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Post by Heather on Oct 13, 2008 22:20:05 GMT -5
That is so great that your guys are now eating raw with total abandon  Do you have space to put in a small apartment freezer? I do know the limitations of freezer space  . I use 2 large 18 cu freezers to keep food for all the furbabies and our own food (we get a little corner the furbabies get the rest  ) You can sometimes get freezers that are being given away of some of these recycle lists or want adds. I know a couple of people who have picked up freezers for free or at least under $100. It certainly makes things easier when you're trying to buy in bulk to save money. Do let me know how they enjoy duck, I know that a few of my guys really enjoyed it a year ago when my supplier decided to clean out her freezers and found a couple of wayward ducks that had been in there way too long to sell to the general public. Just curious, are you going to stay at this level for awhile or are you still trying to get your guys onto whole foods? ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Oct 14, 2008 9:44:14 GMT -5
I'm very excited for my kids! The poopies look sooooooooo much better! I put the duck ut today so we will see how they do by night!
For now, I'm going to stay here for a few weeks until winter break when I have more time to work with them, and observe them. I want to be able to see who is eating what, and who isn't eating as well. At this point in time, I'm not sure if I will have a job over break, but even if I do it will be less than 20 hours a week so I will have plenty of time with them. i think the new kids will progress much faster than my original 2 so I want to be able to keep an eye on them. I also want to be able to watch Liberty. She's slowing down quite a bit lately. I think she may be closer to 4. She's getting around just fine, no signs of bad health, she just gtes tired a loooooot quicker, and doesn't seem to eat as much as she used to last winter. Her weight is a little less than I'd like it to be right now. I dont have a scale, but shes sooooo tiny compared to the other winter pudge butts.
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Post by Heather on Oct 14, 2008 13:06:53 GMT -5
One of the problems with rescues is gestimating ages  People will quite often lie about the ages of the fuzzies because they fear that you won't take an older fuzzbutt. One lady told me that all the fuzzies that I was getting (there were 3) were under 2 yrs of age. When I got them home, little Sprite was about 2 or 3, Athos was about the same but Aremis was 5 or 6  . But what can you do .....you just love them anyway and know that you probably won't have them as long as you thought you would  :)You can sort of tell by the teeth and how much clear you can see. The other thing I see is that the stess load that they bare when they're switched from home to home and how bad these homes are seems to age them prematurely  . You could try supplemental feeding too. I do that with a couple of my guys, Aremis in particular as he does have lymphomas and doesn't seem to eat near enough to keep weight on. I find I can help him by just picking him up and feeding him once or twice a day. I noticed that I'm starting to loose that battle now and that he's still loosing weight. He's still active though so I'm hoping that he will stay with us a little while longer. Keep me posted as to what and how your guys are doing. Let me know how the duck goes over:) ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Oct 15, 2008 20:08:54 GMT -5
The kids took right to the duck It was chunky with big bone fragments so to get them to eat it, i blended a liver and egg into it for them. I am so proud of them, trying new meat. It's all been bird, but still, they can be picky so i'm glad they are being brave and trying new things! |
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Post by Heather on Oct 15, 2008 22:55:22 GMT -5
Congratulations You guys are fantastically awesome  It's great that the duck is chunkier because it's actually working toward what you ultimately want and you don't really have to do anything because your guys were game to try it. I really happy that your little ones liked the duck with little doctoring involved, that is really great. Keep up the good work...talk at you later . ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Oct 20, 2008 0:05:03 GMT -5
The kids have been doing wonderfully but they have not been eating as much the past few days. My boyfriend thinks it is because of the drastic temperature drop. I have a heater in the room with them so it is staying pretty warm, but they are by the front door sow hen it opens they get the draft. We haven't even made it through half of the Hare-Today food supply and its 2.5 weeks in Starting tomorrow I am going to give them the duck without egg or liver and see how they do. It is "chunky" so it will be interesting. If they go for it, when I order next I am going to go for the corse ground stuff |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 20, 2008 2:37:11 GMT -5
Be careful with the course ground stuff, Wenmister (from ferret.com) had a friend (I believe she was a breeder (?) ) that had a ferret whose intestines were punctured by a weird shard of course ground food. I think your best bet is to keep them on the fine ground and then work them up to whole bones by putting chunks or raw meat into the ground food, and then working up to "thumb sized" chunks of meat, and then from there get onto WHOLE bones.
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Post by Heather on Oct 20, 2008 10:35:24 GMT -5
Hmmmm. I've never had a problem with the coarser ground in the 10 yrs I've been feeding (that's what I feed as kitties refuse to eat whole meats, this way they get the cleaning action of the coarser grind). Not saying it can't happen (never say never ), but no more likely that large piece of bone not chewed doing the same damage. Carnivores don't really chew their food...so when they're eating whole meats some of the bone that gets through the system would be really scary if we actually looked. Really and truly their digestive system should be able to handle it. I've never encountered it...how's that Ferret digestive tracks are so fast that it may present a problem but ?? I've heard of dogs passing whole chicken leg bones without any real grief and if you take a look at what comes through a ferret's system after they've had a good meal of bone and whole meat you'd really shudder... Some of the slow off on the eating may have nothing to do with temp. They may have reached their point of winter fat creation , saturation??!! My guys have now started to slow off a bit, they just don't need to put on any more weight (they'd better not either or their little legs will be sitting off to their sides instead of propelling those fat little bellies ) Once your guys get comfortable eating raw and once they realize the good stuff isn't going to go away, they're going to slow up a bit. Why aren't you going to add the liver?? or the egg for that matter but more the liver (the egg is just a bonus protein that helps with their coat, you may or may not add it as you wish) but the liver and heart is rather a necessity (or is it already added and you're adding extra??) I think youre guys are doing fantastic and I'm really proud of what you've accomplised. Keep up the good work. Let me know how you're guys like the duck without some of the added liquid. My guys complain a bit if the meat is too "dry" for their taste. Good luck and let me know how things go. ciao |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 20, 2008 15:27:48 GMT -5
I trust your judgement Heather, if you say its okay and you havent had any issues. I just thought I would pass on what someone else's experience was. I've never bought the course ground, myself, I only buy the fine ground.
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Post by weeksl08 on Oct 20, 2008 17:50:34 GMT -5
(The still haven't finished up the last batch I made them with the liver and egg, so they haven't just gotten pure meat yet.) I was going to do this because AI use the food processor to mix, otherwise they wont eat the liver. O was just going to try to thicken things up a little for them so they can eventually move on up I hope they've reached thier peak of fatness! Otherwise Bella is going to weigh more than Constantine (big fatty)! I think she almost matches him in wight right now! Constantine has firmed up a LOT since I brought the new kids home:) He and Gus LOVE to rough house! |
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Post by Heather on Oct 21, 2008 0:25:43 GMT -5
One of the beautiful things about raw is the firmer flab I can't believe the weight that my brats are putting on. Even Mad Max who is a greyhound among my ferrets has a belly this year. Attila is just a real fatty Secret...my guys (most of them anyway) won't eat liver on it's own either . I usually, have to grind the liver in with the rest of the meat too To hide it from their finicky little palettes. Sounds like your guys are all getting along marvelously. That's so great. Good luck with your thickening up of the soupies....I hope that your hungry furbabies take to the thickened version of your soupy just like the more liquid version....go at it slowly, the less differences that they see or notice the better your new version will be received. ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Oct 21, 2008 20:20:21 GMT -5
Some of them are slightly hesitant to eat the plain ground raw, but they are all eating it It is a completely different texture and is a good step to whole meats:) They can no longer "lap up" their food, they have to take small bites off of the pile of meat. Gus (as always) caught on very fast! |
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Post by Heather on Oct 21, 2008 23:53:43 GMT -5
That's great So everyone is eating this, albeit with hesitancy....this is good. It means that you're moving toward feeding whole foods. Keep a close eye on them to make sure you don't have someone who decides that this new food isn't for them and goes on some hunger strike All things being equal, they shouldn't complain too much. It's still in a format that they recognise and the taste is familiar so they should continue to eat without much difficulty. I have learned with fuzzies, that to change something, even something small can sometimes mean that little fuzzbutts dig their heels in and refuse to do what is most expected of them in this case continue to eat I'm thinking that they've accepted this but keep an eye on them. I will check back with you. Good luck, you're doing really well by your furbabies ciao |
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Post by weeksl08 on Oct 24, 2008 13:28:20 GMT -5
I just separated some turkey into bags and it had moderate chunks of bone as well I'm so glad myt kids have variety in their diet now |
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Post by Heather on Oct 24, 2008 23:03:34 GMT -5
This is so great The variety that your guys is eating is wonderful and should cover all the bases that might be missed by only feeding one protein source. You've done really well by your guys. I'm proud of you Keep up the good work. I will check in with you tomorrow evening ciao |
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