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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 17, 2009 18:35:53 GMT -5
I'm feeling really good about myself. I just portioned out about 2 months worth of meals for the boys.
This is including a large batch of mush for Mogli. I made it using chicken gizzards and hearts along with a touch of liver and olive oil. I'm hoping that after this batch is gone, he'll be able to eat finely minced meats. I'm planning on adding small amounts of minced chicken heart in about a week or so.
I'm now going to go and play The Sims 3 for a while since I'm done with my kitchen work for now.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 18, 2009 8:59:19 GMT -5
Woah that's awesome =D! Congrats hehe!!
I also hope that Mogli starts chewing some meat soon!
Haha I'm still working on getting The Sims 3!! I've played the Sims 2 with a friend, but haven't been able to get my own yet.
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 18, 2009 13:19:01 GMT -5
He's started chewing a little bit. He only chews on the small pieces of heart though. I was able to get him to chew a little gizzard yesterday but I had to scruff him to do it. He doesn't seem to be a fan of his new food though. I think it's because this is the first batch that includes all liver rather than liver and ferretone (very small amounts of both) or just ferretone. He also enjoys egg so I'm thinking of adding a raw egg yolk to his food to see if he takes it any better. I'm also trying to teach Mogli to actually pick the food up with his teeth rather than licking at it. I think I'm making a little bit of progress but there's no way to be sure until he starts doing it.
I would actually suggest waiting a while to get the Sims 3. There isn't very much custom content yet so you have to get extremely creative to makes things interesting.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 18, 2009 22:15:25 GMT -5
That's good that he's chewing some! Adding some egg would be good if he like it! Anything to get him to enjoy it more! Each little step is good!
Okie Dokie :]! Thanks for the tip!
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 20, 2009 12:07:34 GMT -5
He's now starting to chew on small pieces of gizzard but starts freaking out if I give him larger pieces from the mush. Because of this, I got to cut small pieces of gizzard into even smaller pieces so I wouldn't have to throw out an ounce of perfectly good meat... Thank goodness my knife skills are improving.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 21, 2009 16:57:08 GMT -5
Huh, little stinker, lol! Well it's a start!
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 22, 2009 13:35:00 GMT -5
I still have to scruff him to get him to chew gizzard but he's accepting larger pieces. He also thinks that just swallowing the gizzard pieces whole is just fine.
He's also starting to eat more. Last night he ate 2 ounces and he ate about 1.5 ounces this morning. I'll have to chop up large gizzard pieces but he should end up eating the rest of the mush that's left tonight. I might be able to pull the kibble in a couple of weeks!
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 22, 2009 13:53:35 GMT -5
Haha ferrets always seem to think anything they do is great, lol!
That's great that he's eating more raw! Even though it's not a ton, it's a start! As much as you can without him noticing, lowering kibble amounts and increasing mush is the best way to get the kibble away! I hope he'll be eating more raw soon!
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 22, 2009 14:09:02 GMT -5
I'm already only giving him 1/4 cup of kibble a day. He only went through half of it overnight and I plan on pulling it when the boys go back in the cage for their afternoon nap. Over the next few days, I'm only going to make it available to him for only a couple of hours before I go to bed.
My biggest concern is getting him to eat the raw on his own. He seems to like it but will only eat it if I'm holding him. I don't mind right now but I can only imagine what will happen if I'm away overnight... I don't expect my boyfriend to hand feed any of my pets...
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 24, 2009 14:08:48 GMT -5
Well, I did not let Mogli have any kibble last night. He ended up eating about 2 ounces this morning and I'm hoping that he'll eat at least 1.5 ounces if I don't give him any kibble in the meantime.
I'm itching like crazy right now... I found a couple of fleas on Ozzy and although I treated both my boys with Advantage (half of a small cat dose), I'm still a little neurotic because my bf refuses to get flea treatment for the cats until tomorrow morning... And I happen to be one of those people who will be completely freaked out by fleas until I'm sure they're all gone... Which is the main reason that I still use Advantage rather than look for a more natural solution.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 24, 2009 17:44:19 GMT -5
Got my fingers crossed he'll eat more!!
Uh oh!! I would also freak out until the fleas were gone! Yuck! Hopefully it's no big deal and they'll go away fast!
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 25, 2009 14:16:26 GMT -5
Mogli nearly went a whole day kibble free! I felt bad about not leaving him anything to eat overnight so I gave him a few pieces.
I'm also thinking that his average amount of food per day is 3.5 ounces. The current mush is watered down a little bit so that would make it around 3 ounces of just food. The next batch of mush isn't going to have any extra water in it. Mostly so I can tell exactly how much meat Mogli needs a day.
It seems like such a small amount but I have him eat until he's full (to the touch) twice a day. I tried adding a 3rd feeding but he ate less than half an ounce. He actually only weighs a little more than 2 pounds right now so I'm thinking I'm feeding him enough. I originally thought that he weighed 3 pounds since that was what it said on one of his vet papers. I'm not sure if that's the weight that the vet expected him to be or if that was a note made for one of the other ferrets he lived with. He's not a tiny guy but he's far from being large.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 25, 2009 21:10:55 GMT -5
Yay!! 3.5 ounces sounds right!
I think all ferrets are different in how much they can/will eat. Oliver eats about 3.5 ounces a day, Chewie eats about 3.5-4 ounces a day, and Breeze eats about 2.5 ounces. Where as Ember who is smaller than Breeze would eat about 3.5 a day. She was younger though. So whatever Mogli eats and fills him up is good :]!
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Post by ccretarolo on Jun 28, 2009 14:00:01 GMT -5
Things are going the same as ever. I think I'm going to have Ozzy finish off the last of the mush I have made so I can make a different batch for Mogli. I'm having no progress with the gizzard so I'm going back to pork since I know Mogli will chew on the stringy pieces of fat. I'm thinking that my main goal right now is to encourage him to eat on his own. I'm going to be going away for at least one night in a couple of weeks so I want to be able to have my bf give him his real food in a bowl. He's so close to being done with kibble! This is really his last road block to the kibble being taken away for good.
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Post by bigsis7 on Jun 29, 2009 14:46:39 GMT -5
Yeah I think that's probably the best choice. He may not love it, but if it gets him to chew, that's better than not chewing at all. I think it'll help get him off kibble. Keep me updated!
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