Switching over thread

[jules]

I have added egg shell to Lucy's food once a week, should I give her more? It is finely crushed to almost powder and I put 1/4 tsp in her mix.

[sherrylynne]

Try adding 1tsp per 8 oz of meat

[Heather]

Just popping in for a bit....1 tsp/2cups of meat or 1/2 tsp/ 8 oz. You can increase this if you feel your little one needs more calcium. Everyone is different but supposedly the 1/2 tsp per 8 oz is the standard measure (to be exact it's a 1/3 tsp but who has a tsp that measure one third
ciao

[sherrylynne]

Oh! Thanks, Heather

[jules]

Thanks Heather. My bf got her to eat tiny pieces of bone with her ground turkey while I was gone for a couple days, I might not have been cutting it small enough for her...or she likes him better.

I have introduced some chicken heart cut up in small pieces and they don't seem to mind it. I also bought some gizzards, haven't tried it yet, I wasn't sure if it was a organ or muscle so going to check that now.
the liver they like it seems to turn their poo really really dark and not really runny but almost gooey...?

I have also read a little about pure pumkin, I have a can of that, can that be used in place of the liver? Or is the liver for a whole different purpose?

[sherrylynne]

Gizzard is a muscle meat, just like heart is. And yes- their stool will be blackish and tarry from the liver because it's very blood rich. Perfectly normal
The reason we use pumpkin is to help either slow down digestion for those who have problems that way, or to push through foreign matter they may have ingested, or to firm up really loose stools. They gain no real nutritional benefit from it.
Liver, on the other hand, they get TONS of benefit from. Including vitamin A, which they really need, as well as numerous micronutrients. So they cannot be used in place of one another at all
Almost forgot- while it's great she will eat small amounts of small sized bones, you don't want them of the right size to get stuck in her mouth or throat. So, preferably either ground, or large enough that she actually has to break them up herself.
How large a chunk is she eating now? Don't forget- they have to build up the muscle strength in the jaws to be able to tackle bone. Chicken wing tips are a really good starter bone, as well as some of the bone in cornish game hen, as well as quail or mice.

[jules]

Thank you Sherrylynne
The chunks she WILL eat by themselves, meat from chicken legs and wings, are only about 1/4 inch big maybe smaller, the pieces of wing bone are about the same when I cut it up.
It was nearly ground, minced with a knife when he cut it up and mixed it with her ground turkey.

They have seemed to stop wanting the chicken breast! Maybe it is too lean, they love the fat that is for sure!

[sherrylynne]

It's also possible they are just bored with it. Try leaving that off the menu for a month or so, then reintroduce it. Also, I'd start working on making the chunks larger, so they have to work at it a bit more.
What I found worked with mine to get them eating larger pieces(and believe me- they were stubborn about it!), was to cut longer, thin strips. Sort of like a meat "spaghetti" That way, they got the "feel" of small when they chewed, but were gradually getting used to bigger without realizing it!

[jules]

ahh good idea! I caught her eating a small part of wing bone that was in the food den I set up for Stitch, it was all dried up, I heard the crunching and sneaked in there to look. She didn't eat her dinner so I think she got a little hungry....
I will try cutting it up like you said, sounds like a good idea. Thank you.

[jules]

I cut up what I had left in the fridge in long stips and it did seem to work pretty well. Lucy has been being finicky and not eating very much she pigged out on it today after I put a tiny bit of soupie on it. She also took another small chicken bone from me when I teased her with it a little. It seems when she doesn't eat very much for a couple days she is more enticed by bones. I think she is getting the idea now.
Stitch comes to the kitchen every time he hears the fridge open, I gave him a whole gizzard to see what he would do, he took it to his den and ate it with no problem at all!
I do have a question though about how long before I should pick up any old bones, when there are leftovers they lay in the food den with for a day maybe two with barely any meat on them and have gotten all tried up, (those are the ones Lucy started to eat first) are those okay for them to eat, or should I be picking them up sooner?
The big bone of the chicken wing I pick up after a few hours, it starts to stink if left overnight, even though Stitch will go back to it again if I let him. He doesn't get all the meat off of it the first time.

[sherrylynne]

I generally go throughout the house weekly, clearing out stashes that are better hidden than the ones left out in the open They aren't in any real danger of picking up any food borne illnesses from them. The danger is if the bone has been sitting out for a week or more(depending on how warm/dry your house is). It starts to become brittle, and sharp. One of mine cut her tongue quite badly on an old piece of bone I'd missed clearing out. At least we think that's what it was. But for a couple days? Not going to matter.

[jules]

That's good to know, Thank you Lucy is soooo close to eating fresh wing tips, I cut it down to about 3/4 of an inch to an inch long and she gnaws on it for a while shakes it a bit then loses interest. It is funny to watch. Stitch caught a moth last night, killed it but didn't eat it. He is pretty quick when he wants to be! Thinking they might like a mouse or two later on in the future.

[sherrylynne]

That sounds like a distinct possibility! And yes- they are VERY fast when they want to be.
I think I'd try just cutting the wing tips in half, and just feed those for two or three meals if you like. Sort of like when you first start switching them to a soup, and you'd take out the kibble for several hours? But with this, she'd have access to food- but it would simply be the kind you want her to eat. Mine(I think I may have told you) had nothing but segmented chicken wings for three days straight. They were eating them by the second day I'm guessing they didn't like hungry tummies
Mind you, they'd been eating meat chunks for about 3-4 weeks by then.

[jules]

I tried what you said, I bought a young chicken and cut it up. (I saved the breast and legs for me) The rest of the chicken I sectioned it all up, all of it including the back etc. They were pretty nice size chunks too (2-3inches) along with big pieces of the skin which went first. They had a bowl full every morning and by the end of the night they had it pretty much gone except for a couple bones here and there that they did finish the next morning. They ate that chicken up in 3 days.
Now, since they have the chicken down I am going to go buy some duck and cornish hen. I finally found a place that sells them fairly cheap. Forget the beef, they don't want to have anything to do with it.
I do have a question though, can I feed them the different kinds of protein by giving them one kind one week another the next week and so on? Or is it better to give them all in one week?

So now both of them eat chicken hearts, gizzards, liver, egg and chicken with the bone.

[sherrylynne]

They really should have it averaged out throughout the week. That's actually the goal we aim for, to help prevent any chance of dietary imbalances.
Think about a wild weasel, or even a feral or barn cat. Throughout a week, they'd likely have eaten birds, eggs, mice, maybe a rat, a rabbit, insects and grubs. As well as dishing into someone else's kill of a larger mammal, if they can get away with it
We are trying our best to imitate that diet with "frankenprey"
Which is why it's a minimum of 3 proteins, to make sure all needs are covered.