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Post by Jackie on Dec 15, 2010 6:10:19 GMT -5
Thank you so much! I really do appreciate it. I'll PM you my address. Really, thank you so much. My blender (which is a fake magic bullet! Haha. It's called the Sunbeam kitchen assistant. It's pretty much the same thing.) I think I got some water in it, but it's up and working again! Poor thing died on my while blending up chicken liver I'll going to try the beef and chicken chunks tomorrow for breakfast. The girls have gotten used to some small slivers of chicken and they seem to actually like the chicken skin. We'll see how they feel about plain beef tomorrow. I added the beef freeze-dried soup and they didn't act any different about it.
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Post by katt on Dec 15, 2010 13:42:07 GMT -5
You are very welcome! like I said it really costs nothing! Lol And I think you will find it very handy. Do you have access to a knife sharpened at all? Keep it up wih the beer and chicken you guys are doing great! I am honestly surprised they like the akin so much. Koda will eat around it if it's not attached to what he is eating! lol let me know how the chunks go! If they will eat big chunks that is great, if not then you can just start small and slowly work your way up.
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Post by Jackie on Dec 16, 2010 6:13:26 GMT -5
So just an update. I put some very small beef chunks in with a chicken breast/beef mix (small amount of freeze dried) and I think they pretty much ignored them. There were also chicken chunks, which went ignored as well. I was able to stuff a couple pieces of chicken into both of them.
My plan (as of now) is to stuff as many pieces of chicken and beef into them every morning to help them get used to chewing and the taste and texture. Then I'll follow that with a plain chicken and/or beef soup + liver soup, and a half chicken&beef/half freeze dried meal in the P.M. They have been eating the plain chicken soup on their own, and I've started adding beef and no problems so far!
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Post by katt on Dec 16, 2010 17:14:56 GMT -5
Yeah, keep up the soup and hand feeding chunks definitely. For the soups though gradually start making it thicker and decreasing the amount of freeze dried in it. If we can get the soup down to pureed raw, then we can make it thick to the point of almost being the consistency of ground. Then you add in teeeeny tiny chunks and slowly increase the size of the chunks until you are basically using the soup as a gravy instead of the main part of the meal. Then you take the soup away and move to bigger chunks and bone etc. I think that by hand feeding chunks though you will greatly speed up the process. Keep trying to get them to eat chunks on their own every few days as well if you can. After enough handfeeding they should begin to realize it's not poison. Keep up the good work! I'll let you know when I've sent the knife it should be sometime this week.
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Post by Jackie on Dec 17, 2010 2:59:42 GMT -5
Okay so really good update. For breakfast I fed just ground beef soup, with some liver and pumpkin and it seems like Trixie love it! The mix was really stringy (?? It had a lot of stringy chunks and Trixie just enjoyed it! I left about 1.5 oz in the bowl an she licked it clean. I then put another 2 oz in and finishe about half! She didn't mind the stringy chunks at all and was chewing on them like a pro. She didn't need any coaxing at all. Pixie didn't seem to enjoy the beef as much, but she did eat 3-4 pieces of the beef and finished about 1 oz of soup. I'm so proud of both, but especially Trixie. Ground beef is really cheap here and I never really thought they'd like it!
For dinner I fed a chicken/beef mix (no freeze dried) and Pixie enjoyed it more. She picked up a couple of chunks and ate them off in a corner. Trixie was a little piggy (again) and finished the rest. I have some ground beef thawing now, so I'll try some ground with Trixie. Yay!
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Post by katt on Dec 17, 2010 14:53:41 GMT -5
Okay so really good update. For breakfast I fed just ground beef soup, with some liver and pumpkin and it seems like Trixie love it! The mix was really stringy (?? It had a lot of stringy chunks and Trixie just enjoyed it! I left about 1.5 oz in the bowl an she licked it clean. I then put another 2 oz in and finishe about half! She didn't mind the stringy chunks at all and was chewing on them like a pro. She didn't need any coaxing at all. Pixie didn't seem to enjoy the beef as much, but she did eat 3-4 pieces of the beef and finished about 1 oz of soup. I'm so proud of both, but especially Trixie. Ground beef is really cheap here and I never really thought they'd like it! For dinner I fed a chicken/beef mix (no freeze dried) and Pixie enjoyed it more. She picked up a couple of chunks and ate them off in a corner. Trixie was a little piggy (again) and finished the rest. I have some ground beef thawing now, so I'll try some ground with Trixie. Yay! Yay! That is great news! Chicken tends to have a much milder taste than beef, so it could be that Pixie is just not too into the taste of beef yet. They will get there. Often times, each meat is like doing a whole new mini diet change as they have to be convinced that each new raw food is not poison. It gets easier as you go along typically though, so keep it up. I do find that pureed raw tends to have a slightly stringy/chunky texture, more so with some meats than others. Go ahead and keep up what you are doing. When they are both eating the soup easily, make the next batch with a little less water so that it is even more thick. Are you still hand feeding chunks? How are they doing with that? Also, I am not sure that I remembered to mention this earlier. As we continue with the diet change, you will probably notice their poops get strange. This is normal, they are just adjusting to the diet change and in time it will balance out. However, (sorry if I am repeating info you already know) you will find that each poop will be different depending on what they ate for their last meal. Also, and you may not see this nearly as much because you have been feeding freeze dried instead of kibble, but often when switching to raw they will initially eat a lot more as their bodies crave the protein and nutrients in the raw. That will slow down as well as their systems balance out - at which point they will typically (of course this does depend on the individual ferret lol) eat less, poop less, drink less (because they are better hydrated by the meat), but pee more. As a heads up, I will be leaving to visit my parents for the Holidays on Saturday the 18th. I will be on earlier in the day on the 18th, but then I might not be on again until like the night of the 20th. I SHOULD be on on the 19th no problem, but I can't be 100% sure so I just wanted to give you a heads up.
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Post by katt on Dec 20, 2010 15:14:03 GMT -5
I sent out your Ulu today. Flat rate priority so it should be there soon. It's in an envelope Thingy. Anyways it was really dull so I had my Mom sharpen it a bit as I wasn't sure if you had a sharpener. It is not SUPER sharp but it's not blunt either. Give it a try and if you need to you can sharpen it more but I thi k it will work ok. Mine is pretty dull but still works great. It takes some time to get used to the techniques but once you do it is fantastic and easy to use. I'm going to try to get a video up on using it when I have time. When cutting meat partially or totally thawed is easiest. Partially thawed/part frozen is what I prefer bc it's a little cleaner on the juices haha Depends om the cuts you want though. Cutting thinner slices of muscle you may want to thaw Completely. Experiment and you will find what works. For cutting bones be VERY careful of your fingers! I've had a few close calls. Lol Anyways, first cut the bones into shorter segments - say in half, then quarters. Then you can really "grind" (spacing on the word lol) them by chopping them up tiny. It is easiest When there is meat on the bone bc it helps hold the pieces together and prevents them from flyig away from under the blade as much. A swift, forceful, downward stroke will make the break. Bigger bones may take a few hits or a hit from each side. Like chop, flip the bone, and chop again. Then when you are down to smaller pieces several short, fast, hard, repeated chops will obliterate the bones into a pile of marrow and bone bits. Once you have them eating chunks of chicken I have found doing this with a Chicken wing is an Easy way to get them started on bones. Some other ppl want Ulus too so I'll take a few videos of different technique And post them for everyone. Play around with it when you get it though. Oh and as a forewarning. The handle of the blade is a bit different from mine. I'm not sure how comfy it is compared to mine but you can always wrap a rag around the top for a better grip that will be easier on your hands. Fleece scraps might work. Hopefully you won't need that at all though. Let me know when you get it!
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Post by Jackie on Dec 23, 2010 4:35:55 GMT -5
Wow, that was fast! The Ulu knife got here today! I love it already! I used it tonight to cut up some chicken spaghetti for the girls. Thank you so much! So I was at Publix and found some ground pork for less than $2 a pound, so I picked that up. I blended it up until it was mushy and hand-fed both of them. Trixie seemed to like it. Pixie ate it, but didn't seem to enjoy it (as usual) After I tried out some ground beef and pork in small chunks. Trixie ate some, and Pixie ate even less. Today for dinner I chopped up some frozen chicken breast into thin strips. I then ran the strips under hot water so they weren't cold (the girls, especially Pixie, won't eat cold food). I then poured some olive oil on the plate. Pixie did amazing. She definitely enjoyed the strips. I would get the olive oil dripping and she would start to lick it into her mouth. She probably ate about 10 small pieces. Trixie also did well with the chicken (about the same amount). I tried ground beef with both, and they didn't like it. I've changed the feeding schedule a bit. Rather than a freeze dried meal every night, I feed a freeze dried meal every other night (mostly because Pixie loves it and it cover their nutritional bases). They are eating their soup pretty thick, and I left some ground pork/beef/chicken chunks in their cage for them to snack on during the night. We'll see what's left in the A.M. I just wanted to let you know I probably won't be online much for a couple days. Hope you have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you again for the Ulu knife - it really made my day
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Post by katt on Dec 23, 2010 5:53:55 GMT -5
Wow that was fast! And with Christmas-time shipping too! Yaaay! I am glad it made it and that you like it. Just wait until you start crushing bones then you will really have fun with it! I always make a huge mess...blood splatters, bone and meat bits... It sounds like your girls are doing great, keep it up. Continue hand feeding chunks if you can as it will help speed up the process of switching them to eating chunks on their own. If they are eating the soup pretty thick, go ahead and try mixing in teeny tiny slivers of meat with it and see how they take it. Start as small as you can possibly cut, then if they eat that easily enough, go a tiny bit bigger. Pork and beef both tend to have a stronger flavor. Keep mixing in small bits into the soup to get them used to the flavor. A few good meats to try that are a little more bland tasting are turkey and Cornish game hen if you can find those. Once we get to big chunks and start into bones, turkey neck is a Great source of bone, so you want to get them eating turkey if you can. I usually don't have a hard time finding ground turkey. You can separate the meats into baggies and freeze them too to keep bigger portions good longer. Also, I don't remember if we talked about this, but are you interested in potentially feeding them whole prey in the future? Such as pre-killed (frozen/thawed) (or live) rodents, and chicks? If not that's totally okay, but whole prey is a great way to get a good balanced meal in that they will love. F/t mice and rats are easy enough to start them on. Anyways, just let me know if you might want whole prey as part of their diet or not. It works either way. lol I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and New Years yourself! I will still have an eye on the thread so I'll be around if you have any questions. I am really glad you enjoy the Ulu and that it got there so fast! I can't even imagine preparing fert food without it! hahaha Happy Holidays! Give your girls a hug for me and enjoy the break from school (I know I am! ).
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Post by Jackie on Dec 29, 2010 3:15:46 GMT -5
Hope you've been enjoying your holidays! So the girls are doing good. I've been coating the chicken slices in soup gravy and they are eating them really well on their own. I still have to scruff them, but no more stuffing! I've been sneaking some into the soup mix, and I added a feeding den (half a soda box) for Pixie who enjoys stashing her chunks. I checked the box, and all of her stash was gone (about 4 chunks). Yay! They are doing good with the pork and beef soup. I'm working on getting the girls to eat chunks without being scruffed. I've also increased the size of the chunks (making them a bit wider). Trixie has eaten a couple of those. Anyway, hope you have a happy new year! Whoo 2011! When do you start school again? I don't want my break to end.
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Post by Jackie on Dec 29, 2010 17:33:16 GMT -5
I forgot to answer this yesterday.
I'm not opposed to feeding live or frozen. The biggest factor is the price of it. Shipping the frozen is really not affordable for my two. I did find a place that sells frozen locally, but I'll have to check on prices, and see if they have live. Most likely, it won't be a part of their diet for a little while (at least 2 months), but I would definitely like to add it to their schedule.
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Post by katt on Dec 30, 2010 21:47:42 GMT -5
Hey, sorry my computer is broken and when I checked on my phone the other day I missed that you had replied. :(For the whole prey, once you get them eating it it can be put into their diet randomly. Until recently Koda only got mice - live or frozen - on occasion. But I have noticed that the whole prey is easier on his sensitive stomach so he's getting it more often now. If the place in town doesn't have reasonable prices heck out petCo or PetsMart. They typically carry frozen feeders by the fish food and meal worms. Typically it's easiest to start with pinkies and work your way up in size just like you're doing with the chunks. I made sure Koda would eat an adult frozen mouse before trying live but Kenai went straight to live - he's still a kit though and they eat almost anything! Keep it up with the chunks! Try adding a little less gravy. Also, to get them off of scruffing, it is ok to let them get a little hungry. Try not feeding them For one meal. Like give breakfast, but no dinner and take out any leftover breakfast before bedtime. Then in the morning give them chunks but don't scruff and leave the chunks in there. Their hunger should be a little motivating And it can actually be good for raw fed Ferts to miss a meal here and there I learned recently. From the Bob Church thread. Are they eating the beef soup out of your hand only still, or on their own scruffed? Keep me posted! I'm headed home tomorrow so I probably won't be on all day tomorrow. When I get home I'm going to see if I can get my computer fixed. School is back in the second week of Jan. The 11th or something like that. I'm not ready to go back! *sigh* Have a Happy New Years!
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Post by Jackie on Dec 30, 2010 22:01:08 GMT -5
Hmm, I never knew big pet store chains carried frozen! I'm definitely going to check it out. The chunks are going fairly well. I add about ~20 pieces into their soup and they eat all 3 meat soups on their own. They have been eating the small chunks out of the bowl. Pixie likes to stash in her den, and I think she occasionally goes back to eat them. Right now I'm holding them by the bowl and soup feeding the chunks with gravy. Trixie will usually eat them, and Pixie has on occasion. I realize that they like to graze on the soup/chunks, so I've been adding more at night and most of it is gone by morning. I got some gizzards yesterday so Im going To start adding that to their diet. I'm planning on getting some more beef and pork (not ground) so I can start working on slivers with those meats. I'm also going to get some turkey soon! I'll probably skip dinner tomorrow and see if it helps motivate Pixie. Have a happy new year! How does Koda feel about fireworks?
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Post by katt on Jan 1, 2011 7:39:23 GMT -5
If you wrenching for gizzard see if you can maybe find some chicken hearts. I know those are Koda's favorite. If your girls like their taste as much as he does it might help them get more used to the texture of raw. Also gizzards are tough so if either Trixie or Pixie is a chewer I bet they'll like them. Eventually! If you are just holding them by the dish to eat have you tried to see how they do without you holding them? Maybe start one meal by placing the food in the cage, and then setting them in front of the food while you stay by without actually holding them. You might have to actually close the cage for that. But then they may be too distracted trying to get out to play with mommy. if so just go straight to setting them in front of the dish (or just leaving it for them to find it) and leave it in there for them to eat. I'm not sure what Koda thinks of fireworks haha you can't hear them too well from my apartment. They were made legal in the cityfor the first time in ages this year though! That was exciting! My friend picked me up from the airport and the drive home there were fireworks going everywhere - like innevery direction there was something. Haha People were excited they were finally allowed. It was really cool and it was the first time I've seen anything like that here. Hope you had a happy new years!
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Post by katt on Jan 2, 2011 18:35:57 GMT -5
About how big are the chunks they are eating now?
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