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Post by Heather on Mar 14, 2009 15:00:34 GMT -5
Egg whites on their own are bad...add the egg yolk and scramble it (mix it up) and they're good add the shell and it's balanced Never feed raw eggs more than 2 or 3 x per week (you get rattail and think your ferret has adrenal, I found this out the hard way : You can feed the whole egg and it's ok. If Oatmeal is allergic than you may not be able to feed him egg....that one would be a trial and error. I've heard of the sensitivity not extending to eggs but only Oatmeal can answer it for sure So everyone ate the soupy with the meat in it...great. Congratulations you and your furbabies are moving along on their way to eating whole raw meats Keep offering it to them, as they get comfortable eating that amount of meat, increase the meat. Just a little bit. What you want to do is continue to increase the meat until it reaches the consistency of ground hamburg. Then, we start adding little chunks...oops the grinder missed some bits As they get comfortable with that make bigger bits with the small bits and so on. Eventually, you will have them eating only raw meats You might consider a good pair of meat scissors....they're cheap and absolutely fantastic for cutting up meat and small bones. I cut up whole chicken carcasses with a pair (did a whole case of chicken yesterday) I'm glad to hear that Llullu was playing and bouncing around. One of the things that you may notice as you progress in your raw meat adventure is that once your guys start eating good food, their activity levels will increase. It's really wonderful to see, it's like offering a second chance at life I will check in with you later and see how things are going. ciao
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 14, 2009 22:23:54 GMT -5
Thanks! Just to be on the safe side, I'll probably stick with quail eggs (I don't know if I can get duck or goose eggs around here). Since Keller is eating RMB, I put some rabbit bones in the cage last night. He didn't eat all of them, but some were missing this morning. Also, I picked up 2 live mice yesterday and put them in the bathtub, then added Llullu, Ushba, and Oatmeal. I figured if nothing else, I could let Keller into the tub. Again, nobody ate anything, but Oatmeal killed one (and took it away to stash it - I gave him an empty bag), and either Ushba or Llullu killed the other one. They were both a bit hesitant at first - Llullu kept reaching out with her paw and stepping on the mouse, and I think the mouse fought back, because both Llullu and Ushba at different points would occasionally jump back. However, when I left the room and came back, Ushba was trying to climb out of the tub with a dead mouse. I let him stash it, then put both mice in the cage. This morning, only a tail was left, and one (possibly two) piles of poo had fur that was definitely not ferret fur (boy did it reek, though). So if nothing else, Oatmeal, Ushba, and Llullu had some enrichment yesterday, and Keller ate like a king Unfortunately, the ground meat that I had smelled really off today (I think I put too much in the ziplock bag for freezing), so I was only able to give plain soup. I'm thawing out another bag, and hopefully I can go through it faster
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Post by Heather on Mar 15, 2009 19:23:07 GMT -5
Congratulations Isn't it wonderful what happens in the dark I've had prey disappear and figured it was one ferret and I was totally wrong. Captain Jack, has finally figured out that prey is food. He still hasn't figured out you can kill it but he does like to eat it . I'm sorry that your ground food has turned, that's not good Let me know how your new soupy goes down. Good luck ciao
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on Mar 16, 2009 10:11:48 GMT -5
. I personally wouldn't feed them the flavour enhanced foods if at all possible. I learned the hard way too . I didn't read the label and when I went to mix it up I found that I had goofed and found myself eating some ground turkey for supper What if it wasn't turky and had been ground mouse? XD My soup looks like orange juice in a milk container. I made sure to draw allllll over it make sure someone didn't take a swing.
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 16, 2009 21:28:35 GMT -5
No, I ate the duck - and it was quite good ! When they got their plain soupie yesterday, they looked at me like "what is this stuff?" but they ate it. Today, I added 2 tbs of thawed ground meat to the soup, and it was like I had to start over again. Keller went right for it, but I had to hold Ushba, Llullu, and Oatmeal and spoon-feed them to get them started again. Fortunately, after a minute or two, Ushba and Llullu stopped trying to run away and settled to eating. However, I had to hold Oatmeal the entire time, until I was satisfied with what he'd eaten.
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Post by Heather on Mar 17, 2009 2:40:37 GMT -5
Difficult little shi**s So, we've made the step back. It won't take as long to make a step forward. You're guys are doing ok. Your guys had to be reminded but they ate. Oatmeal is prone to being a bit picky so he'll require a little more work. Let's hold for at least tomorrow and see if they'll be more into eating on their own. If you have to get them started do so, same for Oatmeal. Once they look like they're going to eat mostly on their own...up the amount of raw meat. Don't move too fast with too much or you'll loose Oatmeal. Let's try and keep them just about on the same page. Talk at you later. ciao
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 18, 2009 22:47:24 GMT -5
Less difficult yesterday, and today I didn't have to hold Oatmeal down to get him to eat I also left 2 hoppers and a rat pup in the cage last night. By noon today, only half a hopper was left. It disappeared later, and I haven't found/smelled it yet, so hopefully someone finished it off. I may start separating them at night (2x2) to see if Keller's the only one eating the mice. On the down side, I've been recently finding what appears to be vomit in various locations around the house - areas the cats CAN'T fit into. I finally realized what's going on - those little buggers are stashing mouthfuls of the soup-meat mix! UGH! It's especially annoying that I'm not finding these stashes until after they've dried onto the carpet or floor. Add that to checking for leftover mice now *sigh*
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Post by Heather on Mar 18, 2009 23:52:45 GMT -5
Ick Don't you really wish that stashing wasn't one of the instincts these guys can't forget I've found ground meat stashed, usually when I have to play follow my nose It's really annoying. I know most of their stash places but every now and then they find someplace new to hide it. At least it wasn't vomit . Great about Oatmeal. You're guys are doing smashing. Really fantastic. Switching ferts takes patience and percerverance...lots of both You're doing awesome. You know as long as the mice are disappearing, perhaps leave it a bit longer. Ferrets are notorious monkey see monkey do creatures. That's how I switched Captain Jack....he watched Fun-go and the ladies eat their mice and he's now eating them too....tentatively but he's eating them. I know it's rather frustrating not knowing at them moment but perhaps Keller is teaching them. If you still don't know in a couple of days try your experiment. I just hate the thought of Keller in solitary. I will check in with you tomorrow and see if you have found out who your mysterious diner is ciao
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 19, 2009 19:48:31 GMT -5
I wasn't going to put Keller off by himself - I was thinking about splitting them into pairs, then seeing if mice disappeared from each "set." However, I'll hold off as you suggest. I set out 2 pups and 2 hoppers today - one disappeared almost immediately, and I saw Skit sneaking around with a pup shortly afterwards. The other pup and hopper were stashed, and tonight I found about a 1/4 of the hopper, and the pup (sans head) I put them in the cage so the ferrets have a snack when they go up for the night. However, while I was carcass-hunting, I stopped to investigate an odd noise coming from one of the ferrets' play bags. I thought maybe someone was choking on a piece of mouse or kibble, but what I found was Keller. He vomited up this white, liquid (it looked like something between mucous and foam) which had some pink in it (I'm thinking/hoping it was mouse bits, as that's the only meat he'd gotten today). This concerns me greatly After making sure Keller was ok, I gave them their soup. Oatmeal wasn't in the mood I guess, as he wouldn't eat until I picked him up and spoon-fed him (or maybe he's just getting spoiled for attention )
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Post by Heather on Mar 20, 2009 0:00:12 GMT -5
Maybe some mouse went down the wrong way and made him gag. I've had this happen on occasion. Keep an eye on him and make sure you don't get a repeat performance. What he brought up almost sounds like his tummy was empty?! Had he chosen not to eat anything else but mice?? I'm glad to hear that you were going to set them up in pairs....I'm sorry, I misunderstood Looks to me as though you may have some sneaky ferts who have been snacking behind your back That you may indeed have a fert or two who may be snaking on the mice other than Keller. Did Oatmeal eat when you spoon fed him? Little rotter They do like the individual attention. I will check back with you tomorrow. ciao
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 21, 2009 0:25:14 GMT -5
I don't know if Keller's eating the kibble anymore or not, but he's definitely eating the soup. In fact, today I noticed that several of the poops I cleaned up are the tan color of soup as opposed to the darker color that I'm used to. Also, everyone's poo is either really loose or seedy. I'm going to put some quail RMB in tonight in case Keller isn't eating the kibble, and I'm going to give a bit more kibble than I have been for the others. I don't want to hurt them by putting them on a soup-only diet. Oatmeal will eat when I hold him and spoon-feed him but he'll put up a fuss for the first few moments. In fact, this morning he seemed to be eating really fast, as though if he got it down fast enough, he wouldn't have to taste it!
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Post by Heather on Mar 21, 2009 1:38:40 GMT -5
The seedy, liquid poopies are probably caused by not enough bone in your mix at the moment (all the extra liquid from the soupy). It seems to go with the whole soupy thing You could try adding some pumpkin and see if that helps solid up the poopies until you get them eating a more solid diet. The other thing that might be aiding the rapid transit thus causing the loose poopies is that they're eating kibble and meat at the same time. Again, this will resolve itself as they start eating more of your meat mix and less of the soupy and kibbles. Silly little Oatmeal, he may actually be starting to like it but doesn't want to give up your individual attentions . I would think shortly he will pass that hump that he's at and start sampling the soupy on his own. Can you add a little more rmb to Keller's soupy? He might actually be ready to move on to a more solid stuff especially if he's given up the kibbles. Just a thought. I will check in with you tomorrow. ciao
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 21, 2009 17:30:20 GMT -5
I added a few small meat pieces and a RMB or 2 to the soup today, as well as a small spoonful of bone powder. Oatmeal ate around the pieces, Keller ate the pieces, and Ushba tried a couple of the meat pieces - however, by the third one he got to, he'd had enough. He grabbed the piece and started to run off. I caught him and put his head inside a small box I've left in their room. He stayed in there for a moment and I heard him chewing, but I just checked, and there's still a small chunk of meat in there. At least he tried it, though. Llullu ate the soup, but wasn't interested in the meat. I also found some poo that looked EXTREMELY loose - almost like diarrhea. I want them to switch, but I don't want to hurt them while doing so
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Post by Heather on Mar 21, 2009 19:34:07 GMT -5
I don't want you to hurt them either. This is one of the so called side-effects of the added liquid of the soupy. You have to remember, raw fed ferrets poops are looser than kibble fed, which takes a little getting used to but if they're having the runs then that's too loose. I strongly suggest that you try adding some pumpkin to the mix, unless you have reason to believe that someone might be ill. Yay, Oatmeal ate on his own? Fantastic!! That's headway!! So Keller, eats the bits and Ushba ate some too...great. Llullu ate the soup, so she's the only one that has made no headway in the last 24 hrs. Have you tried offering her some meat on a spoon or popping a piece in her mouth to see if she will chew it? Refresh my mind. What goes into your soupy? I will check in with you tomorrow. Good luck, but your guys are doing fantastic and so are you ciao
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Post by faunafreak on Mar 21, 2009 22:54:42 GMT -5
I should clarify - Oatmeal did NOT eat on his own - he ate around the pieces I arranged to be on the spoon with the soup while I was holding him. He did eat a little bit more after I put him down, so that's good. My soup consists of rabbit, quail, and duck - I used to put the entire carcasses in the slow cooker and blend everything (water, meat/bones/organs, and kibble) together before freezing the soup in ice cube trays, but with this last batch, I cut most of the meat off the bones, froze the bones/organs, and cooked the meat up for soup. I also left out the kibble this time around, so it's really just muscle meat and water. I prepare it by pouring a little water over 4 cubes, heating it in the microwave, then adding the 2 tablespoons of commercial raw to the soup. Every few days, I'll add some pumpkin in case of hairballs (I'll do that more often to help with the stools). I've also started putting in a spoonful of bone powder with Vitamin B. I also have Lysine, CoQ10, and Taurine supplements, but I rarely add those to the mix (I've only done it once in the last few months, and then I split a capsule of each supplement between the ferrets and the 3 cats). The commercial ground is in two mixes - 1 is pheasant/mouse/turkey/goat/rabbit, and the other is pork/salmon/duck/beef/mutton. I try to alternate bags when I pull them out to thaw. Today, I set out the duck breastbone and 2 quail breastbones for Skit. No one really touched then, although this is where I got the meat bits to put in the soup, and Keller ate some pieces I cut off for him. I put a piece in Ushba's mouth - he ran off to stash it somewhere. I put a piece in Llullu's mouth - she chewed on it and gagged, but at least swallowed it. After the RMB had sat out for an hour or so, I cut them up into small bits and mixed them with what was left of the soup. I gave half to Skit (it's now in the fridge for her breakfast tomorrow), and poured a small bit of hot water into the other half to make it soupy for the ferrets, then put that in their cage for the night, along with one rat pup and a hopper. Hopefully cutting up everything into smaller pieces will encourage them to eat some of the bone (actually, I think there's a lot of cartilage in there too, but that should be good for them, right?) No progress at all with Morphia or Anna. Anna won't touch anything not fully cooked, and Morphia vomits everything right back up - even if it's just a little blood on her kibble. Anna will eat kibble with blood on it, but only once she realizes I'm not going to change it out for her
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