|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 26, 2009 15:29:37 GMT -5
Keep them on chunks and soup for a few days, but you can increase the chunk to soup ratio a small bit each day, to see how they do on more chunks and less soups.
Keep with the soups for the older kids, they're going to need much slower transitions is my guess. But give Nuka and Sully a big hug for me, they're doing so great!!
|
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 27, 2009 1:29:39 GMT -5
Everyone ate a good dinner. Moki, Ginny, and Lucinda got their regular soup, while Sully and Nuka got chicken soup with ground turkey mixed in and a side of plain ground turkey. They ate quite a lot of the soup (their normal amount of soup goes a long way when ground meat is added and I think I overestimated their food intake, so they didn't finish it) and Nuka was up their chowing down on her ground turkey, though I wish she hadn't dragged it into the litterbox to test it out.  Thanks for the compliment on my signature! It's my first attempt, but I like it! |
|
|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 27, 2009 9:06:46 GMT -5
Sounds good so far! Estimating portions is probably the trickiest part of the game, to be honest. Even still I sometimes have extra and end up throwing it out after about 8 hours.
How did breakfast go?
|
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 27, 2009 21:29:15 GMT -5
Preparation for today was really bad on my part, so I've had to push my furkids ahead a little faster than I'd planned, at least for today. I thought I had more soup than I did and it turned out I had just a little bit left. I was sick all day today, so I need to make more tomorrow. Anyway, today's menu:
Breakfast: the last bit of soup and some ground turkey for Sully & Nuka, kibble (*bleh*) for the older girls
Dinner: ground turkey and pork chunks for Sully & Nuka, ground turkey mixed with warm water to form a soup for Moki, Ginny, and Lucinda
Everyone ate 100% of breakfast. Moki, Lucinda, and Ginny are trying the turkey soup, and Lucinda seems to especially like it, although I'm not sure if they'll eat any chunks at the bottom that may be there once they've licked up all the liquidy parts. The biggest surprise today was Sully, who went STRAIGHT FOR THE PORK CHUNKS AND STARTED EATING THEM! I'm talking 1/4 inch pieces and he's just downing them like candy! Yay Sully! He gets soooo many kisses today. Nuka hasn't tried them yet, and she may not get to if Sully keeps eating them this way, haha, but she definitely likes ground turkey.
|
|
|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 28, 2009 8:57:11 GMT -5
Next meal I'd try to separate Nuka to give her a chance at the chunks, before Sully gets them all. You can continue giving him bigger and more chunks as he eats them. What a good boy he is.
And Lucinda, that is surprising! How'd they all do this morning?
|
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 28, 2009 10:38:09 GMT -5
I supervised Nuka and Sully this time to make sure they both got their full meal. Nuka is also eating full chunks of chicken and pork now. I had to put them in her mouth a few times to get her to try them, but she gets the idea now! And they seem much more excited about this than about ground meat, which tends to be the last thing they eat every meal.
I think Moki, Lucinda, and Ginny may be getting kibble soup in abit here, as they're not really taking to the turkey. They lick the soupy part up and then when it starts getting thick, they ignore it, and I don't want them going hungry. Maybe moistening kibble and making it a little thicker will get them used to that texture?
|
|
|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 28, 2009 10:44:14 GMT -5
You can try that, or thin out the thicker bits of turkey once you see they've licked away all the liquid. There's a delicate balance here - they clearly like the flavor but are put off by the texture, so it's up to us to figure out a way to get them accepting that texture.
|
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 28, 2009 11:05:23 GMT -5
Yeah, but they didn't eat a lot last night either, so I'm going to try the thicker kibble. If that doesn't work, I'll give them a raw meal this afternoon and one tonight. I'm about to go make more soup as soon as I put all these roaming weasels away, haha.
Side note: Moki, Ginny, and Lucinda discovered Sully and Nuka's meat chunks. Moki stashed a pork chunk, but wouldn't eat it and Ginny stashed and then right after that ate a chunk of chicken. Lucinda spit it all back out at me, hehe.
|
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 28, 2009 17:57:13 GMT -5
They ate some of the moistened kibble off my fingers and off a spoon, but not out of the bowl or on a plate. Hmmm...this one's gonna be tough. Sully and Nuka are having soup and chicken chunks tonight and the other girls are lapping up soup right now.
|
|
|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 29, 2009 9:04:52 GMT -5
Well, the older girls are interested and that's a good sign. They're protesting a bit it sounds like. Keep forcing if necessary and leave some soups out for them to eat at their leisure, maybe without you watching. Sometimes they think if you're watching, they can pull one over on you and get their way - don't give in! They'll eat when they realize their stubborness isn't going to get you to give them back their hard dry kibbles.
Keep me posted about today's meals. How are Sully and Nuka doing with chunks? Still lovin' them?
|
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 29, 2009 12:38:05 GMT -5
Just when I get frustrated (only mildly so, don't worry), the fuzzbutts go and surprise me! Lucinda, Moki, and Ginny ate 100% of their soup (about a cup and a half) for the very first time last night! I left it with them overnight, and I'm hoping it didn't go bad, but that was the only way to let them eat at their leisure. I am one proud momma! They seemed excited to get their soup this morning too and immediately began eating it. Go girls!
Nuka and Sully always eat the chunks last, but they finish off every bite, and it's becoming easier to figure out how much they'll eat per meal. Nuka eats about 2 oz consistently so far and Sully, while he eats faster, doesn't really eat a whole lot more, maybe 2-3 oz per meal. Last night they stashed all their chicken chunks in the tiny space between their litter box and the side of their cage, but within hours they were all gone too. I gave them a little bit of soup (I am saving most of this for the older girls since that's all they'll eat at this point) this morning and a big hunk of ground turkey, although they seem to prefer the texture of chunks over ground. Unfortunately I still have a bunch of ground turkey and some ground beef we haven't tried, so they're going to have to make due until it's gone, lol.
We're making really great progress, I think, and I'm still enjoying myself immensely. I probably won't be on the forums a ton today, as I started The 24 Hour Zine Thing at 10:00 last night and fell asleep this morning after pulling an all nighter and slept in way too late! Now I only have till 10:00 tonight to get this zine finished, and it's only about 1/3 of the way done. But I'll try to give you a quick update when I feed them tonight too. Thanks Erinn!
|
|
|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 29, 2009 14:50:19 GMT -5
Wow this is awesome news, I'm so excited. Everyone is doing remarkably well!! Keep it up! Have you thought about feeding dens? It sounds like the kids are stashers for sure, and they seem to like to eat their special foods in private. I use one (as well as clipping to the cage) and it's awesome. Have fun with the zine!! Sounds like a great, albeit stressful moment so no worries if you don't pop in again. I know you have your hands full and that your kids are progressing  |
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 29, 2009 21:29:05 GMT -5
I managed to finish my zine 2 1/2 hours before the deadline, clean both ferret cages, and then feed them all, so here I am! Nuka and Sully had pork again. I think I read somewhere that a lot of pork isn't good for them, but I wasn't sure if that is true or why that is. But I didn't give them any soup or ground tonight, just chunks, and both of them are thoroughly enjoying it. It's neat watching their relationship develop (they had not met at the pet store when I bought them because we had too many ferrets to keep on the cage on the sales floor--Nuka was in the back room with two others and Sully had been living out front for several months). They love to cuddle, and Nuka even laid her head on Sullivan like a pillow tonight while he was eating. She's like his little girlfriend, haha. However, while Moki is dominant in our house, Sully seems to be dominant in the cage he shares with Nuka, as he always eats first and Nuka patiently waits her turn. Or maybe it's just because he's so much bigger than her and he's a PIG!  I think playing so hard tonight made them extra hungry though; if they eat all of this within the hour, I may offer them some more. The older girls are being stubborn again. They licked up a little and then ran off to play. When I put them back in their cage, they totally ignored the soup and curled up in their hammocks. I'll leave it with them for a few hours to see if it catches their interest. They did eat quite a bit this morning though, so it's possible they just weren't as hungry tonight. It's hard to figure them out because I feel like I'm always comparing them to Sully and Nuka, who still have hungry kit bellies. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Update: About 1 Hr Later When I left Sully and Nuka about an hour ago, they had slowed down, stopped eating, and fallen asleep. Before they fell asleep, they ate about an ounce each, which is a little less than normal, but they didn't seem hungry anymore. I left the raw with them anyway. I went upstairs to get my laptop just now, about an hour later, and they appeared to have just woken up and were finishing off their meal. So now I'm confused about how much to be giving them. In these situations, should I offer them more? They seem to like eating at their own pace, here and there, but once I'm back to school and work, I won't be able to be constantly supplying them with more food all day and I'd prefer to continue feeding them once in the morning and once in the evening as I, for the most part, have been. I just worry so much they're not filling up, especially with them being so young, still growing, and burning off energy so quickly because of their high activity level. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you Erinn! |
|
|
|
Post by bindiferret89 on Jul 30, 2009 2:44:59 GMT -5
Hey Erinn, having a little trouble sleeping so I'm letting the weasels run some more right now. I just wanted to post a quick note with a few observations that really pleased me. When I let Sully and Nuka out, I picked Sully up to give him a big hug and a kiss and realized he is already losing most of his musky odor after a few days on raw. I never minded the ferret smell, but my mom isn't too keen on it, so she'll be pleased. He has almost no scent to his fur at all! I picked up Nuka and she is the same way.
I ended up syringe feeding Ginny some soup tonight. Moki and Lucinda ate, but I haven't actually witnessed Ginny eat anything all day and she's always been a skinny little thing, so her not eating makes me anxious. I always worry about them choking with the syringe feeding, but I do it as carefully as possible, only squirting miniscule amounts into their mouths at a time. It took us probably ten minutes to get through one normal size syringe. The weird part is, she seems perfectly happy eating it out of the syringe, she just won't eat it out of the bowl. I don't think the flavor bothers her. Any idea why she won't eat it from the bowl?
I noticed also that my ferrets rub their noses on the floor after eating raw. I don't know if they're anything like my dog in this matter, but he only does it when he's eaten something he really enjoys. Are ferrets the same? They never do that for kibble.
Thanks for the thoughts on this and my last post! Have a great day!
|
|
|
|
Post by spiritualtramp on Jul 30, 2009 19:08:00 GMT -5
Sorry I didn't pop in until now! Had a busy day, worked 12 hours, issues on FH blah blah blah. Anyway awesome job on your zine!! That's just the ever-adorable chin slide. It's just them using the carpet (or floor, or bed, or pants, or foot...) as a napkin. Wetter foods require this measure of cleanliness don't you know I know it's hard to plan portions and you want them to have enough. What I'd do is offer twice as much as you think they'll eat. Then after a few hours, take away the remainders. And adjust your future feedings accordingly. Personally, I leave slightly more than I expect they'll eat, and I leave their meals out for a full 8 hours, that way if they get peckish they've got something to chew on. Doesn't often happen but there we have it. If you have the option of leaving food out longer, do. You'll get a better idea of who eats how much, when, and be better able to plan. On average a ferret will eat 2-3 ounces per day (some more, some less.) Kits will eat more as they're growing still, older babies will eat less. Also, ferrets newly switching to raw tend to eat larger amounts for the first few months, as their bodies adjust to their new metabolisms. This is entirely normal, and evens out after a while. So basically, let them eat their fill! I'm glad you're already noticing a difference in their smell! Their fur will quickly become much softer and their muscles more developed, too. Go shove Sully under your mom's nose and see if he passes the test lol As for Ginny, it sounds like she's rebelling and needs a little extra attention. I'd continue syringe feeding her, maybe giving her separate playtimes with you alone, until she feels more comfortable. She's scared and nervous and pretty unsure about this new diet, but if you encourage her and are loving, she'll come around I'm sure. |
|
