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Post by michiskip on Mar 12, 2009 9:24:30 GMT -5
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Post by michiskip on Mar 12, 2009 16:19:50 GMT -5
 I can't believe it-all that's left from this morning is the kibble!!! oh and part of the thigh I threw in right before I left.
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 12, 2009 22:31:26 GMT -5
That is fantastic!!! Was that from both of them, or Paco, or Penny? Whichever one it was- I'm impressed! I really think I'd remove the kibbles now, at least at night.
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Post by michiskip on Mar 12, 2009 23:10:15 GMT -5
I'm not sure about the chicken leg but I know she took part in the thigh. So amazing that I forgot to get the camera. Tonight they are having more puree from last night, no kibble, and small steak cubes...hope my daughter didn't realize I shorted her ;D
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 13, 2009 9:41:16 GMT -5
 I'm quite certain that by now she won't! It sounds like both of them have "turned a corner" with the raw. That is what you've been waiting for!! Once they are both consistently eating the mush with a few little bits in it, just start to increase the bits, and decrease the mush. If you like, order some freeze dried(either Stella and Chewy's, or Archetypal 1 Ferret-mine prefer the Archetypal) to leave in the cage in place of kibble. They can either have it dry or reconstituted. I get mine from Jojodancer on this site, at Casey's Hidden Pantry. If mine have been piggies and finished all their raw, that's what I put in the cage. You can leave the mush/puree in there for about 8 hours as well. Once they are eating chunks, you can leave them for up to 24 hours.
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 13, 2009 19:52:55 GMT -5
Well, it looks like I'm going to officially be your mentor  . Let me tell you a little about myself. As you've noticed, my name is Sherry, and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'm 50, got my own business cleaning. Enough about me- now to the important things- fuzzies! I presently have 4 of my own, and 2 foster ferrets. Mine are Boris(sable) and Vincent(albino), two 1 1/2yr. old brothers(littermates), Sinnead(3yr. old sable female), and Lucrezia, a 10m. old marked DEW who's also deaf. They are all brats! The switch for my guys was-interesting! Lucrezia was an easy switch, because she was only 12 weeks when she went raw. Sinnead wasn't too far behind. Vincent had a setback when he choked on a piece too big for him to swallow, the piggy. He was fine, but scared off raw for about a week. Boris? Well, to this day, every time I try something new with Boris, he's convinced I'm poisoning him . Even with his organ soupies, since it's weekly, it's always new to him. I have to scruff, put some on his nose as he's twisting to get away, THEN he realizes, "Hey- I've had this before, and I like it!". But he still has to be fed on my lap from a spoon, or he wn't eat it  As for my fosters- there is Zeus, who I'm convinced is going to be as difficult a switch as Boris was . He's a 2yr. old happy-go-lucky cuddly boy, silver in colour, and his bonded cagemate, Athena. She's a light sable, who has decided she far prefers real food to that awful kibbles. She's been an easy switch so far. Still have to see how she does with organ meats The advantages of a raw diet are amazing! They have so much energy, they run rings around my fosters, who are just starting their switch. Their fur is so soft, their teeth are gleaming white(which means no dental costs- yippee!), and, as I found out recently, their healing capacity is dramatically improved! Sinnead sliced her tongue open quite badly. It was cut 1/3 of the way across, right through, top to bottom. In a week, she was pronounced over 95% healed, and was back to her regular diet, bone and all, within 2 weeks from the date of the injury! |
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Post by michiskip on Mar 13, 2009 21:00:26 GMT -5
Hi. I'm Michelle Skipworth 40 year old stay at home mom We have five children (human), and seven grandchildren (also human). We had them young so only 2 left at home. Luckily they are all close and we get to provide free childcare on a frequent bases...ha, ha. One more child moves out the ferrets get their own room. 2 ferrets, Paco and Penny 3 dogs Beanie, 9 yr old dach., Mocha, my son's mixed something., and Charlie, my daughter's yappy brat. 1 Tarantula-well caged-Joe-belongs to my husband. Baby corn snake-my daughter's Savannah monitor-also well caged-my son's-don't think it has a name-but this is the next child to move out-almost 20 and refusing to go to college-yep time to move. Cool, they stopped scratching so the bedding was the problem earlier. It took about 5-6 hours for them to eat all of the puree this morning, probably because they were to busy playing around the room I finally finished ferret proofing and could give more freedom to. You were right Paco can already get out of the playpen. Tonight more mixed puree, pork, chicken, and steak. Tomorrow I'm making chicken and dumplings, so they get all the extra parts. Liver, neck, gizzard-yum. How should I introduce them? Sneak them into the puree or chop them up? What about the neck? I don't think Penny is spending much time with the bones. Paco doesn't hide them, but he does crunch for awhile, then come back for more later. edit had to add Paco is apparently a dipper. Penny won't eat them mixed so I feed thr puree and mrat chunks seperately. Last night I caught Paco putting the chuncks into the puree before eating. I thought it was a one off, nope he dips his meat chunks then eats. I increased the amount of food, they are not finishing it right off, but they do come back and finish within 4-6 hours on the puree, about 2 hours later all the chunks are gone, and about an hour later I'm adding more for dinner. I would add at mid day but they seem to still have enough left and won't go for the bone until last. Penny took off with a bone chunk tonight and actually ate all of it. About 1 inch long.
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 14, 2009 10:15:31 GMT -5
They are doing really well! That is so funny that Paco likes to "dip" his meat  Let's deal with the puree/chunk first. I think I'd start reducing the puree amount if they are eating chunks. The goal we are aiming for is eating larger bone in pieces, as well as larger meat chunks, palm sized if possible. You can still give the puree a couple of times a week as soupies. It's a good idea to keep them eating that at least weekly, in case you have to give meds at some point in the future. You can just mix it in with a bit of the puree/soup. Just keep reducing the amount of puree and increasing the amount of chunk til they are eating all meat/bone. You can try just giving the liver separately, chopped up, to see if they'll eat it. Mine won't , so they get a separate liver/kidney soup once a week. If yours won't eat it separately, you may have to do that also. The gizzard and heart are muscle meats, so just feed them as that. With the neck, if they'll eat it in 1-2" chunks, great. You know what they are capable of. If they can't handle that, you may have to take a mallet to the neck to start with. Let me know how it goes  |
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Post by michiskip on Mar 14, 2009 10:56:00 GMT -5
So the chicken is thawing for dinner I decided to give plain beef for breakfast Cubed steak beef chunks. No puree offered at first. I will offer it if Penny or Paco refuse to eat. Breakfast is late this morning-the rain we're having keeping all the humans asleep. Good thing we had some bones from last night to keep us busy. Update No puree needed although Penny didn't eat as much I wished she would have-I'm not sure how much is enough. She did eat 3-4 inch size chunks in about 15 minutes. She sniffed around for the bowl that keeps the puree but I only use one bowl for that and she couldn't find it in the cage.   
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Post by michiskip on Mar 14, 2009 22:10:08 GMT -5
So I did give puree tonight.
Forgot I was watching a friends kids-one of which won't eat chicken and dumplings...so I put the chicken in the fridge and fed a leg and puree of pork, chicken and beef. Penny hardly ate all day so I guess I'll have to try tomorrow.
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 15, 2009 1:04:32 GMT -5
Can you do me a favour? Take those same 3-4 inch sized chunks, and weigh them. My females eat maybe 1 1/2 - 2 ounces for a meal. That's it. And it really isn't very much! Far less than I thought it was . I used to wonder why I had so much stash, until I started to weigh the cut up meat. I was actually giving 2-3 times the amount they were capable of eating . It's possible Penny simply ate her fill, even if it looked like a small amount! And by looking at those pics, I really think she did! Thanks for posting those, by the way. It's always great seeing a ferret enjoying their meal(and also a good excuse for looking a ferret pics ) Let me know how much the meat you gave her weighed(beef is a denser meat, and is heavier), and how they do with their chunks tomorrow! |
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Post by michiskip on Mar 15, 2009 8:38:20 GMT -5
I didn't think about the weight difference in the meat. She seems really energetic. They did drink more water yesterday without the puree which is really soupie. I have a scale that I used with baby food when we were making my grandsons- who turns out not liking anything premade. Penny loves the new exercise (dig) box we made with plastic eggs and after much running around ate 2-3 chunks of chicken, more than half the white bowl of puree and argued with Paco over the chicken leg I had to cut it in half so that they could each have a piece. I worry more about her because she is so much smaller, but it would stand to reason she would eat less. Long story short I will dig out the scale and weigh. Thanks for all the help.
I probably wouldn't have even made the switch if I hadn't been looking for a "HEALTHY ferret diet" and found you wonderful people.
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 15, 2009 11:07:53 GMT -5
I am so glad we've been able to help. I know what you mean about "the switch" . If it hadn't been for Jennifer(my mentor), I'd have given up. Boris was just so stubborn. In fact, if I try a new meat with him, we have to do the whole transition process all over, so he'll eat it . Have I mentioned he's a major drama queen? Good idea about the dig box. My guys have three, in case they get bored with the same one . One plastic eggs and pingpong balls, one cornstarch packing peanuts(if you do this one, be absolutely certain they are cornstarch, not styrofoam!), and one long grain rice. As far as fighting over the leg- let them! It teaches them how to tear meat from the bone. One will wind up with a chunk, and one will run with the leg to hide it- at least until the first finishes the chunk . Always lots of hissing in my house over meat! |
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Post by michiskip on Mar 15, 2009 21:16:04 GMT -5
::)So yeah apparently I've been giving about twice what the should need. Fixed dinner like I normally would then weighed it. The puree meats, before blending were 5 oz. (I halved the organs and offered half plain and half in the puree, mixed with 2 oz of cubed steak) the plain offers were 3 oz. So eight ozs in one meal. Will actually offer half tonight and if they finish before I go to bed maybe add something in the cage for the night. I must have given about 6 oz of steak yesterday morning. Then another 5 oz of puree and 4 oz chicken leg last night.
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Post by sherrylynne on Mar 15, 2009 21:23:05 GMT -5
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