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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 4, 2008 23:05:29 GMT -5
Hang in there. You are doing a good job of keeping an eye on her.
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 7, 2008 0:31:47 GMT -5
she's gaining again. Z finger-feeds her soup every few hours.
The others are doing great, but still dragging meat into the litterbox. It's annoying. I've given them two large areas that are den-like. None of them are close to the litterpans because I know they *usually* don't mix poo with food. But apparently my troop doesn't mind.
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 9, 2008 20:56:30 GMT -5
I know you're away due to yucky computer issues. I'll still update though.
Got Nyx back to somewhat her old self. She gets kibble and soup now, usually kibble in the AM and soup in PM just because I have more time to coax her to eat in the evenings.
A few of Rex's whiskers are so long that some of them almost hit his front feet.. I know that's attributed to the meat.
They all turned their noses up to the liver treat I offered.. I bought it on sale yesterday. I guess I'll just add it to the next batch of soup I make.
Nothing else to report just yet. We bought a pork shoulder roast and will be offering it soon.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 9, 2008 23:20:11 GMT -5
I'm happy to hear she is back to her old self. The key is to get her stable. I was able to pop in real quick to check on you (still having comp issues though). I appreciate you letting me know how you are doing. Let me know how the pork shoulder goes.  |
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 11, 2008 15:58:18 GMT -5
Jaina will eat anything apparently. The boys didn't much care for the pork though-- they went searching for stashed chicken remains (which I'd already removed cause they were 8 hrs old) After the second feeding they started nibbling a little bit but they have not finished any full piece yet.
Arthas and Nyx are still on kibble in morning, and soup in evening. Arthas showed no interest in his own pieces of pork, but will eat it if it's soup consistency.
The new blender we bought a few weeks ago died. I'm going to return it. We'd used it three times.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 11, 2008 23:44:28 GMT -5
Wow that sucks about the blender.  I'm suprised they didn't like pork. My guys LOVE pork. Hmmm....maybe try turkey? My guys HATE turkey, but perhaps yours will like it. Who knows. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 12, 2008 16:14:30 GMT -5
We're going to feed pork chunks and chicken chunks together and see how that goes. They all go crazy when I give them chicken so maybe they are just sulking cause pork is new? I can't tell. Jaina loves that she doesn't have any competition at the food bowls though lol. I'll try turkey next, considering I'll have to start prepping for thanksgiving  Does the same thing happen to ferts that happens to us humans when we eat turkey? I can't remember what that hormone is called that makes humans super sleepy.. Does it affect ferrets? Granted, I'm not sure we'd notice cause they sleep a lot anyways.... |
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 15, 2008 1:52:06 GMT -5
Same with the chicken soupie when they all started.. It took a few days of being hungry but they're finally starting to lick the bowls clean again. (Thank goodness for that. I hated coming home after 10 hrs to yucky old soup in the bowls! ewww)
So now they are eating it. If I give chunks, the boys will dig for the chicken pieces and fight over those lol.
Nyx is still being a little more finicky about food, so we're spending a lot of time spoon feeding which is fine. At least I can get her to eat off the tupperware lid sometimes, on her own. (We poked a hole in it and fastened it to the side of the cage with a clip. The lid is about 4" diameter so it holds a little over 2 tablespoons of food, and is flat.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 15, 2008 23:51:21 GMT -5
Tryptophan That is what is in turkey that makes us sleepy. I believe its also in warm milk. Not sure if affects ferrets the way it affects us. Good luck with the turkey. My guys don't care for turkey. Every ferret is different, my guys like liver when many ferrets dont. So they *are* eating the pork now? Sorry to hear that Nyx is being so stubborn. Just make sure she's eating. If you want you can try to get her on commercial ground raw AND kibble and the go from there. If that is easier for you. Stella and Chewy's, Hare Today Gone Tommorow, and AFS all make ground, raw foods. Be sure to feed atleast 3 types of meat per week if you decide to use the premade raw temporarily. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 17, 2008 14:22:05 GMT -5
Yes, the 4 are eating pork now, just not strips of it yet-- but they will eat it if it's mixed with chicken, in a soup. (Though we baaarely blend it at all so it's still very very thick and full of large chunks. just enough to mix the two.)
Nyx and Arthas are getting kibble in the morning (mix of zupreem, 8-1 ultimate, and 8-1 soft which nyx loves..) and well blended soup in the evenings, though Nyx gets spoon fed soup whenever I can get her to eat. She's got a tummy again, and isn't wobbly while walking now.
ETA: Nyx is 640 grams. Hoooraaaaay!!!
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 20, 2008 1:43:54 GMT -5
I'm happy to hear she has a tummy again! Yay! Just keep her weight steady and when you feel ready you can SLOWLY work on getting her onto more raw food. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 21, 2008 18:10:51 GMT -5
She's eating raw soup as long as I feed it to her. Which is often.
We don't have turkey yet but since it's just me and Z for thanksgiving and we have a coupon for an entire turkey I imagine we will split it before we cook it to freeze some for fert food.
We're getting a large chest freezer delivered to us in a few days from Craigslist. That will be helpful.
So right now the diet for the group of 4 is just pork roast and chicken in a light blend (with bones broken up in it) and twice a week we add liver or heart and egg to it.
I've been looking into NV patties for Shadow (dog). I can use them for ferrets too, right? I was looking at the Chicken/Turkey ones since a store close to me sells those at 20 bucks for 12 patties. (Which is lower than I've found them elsewhere.)
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 22, 2008 0:35:06 GMT -5
Sounds like you've got a solid plan going. Yes, you can use the NV patties for the dog and the ferrets. I'm bummed because ALL of my animals (dog, cat, and ferrets) HATE turkey. There are SO many good deals on turkey now. Now's the time to stock up on turkey necks and tails if your ferts like turkey. Turkey necks and tails are a nice, different, RMB (raw meaty bone) that you can give your furbabies. You won't be seeing those around in your normal grocery store the rest of the year. They are cheap, so I'd highly recommend purchasing a ton and just freezing them. |
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Post by cloudtickler on Nov 24, 2008 3:41:39 GMT -5
I was up till 4am (insomnia at it's finest.) I HATE cutting up meat with a knife because I don't have the world's best knives. I decided to use a cheapo pair of scissors from the dollar store. (My house eats scissors, so we buy em 6 pair at a time.) It took me 20 minutes to cut, bag, and clean up after enough meat for 2 weeks of ferret food!! I put em in individual baggies per day, and put all but one in the freezer in a huge freezer bag. My room mate was thrilled lol. Gave Nyx some chicken thigh (about the size of shredded paper strips) and she nibbled at it a little bit as long as I was holding it for her  Silly little girl lol. Menu for the next two weeks: -7 bags of cut up chicken thigh and breast, a few of the bags have a single small bone to knaw at. -2 bags of RMBs (and the bone is cracked in the middle to expose marrow) -5 bags of pork roast chunks --We also have beef liver, heart and raw egg to add to the meat once a week. Organs are frozen into 2 oz cubes (yay sale on silicone ice trays!!) so I can thaw it as I need. My folks have a farmer friend who raises organic beef. I wish I'd known that a few months ago when she was taking meat orders! But they ordered too much liver to fit in their freezer so I'm getting about 30lbs of liver.  So I think I'm stocked up for several months of organ feeding 1x a week lol. |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Nov 25, 2008 3:56:46 GMT -5
This is all awesome news! I always cut my cornish game hen with cheapo scissors (much better then a knife lol) Kitchen shears work well too. I really like your future feeding plan. Let me know how it goes! Yay 30lbs of beef liver! That is awesome. That is like a year's supply (maybe even more) of liver! And you said its organic? That is great! Isn't it great when you find a raw "connection" that scores you free/cheap meat? Be sure not to overfeed liver though. Remember 1 palm sized piece of beef, veal, or pork liver or 1 whole chicken liver per ferret 1x per week (no more). |
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