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Post by Heather on Aug 28, 2008 10:23:44 GMT -5
Now that's a scary prospect. I would definitely put everything in a holding pattern. Sounds to me like everyone is happy with their soup and chicken. That's good. This may very well work to your advantage. This will give them time to get accustomed to eating the one protein source and their soup. No, I'm in total agreement. What your feeding at the moment is easy to access. That is important.
Look after yourself and your furbabies and we up in the north country will keep our fingers and paws crossed that the storm will blow out to sea.
ciao
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Post by Forum Administrator on Aug 28, 2008 15:28:38 GMT -5
Good luck and stay safe!
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Post by ferretpalooza on Aug 29, 2008 21:00:22 GMT -5
Just wanted to drop you a note before I left. Everyone continues to eat soup together and most are eating the chicken.....Sully, Max, Chuckie, Boudreaux (snacking), and Killa. Buster and Bubba are my holdouts. We are going to another ferret forum friends house in Arkansas but may not have internet. So I made a huge batch of soup and have some chicken breasts and nothing to do for 4-5 days but play with the ferrets......LOL Ill check in if I can find internet somewhere
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Post by Heather on Aug 30, 2008 4:24:59 GMT -5
Good luck and stay safe. Keep us posted when you can
ciao
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Post by ferretpalooza on Sept 6, 2008 22:56:57 GMT -5
Hey, we are back. No damage just a long week. The ferrets were quite out of sorts with all the travel and new home. When I got back I realized I lost all the hardware for the FN's so I am going to call midwest monday. I got some bolts from the hardware store to put one level together to hang beds and they have a lot of pen space to run around in. We are waiting to see what Ike is going to do this week as we may have to do this all over again. The ferrets stopped eating the meat and were just stashing it all over the place so we took a break. Most are still eating soup three times a day, I may mince up some chicken real small as they started just stashing all the fresh meat. Killa quit eating and by the end of the trip he was skin and bones. I have been syringe feeding him soup with baby chicken and banana and he is putting some weight back on. He was chewing on a straw basket before we left so Im hoping no blockage. He's been also getting a lot of pumpkin and few doses of lax. So I may have to just wait another week and see if the storms will leave us alone.
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Post by Heather on Sept 7, 2008 19:23:25 GMT -5
Hiya  I'm glad to hear that your ok. I was worried about you and your little ones. I'm sorry to hear that you've had a set back, but I can certainly understand, why. That's a lot of stress for you and your business. Your guys hadn't been on raw long enough, to handle this kind of stress. I hope that Killa is on the mend now that you're back at home. I also hope that you won't have to be on the move again after such a short time. I certainly understand about you holding back until things are more settled. Do you have access to ground chicken? This actually might make your job easier than trying to chop up chicken very small so that they don't stash the meat part of the soupy. Keep in touch and update if you can. Good luck, I will keep checking in on you to see if you're ready to start up again. ciao |
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Post by ferretpalooza on Sept 7, 2008 20:21:56 GMT -5
Yep, we;re home. Killa is running around playing tonight and Ike looks like it is heading to Texas!!! Yeah. Im just going to get more bolts from the hardware store tomorrow and strips of wood to rig the cage and get it all back to normal. The good news is, kibble consumption really hasnt increased that much, they just demand more soup but thats ok cause I made a huge batch with pingfords before I left so I have had plenty. We do have a couple of meat markets here, Im gonna go talk to a butcher tomorrow and see what he can grind up for me chicken-wise. I am going to chop up some chicken back in the soup again tonight. They have had a couple of days home now so its time to get back on schedule. Ill let you know how it goes tomorrow.
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Post by Heather on Sept 7, 2008 22:48:41 GMT -5
Well, demanding more soupy isn't a bad thing  I'm glad to hear that you're going to be spared Ike's fury. That's a real lineup of storms that you have had down there  Good luck, stay safe and I'll check back with you tomorrow ciao |
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Post by ferretpalooza on Sept 7, 2008 22:58:10 GMT -5
Wow! I chopped up some fresh boneless chicken breast and Max, Sully and Chuckie dug in!!! Buster licked soup around it but he's my big holdout anyway. Boudreaux wouldnt touch the soup and Killa ate some soup but Im not sure if he ate chicken or not. Bubba just ate a little soup and walked away. At least there was a good reception by most. Ill check with the butcher tomorrow and we will just pick up with the fresh chicken again.
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Post by Heather on Sept 7, 2008 23:22:15 GMT -5
That's fantastic!!
Sounds to me that Max, Sully and Chuckie are switched. Buster still doesn't like the texture of meat, maybe the ground might help him change his mind, same as Killa. What is Boudreaux eating...kibbles? So everyone is eating the soupy except Boudreaux? At least to some degree. Talk at you later.
ciao
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Post by ferretpalooza on Sept 8, 2008 9:08:21 GMT -5
Boudreaux and Bubba have been eating the plain soup. Like I said, for the past week-10 days they have had soup 3 times a day. I did put some 8 in 1 soft in the pen, in a bowl when we first got back (it is usually just a treat) and Bubba sat at the bowl and ate most of it. Boudreaux loves it too. Im sure they will start eating soup again soon, it was the first time the chicken was in there for a while. Boudreaux will go back and forth eating the chunks. Bubba was eating them for a while and then stopped. I think I tried to add more chicken too soon before we left.
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Post by Heather on Sept 8, 2008 10:09:44 GMT -5
You could very well be right. Once you start adding the chicken, it becomes very much each ferrets' individual preferrance. It's the problem with converting a whole business. Where one ferret is ready to get more or larger chunks of meat another is still not comfortable with little chunks deeply mixed with soupy. Take your time, your well on your way there . The soupy is now readily accepted, next we'll get them taking the chicken, even if it's ground. ciao |
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Post by ferretpalooza on Sept 10, 2008 22:01:21 GMT -5
OK, its been crazy this week catching up on work so I havent made it to a butcher yet. I did find some ground pork and ground turkey at winn dixie. I have been putting little pieces in the soup and Buster actually sucked a couple of piece in ...ha ha I dont know if he knew it though. Max, Sully and Chuckie were eating them and Boudreaux ate some out of a private bowl (he is such a goof!!) Killa and Bubba are just eating soup. I will hold here for a while and see if I can get them all eating it, then maybe consider adding more.
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Post by Heather on Sept 10, 2008 22:35:10 GMT -5
That's great. Actually, getting them to eat variety is part of a battle too. Your guys have had a fair variety of meats to choose from anyway. See if they're more receptive to ground meats and see if we can get them to move at thickening that soupy mix. So Boudreaux believes in solitary dining You have to wonder about the little things that keep these guys going. Ok, hold for a couple of days and see if you can get everyone on the same page. I would like to see Killa and Bubba eating more meat than just soup. Refresh my memory, what do you have in your soup right now? This might give me some ideas as to where we might take this next. I will check on you tomorrow morning to see how things are going. I hope things aren't so crazy at work for you soon. ciao |
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Post by ferretpalooza on Sept 11, 2008 9:26:05 GMT -5
The soup is thighs and legs simmered to just cooked. I blend the meat in the blender real smooth. They will not eat the cooked chunky soup. I add 1/2 pack of pingfords pooridge to one large pack of thighs or 1 whole pack of pingfords to a jumbo bag of legs and thighs. I also add a 2 or 3 scoops of Nupro. Boudreaux has a problem eating at the bowl with everyone else. He had a rough start at life so this is just something special I do for him.
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