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Post by lnsybean44 on Aug 16, 2009 23:27:22 GMT -5
Kenora and Newt will actually be coming with me when I leave for school. Where I am living has a "if we dont see then you can have it" policy. If it comes down to it and they need to go home to my mom she would feed them what I leave for her each week.
I am a little concerned over the loose poop too. I have stopped the ground for now and have been balancing the same, with essentially the same meal plan for the morning as the evening. I am looking into the hare today ground food to see if it is economical. Since I am only feeding two and theya r eating it only in the morning it should work out. I like knowing what goes int my ground food but I am worried that I must have done something wrong for him be having issues with it.
I will keep you updated as I make my decisions as to what to do.
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Post by Heather on Aug 19, 2009 1:46:54 GMT -5
Are you ok??
ciao
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Post by lnsybean44 on Aug 19, 2009 7:16:22 GMT -5
I am devastated, it is slowly getting better though. Newt has been helping alot but he makes me cry too. When he chuckles all I can think is Kenora is right by my ear, she would chuckle because she was about to get something she wasnt supposed to. I feel really quilty but I am starting to see that I did everything I could have even if I want to think I could have done more. She was pooping normal poops before she got sick and despite two days without any stool, which the Doctor said was normal, she has diahrea right up until saturday. The blockage was so lodged in there I dont know if they would have been able to remove it even if we had firgured it out and done surgery. I feel like I have failed her though.
I think I am going to seel the grinder, I have an order put together on hare today, how much should I order at one time for one ferret? Newt eats like a horse but I dont want to order too much and have it go bad. Im thinking he eats around five ounces per meal, but I would have to get a new scale to weigh it all. Mine broke right before Kenora got sick.
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Post by Heather on Aug 19, 2009 22:57:09 GMT -5
The death of a fuzzy is harsh and no matter what we always ask if we could do more or have done something differently. Don't be harsh on yourself, she couldn't tell you and you couldn't know. I've had my vet sobbing at the loss of a fuzzy (he died while she was carrying him from surgery to the xray, she did everything she could for him)...no don't be harsh on yourself. I felt so bad for you. I always feel bad when one of my students looses a fert. Being a mentor that actually works with switching sick fuzzies I've had to say goodbye to more than one of my little charges  . I'm a terrible person to ask about amounts....there have been a couple of postings about how much a fuzzie eats on average....it depends so much on age, gender, health, season....heat .... the variable list is endless. My guys have been right off their food for the last week with the hot spell we've been having. If you have a freezer your food won't go bad. A lot of people use ice cube trays to set up the amount of food they need. They freeze it in the ice cube trays pop it and then store the little cubes in a plastic bag taking out what they need. It's a great idea. That way if you need to increase you just add another cube. I'm sorry that your grinder isn't working for you, but I also understand how time consuming grinding is. When I had only 6 or so fuzzies I used to grind my own, now with 17 furbrats underfoot...I just don't have time, so I buy mine preground. I will see if I can find the posting for the amounts little ferts eat and talk at you tomorrow ciao |
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Post by lnsybean44 on Aug 28, 2009 15:25:37 GMT -5
Sorry I havent been on in so long. I wanted to let you know that my final decision is to return my grinder and get preground from hare todya. Newt will be getting ground in the morning and whole prey, chicken parts, rabbit parts and organs are night.
The other three boys will be getting commercial raw at night and I am going to work on them to eat the ground raw and maybe down the road to get them to eat the whole chunks of meat in their ground.
What would be the best way to go about this? I was thinking about crushing up both kibble and commercial raw and mixing in a bit of ground at a time. Plus some ferretone. The slowly backing down the amount of kibble, then backing down the amount of commercial raw.
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Post by Heather on Aug 28, 2009 23:15:41 GMT -5
What will your guys eat now. Are they eating raw or are they eating a mixture of kibble and raw?? I thought that they were eating a raw diet at this point...your grind right? You shouldn't have to go all the way back to kibbles again, unless I misunderstood something. Or has it to do with the newbies  What method did you use before or was this it? ciao |
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Post by lnsybean44 on Aug 29, 2009 10:27:54 GMT -5
The three boys, Norman, Barack and Cody and belong to my mother and she only wanted to go as far as a partial switch. Cody and Barack will eat only the raw voluntarily so the kibble mix is more for Norman. Newt is fully switched. She still wants to keep kibble in their diet but she wants to see if I can get them eating frozen raw. Newt is currently eating whole prey and frozen hen and rabbit and organs. Cody Barac and Norman are free fed a mixture of mostly freeze dried with some kibble mixed in. Ihave been very slowly decreasing the amount if kibble but everything got messed up when I went on vacation and our ferret sitter was giving it at about half and half  . But Newt was still fed raw thankfully. My instructions werent as clear as they should have been. |
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Post by mustelidmusk on Aug 29, 2009 10:46:27 GMT -5
Hi! I have to run to work   , but I wanted to have you check out my new posts in the general feeding sction (or was it raw???). ANyway, I posted on thefollowing topics based on feedback from an itegrtive/holistic vet - good info. Threads = taurine, vegetables, fish oil vs. flax oil. I'lll be putting mre stuff out there as well - of course, there are many ideas out there, but this vet hs a whole lot of experience with ferts - he was voted best holistic vet in 2000. -jennifer |
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Post by Heather on Aug 30, 2009 0:08:21 GMT -5
Backtrack yourself to where your guys are comfortable and then work forward again. There is no point in taking on a whole new switching method and making your life more difficult. Wouldn't it be easier for your mother to feed them all the same diet? Feeding both raw and kibble would certainly appear to me to be more complicated than just feeding raw. I'm not trying to push you one way or another just curious . ciao |
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Post by lnsybean44 on Sept 4, 2009 17:06:42 GMT -5
Sorry Ive been off the grid. We moved into an apartment for the rest of the school year and Ive been working like crazy to get everything moved in and ferret proofed.
I went out and got taurine and salmon oil to add to Newt's diet, I finally found a supplement store in my area that supplies taurine.
I think my mom is going to stick with a mix between kibble and freeze dried :/. Newt is entirely my responsibility so she doesnt have to worry about feeding different foods. Also, they are two separate businesses so there is no confusion there.
Originally we did it half and half because Norman wasnt switching but now it is the most cost effective for my mom and she has decided to not go to RMB at all.
My next pay check is going into a Hare Today order that should last me the next three months, plus fresh chicken and rabbit if I can get my butt down to Bridgeport again for a reload.
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Post by Heather on Sept 4, 2009 21:59:52 GMT -5
You've been busy . Congratulations, on your apartment. Are you sharing with someone?? I'm guessing so.. Ok, so who are we looking at that you're responsible for during this switch and where are we at now I'm a little confused so bear with me  It's my old age showing through Looking forward to hearing from you ciao |
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Post by lnsybean44 on Sept 5, 2009 6:51:10 GMT -5
They are my mom's ferrets, I am responsible for the switch but she is dictating how far I can go and what I can do it with (She buys their food). Two kids will eat just freezedried and Norman would rather starve. So I break up the freeze dried into lots of kibble sized pieces and then broken kibble as well. In addition I give four patty quarters so those who eat them have something good to chew on and Norman still get some benefits of raw but still have his beloved kibble taste. I had been at about 3/4 raw and 1/4 kibble but then I went away for a week ad between my mom and our ferret sitter they dropped them right back down to half and half. SO I am working on getting them a little close to 3/4 raw 1/4 kibble again but now that I am moved out its proving difficult. My mom is happy where they are now and wants to keep some kibble in their diet so if I can get them to 3/4 1/4 then I will be content. I think I cam going to mix up bags of food for each day and label them to make it east for my mom while I am gone, at least until they get to where I want them. Its mostly Norman thats the problem.
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Post by Heather on Sept 5, 2009 15:26:30 GMT -5
Much clearer, thank you . So, at the moment you're just trying to up the amount of raw that you feed to supplement the kibbles. Your idea makes perfect sense Good luck, let me know how it goes ciao |
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Post by lnsybean44 on Sept 7, 2009 11:58:45 GMT -5
Somuch for graduating, I have a whole new task about to fall into my lap. We are rescuing a little Dew (female?) who is under one year old. She is currently eating Purina cat chow, lives alone in the garage and hasnt really had much people interaction but I was told she is pretty friendly. If all goes well will be meeting her on friday and she will be in quarantine until I can get her ADV tested and assess her temperament. I would like to get her eating raw (RMB and some freeze dried and a healthier kibble). At the moment the plan is to foster her so i want to get her eating as much variety as possible so the new owner will be able to choose between hopefully raw but if not a healthy kibble. If she meshes well with out clan then she will have a forever home with us. But Cody is a little snot and Im worried he will just terrorize her.
i dont know much about her at the moment except what I have already stated and wont know more concrete details until I meet her friday (hopefully). I will keep you posted.
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Post by Heather on Sept 7, 2009 12:38:21 GMT -5
Sounds good to me It's wonderful that you're going to take on this little girl. It can't be much of a life for her to be locked away by herself in a cage in the garage...poor little soul. Good luck on getting her, you'll be good for her ciao |
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