Feeling a little defeated.

[Emilee]

Well, the original soup Jasper fell in love with was raw chicken, a little olive oil, and a raw egg. I made more chicken soup, only with chicken and olive oil, no egg, and now Jasper is refusing all soup, chunks, and bone. Tootsie's at her usual and refusing EVERYTHING under the sun due to chunks/lumps, now it's even the little ones I can't do anything about. We've hit a wall, and I feel like they've outsmarted me when I'm doing all this work for THEM!

I kind of decided that maybe it is better if I switch them cold turkey, but I'm TERRIFIED that they don't eat enough. I mean, Tootsie and Jasper BOTH know that what they have is food and can be eaten, and the change with Jasper being supplemented is enough to make me never put them on kibble again.

I guess I'm just wondering if there's anything I should watch while switching them cold turkey, and I'm also venting. I think we'll have to go this route, which, as much as I hate it, means I have to split them up because they're at different levels. (Jasper knows chunks can be eaten, but will eat all of Tootsie's soup.)

[rarnold18]

I understand your frustrations! I had to separate my business in 2 different cages until they had "caught up" with each other. Slink and Slither were eating whole chicken backs while Tai and Ping were still eating ground mixes with small chunks... I hated cleaning two separate cages, sets of bedding, and even more litter boxes... It took a few weeks before Tai and Ping were eating what the other two were and we could put them all together.... but it was something we had to do because Slink and Slither are lazy and ground is so much easier to eat than working on full backs they would eat everything I put out for Tai and Ping and I was afraid that they weren't eating enough and were going to loose weight!
I know it's tough, but stick with it, feeding a natural/raw type diet is so much better for them... even Tai, who I guess is 4-5-ish is now eating whole prey! She was the last one I thought would switch and eat whole!

[Emilee]

Thanks so much, I guess I feel a little burned out, because he was progressing so well, but then I heard sketchy things about both raw yolks and whites, and didn't know which to put, so I left it out completely and now he refuses to eat. You think he'd notice the difference in himself! (He has 200% more energy than before.)

Every night I pop at least one chicken chunk in his mouth by scruffing, but the little brat REFUSES to yawn and locks his jaws, so I have chicken in my hand, and try to pry those jaws open- it's almost impossible with him!

[Lynxie]

Rather than going cold turkey, try fasting them for a few hours. No food at all. Then offer soups. If they eat it, great - if not, offer a small amount of kibble overnight and start over the next day.

[Emilee]

I might try that. I left Jasper for the night with chunks and a bowl of chicken soup, and Tootsie with 1/2 a patty of a lamb Stella and Chewy's, along with a piece of duck jerky. Okay, I'm a sucker, but at least it's not kibble!

[sherrylynne]

You'll get them there, Emilee! I do know how frustrating it can be, but with some "stick-to-it-iveness", they'll be chomping wings with the champs!

[Emilee]

Thanks Sherry! Jasper licked the soup bowl clean, but I don't think he ate any chunks. (Although he did play with it.)

[sherrylynne]

Maybe next time, try a bit less soup, a bit more very small pieces. What I do is start with my basic cube of soup, and mix in more and more tiny pieces of meat(give some, refrigerate the rest for later), until they are taking all tiny pieces, then work up from there. If they start refusing, even after leaving it in the cage overnight(or in the day), then I take a step back.
I've found it's amazing what a little hunger can do for their appetites, though

[luci]

Have you tried smashing up some kibble and coating the chunks like shake 'n bake? That's what I had to do for my ferts. And the chunks had to be kibble sized. It worked though!

[Emilee]

I might try that for Tootsie, Luci!!! Jasper is progressing with the soup, and I know this is the method for him, I just pushed him too quickly. Tootsie, on the other hand, has always refused any soup I've given to her, as it HAS to be smooth and thin or else she will not eat, so the chunks are not working.

[Emilee]

I left Jasper with a bowl of LOTS of chunks and a little soup that he refused to eat. I put it in his feeding den, and the bowl was cleaned right out this morning!

[weloveourweasels]

So are you having them seperated at night with no kibble or did Japer choose raw over kibble or just get hungry enough to eat the raw? If you haven't already now is the best time to only offer him raw and no more kibbles. I can see you getting him on bone without issues no more then 2 weeks. As for Tootsie..she reminds me of Loki (and looks like her too lol) and her feeding habbits. Tootsie is young though and Loki is almost a senior citizen so I think Tootsie can do it.

[Emilee]

No, I left him without kibble. I'm really nervous not giving him kibble, but if he was hungry enough to eat last night, I'm guessing he'll get hungry enough to eat during the day. (Kind of obvious but you know me... ) I might try tonight to leave Tootsie with her Stella and Chewy's again, (I don't think she ate any last time) as if I can get her eating at least those, then I can keep them together still. (Jasper won't eat S&C's yet.) She liked the lamb patty from Casey's sampler pack more than the entire bag I bought her, go figure.

LOL, Tootsie and Loki must be at least step-sisters!! If all else fails, I'll buy her commercial Stella and Chewy's raw, then slowly switch her with that.

[weloveourweasels]

If he choose the raw over kibble now is definitely the time to take it away. I would separate them now and leave Jasper with raw chunks and some S&C to see what he does with it. With Tootsie I would give her some S&C only. Maybe like half a patty dry and half re-hydrated. When I was at this point I felt like I was about to go bungee jumping without a harness. But once I realized it was all OK and everyone was eating something other then kibble it was smooth sailing.

[sherrylynne]

Just to let you know, Emilee- a healthy ferret can go about 12 hours with no food, and not have any problems at all. Probably longer, but better safe than sorry, right?
Since Tootsie will take the smooth soup(I gather it's an all raw soup?), keep giving her that for now. Just keep adding less and less liquid when you make it, til it's really thick, but smooth. You can start adding in some small bits of ground then.