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Post by Heather on Sept 2, 2008 22:52:55 GMT -5
Congratulations...you and your furbabies are doing fantastic. I swear the hardest furbabies to switch are the Marshal's furkids. I may be wrong but they're the ones that have given me the most grief. This is fantastic that your newbies are moving along so well. Like I said, you may find them to be the leaders in this food adventure and they may actually show the way for your guys to moving along to get into more raw foods. Good luck, I will check with you tomorrow  ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 3, 2008 7:35:42 GMT -5
ah! I'm so proud! Yesterday, the food bowl left for the newbs only had soggy kibble left! They ate aroud the kibble to get the soupie! yay! They switched themselves competely! Also, liberty has put on some weight! I think it's the thinner soupie, she's been eating twice as much (even compared to before we lost May.) I was actually starting to worry about her because of her unknown age.
BTW Gus can JUMP higher than all of the others can climb! He can jump from the floor and land on the cedar chest! or inside the bath tub! he's a NUT! I'm pretty sure they named the hurricane after him!
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Post by Heather on Sept 3, 2008 13:44:35 GMT -5
 You are so going to have your hands full with this new pair ...Oh by the way it rubs off on the other ones too You're going to have to revisit your ferret proofing. So the kibble is gone...great stuff...and now we move on  That's great about Liberty...I had some concerns about her lack of interest in eating. With the death of Mayhem, this affects the remaining business in different ways and with her she seemed to loose interest in eating. I'm glad to hear that everything is working out. Have you tried the newbies on some more solid fare? A wing tip or a chicken leg? If you try the chicken leg, even if its the wing tip make sure you slice into the meat through the skin...score it. It will give them something to grab hold of. With Liberty, you may want to try to thicken up the soupy (very little now) just so that she's getting closer to the consistency that you want her eating. If you thicken it too quickly they'll go on a hunger strike again and we don't want that considering how well they're doing. I will check back with you later this evening. Ciao
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 5, 2008 16:45:18 GMT -5
Later tonight I am making this weeks batch of soupie. I've gotten all og my chicken out of the freezer and int he fridge to defrost. I tlooks like I have a litle ground chicken, some ground turkey, a few chicken breasts and some legs and wings, along with some gizzards. As soon as it thaws just a little more I will post how it turns out.The fur kids are doing great! They are all eating, and eating lots! I'm soooooo glad! Libby is continuing to do well and put on weight, I'm very relieved! This next batch of soupie will not have any pedialyte so it wont be as watery.
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Post by Heather on Sept 5, 2008 22:25:20 GMT -5
Sounds great...you and your little ones are doing fantastic. I'm so glad to hear that Libby's weight is still climbing and that everyone sounds healthy and happy. I will check to see how that new batch of soupy is received later tomorrow afternoon. Great job ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 8, 2008 13:59:55 GMT -5
So sorry for being a bit absent!Classes ar eback in session and things are hectic! I made the soupie with the skin from a few wings (too afraid of the smell to use the meat), a chicken breast, a baggy full of ground turkey, a half package of gizzards/hearts, and an egg. It was a lot thicker this time and everyone still ate it:) Gus is my little jumping bean. He can jump almost the hight of my hips! He's been finding clever ways to escape from "prison" while mommy is at work and has been teaching the others! SO far, he';s just helped me ferret proof better I always figure out what he did, then proof it! |
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Post by Heather on Sept 8, 2008 14:21:20 GMT -5
That's ok sounds to me that your guys are well on their way to eating a full raw diet. Which is great because now you have to concentrate on school...so your guys can munch and crunch at their leisure. Now you just have to decide where you want to take this. I have a couple of those little sods...they make life interesting, Mad Max is my ultimate ferret proofer He's the gogo maniac and is into everything even though he's got to be 8 or 9 yrs of age and blind in one eye (confrontation with nasty kitty). You gotta love them...they do try and drive you crazy Try making your soupy mix even thicker next time and see where it takes you ciao |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Sept 8, 2008 18:10:42 GMT -5
I second making the soupy thicker. Now that they are doing well on the soupy its time to "kick it into high gear". I prefer to get people off of the "switching stage" as soon as possible because if there is ever a risk for deficiency its during that stage. Once they start eating the proper amounts of whole raw meaty bones, boneless muscle meat, and organ meat, the risk of dietary imbalnce is substantially reduced. To get them going, start out by making the soup thicker and then once they eat the thick soup start to add chunks of meat to the soup. Start out with chunks that are no bigger then half the size of a kibble piece. Slip them in the soup and each day add more chunks and reduce the amount of soup a little. The goal is to totally wean them off the soup and get them eating JUST half-kibble sized chunks. Once they are eating just the chunks we need to increase the size of the chunks to about the size of a thumb. At that point its time to get them onto bone (further instruction to come once you get them there). You are doing great and so are they, so now its time to take it to the next level. Now that your schedule is getting busier its important to get thems switched at a quicker pace (meaning working on this in a seriuos, ambitious way, but not at the expense of the ferrets. If they are struggling its okay to take it slow for a bit) Lets get this show on the road! I'm very proud of how far you've come! |
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 13, 2008 10:19:56 GMT -5
It has been an interesting week. I ran out of soupie Wednesday night. Thurseday morning I gave them some ground chicken. I came back a few hours later to check on them and they hadn't touched it. I added an egg and mixed it well, and they still hadn't eaten anything when I got off of work at 11pm. Now I know they will eat organ with out meat, but will not eat meat without organ. I went out and got some organ meat. 1/3 package liver (about 2 and some juice), 3/4 package gizzards/hearts, 1/2 pound chicken, 1/2 pound turkey, 1 whole edd, and 3 egg shells. This soupie is slightly chunky and much thicker. I only made enough for about 3 days so I could increase the thickness and chunks in a few days.
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Post by Heather on Sept 13, 2008 18:06:19 GMT -5
I wondered how you were doing It's funny what makes them tick Let me know how this new soupy goes over. As long as it tastes relatively the same they should go for it I will check in with you later on this evening. ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 17, 2008 21:31:59 GMT -5
Wow! Winter weight is starting to pack on! My 4 are eating more in a day than they used to in a week! They are gradually moving up to larger chunks of food, but still will not eat meat without organ. Everyone is doing really great. Bella is still not "settled in" or she may just be a "loner," I'm not really sure. She hasn't really bonded with any of the ferrets, including Gus as I've realized, or us. She's getting etter with being held and stuff, just a litle withdrawn. With time I know she will do better but for now it is really sad. The other 3 will come up and play all together with me and she just kinda wonders around.
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Post by Heather on Sept 17, 2008 23:45:20 GMT -5
Hey, that's great, even if they won't eat their food without the offal My guys won't eat ground without offal either, but they do now eat whole meats and prey...so You're moving up ... Keep going in the direction that you're doing, each time offering larger pieces of meat. Eventually, they won't differentiate between chunks and ground. What we have to do it getting them eating bone. That's the big one. Whether you decide to find someone to grind the bone and feed them ground or you feed them whole meats with bone we have to get them that far. Then you will have to decide just what you want to feed them If you are happy that they're just eating ground raw, or chunked or whole meats, or if you want to move it even further and take it to prey. It's entirely up to you, I'm open to helping you get where ever you want to take this Winter pudge....I can't believe how much my guys are putting away They're eating about 2.lbs every 4 or 5 days (now they do have to share this with the 2 cats, but neither Merlyn or Samurai are heavy eaters) Your little solo girl may indeed start to warm up to you and to the rest of the business as time progresses. I find that just because rescues are starting to feel comfortable with their new homes, doesn't mean that they feel that they have found their home, that seems to take longer. I honestly believe that the damage done by re homing is far longer reaching than we actually suspect. That is one of the reasons why I stopped re homing. I was finding substantial behaviour changes in my rescues a lot longer after I thought they were comfortable in their new home. I watched considerable changes in personalities and lowered stress levels. I discovered that my two little senior girls, even though they've been turned in together and have shared a cage all their lives (a minimum of 7 yrs) they are not a comfortable match. Both wander about totally on their own and do not play or even at times sleep together. Mr Squiggly, who was just recently turned into me is still in that mode where he's afraid to make friends ( I suppose that sounds silly but), he really wants to play and make friends with little Sprite but he can't seem to let go and trust that he's not going to be moved again and have his new furfriend taken away. He was moved from one home, with 2 other ferrets. They aren't the wild child that he was, so they were integrated into an existing business, he was placed with a solitary ferret who actually befriended him. He's a biter (deaf) so he's once again re homed, again without his new found friend. He's finally moved in with me. He no longer trusts anyone, and cannot befriend any of the existing ferrets. He's very young, under 3 yrs...probably not much more than 9 months or so judging by his activity levels and his teeth. He's really sweet but really poorly socialized and very insecure and stressed. I'm hoping with time and a lot of TLC that he will eventually become the real sweetie that he is and he will eventually find a friend that he can become close to... I will check in with you tomorrow and see where you're at. You're doing fantastic and it sound like your business is coming along really well....I would love to be able to get your guys eating bone instead of just egg shell (there is a greater mineral absorption with bone vs egg shell) ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 21, 2008 16:37:34 GMT -5
Wow they are putting on some wight and eating everything in sight! I've feeding about 1-1.5 pounds of chicken/organs a day now! They are some hungry ferts!!! I've got the "soup"pretty chunky now. Constantine still feels the need to hoard food in his cage even when I give him "dens" (boxes.) As soon as get them eating the chunky stuff good,I'm going to see if they will eat meat without organs again.
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Post by weeksl08 on Sept 21, 2008 17:47:05 GMT -5
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Post by Heather on Sept 21, 2008 21:32:57 GMT -5
I'm not fond of bone meal as it is cooked at very high heats and processed. It's just me.... That's great...my guys are eating me out of house and home right now. They're eating 8lbs of ground meat every two weeks but that doesn't count 2 rats a day, whole quail and or chicken necks or pieces so I know where you're coming from. The consolation is that it doesn't last forever, only until next March or so ...have you tried them on chicken legs (they're relatively cheap and they can get used to tearing meat off the bones. I wouldn't give them very many, just one to complement their lumpy supper ciao |
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