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Post by ccretarolo on May 17, 2009 18:54:34 GMT -5
I was kind of lazy last night and forgot to make more soup for the boys. I'm now thawing out some chicken hearts so that Mogli can have more soup tonight.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to put some in his food bowl without the dry food. He seems to like it but he still only takes it from my finger. I'm going to take his dry food out of the cage about 2 hours before I make the soup so he has enough of an appetite to eat it without me helping.
He does seem interested in Ozzy's whole prey. He was sniffing at a mouse and gave it a quick lick before realizing I was watching. I'm thinking that he might eat a mouse sometime in the near future if I smear ferretone into it's fur. While it would be great to get him on prey in the near future, I would rather wait until he's eating raw without prodding. While I have found a local supplier, it's still pricey to feed prey.
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Post by bigsis7 on May 17, 2009 19:10:05 GMT -5
Haha that's ok! Let me know how he takes the soup! Two hours sounds good. You could wait a bit longer, too, if you want. Also make sure to give him back his food when you go to bed if he doesn't eat any of the soup.
Interest is good! And yep I would get him used to the raw before whole prey if that's the majority of what you'll be feeding. Ferretone would help a great deal when offering him the prey. Well turns out I am now permanently your mentor! Here's my little introduction:
I've owned ferrets for a year and have fed raw for almost a year! My first ferret I got is Oliver! He is a year old and was bought from a pet store! He loves to play, but will sit down and cuddle sometimes! My second ferret is Chewie! I rescued him from a neglect situation and he's 5-6 years old. Loves to cuddle and not sure what toys are meant for yet. The third ferret I adopted is Ember. She's a year old next month, but sadly it's not going well, so I am returning her to the breeder. She's not happy in my home and would do better with a family with more breeder ferrets to challenge her.
Right now I am feeding commercial raw, because in my area there's not much variety and it's expensive! The ferrets love it and it's really convient! They still get whole raw meat 2 times a week, though! I look forward to mentoring you
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Post by ccretarolo on May 17, 2009 20:14:11 GMT -5
I might as well exchange the intro.
My name is Cecilia and I'm 20 (21 in August). As you already know, I'm mom to Ozzy and Mogli.
I got Ozzy from a pet store about a month and a half ago. He was too skinny, had coarse fur, and a prolapsed rectum. It took a few weeks for his real personality to start shining but once it did... I found out that he's a little terror. He's the most energetic animal I've ever been around and has a tendency to chomp on anyone who isn't me. He's getting better but having strangers handle him is still a huge concern.
Mogli came to live with me just over a week ago. I found him through CL since I was starting to worry about Ozzy not being able to be as much of a weasel as he should be. The second that the two of them met, they became brothers. Mogli is from Marshall Farms and is very mellow and calm. He will get riled up when either Ozzy or Hermes (my youngest cat) start picking on him though. He is most definitely a perfect ferret ambassador and I'm going to start taking him out on a regular basis so people can become more educated about ferrets.
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Post by ccretarolo on May 18, 2009 3:27:16 GMT -5
Another update.
I was able to get Mogli to eat some soup off of a spoon and I'm pretty sure he ate some of the soup I put on his kibble. He was also interested in Ozzy's dinner of bone in game hen breast so I smeared a little of the juice on his gums. He's not a fan yet but I think he's getting there.
I'm going to be sure to have a lot of patience with him in the meantime. Especially since they're locked in their room until my bf decides to get around to ferret proofing his subwoofer... Men...
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Post by bigsis7 on May 18, 2009 8:32:55 GMT -5
Nice to meet you, lol!! Oh yay!! Eating off the spoon and his kibble is great! Sounds like he's getting closer! I would just keep repeating the soup until he's eating a lot all by himself! Haha patience is the key in ferret ownership, lol! Yes,...men....  ! |
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Post by ccretarolo on May 19, 2009 0:41:28 GMT -5
Yes it is... We were finally able to get the subwoofer ferret proofed (after a few hours of trial and error), so the boys got to play as they wanted. Mogli's appetite was a little low today because of the heat but he still ate quite a bit of soup.
Tomorrow's going to be a big day for them though. I'm going to hang out at my dad's place tomorrow and they're coming with me. This will be Ozzy's first real outing so things should be interesting. My dad lives in a pretty small house on an acre of land so there will be lots to explore (on leashes of course). I'm going to bring some soup with me in hopes that all of the extra activity will make him a little hungrier than usual. I'm also going to have some fresh chicken parts from my dad's last barbeque for Ozzy to munch on. It should be fun.
EDIT: My dad just informed me that he's getting both inside and outside of his house sprayed for bugs tomorrow... Wish he would have mentioned that sooner...
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Post by bigsis7 on May 19, 2009 21:18:36 GMT -5
I'm glad he ate some soup! And that sucks...Hopefully you can plan another time! Keep me updated on his progress and feel free to ask questions! You're doing a great job!
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Post by ccretarolo on May 20, 2009 17:39:32 GMT -5
I just want to let you know that I'm probably not going to post as often as I should. The bf and I are going through some relationship issues and it's hitting me harder than I thought it would.
I'm still going to keep up the progress with Mogli though. I'm going to try and make the soup a little less runny today. Hopefully, I'll be able to get him eating a mush by this time next week.
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Post by bigsis7 on May 20, 2009 17:54:27 GMT -5
I'm sorry! Don't worry about it! Update me when you can! Also if it's easier for you, you can email me at shayna10smith at yahoo dot com!!
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Post by ccretarolo on May 24, 2009 0:27:28 GMT -5
Quick update:
I started taking some of the water out of the raw soup. It's now a little thinner than ground meat and Mogli is eating it all on his own!
I'm going to offer it to him 2-3 times a day for the next couple of days before I take out all of the water. I will then work gradually to have it ground up less and less. I'm also going to be introducing other meats other than heart soon.
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Post by bigsis7 on May 24, 2009 8:39:51 GMT -5
Yay! The plan sounds good! Once he's basically eating chunky mush, you can try feeding him whole chicken or whatever meet you want. And introducing another meat besides heart is a good idea :]!
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Post by ccretarolo on May 24, 2009 18:36:52 GMT -5
I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow so there will be some turkey, whole chickens, and pork in the freezer soon. I'm thinking that I'll introduce both turkey and chicken dark meat at the same time. The flavors are similar enough that he should accept small amounts of each pretty willingly.
I'm going to start adding other meats to the next batch of mush. I figure that I'll wait until tonight to give some since the boys are actually going to be able to go to my dad's place! My nephew's birthday party is today (he's already 4 and it makes me feel old) so I figured that having the ferrets there for a little bit would be fun. I'm thinking that Mogli will like it more than Ozzy.
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Post by bigsis7 on May 25, 2009 9:47:51 GMT -5
Ooo fun!! Let me know how it goes!
Putting turkey and chicken together is a great idea! Those are my ferret's two favorite meats and like you said they're pretty similar. Pork is also a great meat to start ferrets off with. I've noticed with my ferrets, beef is hard to get them to eat. Chewie may take a few bites, but he prefers chicken. Anyways let me know how it goes/went!
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Post by ccretarolo on May 25, 2009 13:50:03 GMT -5
The ferrets were a hit at the party. They got to run around so much that they ended up crashing immediately after the party was over and only woke up to be taken out to go potty. I ended up staying there pretty late but the boys behaved themselves.
I also got Mogli to eat the mush without any water in it! It was really funny when he hit a piece that had to be chewed though. He had this face like he was disgusted but he kept at it since he actually likes the taste.
By the way, today is Mogli's 1st birthday! I wish I had a better idea of what I could get him but I'm pretty stumped.
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Post by bigsis7 on May 26, 2009 7:24:19 GMT -5
Yay! I'm glad they had fun at the party!
Haha I love it when ferrets look disgusted with what they're eating, but they keep eating it! Once he's eating mush for 1-2 more days, I'd try some whole meat or bitesize meat!
Happy belated b-day Mogli!!
Toys are always fun or a couple of treats! N-Bones are great if you haven't tried them!
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