Tikki, Mis, and Coco Switch!

[Zoshi]

That's a relief! xD Although, Tikki didn't seem too happy with the chicken and pork mush today, so I made her the usual chicken and baby food for the night, and she seemed okay with it. She's been giving me the stink eye today, and I don't know if its because of the food or because of the kids, heh...

Oh, I'll try the broth idea! And we have so many ice cube trays that we don't use, too, so I'll nab one for my own uses.

I did have two eggshells drying, but my mom didn't realize what they were for, and I didn't manage to tell her soon enough, and they ended up in the garbage. I was not happy, heh, but I'm going to be gathering more...

Oh, and today I got the sample pack I ordered, there were samples of Wysong Arch. 1, different Stella and Chewy's, and AFS. The three were running around, and I let them do sniff tests, and I think I've found something that Mis will like! I gave him a piece of Wysong, he took one sniff and grabbed it and ran off to a corner to eat it. Coco liked it enough to lick it, but didn't run off with it.
Tikki, of course, gave me this look like she thought I was crazy and ran off to go try to steal the tv remote.

Coco and Mis have been cleaning out their bowls each time I give them their food. Tonight they got the kibble-chicken mix, with more of a 75% chicken-25% kibble mix this time. I gave them a few crumbled pieces of Wysong over it, and that got Mis interested in it pretty quick. It's an hour later, and half of the mix is gone already. Both of them have full bellies, so it's looking good.

Now, the setup currently is Tikki in her cage (FN 142) and she has a 'den' (an empty box from a 12 pack of 7-Up, it works well for her; I'm looking for a plastic box I could clean/disinfect better) on the level where she gets her food. Most of the pieces she doesn't want to eat end up either there, or under her bed. I try to direct her to the box so she'll get the idea, but she seems to be paranoid about someone finding her food.

Coco and Mis are in their own cage right now, and it's an annoying cage with an annoying setup but they came with it and I'm suffering through it for now. Most likely they'll be joining Tikki in her cage tomorrow (hopefully), since we'll be modifying the FN and adding another section off to the side of the bottom cage (so it'll be a big L).
So far they have no dens, and from what I've seen of their eating habits, both mostly just stick their head into the bowl and chow down.

Heh, Mis is a little pusher, he likes climbing on top of the girl's backs and just smooshing them under his weight. Coco usually just hisses, or lays down and waits for him to get bored and run off. Tikki usually rolls over and shoves her paws in his face, which he of course loves, and which leads to more wrestling. So far they've been playing quite a lot, and they haven't had any crazy battles going on.
And yes! Coco has already become Tikki's apprentice; she took one look at how Tikki jumped onto the couch, and when I took Tikki off, she took the chance to climb onto it herself and start exploring. Tikki has already earned the nickname "Ninja" for her climbing and sneaking abilities, and I'm starting to suspect Coco is going to learn quite a lot from her.

[luci]

Awesome! There's always something these little monsters can't resist. It takes a while to find it sometimes, but it seems hopeful that you've found Mis' trigger. I think things will really move along now. But I think you're right to be cautious with the new stuff and offer up the "good" stuff if Tikki seems huffy about it. I think with all the playing they're doing that hunger will win out over fussiness.

Woo! Good job! All four of you!

[Zoshi]

All right, update time!

Last night the kids got chicken breast pieces (they're getting to be around 1/2" square) with rehydrated Wysong and a few kibble pieces on top to get them started. It was gone at 6AM, so I made them some more chicken pieces, with only a little bit of rehydrated Wysong. It's close to 11 now, and all of it is gone. There were some tiny slivers left in the bowl, and both Mis and Coco were happy to lick them off of my fingers. I think they're going to be ready for plain chicken breast next, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Tikki gave me a scare last night; around 11 I went down to find her very lethargic, not reacting to any of her treats or even Laxatone (which she'd eat by the tube normally). Then she went into the litter box, strained for quite a bit, and pooped out the usual chicken-colored poops she'd been making, only this time the very, very end of it looked like there was blood mixed in. Probably close to the amount like when you have a small paper cut; not a lot, but just enough to be visible, and only on the very end, not spread throughout the poop.
I got her out, and managed to get her to drink some water mixed with pedialyte, and called the emergency vet, just to be sure (I just lost my other ferret a few weeks ago, so I'm a little more than spastic right now... ) They told me to keep an eye on her, that the blood might have come out because she's been having those loose poops and she might be straining a little too hard. They also said that she might have an upset stomach, with her refusal to have anything to do with her treats/laxatone/etc. I have Pepcid AD tablets and syringes and other things left from when Pike was sick, and they told me to make the Pepcid mix and give her .1cc last night, and another dose of .1cc this morning, and to call them back today.

Till now she's pooped twice, and there has been no sign of blood in any of them. Also, she's perked up a bit, still not back to her usual perky excited self but much better than last night. I gave her plain baby food watered down with water and pedialyte last night and this morning, to make sure she's getting both food and hydration.

We're going through with the cage expansion today, but I'll see about putting them together; I don't want to stress her any more than I have to...

The good thing is, she's more accepting of the baby food today, and she's licking the laxatone, and taking kibble from me and stashing it, so I can tell she's feeling better.

I'm going to call the vet in a little bit and see what they say.

[Zoshi]

Good news: Coco ate a quarter of a chicken neck, bone and all, in about ten minutes. And she was more than happy to do so.

Okay news: Mis will eat the chicken pieces, but only if I put rehydrated Wysong or mushy kibble on them.

Not the best news: Tikki just pooped dark green. She's still more lethargic than usual, but she's actually running around the room and has tried to steal the TV remote like she usually does, which is a good sign. The Pepcid seems to have helped; she's eaten some of her kibble, but she's turning her nose up at the baby food (maybe she thinks I have chicken hidden in it). I talked to the E-vet, and he said it could either be just plain indigestion from stress (the new kids, diet; besides, she's always been a little high-strung) or it could be ECE.
I'm a little iffy about thinking it's ECE, because I'm reasonably sure the Tikki is a carrier without symptoms; back when we had gotten her, Pike got the dreaded lime-green-poop, and she was the only change.
Actually, I'm really hoping it's just stress and indigestion, because that I could deal with, and I really hope it's not ECE.

Still, she's doing better, running around and such, and I'm giving her water with pedialyte and trying to get her to eat the baby food so that she has some extra food in her. She's not having any diarrhea, so that's a good sign.
I'm supposed to watch her, and bring her in if her she gets worse...


1:30 Update: Just got a large syringe full of baby food mixed with pedialyte into Tikki. Wasn't easy, I'm happy I've had practice with this before, heh... aaannnnd she just pooped. It was a small amount, and it looks brownish (no green at all), but it still looks like it's not entirely digested. Still, it's looking much better than before! Let's hope it was just an upset stomach.

[luci]

Okay. Tikki might need the aid of some probiotics to make sure she's getting enough nutrition. I don't have any experience with using them, but I understand it can be very helpful. Or maybe gently cook her meat a bit to make it a little easier on her tummy.

It's most likely the stress of everything with the new kids and new foods. It's a lot. Give her whatever she wants and let's not try anything new until her tummy seems better.

[Zoshi]

I've heard good things about Bene-Bac, I'll get some ASAP for her. She's been pretty perky, and she was watching pretty closely as my dad and I put the extra FN together for Coco and Mis, although she eventually went to sleep in her bed.

Tikki's going to be getting a lot of one-on-one time these next few days.

[Zoshi]

Coco with her dinner. I can actually fit a makeshift den into the cage now, and she's more than happy to use it.

Mis is still on the kibble-Wysong-meat mix, eating it slow and steady. There's a little bit of beef in the mix as well, to start giving them a taste.

Also, I forgot to say, Coco and Mis's lunch today had chicken heart, liver, and stomach in it, and they ate it all up. We were making chicken, so I thought I'd give it a try. :)

Tikki has been much more active, I'm getting her probiotics tomorrow, as I wasn't able to go today. She's also shown me that she's eating some of the kibble she's hidden; she's actually taken pieces out of her stash spots when she sees me and eats them in front of me. Still, I'm giving her baby food with pedialyte, and she's still looking at me like I'm crazy. She doesn't have diahrrea, and she seems pretty well hydrated (her skin snaps back and her gums are wet).

[luci]

Has Tikki's stashed kibble always been dry or has it been moistened with water or mixed with meat?

[Zoshi]

The kibble she stashes is dry; whenever I give her moistened kibble she'll either eat it straight or pull the bowl it's in over close to her bed or stash spot.
I go through the cage after every meal and every night, and especially so these days since I was giving her raw, to make sure she wasn't pulling meat anyplace weird in her cage, but so far the only thing in her stashes has been dry kibble.

[luci]

Oh good. I was concerned that maybe she was stashing some moist kibble that had grown some mold and yuck. THAT would give a bellyache!

Is she seeming better? I forgot about the loss of your other ferret, but yeah, Tikki has has an awful lot of life changes recently. It would be surprising if she didn't have signs of upset.

It's great about the progress with the little ones! Coco eating chicken necks... you must be so proud! Did Mis watch her chomping on it?

[Zoshi]

Heh, I know, I keep an eye on Tikki's cage exactly because I know she's such a crazy stasher.
She seems much better now; all her overnight poops have been brown, though soft (most likely because of the baby food, I think), and this morning she is very perky and more energetic, and actually exploring things now that I've let her out. And, of course, still trying to steal the TV remote and pulling all her toys back to their stash spots.
She also ate a spoonful of chicken baby food all by herself. She seems to be about 80% back to normal.

Oh, it was soo awesome to watch Coco chow down! I put the den in their cage and it's like she knew what it was for right away. Mis actually wanted to sniff at the neck, but she kept pulling it away from him, but I could see him watching her eat it. After a little while she took a break and I tried offering it to him, but he just sniffed it all over and left it. He's still not entirely convinced he likes this new food type. x3

[Zoshi]

Tikki's doing better and better; I got her probiotics and gave her the recommended does, and it says to give a second dose in three days (they're in gel form). I'm giving her chicken baby food still, and I left her kibble in the cage so that she can eat that when she wants to. She's much more perky and alert, and was even playing in her tunnel with me and doing her tail-wag.

I've been giving Coco and Mis their kibble-meat mix by soaking their kibble and some Wysong or Stella and Chewy's Beef and mixing the chicken in that. Tonight I'm going to instead crumble the freeze-dried food and grind up the kibble and coat the chicken pieces in that, and see how that goes. I saw Mis today eating the chicken with some interest, but he seemed to be aiming for the pieces of moist kibble and the chunkier pieces of Wysong/S&C, so I'm going to see if coating the chicken will entice him a bit more. He's still disinterested in the chicken when I give it to him plain, while Coco pulls it out of my fingers as soon as I put it in front of her nose.

Everyone is still in their separate cages, as well, although Tikki always wants to go over to the kids's cage to sniff at them and check them out.

Also, it's becoming more and more evident each day that we have a little talker here. Coco is always making noises: when she's playing with Mis, when she's playing by herself. When she's exploring; I mean, I've heard exploring-type dooks before, Pike made them, Tikki has quite a vocabulary of them, and Mis dooks his little head off when he sees something new and excited. Coco, however, just goes off on this little vocal monologue, complete with dooks, whines, squeaks, and any other noise she can manage to make. She looks so utterly happy at the time, too. It's hilarious....

Wellll... that's all to report for today. I hope everything is going well with you!

[Zoshi]

Okay, I lied, that's not all to report today, heheh...

It's 9:30pm, the kids got their meat mixed with the dry dusting of kibble and Wysong//S&C, and it got Mis eating the meat pretty easily! He can't just lick the kibble off, and I've seen him chewing up the meat pieces. They also got a bit of beef mixed in tonight, and Coco, of course, is chowing down on both types of meat easily.

Tikki got her baby food for tonight... I'm thinking that maybe when I start her on the switch again, maybe I'll try using ground chicken mixed in with the baby food before going on to pieces of chicken. The texture would be similar to the baby food, and that should get her used to the flavor more easily, I think...

[luci]

Wonderful! Sounds like everyone is doing well. How are Tikki's poops now?

[Zoshi]

Tikki's poops have taken on the tan color I'd usually see when she was eating kibble, although they are still a bit seedy. They're not runny/watery, though, and she is eating both the kibble and the chicken baby food I'm giving her.

For breakfast Coco and Mis got a bit of beef along with the chicken. Coco went for it right away, and I caught Mis chomping on both the chicken and beef as well, although slower than Coco. I also had a chicken wing tip (the very end) that I got out for Coco, and it was gone probably half an hour after I gave it to her.

Also, I had all three of them out today (although Tikki only spent a little while with the kids, since I don't want her overwhelmed). I couldn't get past it; I took the kids out and Tikki started clawing at the cage bars and chewing on the. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't let her out she'd have a bite waiting for me later. They were all playing, and Tikki was even chasing and pouncing on the kids. She wasn't too happy with me when I took her away, but I gave her some baby food to make up for it, so I hope I'm forgiven...