odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Mar 18, 2010 18:01:18 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear that. I understand how hard it can be. I'm sure the last thing you would want to hear is someone else talking about their fuzkids. I hope everything works out for you, everything happens for a reason. Furkids never let their parents stay chaos free for long... they'll send you some brats.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Mar 21, 2010 6:56:13 GMT -5
So Cassi had her first puree meal without chicken baby food mixed in today! She didn't even notice it wasn't there. She chowed right down. She's eating about 1.2 oz a meal the last few days, up from .8 or so. She has dropped maybe .5 oz in weight, but she is shedding and is probably dropping weight seasonally. After she was sick for so long, i'm more than a little OCD about her weight and how much she eats. I have a little log next to her scale and I weigh her food before and after I feed her everyday so i can keep track of her intake, and she gets weighed every afternoon, before her dinner at the same time everyday.
Behavior wise, she's more energetic, seems happier. She does look to snack in the mid day though, if we are home and she is out.
Since she was shaved for the surgery at the beginning of february, her belly is growing in what I assume will be her summer coat, because I have never seen the color she is getting before. It is this coppery shiny brown. It's pretty cool. She has lost almost all her guard hairs on her back, so she looks white on her back, with a fuzzy brown belly. she's a mess.
So i'm wondering if i should start mixing in chunks by adding chunks to her puree after it's made or by just making her puree chunkier in the first place. She eats much better when the puree is smooth and watery. This last batch is much wetter than the previous, which may be why she seems to be eating more of it.
I was also thinking of getting some wings my next trip to the store, chopping them up and seeing if she'll start chewing on the bones. what do you think? She likes the chicken skin, whenever she finds a chunk of that in the puree she has no problem chewing it up.
Also, if you could read through the way i'm preparing her dinner and what the recipe is, and give me any suggestions that would be great.
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Post by luci on Mar 21, 2010 22:20:08 GMT -5
Excellent! For a little girl like Cassi two ounces a day is great. If she wants more, all the better. I have found that once fully on raw they will go through cycles of eating a lot one day and then not so much another day, but it pretty much evens out over the week.
As for your recipe I think it's a great base. If I were you I would save myself some time and make up a big batch, portion it into 2-3 days worth in baggies or whatever and freeze it. Defrost in the fridge overnight.
To make her food extra aromatic and tempting I would warm her meals by nuking a bowl with water for a couple of minutes and then set a smaller bowl with her food into the hot water. Stir, stir, stir. You can also use this method to quick defrost a meal. Please do not use the microwave to defrost meat. Not only does it destroy nutrients, but it can leave dangerous hot spots that you might not notice and any bone could become dangerous to feed.
Moving on to the next step of introducing chunks. My suggestion would be to keep her purée exactly how she likes it and add small minced or diced pieces of meat to that. Even if she eats around the bigger pieces at first at least she'll start recognizing them as food and eventually she'll accidentally eat one. Don't overwhelm her with too many big chunks, see what she'll tolerate and go from there. I think this way it will be less wasted meat and less work for you. If this method doesn't work I have more tricks up my sleeve.
Bigsis has done a great job getting you on your way. I will, however, respectfully disagree with her endorsement of feeding N-bones. I don't like the ingredients in those at all. For treats try investigating 100% pure meat jerkies or dehydrated snacks. Once we have Cassi eating things like bones and gizzards she will have her need to chew plenty satisfied.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Mar 23, 2010 16:48:26 GMT -5
Today I kinda got her to nibble on a wing using some ferretone. She didn't seem interested in it. I found a product online, golds bone meal. Are you familiar with it? I was thinking about orderings some, i'm sure it would be better than the ground egg shells i've been adding.
How do I incorporate additional protein sources when i'm still getting her established on the puree. I had said to bigsis previously that i really wanted to make the puree a staple for her that i can always give her and know she will eat it, in case i run into problems in the future. Should i just add chunks of turkey when i make the next puree? or even pork?
Also i have been adding a little bit of omega 3 fish oil, to each puree. i couldn't find liquid in a bottle except for with "great lemon flavor". is that ok? I'm literally adding a few drops to a 5 oz meat puree.
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Post by luci on Mar 24, 2010 21:58:51 GMT -5
Bone meal is cooked and therefore depleted of nutrients. You also can't be sure of what all is in there. I would use my free range, hand picked egg shells over steamed bovine bone meal powder made from who knows what condition animals any day.
Absolutely start adding new proteins into her purée. You know she likes what you've been making, so slip in a sliver of pork or lamb or turkey or whatever.
I really don't know about lemon flavored fish oil. What is the source of the flavor? I know Sherry uses Grizzly Salmon Oil for her kids and that comes in a pump. Try looking for that.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Mar 25, 2010 9:38:25 GMT -5
i'm gonna try to find that grizzly salmon oil stuff. I use organic, cage free, zero antibiotics hormones steroids etc... eggs for myself, and i just save the shells. I get them in a grocery store. Is that ok? I don't exactly have access to a place where i can pick my own eggs.
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Post by luci on Mar 25, 2010 10:45:44 GMT -5
Yep. Do the best you can do with the resources you have available. I am lucky enough to have weekly access to a farmers' market where I get the majority of my critters' food, but I do supplement with things purchased from an Asian market often so I can offer a wider variety.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Mar 26, 2010 12:51:57 GMT -5
Today is the last day of work before spring break (i'm a teacher). thank... god...
So this week i have quite a lot to take care of. We're getting married in august, so i'm pretty sure we've got some stuff to do.
Since we only have Cassi, and she has so much space and toys and love, we thought it probably would be a good thing to get her a little brother or sister. she's about a year 1/2 now, is she going to have trouble accepting a new member?
We're probably going to adopt, and we plan on seeing how cassi and any potential new fuzkid interact outside of our home, basically we're gonna take cassi to pick out her new buddy.
We're nervous about the retraining though. Cassi is some kind of mutant because she is so well behaved. She has so much space, and so many rooms, but almost never has an accident. We're worried that the new one isn't going to catch on and will need to be trained again, or that the new one will chew on stuff we don't have to worry about with cassi... etc...
A new fuzkid should enrich all our lives, i guess we're just afraid it won't turn out well.
Cassi does not get along with her cousin Daisy (my brothers ferret). Whenever Daisy comes over Cassi sort of follows her around, not really menacingly, almost like she's keeping an eye on her, but Daisy will usually panic poop and thats the end of that. They don't even start to wrestle usually, daisy just chatters aways, runs all over and then poops herself.
So i don't know if there is something Cassi was doing to scare her or what... we just want another well behaved little monster, so Cassi can have a partner in crime.
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Post by luci on Mar 26, 2010 14:05:39 GMT -5
It's hard to predict how she'll react since each ferret has its own unique personality. My guess would be that it will turn out just fine. She's young. She'll adapt. There will be fights and scuffles, but for the most part if you leave them be they'll figure things out on their own. It might take hours or it might take months, but chances are they will come to an agreement about their living arrangement.
Yes there will be accidents. Cassi may do some protest pooping. The new ferret may be able to get into places that Cassi couldn't or didn't think to.
Having two ferrets will make you wonder why you waited so long. Once they accept each other and you see them playing and sleeping together you'll see that all the trouble was worth it.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Mar 27, 2010 19:00:47 GMT -5
So we stopped in this pet store today to look for the salmon oil, and ended up forgetting to buy it in the mayhem that ensued. Basically we found they had a litter of 9 month old ferrets from path farms in pennsy. We are pretty certain that Cassi is also from path, b/c she has no tatooes. So as i mentioned, we were thinking about getting cassi a little brother or sister. Well there was this absolutely adorable little boy, who was so sweet. He wasn't nippy at all, even gave us kisses on our noes just like cassi does. So we decide to go home, get cassi and some of her toys and bring her back to see if they got along. We always said we would let her pick her companion. So we get back and the woman who helped us the first time had gone home, so we get this new guy. he doesn't know what the hell he was doing. He basically caused a fight. We went into one of their enclosures and took Cassi out. He didn't give us a chance to set up anything or get Cassi comfortable before meeting the little boy. We were holding her and he just stuck the babies noes right into Cassi's face. Everyone knows that if you take two of any animal that don't know each other and basically yank one out of a nice cozy carrier that smells like home into a big room full of Sh#t you've never seen before and shove the others ones face right up to the other ones face... you're gonna get a fight. So that's what happened. Cassi went *sniff *sniff CHOMP right on the babies ear. And what does the moron pet store guy do? He yanks him away, goes "nope" and runs off with the ferret. RRRRRRR i was so pissed off. I felt like asking him if he just stole a tee-shirt in the back and was pretending he worked there. So we ask a different guy, an older guy who looked like he wasn't an a-hole, if we could try again. He agreed that what happened was not the best way to introduce any animal. So we set up some of cassi's toys on the floor. a tube and an igloo in case one of them wanted to hide. This time we let cassi sniff around a bit. Then I took the baby and held it so that cassi could sniff it any way she wanted, but i avoided nose to nose. Of course if daddy is holding it, it's ok to sniff and not attack. (what an idiot that guy was, GRRR). But alas, standing up on her hind legs with a paw on my hand sniffing the baby... she pooped and peed herself. So... the baby boy was turned down. I wish the cuty a good home, but he was not the ferret for us. Cassi just might have enough with the two of us and not want another ferret. We'll try to find her a buddy she gets along with, but i'm not going to force the issue, not with her recent medical problems at such a young age. So, just wanted to share. I'm also going to share this story in the general section too. Just to let you know.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Apr 1, 2010 12:02:57 GMT -5
Cassi has diarrhea. I'm gonna add in a little pumpkin to my next batch.
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Post by luci on Apr 1, 2010 15:05:02 GMT -5
Good plan. How many episodes of diarrhea has there been? Has she been eating something new (even a different brand or cut of something can be 'new')? Has she been eating more fat? Less bone? It's always good if you can figure out a possible cause of the diarrhea, but I swear sometimes it happens just because it's Tuesday or something.
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Apr 1, 2010 18:49:12 GMT -5
Not sure at all. I used chicken thigh and chicken legs for the last few batches, the legs would be new, but i can't image it would be that different. I can't really tell how often, i'm still getting used to the pooping situation. Sometimes i can't even tell if she's done anything at all, the poops are so small. But she does pee a lot more often now that she is on the raw puree. I'm almost happy that she is having pee accidents every once in a while, because i get to see if it is still yellow. After that one incident when we first switched her, peeing clear liquid, i had a panic attack about kidney failure. but as i said, it's always yellow. She pooped this afternoon and although it was small it does have a shape. Poops been a little slimy, but not anything i haven't seen before. No change in appetite though, still eating, playing, no signs of pain or nauseas. i could just be crazy.
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Post by luci on Apr 6, 2010 16:22:01 GMT -5
It has been a while. How is Cassi doing?
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odin
Going Natural
Posts: 153
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Post by odin on Apr 7, 2010 12:15:42 GMT -5
Well, she still seems to be having loose stools. She isn't exactly pooping liquid, but it's pretty wet. Adding the pumpkin helped the one time that i did it. She had normal looking poop. I decided this morning to give her some pumpkin again. Would it be bad for her to have a little bit in each meal, if it kept her from having loose stools?
It's hard to tell what is good or bad poopy on this diet. It seems that overall her poops have gotten much looser since the switch and of course, much smaller. I know that she shouldn't be pooping liquid, but it's hard to tell what too loose is and what just loose b/c of the healthy diet is.
Also, I ground up about a dozen egg shells a few weeks ago. I keep the powder in the fridge. Would powdered egg shell go bad?
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