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Post by Heather on Apr 7, 2009 23:53:22 GMT -5
I wouldn't allow her to play anywhere you place diatomaceous earth as it's very difficult on her lungs. I don't think it will harm her paws but you have to remember where ever those little paws go that little face isn't far behind I have to admit I've had no luck finding chicks either You might try rodentpro or you haretoday (that one I don't know if they carry chicks or not). It's good that she's making friends with the cat. Around here, it's making peace with the mean nasty black kitty Merlyn, who has very little tolerance for silly little ferts, but silly little ferts like snuggling with Merlyn. I will pop in a little later to see if you've been in ciao
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Post by gan on Apr 12, 2009 22:12:59 GMT -5
Ok! I'm so ashamed I've been away so long without better warning. Things are calm for the time being though, so I'm stopping in to update! One major point of excitement for me is that I'm now 90% sure that the bald spot i worried might be adrenal, and indicate that Killer was much older than indicated is all covered in short fuzzy hairs! I was worried it was getting slightly larger at first, but today I stopped to give it very close attention, and what used to be completely bald is at least 1 mm of fuzz all over I'm so glad it's showing such improvement, I can't wait for it to be all grown in and luscious- hopefully the rest of her coat thickens up as well, I can only assume it had something to do with dry skin, the sun, or bad diet in her old "home." Unfortunately I haven't been able to get her any live or whole prey since the last few mice a week ago, the fellow who was supposed to be supplying me some rats and mice sent me an email saying he'd tell me later that afternoon when they would be ready, and never sent another. I've emailed him back, and will do the same again later tonight, but it seems that my miracle source may have fallen through and I'll be looking for another again sooner than I expected. (if only i could just breed my own!) Because of this I've been sort of feeling my way through what I hope is at least not a -bad- raw 'frankenprey' diet of chicken wings (I started chopping them up smaller and she's started eating them with no problem at all) more of the gizzards I had before, liver on occasion, cow meat off the oxtail (she can't manage the bones) and (ugh) kibble in between to make sure she's getting some sort of other nutrients... God do i hate the kibble though, her poops have gotten so -rank-! I still can't find quail or smaller animals at the store, so I'll be picking up some sort of pork tomorrow so she's got a third meat to work with, and hopefully some chicken hearts if I can find them! -gan- I'm trying to get my can and my boyfriend's alike to try more raw/prey as well, If they take to it well enough I may be able to get an order of some frozen prey online in bulk so as not to suffer all those shipping charges in vain -,-
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Post by Heather on Apr 13, 2009 0:04:39 GMT -5
That's great. Yes, health and diet can definitely give you some symptoms that do indeed look like adrenal. Don't be surprised too, if you get some more hair loss when your little one switches over to the raw diet entirely. I've had a couple of ferrets drop all the hair off their tail and look very adrenal after switching from a poor diet to the much better quality raw diet. It seems to rectify itself by the next shed or season. I've also had ferrets who have come to me with horrible coats suddenly put on beautiful long haired coats. They may also change colours. You could try posting and see if anyone here lives in your general area and order with a group of people (I noticed an order posted the other day, I think they were trying to get together a rodentpro order) We can't get most of the meals with tails up here, so I've resorted to contacting the snake people and making arrangements with them. Can you get rabbit where you are, most ferrets love that protein source too. Have you got an ethnic market in your area? That too can sometimes provide you with a more diverse source for proteins. What about pet stores for your mice and rats until you get a more sustainable source? I know that can be rather expensive but it might hold you over until you can set up your regular supplier. With the way your little one is eating her diet you may want to start considering putting together a weeks diet and see if you can get your little one to eat it. You can then tweek the diet and that would be what you can present Giuli to graduate. Keep up the great work. Fantastic. ciao
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Post by gan on Apr 15, 2009 2:59:54 GMT -5
Sounds good, my only concern is that I haven't really gotten her to eat much outside of chicken as far as store bought raw goes, she'll eat virtually anything she kills (i'd imagine) but some meats i put in front of her and she just ignores it. I'm trying pork again and cornish hen for the first time wednesday and thursday, so that should be lovely- if she'll eat it!
I have an unrelated question you might be able to point me in the right direction for.
I fell in love with a little ferret at the pet shop. She's much younger than Killer, stil got a short little nose and is all wriggly and babyfied, but she'd been alone in the petshop tank since I got Killer, and with one other for weeks before that- and I don't think she gets any human interaction. When i asked the owner if i could play with her because she looked depressed he asked if i was sure because she was a biter... and boy was she.
When I first took her out I could tell she didn't have much interaction with humans at all, and an employee told me the only time she really moved was when they brought out a new food bowl, so I wasn't just only seeing her lazy the times I came into the store for mice (i've been in over 6 times and every one she's been awake, but laying motionless).
I could suck it up and keep myself from wanting her so bad if It were just 'puppy love', but i'm so worried for her wellbeing otherwise. I'm afraid that she'll only get worse (she bit me so hard I bled within a few minutes of picking her up, but she learned quickly and stopped) and that if she doesn't rot away in the cage, I'm afraid she'll be bought by someone who doesn't understand why she's behaving the way she does and will neglect her rather than deal with getting bitten (or training her not to!)
Do you know anything about "adopting" pets from pet shops rather than buying them? Anybody who might be able to give me some suggestions on getting the owner to consider giving her up rather than neglecting her in the back of the shop?
I may not be able to keep her forever, but I could at least train her and give her the love she needs before finding her a home I trust rather than letting her rot there. Suggestions? Or am I dreaming?
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Post by Heather on Apr 16, 2009 2:24:41 GMT -5
I wish you luck in being able to adopt her. The store owner might sell her at a discounted rate but I doubt if he will let you take her home. If she's a Marshals ferret she will eventually be returned to Marshals for a refund (especially if she's a biter) and become a lab animal. The best I've been able to do is work with them when I'm in the store. I did go out and actually buy one of the furbabies, years ago. He had been shipped too young and wasn't eating and had just been shoved off at the back of the store. They were waiting for him to pass on so that they could get the refund from Marshals. I bought him. That was over 5 yrs ago, and Little Nicodemus has been romping and playing ever since. It did cost the store 5 days of extensive care at the vets (their policy is if you buy a pet that they will pay the vet bill for up to 5 days of care if they're sick) They had let Nicodemus get so dehydrated and underfed that he needed 5 days of IV fluids and had to be hand fed carnivore care for another 5 days. I switched him to raw after that and he never looked back. I don't like that ferret babies are taken, spayed/altered so young but I can't save them all, but I do what I can. I've found the easiest thing is to go in and work with their kits and teach them bite inhibition and get used to being handled. This at least makes them better candidates for sale and possibly a good home. I commend you for your thoughts, your heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, the store owner/manager is after the bottom line Good luck ciao
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Post by gan on Apr 17, 2009 21:41:18 GMT -5
That's what I figured the issue would be, I'll have to ask him to let me play with her whenever I go in for mice then (now I'll be hoping i DON'T wind a better place to get them D:) The owner really doesn't seem like a bad guy, when I mentioned that ferrets tend to get depressed if they're alone, it at least looked like genuine sadness in his eyes when he told me that he knew. I'll keep you updated as far as that's concerned. As far as the baby i already have, she's doing wonderful. I stopped keeping her in her cage (i don't know if I mentioned that) because she's really quite good without it, only issue I'm having is keeping her food in the darn feeding den! I get the feeling that it's a battle I might not be able to win until i find a way to make it more appealing than my closet is. I also noticed when playing with her today that her bald spot has grown in so well you actually can't see the skin any more! If I didn't know it was there I might not notice the sparseness/short fuzziness at all! I'm so relieved. I can hardly believe it only took a few weeks for her hair loss to stop. For the sake of raw advocacy I want to say it's "all in the mice" but I'm beginning to think that she was just so mistreated there that she would be showing improvement even if I was feeding her cat food I don't think i could be so fast though. She's even spunkier, and causing a ruckus wiht the cat daily, but he needs someone to bug him. He's too jumpy to actually hurt her, and he's started loosening up in general since the harassment began (like a grumpy old man with daily kindergarden visits, i like to think) She loved her hen, and I'll be trying the pork tonight at my BF's house (where she'll be locked in her cage for meal times... his room's much too messy to ever find the stowed meat if she were to get away with it ) have a great weekend! Gan
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Post by Heather on Apr 17, 2009 22:11:29 GMT -5
Most often they're not bad people, just always aware of the bottom line, they have to make money. It's good that you're going in there and playing with her. I always buy my litter and mouse stuff there, so I just go in to pick up the stuff and play with the furbabies. I've also managed to get them to do some changes in how they care for their babies. I actually got them to bring in a FN instead of keeping the furbabies in glass show aquariums (they usually keep their guinea pigs and rabbits in them). I told them it would be easier to sell the FN if people could actually see them. I also got them feeding chicken wings to their furbabies. It helped that the one lady who staffs the store also feeds raw to her dogs and cats (well sort of, she feeds both kibble and raw) The raw feeding impressed the owner as the smell generated by the fuzzbutts was cut in half. That's so fantastic that you're going to let her free roam. It's so what they're supposed to do. Good luck with getting her to keep her food where "you" want it. I actually found the rabbit that I gave them (well some of the fur and an ear) outside in the play area, so....obviously I'm not going to be much help in getting your little girl to eat in a given place . Your little one is doing so well on the raw diet. Are you still feeding kibble at all? If you've pulled her off, or if you have no intention of pulling her off entirely but use the kibble to supplement, how about you create a weeks menu to see where you're at and what your little one is eating. I will check in with you tomorrow. ciao
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Post by gan on Apr 21, 2009 8:55:59 GMT -5
I know he's not a bad guy- and I can tell the store's struggling- so he's somewhat in the same boat I am. I want to help her, but I can't afford to, and he'd rather her get a great home, but he can't afford to lose the deposit he made buying her in the first place- I'm trying to get my boyfriend to help, but he's not Mr. Moneybags either, and he's been all natural-raised-Hob-crazy since he saw Killer's progress, and has been thinking of contacting GFX about one of their available 2 year olds, but I kind of think his infatuation's more in actually seeing how mighty a natural raised hob is compared to my little twig Killer than it is in the entire process and price As for Kibble- I thought I mentioned it before, but aside from one day that I prematurely ran out of everything but chicken livers, Killer hasn't eaten kibble since I finished with the soupies- so I suppose I'm at the point of figuring out her diet's specifics? So far I supplement her with at least 3 mice a week, and she's been eating mostly chicken (bone in wings smashed up a bit, and bigger boneless hunks) she loved the cornish hen, but unfortunately I forgot the pork at my house this weekend and haven't managed to thaw it out since i got home. Will i still need to worry about feeding livers if I'm feeding her a few mice weekly? Also, I know you guys get this question a whole lot, but It's hard to know if I'm feeding her much too little or too much different meal times: How much should a 1.5ish lb ferret eat a day? I'm thinking of buying a little kitchen scale that measures grams/ounces so I can make sure that not only am I not feeding her too little, but also not too much. I can't afford the leftovers *full of questions* How do you go about feeding? I hear a lot of people seem to have specific times, then they remove the prey? is this necessary or helpful, or is it ok to leave the meat out for her till her next feeding time if she hasn't finished it all? What are the benefits of limited feeding time if any? I know in the very least it would cut down on chicken gizzards under my bed- but in the dry air they're hardly as nasty as when they're in the fridge too long *yegh* Ok, this isn't a planned week menu, but I can give a basic day-by day of the past 7 days. 14th Tues - some ox tail, though she has trouble and barely ate any, I found some cheep stew beef I'll try when I visit the BF (forgot it in his freezer) various chicken (gizzards and breast i think) 15th Weds - Chicken wings again, and two mice 16th thurs - Cornish hen and chicken 17th fri - for dinner, chicken breast for late evening snack, and cornish hen breakfast 18th sat - boneless skinless chicken breast hunks 19th sun - Boneless skinless chicken again (all I had at the house -.-) 20th mon - Two mice and cornish hen I've got some chicken hearts and pork thawing for today (tuesday 21) so we'll seee how she likes them
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Post by Heather on Apr 21, 2009 15:08:38 GMT -5
It's sounding good. Killer is doing fantastic. I would feed a little liver, 1 a week is recommended (a chicken liver, not a beef ). See if she will eat it, I've got a couple of guys who wont' touch the stuff unless it's dissolved in the ground meat. They should have some to get a decent level of vit a. How much does one feed a ferret? hmmmmm good question. I have no idea . I'm not laughing at you either. Years ago, I measured everything. Now, it just happens. The general concensous is that it's very much a trial and error. Seasons bring eating amount changes, it fluctuates from day to day, season to season. If you feed the right amount you should see less stashing. If they're stashing a lot of food then you're feeding too much. I know...it's really vague. I remember when I first got a ferret and I asked how do you know if you're ferret's too fat or weighs too much. The answer I got....when it's legs are too short and this came from someone who bred ferrets for 35 yrs.... I now know he wasn't trying to be funny...it's true. The breed varies so much from individual to individual that if I told you 1 oz yours would need 2 and I would be starving the poor little thing. I can tell you that ferrets are meant to eat multiple small meals during the day. It's not as bad as kibble ferrets where they get sick if you don't have food for them but they do better when they can get at food most of the time. Get a set of scales for your own reference, but realize that what is good for Killer today may not be enough or too much 6 months from now. Looking at your diet for the week, you could use some more meatier bones. Chicken legs, thighs, breast with bone in...you can actually trim some of the meat off for yourself, unless you're using organic chickens they have less meat on the breast. We will have to get Killer eating some offal (heart, kidneys, liver) There's not quite enough of that in there. Otherwise, it's starting to look really good. Awesome. I will check back with you and see how Killer's doing and see if ferret math has attacked your household ciao
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