I'm Back and restarting!

[pika]

Ugh I just went through a couple of weeks of really "interesting" personal issues and had to drop out of the mentor program . The good news is I'm back on track with raw feedings!

AMAZINGLY GOOD NEWS!! The three of them took MUCH quicker to the raw soup the second time around. I don't have to force feed Weasel anymore! Yay no more traumatic feeding time. I've spied him eating on his own. He doesn't eat as heartily as the other two but the fact that he's eating on his own is good. Question though: Should I keep finger feeding him to make sure he's eating enough or let hunger do the work for me?

I want to make sure he's eating heartily before I move on to less water more chunks. (My blender stinks so there are inevitably chunky bits in the soup)

Also: The other two are EATING ME OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME. I bought a pack of about 12 drumsticks about half a week ago and I'm down to my last 4. Is this normal? I've done that thing with making soup ice cubes and they go through about a tray of cubes in a day. I usually put down about 4 cubes at a time and it's gone within the hour. Should I be putting down more? I have three fuzzies and my tiny girl seems to be scarfing down the most.

Anyway Sorry about the absence and sorry to my mentor for the waste of time. :/

[sherrylynne]

That's great that not only have you restarted it, but that they took to it again so quickly! You're lucky
If Weasel's eating on his own, let him. Try to keep in mind the amount they'll settle to is likely 1-3 oz a day for the girls, 2-4 oz a day for the boys. Those are only averages. Plus- they will eat a LOT more for the first 2-4 months, til their bodies adapt to the raw diet.
When my first four were transitioning, once they fully accepted the raw soups, I went through about a pound to a pound and a half a day!!!
Thankfully, that settled to the above amounts in around 3 months.

[Heather]

It's great to see you back We never consider a student's time spent a waste unless they don't learn anything from what we've taught. You've obviously walked away with some knowledge even though you didn't graduate. I'm glad to see that your guys have decided that raw soupy is the way to go. Let Weasel set his own pace, he will dig in soon and he will be eating you out of house and home as quickly as his siblings As Sherrylynne pointed out, at the beginning as their bodies start to feel the energy that this new food gives them, they are going to eat and eat. The amount can be staggering, the consolation....it will slow down and that in itself might scare you. In about 8 months to a year it will all level off.
If you feel that you might like to have your mentor back, I can always take your thread out of the mothballs and you can start off where you left off (at least as soon as your mentor is available again )
Good luck
ciao

[pika]

Heather: I would love to get my mentor back but I notice she's going through some tough times herself. Would it be possible to wait for someone else? I don't want to overload her right now especially with what she's going through.

I tried giving them a small mouse yesterday as I really want them to get into a whole prey diet (I stunned it). The kill was quick enough as it was already stunned. T.W.O was the one who dispatched it. Weasel tried but kept getting freaked out by it and shaking his head. He looked like he really wanted to bite it but was too much of a chicken. Mink seemed completely uninterested and was doing her best to get out of the tub.

In the end they ate the legs and tail and crunched on the face before deciding they didn't want anymore so I took the remainder and mixed it in with their food. They pretty much picked around it. go figure... I think I'm going to make a small order at either Rodent Pro or the big cheese to get more mice into their diet... Now if I could only get past the chopping the mouse up part... ::shudders::

Yea I can't wait for their appetite to die down a little. As much as I'm glad they're eating it my wallet is not so happy. I think I might get chicken thighs next and mix in a little liver so they get more vitamins.

What I've been doing is taking all the meat and skin off the bone, chopping off the cartilage and dicing that up REALLY small... Then I split the bone in half lengthwise and scrape out as much marrow as I can and put it all in a blender with some water and feed them to it. I want to get some hearts in there for taurine but I have no freaking clue where to find hearts... Yay Long Island and your limited limited meat selection. I DID find a huge pack of gizzards on sale for about a dollar so I snatched that up and stuck it in my freezer. How much liver and gizzards should I give them?

Also: Their poops are pretty tiny and they're peeing waaaaaay more than they usually do. All of them. Should I be feeding them more or is this normal? I figure the peeing is that there's a lot more liquid in their diet from watering the soup down to a Weasel-accepted level...

[Heather]

Put in your application but just state that you've already had a mentor and would like another. Yes, your previous mentor is in a bit of a spot (putting it mildly)
You can always put the mouse in the food processor I've had a couple of students to that when they were first trying to get their little ones to eat mouse (especially what is left over) but your guys didn't do a bad job with it just the same. Great work.
Leave some meat on that bone and let them have the whole thing. You never know they might just go for it. Give it a couple of whacks with a hammer to release the good stuff and give them an idea but you want them eating that bone anyway. I treat gizzards like a meat, it's a little heavier than regular muscle meat but it works just the same. Liver.....is 1 chicken liver per ferret per week (I believe) please someone correct this if it's wrong....sherrylynne?? I'm terrible with singles....I feed liver ground up in my rmb mix because I have too many picky little sods who don't like it on it's own (it also upsets Ghenghis' tummy, IBD but he can tolerate it mixed with other meat). So, I just mix 1kg of liver or so with 15 or so pounds of ground rmb add a half dozen eggs....anyway you get the picture
Their poops should be smaller and probably a bit more liquid than when they were on kibble and they should be peeing much more. Kibble dehydrates your little one, if there was ever an example as to how much....look in the litter box .
ciao

[sherrylynne]

Yes, it's one chicken liver(or chicken liver sized bit of other liver) per ferret per week. If they aren't eating bone, their stools will be somewhat loose. Fix that by either adding pumpkin or powdered eggshell into the soup. About a tsp of either per ferret.

[pika]

Definately going to mix in some liver with their next meal. While they haven't totally been going for the bone bits yet I do make sure to include the soft ends of the bones to their soup. I tried a chunkier soup today and sofar they've eaten half of it (the more liquidy part). The large skin chunks and chopped up gizzard have yet to go. It might need a second go around in the blender or at the cutting board before picky mc. picks a lot decides it's acceptable. I hope I'm not overwhelming them with new things....

[Heather]

If they're readily eating it you haven't overwhelmed them yet . Sounds like you're still progressing nicely. Keep up the great work
ciao

[pika]

Holy crap everything is GONE gizzards and mouse bits included. I have more chicken out thawing as we speak because they absolutely devoured everything last night. x.x Fat babies... I hope to god they have enough food to last them through the storm. I have packs of chicken gizzards and liver in the freezer but I doubt I can feed them on just that for a couple of days... Only one ice cube tray left... Granted I put in a lot less water this time. Should I be making the "soup" thicker by making it tiny chunks at this point or should I make sure weasel is actually eating it and it's not just the other two fat fats? I did see him at the bowl yesterday though... Yaaaay!

I swear they do this on purpose though: Weasel is stubborn as heck about what he eats. He absolutely refused to even taste the chicken for a while unless it was pretty much drowned in 'tone.

I'm eating a couple of potato chips this morning (and I've never given him any so I didn't think he'd want anything to do with it) and he steals one out of the bag while I'm not looking and I have to pry it out of his mouth and claws after I realized he pilfered one... Why do they find things that are SO HORRIBLE for them Soooooo tasty? >.o

[sherrylynne]

Why do we
Can you separate them for meal times? That way you can keep a better eye on what Weasel is eating.
And YES!!! If they are willing to eat thicker- give it to them

[pika]

I put some large gizzard chunks in there and mink started eating them no problem Weasel needed a little convincing but now he's sitting in the corner on his second gizzard I think T.W.O might be my hold out on the chunks. He's licking it intently but not really grabbing and eating any pieces. I think he may be at a loss. haha. I'm going to finish up... wait never mind he just started eating a giant chunk right now. Lol He looks absolutely disgusted but he's eating it.


Going to try chunks of chicken and wing tips once I get to the store. So excited!!

[sherrylynne]

Sounds like maybe T.W.O. might not have known quite what he was supposed to do with it! Glad he realized

[pika]

tried to put some bone-in chicken meat (cornish hen wings and a neck for fun) I chopped them up into chunks Weasel actually ate a wing tip and mink decided she wanted the neck. Not a lot of eating happening yet but we'll see... Maybe they'll surprise me

[sherrylynne]

Believe me- they will To get mine to eat bone, I had to give them nothing but wings for 3 days. They finally decided to eat the bone, as well as the meat off the bone! Try cutting wings lengthwise, so all the marrow is exposed for them.

[pika]

Wow, I really can't believe how fast this is going this time around. o.o; They ate everything in the bowl again except a couple of bone pieces They're already on Huuuuuuuge chunks and eating the bone ends like champs as well as licking at the marrow on the inside. I just found a bunch of wings I bought a couple of weeks ago at my moms so I'm defrosting those. and will toss one in sliced up to see what happens.

The fun part is I can actually see the difference in their teeth. T.W.O Had really dark green splotches on his teeth and weasel had two lighter ones. T.W.O's have lightened up considerably and one of Weasel's is gone and the other one is barely there! The difference in their teeth has gotten my SO to transition our dog to a RMB diet too