eating bone except for the neck bones we grind up in her soup. We don't add eggshell when we grind up the bone. Should we be adding the eggshell with the bone?
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 14, 2008 11:54:41 GMT -5
Well the storm isn't as bad as they thought. We only got about 8 inches of snow so far, course there are 3 more storms coming through after this one!
Taz is doing pretty good. The soup isn't really soup and is pretty chunky. Chunky enough that she grabbed a piece and dragged it off to the corner to eat!
Off subject we made Taz some sleep bags out of baby fleece blankets. It was cheaper to buy the blankets than to buy the fabric!
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 14, 2008 18:41:24 GMT -5
I'm staying longer than I thought, I made it a point to get on here. There is no need to add egg shell with the necks.. That might be an over load of calcium. I'm glad you are working upward on the thickness of the soup. She is making great progress. Once you can get her to eat bone in meat like wings or legs, organ and more variety then she will be ready to graduate.  Do you have a Joann's Fabrics? I'm on their list and I frequently get 40% off coupons in my email that I would gladly pass along. We have fabric everywhere! -~Ketlin |
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 17, 2008 3:32:12 GMT -5
Sorry I haven't been on. It's been a bit crazy with my daughters birthday this Friday and with Christmas coming. Taz is doing good. She dragged her plate into her sleeping back... guess she thinks that is a highly valued thing now  So far the diet is still the same. We are going to try turkey this weekend and maybe pork, see how that goes. Rumor around our house is that someone "might" be getting a kit for her birthday. I know someone who got a baby for their son and he's allergic to the kit. She wanted to see how this week went with limited contact, different room, etc. Last time I talked to her he was still breaking out in hives. I'll know on Friday whether she is going to give the kit to us or keep her. I believe she (kit) is about 8 weeks old and they got her from a pet store. She's also a Marshall's ferret. |
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 17, 2008 11:44:48 GMT -5
No rush, she is doing well!
How exciting about the little kit!!! I would love to get my hands on one.. I'm surprised that so many kids are allergic to ferrets!!!!
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 17, 2008 14:33:44 GMT -5
I'm not surprised. It seems like kids nowadays have more allergies than kids did years ago.
My Aunt has the same allergy that Jace does to the Guinea Pig. So it might be a family allergy.
Taz is getting fat!!! She's put on weight and she's got a little budda belly lol
Her energy level is up too. She's a little crazy girl. We can get her to cuddle sometimes but she loves to play chase with the kids, adores the cat and his food. The cat on the other hand hisses and walks away. She's not so happy with Bo now because he continues to lick her and wont share his food, poor Taz lol
The mom called me and wants us to take the ferret. She said that even though the son is kept from the kit as much as possible he is now wheezing so the allergy appears to be getting worse.
We might be getting her today.
*update*
One girl turned into 2 boys, both Marshall's. They aren't 8 weeks but I'd guess under 6 months. The mother thought she had a home for the other but it fell through so we took both. Damien and Bandit. Damien is a biter and Bandit is just all over the place.
I gave them kibble tonight but will take it out now and start them on raw tomorrow morning! Can I just add the boys to this thread or do I need to start a new thread for them?
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 18, 2008 11:03:36 GMT -5
Wowzers!!!!! Yes, it would be best to add them to this thread. If you have the option of changing the thread name you can change it to "Tazzel, Damien and Bandit go raw!"... Go to your first post, hit edit and it should give you that choice.
Are you quarintining them?
Welcome to the family little guys!
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 18, 2008 14:34:28 GMT -5
Ok. I changed the title and yes the boys are in quarantine. Taz is downstairs in my room and the boys are upstairs on the other side of the house in Ryan's room!
We gave them some of Taz's soup and Bandit, although having to be hand feed did eat it and even nibbled on Tori's finger when it didn't have soup on it anymore. He would lick if off the plate as long as Tori's finger was on the plate so I'm thinking he might switch pretty easy like Taz did.
Damien on the other hand wasn't so easy. I had to force him and even scruff him to get him to eat. There was some hissing and disgruntled stares and jaw clamping shut. I'm thinking I'm going to have to thin out the soup.
I'd really like to stop the kibble when they hit my door but Damien might require some other methods.
The soup we make now for Taz is 1 chicken breast, 1 chicken thigh, 1 neck, 2 livers and 1 heart. It is pretty thick and Taz can and does take chunks and drags them into the corner to eat.
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 18, 2008 17:11:35 GMT -5
That is great that you are quarantining. I've seen so many people skip that step lately. You may have to finger feed him for awhile. That is what another person I am mentoring had to do for her boy and he is now eating on his own. You could feed the boys separately so you don't have to take a step back for Damien. There wouldn't be anything wrong with that, it might just take alittle more time. Taz is really close to being able to graduate. She just needs to eat bone in meat and have alittle more variety. I think the boys are probably a few months old.. I'm not sure if you know their exact age.. But you are getting them switched soon enough for it to help them with their growth. -~Ketlin |
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 18, 2008 17:20:10 GMT -5
I don't know their exact ages. After watching them today I'd say they act much younger than Taz does. I know that Taz is at least 1 1/2 - 2.
Taz is doing really good. I'm going to try ground turkey tonight.
Can you walk me through that. If I get 1lb of ground turkey then I'd add 2 livers, 1 heart and maybe some giblets and a whole egg? I don't have chicken necks right now hence why the egg. She hasn't had a whole egg yet this week. Does that sound about right? I'm going to try mashing it up and not blending it. The chicken she's eating now is big enough chunks that she is able to drag pieces off of the plate and go to the corner and eat it.
The soup that we gave the boys had bone in it and it wasn't ground very fine. Like I said Bandit did fine as long as he was fed but Damien was having none of it. I know they are hungry because I took away the kibble last night at about 1am and then fed this am at around 8:30am. Then gave them an oatmeal bath and they went to sleep. Should I wake them to eat or wait till they wake on their own?
I am a little concerned that the boys don't seem to be drinking enough water, unless they are drinking it at night when I'm asleep!
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 18, 2008 17:32:27 GMT -5
The boys look young, its not really because of their size or anything.. They just look like babies. If you have it, I would probably add another liver, If not, its no biggy.. But that does sound fine to me. That is really good that they are already eating food with bone in it (Well, obviously Bandit is more willingly!) that means you won't have to go through all the stuff of adding egg shell powder or any of that. I don't know what time it is there.. But you can go ahead and give them food and if they are hungry they will wake up when they smell it. I've noticed my ferrets at least do most of their drinking right when they wake up and also I've woken to hear them drinking.. I think they are too busy being nuts to drink during the day. But they won't drink much because they are small and also once they pick up on raw eating they will be getting a lot of fluids from the meat. -~Ketlin |
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 18, 2008 17:39:19 GMT -5
It's 3:35 or so here now.
Ryan gets home in about 30 min so I'll feed them then. Maybe Damien will be more willing to eat it but I doubt it. I think it's going to be another fur flying, jaw clamping, hissing match lol But I will win !!!!
We have to get more chicken so we'll grab a tub of chicken livers while out. Heart is hard to come by unless we buy the whole chicken with three to feed now I'm worried about being able to get enough heart!
*update*
Well feeding time held one surprise and one fight. Damien wasn't the surprise. Once again I had to force feed him but this time I didn't have to scruff him.
The surprise was Bandit ate his food, from the plate, alone!!! I'm going to post a video of him eating on the general forum!
*2nd update*
Bandit did great. We're actually going to try him with a chicken wing tomorrow and see how he does. Bandit makes a chirping sound when he is eating. I'm not sure if that's a good thing and means he likes it or what it means. Bandit I think will be eating whole raw before Taz and he is way ahead of Damien!
Damien not so great. At lunch time he did ok, still had to force him to eat. He is convinced we are trying to poison him and even bit (didn't draw blood) Michael tonight at dinner time. There was a lot of scruffing, hissing, trying to get away and glares during dinner tonight and that doesn't even begin to cover Damien's behavior lol j/k but it was bad!
Although I don't want to do kibble with Damien we might need a game plan with him. Although I'm ok with the amount of food he's eating now I'm not ok with it for more than a couple of days.
On a side note I had to take the hammock out of the boys' cage because Damien is close to having chewed a hole in it and I'm not sure if he'd eat it or not.
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 19, 2008 16:20:33 GMT -5
If Bandit eats the wing, and then you figure out of he will take other varieties of meat (3 types of meat minumum is preferred).. Then he is ready to graduate. He has picked up on all of this very fast.
You should try putting the soup in a blender or food processor (or whatever you use to make the soup) and toss a quarter or half kibble with three quarters or half soup for Damien. Seeing as he is a kibble lover this might help him along. If it works you can just reduce the amount of kibble as you go along.
Damien may still be teething.. I think they stop at 4-5 months old... Hopefully it will go away on its own and if not you may have to spray the bedding with something nasty tasting!
-~Ketlin
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Post by amymelissa on Dec 19, 2008 17:42:01 GMT -5
Ryan fed Damien today and he ATE it. No scruffing, no biting, no hissing! We'll see if this continues.
I don't know what it is with Ryan but she could get Taz to eat the beef soup when she resisted Michael and I.
I made a thread about Damien eating!
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Post by tsslilsis on Dec 19, 2008 20:17:24 GMT -5
Woohoo Damien!!! I think these two are going to be fast switchers. Just another factor that leads me to believe they are very young. Do you know how long the women had them for?? They look very small.
-~Ketlin
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