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Post by suds on Jan 13, 2009 19:21:34 GMT -5
Hi Deb I am so sorry for not responding quicker its just been so nuts latley at work . I will work on your schedule tonight and tomorrow then post it for you  . |
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Post by suds on Jan 15, 2009 18:36:03 GMT -5
Hi Deb , How are things going? here is a schedule to get you started and work from as they start to eat more bones and variety we will tweek to a better balance . Mon Morn - Turkey necks Mon Even - roast meat Tues morn -drummies and wings Tues even- stew meat egg shell dusted wens morn-chicken gizzards , chicken livers Wens even-chicken soup cubes Thurs morn-game hen Thurs Even-chicken soup cubes Fri morn-Turkey necks cut up Fri even-Turkey meat chunks Sat morn- game hen chopped with bone Sat even-Beef chunks egg shell dusted Sun morn-chicken drummies and wings Sun even-chicken breast meat chunks egg shell dusted We need to work on getting them to eat 4 days of rmb , 2 days of muscle meat , 1 day of ofal With this deepfreeze spell we are haveing,, work is going nuts working 12 to 16 hour days if you have any problems and need a fast responce you can email me and I can get back to you quicker and of cource you can always PM Heather or 1 of the other mentors Stay Warm and keep up the good work |
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Post by Heather on Jan 16, 2009 0:08:10 GMT -5
I'm kicking around, especially during the day. So if you find yourself in a jam or need some support, just give me a pm or just post here. I usually check through the posts ciao |
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Post by tuckysmom on Jan 17, 2009 1:46:49 GMT -5
Hi Frank! I just want to let you know that I am still here and we are still plugging away. Gracie is doing well. Happy and active, eating raw anything-bones included. Her poo is getting a little more firm. The boys are doing OK, no "major breakthroughs yet. Chuckie will still eat raw meat chunks of pretty much anything, he LOVES his soup, loves to play tug with chicken wings & drummies, but still won't do bones. Tucker is pretty much the same as Chuckie, except he kind of will eat bones every now and then. As for a menu, they have been getting wings & drummies, (cut/scored and broken to reveal the marrow), or pieces of game hen (with bone) in the a.m., meat chunks of beef, chicken, and pork in the p.m. Every other night they get their chicken soup (with sea meal suppliment, and ground egg shells, & pumpkin) AND meat chunks for the overnight--most are usually gone by morning. Unfortunately I think alot of the rmb's (that Gracie doesn't eat herself) gets wasted, either stashed or put in their litterbox, or not even touched in the food dish.  I am trying to come up with a "remote" feeding arrangement without cutting the bars of my FN, or feeding them outside their home. Guess I have to go read some other threads to see how this could be done!  So that's it in a nutshell. Hope all is well with you...... |
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Post by suds on Jan 20, 2009 7:02:46 GMT -5
Hi Deb.
How are things goeing? You stll working on enrichment with differnt smells ? how are the meat chunk sizes ? Since they love soupie's you can try to put a little soup over the crushed bones see if that helps. if that dont work then we mite have to try and fast them for 12 hours as a last resort .
hope you have a great day
Frank
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Post by tuckysmom on Jan 20, 2009 22:32:14 GMT -5
Hi Frank! Well, I have GREAT NEWS!! I think the boys have turned a curve.  I haven't been posting cause I didn't want to jinx us! BUT, I caught Chuckie gnawing on a chicken wing the other night for their bedtime dinner. Most wings/drummies have either been gone or been gnawed to the bone. They usually get 5-6 wings put in for all of them. Last night, after I put the wings in I heard an awfull commotion of screaching and dragging across the floor of the cage! TUCKER and GRACIE were battling it out for rights to a wing! (even thos there were 3 others in the bowl!) They were tugging eachother and hollering up a storm! Gracie can sure put up a fight! Of course Tucker won, and munched that wing down! (Don't know if it was to spite Gracie! LOL) Gracie grabbed another wing. Chuckie pretty much stayed out of it and went to bed instead.  So, more wings are being "eaten" now, and not wasted. One may be stashed under a bed or something, but so far SO GOOD! FINALLY good news! Just so you know.....I give them their soup everyother morning, if not enough wings have been eaten overnight. They have a meatchunk b-fast -- you know what I have-- and the wings/drummies at night. The turkey necks don't seem to be an attraction here, and they don't like pork. Again---the boys are being picky--Gracie will eat anything! She has a nice weight on her now, rather than all boney when I first got her! Her poo is STILL the consistancy of pudding or tapioca pudding........(I just ruined your desert preferances didn't I? LOL Sorry ) So, all is going well. SO FAR. I will keep going with this for the rest of the week, see how it unfolds. They are having game hen tonight! Hope all is well with you and your crew! D :-) |
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Post by tuckysmom on Jan 22, 2009 18:34:05 GMT -5
Hi Frank...Well things have been going fairly well the boys seem to be eating the chicken and stuff. I just wish it were MORE of it. ALSO, (this is the "OH NO!" portion of this post)....Tucker was EATING CAT KIBBLE today!!!!!  He has NEVER eaten kibble. That is how I got with Guili on the ferret forums because he WOULDN'T eat kibble.  Is he just not eating enough raw food? I keep wondering if he is loosing weight. He's not boney. He just seems to be loosing his winter "fur fluff" already. He used to be LONG and plush. Chuckie and Gracie still have their winter coats. Jeez............. |
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Post by Heather on Jan 23, 2009 0:58:21 GMT -5
Just popping in....for a sec. Switch the kitty It's time to get rid of the kibbles  If you need a hand with that Pm me and I can put you in touch with people who can help you with that. My kitties eat the same food as my ferrets..it makes life a whole lot easier You're doing great. I will now leave you in the capable hands of your mentor ciao |
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Post by suds on Jan 24, 2009 11:02:33 GMT -5
for now can you put the cats food in a high place that the cat can get to it and the ferrets cant? Like Heather said switching the cats over to raw is great for them too but be warned they are way more stubborn then ferrets !. He probly was eating it because its the cats and not his lol. Do you have a way to wiegh them? Its good to keep track of there wieghts and see how they change duriung the season changes as well as be able to catch possible problems quicker.
Its great to see that they are getting more interested in eating the bones game hens and veal are the biggest hits here they can be so picky if we let them lol. Keep up the good work the tug a war seems to be working and the enrichment with differnt smells always seems to be a big hit .
Great job !!!!
soon we will be able to come up with a perment schedule and start adding more yummy things to there diet .
Frank
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Post by suds on Jan 27, 2009 19:08:11 GMT -5
Hi Deb
How are things going ?
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Post by tuckysmom on Jan 28, 2009 16:51:24 GMT -5
OMG! WOW for the last 3 days I have not been able to get on this site, and when I was able to log in (once) the screen kept changing and flickering back and forth........It was madness! So, the scoop is I am getting so discouraged. I THOUGHT we had turned a curve, but apparently not. We aare back to stashing, and hiding, and wasting, and they won't even touch the game hen. I had cut way back on their soup, like every 3 days or so for a meal, but it seems that they will eat that, and their large beef chunks now, and that is about it.  So, how much should they be eating each? 1 drummie/wing each a meal? 2 oz of beef/meat chunks each a meal? I think they are fasting themselves and really pushing the standoff........ all I can say is Grrrrrrrrr. |
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Post by suds on Jan 29, 2009 6:27:05 GMT -5
Hi Deb Sorry you had problems logging on I have not had any problems though , glad its ok now. Didnt you know a ferrets true mission is to drive there ferrents crazy? When you think you are turning a corner they always find a way to make you scratch your head and say what the heck now why they doing this now !. Anyway its normal to have to take a step or 2 backwards to move forward with them switching new foods , Hang in there you will get past this . Just take a step back and start from there. normaly ferrets eat 1.5 to 2 oz per meal about 3 - 4 oz in a 24 hour period they will naturaly fast at times and once they peak for winter wieght they will also eat much less. They also could be holding out for there beloved soupy . for now go back to how you where feeding them last week and try to cover some of the wings and drums in a little soupy see if that will get them interested in them again. Hang in there they are so close and probly a month from now you will reading this thread and laughing about how stuborn they where, Bone eatting is a big hurdle to get over it can be frustratiing . you are realy doing a great job and we will get over this hurdle hope your haveing a great day Frank |
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Post by tuckysmom on Feb 2, 2009 2:26:22 GMT -5
Hi Frank! Yes, we are still here! Just been really busy the last few days--tax time now! Had to get stuff together..... Is anyone having problems logging in, or is it just me? I go to log on, and the page keeps flipping back to the guest homepage. Then, I get logged in but I can't get to the pages I want to get to because it's like the site is constantly refreshing my page every 5 seconds or so.....hmmmm ANYWAY, I did end up taking a step back, but being a little "mean" in the process... I figured, OK they really need to know chicken things are food and not toys to stash, or poo. So I ended up only feeding them drummies and wings, nothing else. EVERY MEAL. Within a couple days they were back to gnawing on the meat and bones. Tonight I finally gave them their BIG meat chunks....which they devoured, and went to bed with full tummies. :-) They haven't had soup in awhile now. I will get them back on soup when they EAT the chicken stuff for a few more days. Mean time they are also having the Ferretvite suppliment, and of course their ferretone. As for getting the kitties on raw, I would LOVE to, but if it's what I am thinking, I wouldn't be able to afford it. I have 9 hungry indoor/outdoor farm cats to feed. (at least 4 are in/out cats). Most all are in since it is winter. By summer they will be outside. Funny thing with them is, they catch the voles, mice, and rats, but they just play with them to death. They don't eat them....anymore. they used to eat 1/2 of the vermin, then end up vomiting it all up anyway. Only 1 of my cats will hunt, kill, and eat (without vomiting) vermin and birds. I feed them the good corn & grain free kibble and once a day they all get a serving of canned Wellness brand cat food. They also get the fuzzie leftovers, or meat chunks as I cut and pack. So there you have it. We are still plugging away. No more kibble sneaking....... So, how's life with your 2? Man I have a hard enough time getting them to eat RMB's let alone live or whole prey! How did you do that? Did it take your kids awhile too? |
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Post by suds on Feb 2, 2009 6:56:17 GMT -5
Hi Deb Great Job on taking a step back !! It is always a learning proccess for all what works for some dont work for others and vice versa . they do look like to challange us always lol. My 2 well Hershy was a bugger to get to eat raw or anything with a little moister , She will not eat soupie's or anything in liquid form , I had to use freeze dried meats with her then slowly add water to reconstute it once She started to eat meat chunks she took to whole prey very easy , she is a werdo at times because she loves dry foods so much she actually took to bones very quickly and will eat bones before the meat if i let her lol . JD eats anything specialy if he see's Hershy eat it lol it took about 3 months to et her to eat raw and we are still always learnng and tweeking the feeding's , but basicaly they eat whole prey 3 times a week , RAw 3 times a wek and fast 1 day a week with freese dried available to them that day. and yes sometimes you have to put your foot down and be mean its so hard to do when you get those cute little eyes staring at you !! keep up the good work ! and have fun ! Frank holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi?board=support post a thread here and let Guili know your haveing problems with logging on I know we had similar issues a few months back . Also you can try and clean you cashe ( delete , history, cookie's and temp internet files) sometimes it helps |
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Post by tuckysmom on Feb 5, 2009 22:22:29 GMT -5
Hi Frank! Well, I finally got my taxes done! WooHoo! Now I don't have to worry..... As for the kids, you are right. It is hard to be "mean", especially when those cute little eyes look at you like you are torturing them. I really think they don't like chicken. Seriously. If I give them beef for a meal, they won't eat chicken the next meal. They will lick the juices but not eat it. :-( Still no soup for them. All are pooing so they must be eating. And I know it's NOT kitty kibble. Gracie is like JD, she will eat anything.....she doesn't need to be encouraged...LOL The boys keep me guessing. As long as they don't loose weight, or get lethargic, I know they are doing OK. I wish I had you here to see if they would take to eating the live prey, like mice, not that I really want to feed them that, but just curious since they are so PICKY! I can't do it myself. Not even in the bath tub! We are still plugging away, and when they protest, I just give them MORE of what they are protesting. Thank You so much for your help and support. I really appreciate you putting up with us. We are very lucky to be your loyal followers! Deb |
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