Nilla and Mocha's Switch

[Heather]

I will light a healing candle for little Nilla...poor baby I hope you find a solution.
Ok...the recipe that I gave you should last you a couple of days (maybe even longer), I'm lousy with quantities...I'm presently feeding 16 ferrets . Most people make it up and then freeze it in small containers (in the quantities that they need for the day) or muffin cups and thaw it as they need it . My Aremis eats one jar of baby food a day (he's got lymphomas and his health is rather like your Nilla's...you just never know from day to day if he still will be with us)
You can offer them chicken wings (these have a tendency to be more expensive as people like them for treats , chicken legs, you can buy these in family packs and repackage and freeze them in quantities that you need. You can use chicken breasts chopped up. They also sell pkgs of thighs if I remember correctly too. Any of those would work for your furbabies.
I can't remember did you buy a grinder or did you decide to get preground mixes for your furbabies? (this actually might be easier for you to do if you can do that).
Thank you for dropping in and letting me know how things are with your furbabies. Please know that Nilla will be in my thoughts. I hope that your holiday season is a happy one. Please keep in touch and we will try and get your furbabies back on schedule with the diet
ciao

[horseyliz]

oh k. i do have a food processor wich for me would be cheeper to chop up my own meat then to buy it already done. plus as i am eating the meat as well its easier to just but it in bigger quanties and seperate. Nilla is haning on and doing better than i expexted. I will begetting more meat on the 4th. How can i get Mocha to eat meat? She is still being stuborn about giving up the kibble. All she does is lookfor kibble when she is out. Oreo and nilla both are on meat.

[Heather]

Ok, what will Mocha eat? Does she eat any meats at all? or is she only eating kibbles? Does she eat the moist cat food? Wet kibbles? Let me know and we will start working at getting her to eat meat and try and give off that kibbles (unless you want them eating kibbles too??!!)
Unfortunately, kibbles are high in carbs....that's like crack for ferrets and cats. They will both sooner starve to death than give it up What you're noticing is the same with many ferret people, their ferrets if offered kibbles will take the kibbles every time. I have a couple of ferrets who if there's kibble in the house, won't eat properly. It's one of the reasons why I don't allow the stuff in the house. Strangely enough, I just had 2 ferrets handed in before Christmas, they came with a huge bag of ferret kibbles. So rather than throw it out, I tried to feed it to my mice....they won't eat the stuff You really have to wonder about the content of something when mice won't eat the food
I"m glad to hear that Nilla is still holding her own. Did you get any further information from the vet as to what could be wrong? Did you get the blood work done?
I hope that your having a good holiday season and I hope that we can get all your guys eating a raw diet in the new year .
Get back to me soon
ciao

[horseyliz]

nilla stoped eating and drinking on her own. i took her to work with me as i work for a vet. He looked her over and said that all her issues are neurological, and their was nothing he could do for her. So i put her to sleep last saturday.

Mocha and Oreo are both eating chicken thighs, gizzards, and hearts in big chicken wing sizes. Up untill i made the peices big Mocha refused to eat to eat the meat. She would eat kibble, and certain types of wet cat food. Oreo eates everything that is ettible.

Now should i be giving them gizzard, heart and liver a little everyday or just once a week?

[Heather]

I'm sorry for your loss of little Nilla. I will light a candle for the little one. Gentle journey little one, you are once again whole and at play.
That is great your guys have done a huge leap. Are they still getting kibbles or are you raw feeding entirely now? I'm glad that you figured out how to get Mocha to eat raw. Ok.....now we have to figure how to get the offal and innards in You can do this a couple of ways. You can feed a little every day as part of their daily feeding or you can decide to do a meal of it some day about once a week. It's up to you. If you decide to make a meal of it remember that there will be a difference in their stools the next day (they will be dark and tarry with all the blood they're consuming, I don't want to spook you and then you think there's something wrong with them) My guys get a little every day with a whole feeding of gizzards (these are treats worth fighting for ) about once a week. Now, tonight because I got it special there's going to be a feast of turkey hearts, but their meal today is ground raw mix (raw meat and bones, offal, raw eggs and some squash) and a rat or 2. You can do whichever thing is comfortable for you. If you want to set them up to have a little of the offal mixed up every day go for it, otherwise a meal of offal once or twice a week will be sufficient.
Let me know what you decide You should be proud of yourself and getting Mocha to eat for you that's great. Again, I'm really sorry for your loss of Nilla, she was a real little trouper.
ciao

[horseyliz]

i think i will try to give them offaul once a week as a meal. they r eating everything i give them as long as it is in chunks. Mocha and Oreo have figured out that bone is ettible now too. i no longer am giving them kibble except for the peices Mocha steals from the cat. My cat is to picky to put him on raw like the ferrets.

[Heather]

That's so fantastic . You have come a long way with your guys. Bone too.....that is so great. Give yourself a big pat on the back you did good by your guys. Unless you're planning on moving on to prey (that's not a problem if that's what you want to do) I will give you a copy of a letter from Giuli to give you information about what you need to do to graduate from the program and then you will only update once every couple of weeks or so. I will pop in later this evening and give you the information.
Do you want a hand to switch your kitty? I've done that before too or I can send you to a site that specializes in dealing with kitties. Let me know.
Like I said I will pop in tonight and add that information so that you can have Giuli look over what you've done and see if you can graduate.
Again a great big congratulations Give your guys a big hug from me for being such fantastically awesome furkids.
ciao

[horseyliz]

I do want to have them eating some prey. i bought some baby rats and am hoping to breed them to feed the babies to my ferrets at some point. I am not going to swich my kitty.

Mocha and Oreo some times do not eat very much at all. it can take them three days to eat a whole chicken thigh. is that normal? And is it alright?

[Heather]

It would depend on their activity levels and the size of the chicken thigh. Are they munching on the bone during that time too? Are they eating anything else other than the whole meats? On the days that they're eating less are they eating some liver, heart or gibblets? Are your guys maintaining their weight? I find that is the easiest way to keep track is with the snuggle test (I do use a kitchen scale to keep track too) I usually weigh them about once a month. It helps me keep things in perspective and also helps remind me when they loose weight in the spring
Rats are good. My guys get frozen rats about twice a week. I have a friend who raises rats for her snakes, I get what's left over. I raise my own mice colony so that offers them another change of protein. Check out the prey threads in this section. There are a couple of people who are posting their findings and how they're going about raising their prey animals. I've found it quite useful.
I will check in with you tomorrow.
ciao

[horseyliz]

They munch on bone. oreo has gotten huge! Mocha is getting a little thin, but could it be because she is really old? I have a new addition to My ferret family-a two month old silver mitt i have named Moo-shake. After being with me for three days is eating huge chunks of meat. I think my other two eat less when they have been munching on bone.

[Heather]

Congratulations on your new addition Welcome Moo-Shake Aren't babies wonderful, they just chow into everything. They're little disposal units with teeth You will have to post pics I"m inclined to agree with you, when they're munching bone they do seem to eat less. I honestly think it's more because it takes longer to eat and their attention span breaks before they're really finished
How are you doing switching your kitty? How's your rat colony coming along?
ciao

[horseyliz]

My rats chewed through the ferret carrier and the male ened up being killed by moo-shake. Neither her or oreo ate him. i found the femalebut as i transfered her to another cage she escaped again. I am going to start over with a new group of rats when i have some extra money.

Mocha has a badly broken femur after falling out of the top of her cage. so she has to be seperated for the next two momnths so her leg can heal. is their anything i could feed her to help the healing process?

My kitty,Merlin wouldn't even chase the loose rodents let alone touch meat. he's almost 8 too. he is happily eating kibble. i'm going th leave him to that.

[Heather]

Ohhh poor Mocha. Things heal faster when pain is kept to a minimum and they're kept comfortable.. Be careful that Mocha doesn't pine for her cagemates. For ferrets depression can be fatal. Rescue remedy given in water will help for keeping her less stressed.
I'm sorry that Moo-shake killed your male rat, the fact that she didn't eat it doesn't surprise me overly unless she ripped him open when making the kill. Ferrets hunt by deep seated instinct, unfortunately they're not sure why they hunt. They have to learn that the rat was indeed food. Moo-shake looked at it as being a toy to play with. Many cannot get past of the fur, they require you to teach them that it's indeed edible. You can cut them open, play the game of catch the mouse (you drag the mouse or rat around letting them pounce and chase, rip and tear at the carcass. You can also start by feeding pinkies which don't have any hair, this might make it easier for them to recognise them as meat.
Did you ever find the female that escaped? I wish you luck with your breeding enterprises. I've just got my mouse colony big enough to feed my guys on a more regular basis. I've had a couple of my little feeder miscreants escape but my cat is a notorious mouser too, so they don't survive very long .
Give Mocha a big hug, I hope she's feeling better soon. Like I said keep a close eye on her if she's kept entirely on her own. I will keep checking for updates
ciao

[horseyliz]

Mocha is doing oh k. I am giving her lots of loveas she is healing. Moo-shake did eat the rats testicles. oreo has gotten huge and weighs two pounds.

[Heather]

That's great that Mocha is getting better. Wellllll, I guess that is part of the mouse When I think about it Lady 'B' likes them too. The tail is dental floss
How's your rat breeding episode doing? The guys participated in a hunt today so it will be mouse on the menu tonight.
Let me know how things are going. I will check in on you tonight
ciao