Post by carnivorouszoo on May 19, 2010 10:13:27 GMT -5
Hi! I am here to learn to switch over two rescues I got who had it bad in their old home.
Two, believed to be brother and sister, 3 year old ferrets. Were locked in their cage pretty much all the time for two years. Have not seen a vet in 2.5 years (will see mine when he is back from a combo vaca and chinchilla treatment learning trip). Which means no vaccines, no fecals, no anything. They came being fed a crummy, nasty kibble Iwould not feed mice! I immediately got Iams kitten food the day we got them. Then got home and ordered Drs Foster and Smiths best kibble, and a friend is sending me a bag of what she calls the best Cheap ferret food
Last night I decided I needed to see if these guys had ever had any kind of soup. So I took 1 cup kibble blend, 1/4 cup water, 1 jar of I think turkey and gravy baby food, and 3 hopper mice (I have snakes) and blended the crud out of it. Then froze it over night. This morning I offered it to them. At first Dianne sniffed it like crazy. She had this look like she knew the smell but it looked funny So I put some on my finger and held it out to her. She has no problems licking food from my finger. I think she would lick just about anything from my finger Jack, however, gave me a little trouble. I held him nicely in my lap and did the same as I did with Dianne. Nope he wanted down to go hide. So I scruffed him gently and dotted some on his nose. He just sat there. So I carefully opened his mouth a little and rubbed it on his gums. Again he just sat there. So I was a meanie and forced it between his teeth onto his tounge and let him go run and hide. He hid in an empty 12 pk box of A&Wcream soda I gave them. He sat there pouting with this little chunk of "soup" in his mouth and then Dianne came over and tried to take it out of his mouth!
That did the trick! Het ate it up Dianne ate about 6 dips off my finger then started eating from the bowl, Jack only ate 2 dips from my finger then was done. I don't blame him
After they were done there was some left and I gave it to my cat who ate it up like it was mana from heaven!
Should I start off just offering the soup once a day? How long til I up it to twice a day? I am still leaving kibble down at all times until I know they will both eat this stuff.
Also how long can I leave it out for them?
Once they are eating good ammounts of the soup with this formula I plan to back off on how much kibble is in it but don't want to go to straight mice and baby food either so will go from kibble to canned cat food, then back off on how much cat food is in it until it is just ground whole prey and some water. But I am unsure what to do from there or how long to do each stage.
Do you think this sounds like a good start? I'm not rushing them am I?
I do worry about that. They love the fact we finished their room so they can romp free while we are home and up, I want that happiness to be for their food too.
Two, believed to be brother and sister, 3 year old ferrets. Were locked in their cage pretty much all the time for two years. Have not seen a vet in 2.5 years (will see mine when he is back from a combo vaca and chinchilla treatment learning trip). Which means no vaccines, no fecals, no anything. They came being fed a crummy, nasty kibble Iwould not feed mice! I immediately got Iams kitten food the day we got them. Then got home and ordered Drs Foster and Smiths best kibble, and a friend is sending me a bag of what she calls the best Cheap ferret food
Last night I decided I needed to see if these guys had ever had any kind of soup. So I took 1 cup kibble blend, 1/4 cup water, 1 jar of I think turkey and gravy baby food, and 3 hopper mice (I have snakes) and blended the crud out of it. Then froze it over night. This morning I offered it to them. At first Dianne sniffed it like crazy. She had this look like she knew the smell but it looked funny So I put some on my finger and held it out to her. She has no problems licking food from my finger. I think she would lick just about anything from my finger Jack, however, gave me a little trouble. I held him nicely in my lap and did the same as I did with Dianne. Nope he wanted down to go hide. So I scruffed him gently and dotted some on his nose. He just sat there. So I carefully opened his mouth a little and rubbed it on his gums. Again he just sat there. So I was a meanie and forced it between his teeth onto his tounge and let him go run and hide. He hid in an empty 12 pk box of A&Wcream soda I gave them. He sat there pouting with this little chunk of "soup" in his mouth and then Dianne came over and tried to take it out of his mouth!
That did the trick! Het ate it up Dianne ate about 6 dips off my finger then started eating from the bowl, Jack only ate 2 dips from my finger then was done. I don't blame him
After they were done there was some left and I gave it to my cat who ate it up like it was mana from heaven!
Should I start off just offering the soup once a day? How long til I up it to twice a day? I am still leaving kibble down at all times until I know they will both eat this stuff.
Also how long can I leave it out for them?
Once they are eating good ammounts of the soup with this formula I plan to back off on how much kibble is in it but don't want to go to straight mice and baby food either so will go from kibble to canned cat food, then back off on how much cat food is in it until it is just ground whole prey and some water. But I am unsure what to do from there or how long to do each stage.
Do you think this sounds like a good start? I'm not rushing them am I?
I do worry about that. They love the fact we finished their room so they can romp free while we are home and up, I want that happiness to be for their food too.