Post by weloveourweasels on Mar 19, 2010 14:29:09 GMT -5
Its been around 5 months since the switch and I just thought I would post a little update. Everyone but Loki switched pretty easily, but Loki wanted nothing to do with eating real raw up until a few weeks ago. She had been fed primal commercial raw seperate from the others twice a day. Well she surrised me big time. I had a chance to post an update on FH but not here so I will post that here
March 1
"So I always jokingly said (because I highly doubted it would ever happen) that if I ever see Loki with the other 3's raw in her mouth then I was going to cut her off of her special fed primal commercial raw meals. Well pretty much since we moved into our new place when she would be hungry she would go up to the other 3's feeding shelf/bowl and sniff around and pace more and more. She is a healthy ferret so I didn't see any problem with not feeding her on a direct schedule of 2 meals every 12 hours exactly. I would always tell her "Loki, there is food in the bowl up there if your that hungry then go eat I've seen you smell it and watch the others eat!" I would always give in though and feed her special meals. Well last week I though I was going loony when I saw LOKI of all ferrets gnawing down on a whole chicken wing. I was like HA I told you if you were hungry enough there was food up there and gave her tons of praise and encouragement. I guess she got desperate lol. I left her alone and let her gnaw and come back and look later and she had entire about 2 inches off the wing tip. The other 3 are picky and wont eat a whole wing I have to chop it up into 6 segments. If I put it in whole they ignore it or barely gnaw on it, if I break it into 3 segments at the joint they will just eat the meat cartilage and smaller bones and by the time they get to the bigger bones they are all dried out and they want nothing to do with them. Their nails started to split a tad because of it so now I have to cater to them and chop it up into 6 segments so they get the calcium they need. Anyway so back to Loki, as I was chopping a wing for them the other night Loki grabbed the biggest piece their was and went to town. It was so funny seeing such a dainty little spoiled priss of a ferret gnawing away like it was nooones business. Every time I see her eating I let her now she is such a good girl. I almost rolled on the ground laughing because of the looks the others gave her when they saw her eating their raw because they have always been jealous that she eats special meals and she she was eating their meals. She has seniority too, no-one really messes with her when she eats they just kinda look at her like wtf. The other 3 are constantly playing the your piece of food is better than mine game and show no interest in their own piece of food lol. Its going to be quite a bit cheaper to feed them all now and I am very proud of her. I can't wait until her teeth get all super white like the others. "
After that discovery she has been doing amazing! I never had to really switch her onto frankenprey she did it all on her own and shes not picky either. None of them are and i'm so proud. I can give them anything and they will eat it. The others were being lazy about their bones but I stopped cutting them into chunks and would just give them each a mouse size peice at once and won't give them more until all the bones are consumed. They used to hate ground meat (I very rarely give it except as a treat) and now they adore it. Organs they love and I found some chicken paws at save-a-lot and they hiss and bark over those big time. They are all shedding right now and have lost weight but they don't look like bags of bones like they did this time of year when they were on kibble they all look very streamlined and super healthy. Their teeth look amazing and they are just doing wonderfully. I love that I can feed them freeze dried, commercial frozen raw franken prey ziwipeak and whatever I want to feed them they will eat it, it makes life pretty easy.
Just figured I would let those of you who made this possible know. I am very greatfull I found this forum and this wouldn't have been possible without all of you.
March 1
"So I always jokingly said (because I highly doubted it would ever happen) that if I ever see Loki with the other 3's raw in her mouth then I was going to cut her off of her special fed primal commercial raw meals. Well pretty much since we moved into our new place when she would be hungry she would go up to the other 3's feeding shelf/bowl and sniff around and pace more and more. She is a healthy ferret so I didn't see any problem with not feeding her on a direct schedule of 2 meals every 12 hours exactly. I would always tell her "Loki, there is food in the bowl up there if your that hungry then go eat I've seen you smell it and watch the others eat!" I would always give in though and feed her special meals. Well last week I though I was going loony when I saw LOKI of all ferrets gnawing down on a whole chicken wing. I was like HA I told you if you were hungry enough there was food up there and gave her tons of praise and encouragement. I guess she got desperate lol. I left her alone and let her gnaw and come back and look later and she had entire about 2 inches off the wing tip. The other 3 are picky and wont eat a whole wing I have to chop it up into 6 segments. If I put it in whole they ignore it or barely gnaw on it, if I break it into 3 segments at the joint they will just eat the meat cartilage and smaller bones and by the time they get to the bigger bones they are all dried out and they want nothing to do with them. Their nails started to split a tad because of it so now I have to cater to them and chop it up into 6 segments so they get the calcium they need. Anyway so back to Loki, as I was chopping a wing for them the other night Loki grabbed the biggest piece their was and went to town. It was so funny seeing such a dainty little spoiled priss of a ferret gnawing away like it was nooones business. Every time I see her eating I let her now she is such a good girl. I almost rolled on the ground laughing because of the looks the others gave her when they saw her eating their raw because they have always been jealous that she eats special meals and she she was eating their meals. She has seniority too, no-one really messes with her when she eats they just kinda look at her like wtf. The other 3 are constantly playing the your piece of food is better than mine game and show no interest in their own piece of food lol. Its going to be quite a bit cheaper to feed them all now and I am very proud of her. I can't wait until her teeth get all super white like the others. "
After that discovery she has been doing amazing! I never had to really switch her onto frankenprey she did it all on her own and shes not picky either. None of them are and i'm so proud. I can give them anything and they will eat it. The others were being lazy about their bones but I stopped cutting them into chunks and would just give them each a mouse size peice at once and won't give them more until all the bones are consumed. They used to hate ground meat (I very rarely give it except as a treat) and now they adore it. Organs they love and I found some chicken paws at save-a-lot and they hiss and bark over those big time. They are all shedding right now and have lost weight but they don't look like bags of bones like they did this time of year when they were on kibble they all look very streamlined and super healthy. Their teeth look amazing and they are just doing wonderfully. I love that I can feed them freeze dried, commercial frozen raw franken prey ziwipeak and whatever I want to feed them they will eat it, it makes life pretty easy.
Just figured I would let those of you who made this possible know. I am very greatfull I found this forum and this wouldn't have been possible without all of you.
They really can amaze you some days, can't they.
. I can remember thinking that Nicodemus would never eat whole meats (he had been switched as a kit but never really got around to the whole frankenprey thing)...in the end he would far rather eat whole meats than ground.