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Post by katt on Nov 27, 2010 0:04:13 GMT -5
Koda's poops are fantastic looking, so tonight he got some chicken! Yaay! I chopped up a tiny bit of wing meat, even a little bone, and the tiniest slice of liver - a thin, flat slice a little smaller than the end of my thumb, less than 1/8 tsp chopped. I chopped it all up super fine, and then blended the chopped chicken with lamb. It was 1/3 chicken, 2/3 lamb, a little under a tablespoon canned pumpkin, a pinch of flax, and a sprinkle of reishi. And some water. I made it into a really thick soup (like almost as thick as regular ground meat). But, as I explained here: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=medicine&thread=6313 he was acting really weird tonight, and I had to feed him the mush a spoonful at a time. I had to scruff him and stick a bit in his mouth over a few times until he would lick it from my finger, then he licked it from the spoon. Finally he grabbed a slop and tried to run off with it, so I let him go in his cage. He ate it, but would only eat more when I fed him a spoon at a time. I would feed him a bit, he'd take it into his den to eat, then I'd give him more. Until he just started stashing and not eating, at which point I put it all in the fridge.
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Post by katt on Nov 27, 2010 2:04:09 GMT -5
Oh yes, and he ate an entire adult mouse.
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Post by katt on Nov 27, 2010 5:53:43 GMT -5
I wonder if perhaps Koda is getting overly bored with his menu? He has been eating less the last few days. All he has been getting is different mixes of ground meat pretty much with the occasional whole prey. I am going to start adding chunks soon. I found a Huuuge hunk of lamb for like $30 that would feed Koda for quite a while, so I might have to see if I can make room in my freezer for that! haha I might buy a mini freezer actually now that I will have space for one bc I am getting rid of a few unused reptile tanks and Koda's old cage.
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Post by sherrylynne on Nov 27, 2010 10:13:12 GMT -5
Mine do get bored with their food if they think they've had a bit too much of the same thing. At which point they eat less and less, and sometimes only if they are hungry enough.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Nov 27, 2010 12:04:35 GMT -5
Mine definitely get bored with the menu. One day per week, I feed a "light day" with freeze-dried only.
When I leave the brats for travel, the get al freeze-dried. When the frozen come out again, the go crazy. If the act picky with the fresh, I feed them a day of freeze-dried.
Koda may not be into the freeze-fried/fresh swap - it may be chunks vs. ground in his case. But yes, ferrets do get bored with the same old thing.
Another thing, My ferrets are past their "fall pigginess", and they have packed on their winter weight and are onw eating less. I've cut back on quantity (they'll get fat if I don't.) Koda may require a bit less food now, and he's bored with the menu, and he may be stress out with his exciting new lifestyle.
-jennifer
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Post by katt on Nov 27, 2010 12:16:58 GMT -5
Mine do get bored with their food if they think they've had a bit too much of the same thing. At which point they eat less and less, and sometimes only if they are hungry enough. I thinks this is the case. I mean, he's been getting ground lamb mixed in with every meal! I feel pretty hopeful about the chicken though, his poops looked really good this morning! Now granted, he only had a little bit of chicken, but his poop still looks way better than when he had turkey and buffalo... I am trying not to get tooo excited, because I know that could change but.... *crosses fingers* Tonight, especially if he is not eating the ground mush on his own, could I perhaps try giving him a pulverized chicken wing? I will try to get pics up. With what I fed him before the mouse, and before bed, he had about 1/3 cup total of mush - which was about 1/3 chicken (bone, meat, liver all ground into it). So he didn't have much chicken overall, 1/9th of a cup maybe. But his poops looked....really really good!
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Post by mustelidmusk on Nov 27, 2010 14:59:02 GMT -5
Katt, he may not be sensitive to chicken unless he's having a flare-up. He may also be wanting some meat and bone to hew on whole...after all, he does seem to like all that chewing!
It's good to know that his poops can look good. He may be able to handle some foods without the pancreatin when he's in a "good phase". also, there are plant forms of the enzymes that a also be used to pre-digest some of the proteins. the lightest duty stuff is papain (papaya extract) followed by bromelain (pineapple extract). The Next category is stringer - these are fungal enzymes, and the strongest is the pancreatin (pork based). These other enzymes are much cheaper than the pancreatin. So after Koda's back to eating a nd his poops arejust little seedy, you can try the bromelain and/or papain mix.) If that does the trick, yo can save the hard-core stuff for flare-ups.
There's also another good way to boot protien absorption during IBD flare-ups. There's something called hydrolized whitefish, which pis the most readily absobed form of protein and roteins and peptides available. It does not have enough fat, et. But it's a good thing to add to the diet /soups during recovery and /or IBD flare-ups.
-jennifer
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Post by katt on Nov 27, 2010 15:06:18 GMT -5
I updated the poop pics. Where does one get hydrolyzed whitefish? Koda is not a fan of sea food. He likes fish oil, but has yet to accept any other sea food product I offer (fish mainly, tried a little raw shrimp once with no luck lol).
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Post by mustelidmusk on Nov 27, 2010 19:08:15 GMT -5
hydrolyzed white fish is a supplement that might be available at either Paw Prince (?) (the yuppie pet store in Anchorage) or perhaps place that carries supplements/health foods. I also found this interesting page. don't start trying the stuff recommended since it's for dogs and I know some of it is NOT good for ferrets. But it is a good read, and you might find it interesting. Teh white fish is mentioned down a ways on the page. www.thewholedog.org/artIBS.html-jennifer
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Post by katt on Nov 27, 2010 19:45:09 GMT -5
Katt, he may not be sensitive to chicken unless he's having a flare-up. He may also be wanting some meat and bone to hew on whole...after all, he does seem to like all that chewing! It's good to know that his poops can look good. He may be able to handle some foods without the pancreatin when he's in a "good phase". also, there are plant forms of the enzymes that a also be used to pre-digest some of the proteins. the lightest duty stuff is papain (papaya extract) followed by bromelain (pineapple extract). The Next category is stringer - these are fungal enzymes, and the strongest is the pancreatin (pork based). These other enzymes are much cheaper than the pancreatin. So after Koda's back to eating a nd his poops arejust little seedy, you can try the bromelain and/or papain mix.) If that does the trick, yo can save the hard-core stuff for flare-ups. There's also another good way to boot protien absorption during IBD flare-ups. There's something called hydrolized whitefish, which pis the most readily absobed form of protein and roteins and peptides available. It does not have enough fat, et. But it's a good thing to add to the diet /soups during recovery and /or IBD flare-ups. -jennifer We must have posted close to the same time, because I totally missed this. I'm actually low on freeze dried lamb already bc I have been trying to alternate it with the ground meat. He is more interested in the fd, but still not as much as he should be. He hasn't put on winter weight, he seems exactly the same to me. Also, speaking of winter weight, he was shedding for like 2 days and now is shedding less, but I really don't think he has his winter coat. As a marker for whether he has truly "blown" his coat I use his belly - it is still shorter than the rest of the hair, and I can see the exact line where it was shaved for his surgery! Right now his coat seems really short (but still noticeably short in a square on his belly), but I noticed a few random, lone hairs on his belly poking through that are nice and long. So has he blown his coat, and is waiting on the winter fur to grow in, or is his winter coat jsut sort and dense (doesn't seem to be much undercoat, but it is short and dense-ish....)? And what is the deal with his belly fur? It isn't like his belly fur is all shorter, it is exactly where he was shaved for his surgery - I can literally see the line where the fur suddenly gets shorter - is it going to grow back if it still that much shorter, even after shedding? I am a little confused about the whole winter coat thing as this is his first true winter coat change - last winter he was just a wee baby kit like Kenai! If his poop looks good still when I get home from work, I will try him on a pulverized chicken wing!
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Post by mustelidmusk on Nov 27, 2010 22:33:16 GMT -5
I sounds to me like Koda has shed par of his summer coat and his winter coat has not yet come in. I'm also thinking that he may be goofed up with his fur because you have the lights on late when you study. The first year my brats reached puberty, Tonto started becoming "hobnoxious" with Tomichi (This is weird - he wasn't interested in Kachina, his litter mate. I'm thinking there may be an instinctive attraction to a dissimilar scent that ultimately encourages a more larger gene pool.) Anyway. I did not yet have my FN cages, do I put Tonto in this very large travel crate for dogs. The crate is made of this strong plastic , and it blocks out quite a bit of light. Tonto had started shedding. After 2 days in that dark crate, I could see that I had totally messed up Tonto's shedding cycle . I'm thinking that this may be the case with Koda. It's very easy to disturb ferret fur. I'm thinking that the abrupt line of fur where the shaved area ended is up by Koda's chest. This should shed out and blend in once Koda sheds and grows in new fur. -jennifer
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Post by katt on Nov 29, 2010 14:27:58 GMT -5
Koda seems to be doing really well on the chicken so far... *knocks on wood* His poops look better than ever actually! The problem is that, for some reason, he has stopped eating. He will eat when I hand feed him, but he won't eat on his own. I can't afford to hand feed him every day - especially because here in a few weeks I will be leaving for the holidays! I know he is not eating enough, because he has had a few more shaking episodes and does better after I get him to eat food. I gave them both soupies last night made from ground rabbit (meat, liver, ground bone), chicken hearts (just over half of the meat), pumpkin, and a tiny bit of flax (I tried soupies without flax last time and he still didn't eat that). I then mixed several whole hearts into the mix. While he did seem much more eager (chicken hearts were always his favorite!) he still didn't eat unless I hand fed him. Once I started hand feeding him, he ate like he was starving (which he probably was silly ferret! ). After I got him to taste a few bites (yes, I got him to taste it last night to in case he forgot it was food, but still no eats) he would happily lick a bit of the soupies off, then steal the sloppy heart and take it to his feeding den to eat, then come back for more. I did this until he started stashing hearts and then stole the bowl of soupies from me and stashed it too. Anyways, how can I get him to eat on his own again?!?! I am suuper close to being ready to put him and Kenai together, but I have to make sure that Koda is eating! I have never ever had a problem with him not eating before - Koda has always loved his food! I tried giving him chicken chunks and he still wasn't too interested, so I don't know for sure that the bored theory applies. But then, the chicken/bone was pulverized so it was similar to ground - but still chunky....
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Post by katt on Nov 29, 2010 14:44:21 GMT -5
Oh, just had to add: Koda has no problem eating his mice on his own. Just anything else.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Nov 29, 2010 15:33:02 GMT -5
Putting him with Kenai might very well solve the problem....after all, the competition may be more than he can resist when he sees Kenai pigging down all the food.
Otherwise, I just let mi kids get hungry when they get bratty. My kids will eat when they get hungry. (However, my kids tend to get a littl too chunky at times)
-jennifer
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Post by katt on Nov 29, 2010 22:28:13 GMT -5
Should I try putting them together tonight then? The problem is, with one cage, I can't track who is eating what...so how would I know Koda ate, and that Kenai (who never stops eating!) didn't gobble it all up himself?
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