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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 15, 2008 18:20:11 GMT -5
Yes, they're all doing well. (Actually, I meant to mention this earlier but Jaina's fur is like silk now!!! She's sooooo soft I just want to cuddle her all day. But she has different plans lol.)
I needed someone else to validate my thought of just removing the kibble and letting them figure out "eat this, or don't eat!" because Z thinks this is a little rough on them, particularly Nyx who's tiny and he babies her.
I'll start this as soon as I get home today.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 15, 2008 21:19:43 GMT -5
As long as they have food available (the soup) which they KNOW they can eat (ie they recognize it as food) (which they do), none of the babies are insulinomic or very sick, and you get them something to eat if they go more then 24 hours without touching the soup, then you have nothing to worry about. If they didnt realize they could eat the soup, then yeah, it would be a bit harsh to remove the kibble and then expect them to eat some weird new food, but they have eaten the soup AND they liked it. They are just being brats (don't worry mine are brats too  ) and they dont want to eat the food YOU are feeding. I think it will be just fine, just remember if after 24 hours they dont eat anything, get them to eat SOMETHING. I'd give them just a little bit of kibble (enough to stop the tummy rumbles, but not enough to fill them up) and then go right back to only offering soup. I can almost guarentee that after a day or two of that they will be right back on that soup. Try using my tips above to make the soup extra enticing. You can even add a tablespoon of heavy (carageenan free) whipping cream to make it extra alluring lol. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 16, 2008 17:12:15 GMT -5
We closed off one of the cage compartments, because Nyx just ISN'T learning about her bad litterbox behavior. So her and Arthas are alone in one of the litter box sections. Basically, they have an fn141 to themselves. They have a bowl of mush, and Nyx hasn't touched it that we have seen, but Arthas has been seen grazing. (She will still get her own time alone in the playpen, because as you know we over-worry about her!)
The other four haven't touched their mush yet. At all. It's been 18 hours. At 24 hrs, I will give them a little bit of kibble, and go back to soup.
To encourage the soup eating: We put ferretone on top, and underneath it. We warmed it up, and crushed a little bit of kibble crumbs to dust ontop. I haven't tried the cream yet because I had ferretone on hand, and no cream.
I also put a little bit of it on the edge of the croc, because they use to like eating it off the edges.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 16, 2008 17:36:11 GMT -5
It sounds like you are doing everything wonderfully. If they don't eat by 24 hours you are correct to go ahead and give them a little kibble (I would reccommend putting the kibble ON TOP of the soup so that they eat the kibble and then wind up staring at the soup. If they refuse to touch the kibble on the soup, then just give it to them plain).
If you give them just enough to stop the belly rumbles, I can be that by tommorow they will probably come around to the soup. It usually takes a day, but sometimes it can take 2-3 days to get back on track, the key is that they get SOMETHING in their bellies every 24 hours.
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 17, 2008 13:53:48 GMT -5
We broke the blender last night  Z said we really should be using a food processor for this, so I'll pick one up today or tomorrow. (Cause we need one anyways..) Khadgar is doing great. When I got home, and replaced the soup, he immediatly dug in and ate his fill. Too bad the others aren't learning from example... We gave them a few pieces of kibble, and offered by hand some soup to all of them. They will eat it if we have it on our finger, but not from the bowl yet. So I know all 6 ferts at least got *something* in their tummy. This morning, when we replaced it again, there were more chicken chunks than before because we couldn't blend it down lol. Khadgar ate those too! He made the "yuck" face the ENTIRE time, but he will eat it. Rex and Arthas are sniffing at it occasionally, cause of the ferretone probably. But wont eat it from the bowl yet. -Sigh- |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 17, 2008 14:58:14 GMT -5
Sorry about the blender! That is 3 blenders I have indirectly killed now!  (one of them was my own). I am happy to hear that Khadgar is eating  Just make sure the babies all get something in their tummy (a few licks doesnt count) its okay to give a little kibble if they arent eating anything else. Hang in there, they'll come back around. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 20, 2008 2:31:02 GMT -5
They've all been eating the soup. It took some serious fasting  Their poo is *rancid* right now. I know some of that is attributed to food-changing but I don't know if something else is going on... I'm going to be out of town until next Sunday. My roomy has a huge batch of the mush, and knows their general care. She'll make sure they all eat at least once a day. I'll have occasional comp access so I'll update if she updates me. |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 20, 2008 2:35:03 GMT -5
Its a HUGE pain to get them back on track, but I promise you, once they've been eating raw for a while you will never have a problem like this again. Give them a week or so back on the soup, their poopies should get better, although they might be a little bit runny (this is normal). Enjoy your time out of town! I always love getting out of town, no matter what the occasion. Nice change of scenary. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 24, 2008 17:53:35 GMT -5
The roomy sent me a picture text last night, of Arthas peering out from one of his hammocks. It made me homesick. We'd been giving them two large heaping tablespoons of food twice a day. She's had to increase that this week, and I think they're up to three heaping tablespoons twice a day now. (I will have a full report when I get home on Sunday. I do miss my furkids!!) So, they're all eating well as far as she can tell. She hasn't seperated out Onyxia at all for eating because she hasn't had enough time at home.. But she says Nyx is looking good. I'll post on Sunday when I have more info. |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 25, 2008 18:50:48 GMT -5
Yay! I am glad their appetites have perked up! This is very good. I'm sure you miss your babies alot. I can't wait for you to get home and see them again. Its always nice to see the fuzzbutts after time away. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 25, 2008 22:02:34 GMT -5
We got home a few hours ago, and I was too excited to wait until tomorrow. They all look AMAZING! Jaina and Bo have filled out very well, and all their fur is sooooo soft!! Nyx is still a little too small for my liking but she's been eating well too!
Now they are at 3 tbsp twice a day. a 50% increase! And they clean the bowls out completely.
I'm so proud of my fuzzies. I missed them immensely and Arthas spent ten minutes kissing my hands it was soo cute!
We're out of mush now after tonight so I'm making a new batch tomorrow. I'm leaving that more chunky, right? To try to get them to eat chunks? This last batch was chunky too but still soupie. Does that make sense? lol.
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 26, 2008 14:19:54 GMT -5
They finished their mush so quickly that I had to give them something to hold em over till today when I could make more. Everyone else was asleep so I didn't want to use the blender. I thawed out a chicken thigh and cut it up into kibble size pieces, put those into a plastic bag and set the bag in a bowl of warm water to soften them up. I put just a dab of ferretone on it so they would remember it's food.
I put 1/2 of those small chunks in the bowl and everyone but Onyxia ate them willingly! Nyx took two pieces that Z offered her by hand, but not out of the bowl on her own. Bo only had a bite and then was done but the rest each grabbed a few mouthfuls and ate it right there.
They all acted like they didn't particularly like the texture. Will that change or will they forever make the "yuck" face at me?
I'm ecstatic!
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 27, 2008 5:04:04 GMT -5
Is the "yuck" face where they kind of bare their front teeth a little and close one or both of their eyes? If so then that is not a "yuck" face at all. It just means they are learning HOW to eat the food. This is wonderful news. I am so proud of your babies! They'll be munching bone before you know it. Yippie! Keep me posted. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Oct 27, 2008 23:09:44 GMT -5
Help! I need a suggestion.. In the evenings when we get home and feed em (small cubes of chicken) they all eat pretty quickly. I play with them for 2-3 hours usually before they eat. But in the morning, I only have about 10 minutes to devote to feeding. -Since I'm also cleaning litter boxes and getting ready myself.. So I generally have been giving em their morning food and then leaving for the day. When I get home, the food croc is usually empty. We're hitting xmas selling season and I'm gone for longer hours. When Zach got home from work today he found a bunch of food stashed in a tube-hammock. He refilled the croc, and found out Bo and Rex are stashing food in various places. Bo is taking one or two pieces and then eating from the bowl after he's stashed a few pieces, but Rex is just taking mouthful after mouthful and dumping it somewhere! In the evenings, I can seperate those two out to the playpen or something to eat and just remove all hidey spots. But what do I do about the mornings? I don't want to take out the tubes and hammocks during the day cause that's when they need em.. when I'm not there. Also, Z wants to start introducing other meats in cubes. But we've been using mostly chicken for this part and I'm not sure how to do this. The chicken I'm giving is boneless thigh currently, just cut into little 1/2" cubes. But beef... I can't really cut ground beef into 1/2" cubes lol. And I don't want them to just play with it.  Thoughts? |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Oct 27, 2008 23:13:07 GMT -5
Okay, for adding other meats, just get a big beef roast. What I do is find a beef rump roast (or other cut) on sale. I usually pay about $9 for a 3-4lb roast. I cut the roast like I would slice bread, then I individually wrap each "meat slice". Just start mixing in small chunks of WHOLE beef or pork, you can skip the gound stuff.
As for them stashing the food, that is a battle you might never win. Your best bet is to give them an appropriate place to stash their food. I am so sorry if we've already discussed this, but have I talked to you about "feeding dens"?
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