Taratee's Switching Thread/Heather

[Heather]

Your little one running away to eat her dinner is just being a ferret. You may want to set up a small cardboard box near where you're feeding. That way she can stash in a place you know about
Your little ones are doing very well. They've been eating for about 4 days....how long have they been eating kibbles...unfortunately very few actually switch overnight you and your little ones are doing fantastic
Ciao

[taratee]

i know its a process i was just making sure my ferrets werent falling behind lol

[Heather]

You're not, believe me....really .
ciao

[taratee]

all of my ferrets are pooping less than a quarter sized poo a piece is that normal when switching over? im kinda worried they arent going more but they are peeing alot more

[Heather]

Sounds about right More food being used by the ferret, less poopies. More water available, ferret is now actually properly hydrated and because of soupy type meats, even more liquid available....so more pee
Excellent, gives you an idea as to what kibble was doing to your little ones
ciao

[taratee]

nothing new to report still trying to convince everyone that its not poison i think ive convinced the boys and tia didnt need convincing so its down to lulu... darn lulu. shes always been so hardheaded. the other day i was cleaning out their paper box and i found a large chunk of skin from the soup and realized someones been stashing food there... they still prefer to be snuggles and convinced to eat *eyeroll* we shall see later today if anything changes TO THE BLENDERRRRRRRRRR

[Heather]

Good luck
ciao

[taratee]

theyre taking pretty well to it even lulu ate some without having to be begged i was thinking, could i maybe cut up the chicken into small pieces and blend all theorgans then put them together without blending the chicken? im trying to take this to the next step whatever it is

[Heather]

The next step is to try and put some really tiny chunks, no bigger than the tip of your fingernail in your soupy and try and convince them that "lumpy" soupy is ok. You're doing good, you can try adding some ground up organ meats if you haven't already. You can also just add some slivers of the organ meats to the soupy too if you want to try it that way. Either way would work. Some ferrets really like liver chunks, but I've found that it's hit and miss. Some of ferrets don't like the texture.
Give your guys a hug and tell they they're being good fuzzes.
ciao

[taratee]

the boys are convinced that the lumpy soup is okay, lu on the otherhand is fighting me tooth and claw. mostly she just wants to hide it, i think her hesitation is also in the fact that i found a stash of kibble under their covers i heard her crunching away and was like what is that *shakes fist*

[Heather]

Great progress on the lumpy soup....why does your little girl's devious tricks not surprise me
ciao

[taratee]

I'm so unbelievably proud of the boys using the boxes spread around the room to stash food AND they go back and eat it, the way im splitting the soup up is like this 1/4ish to tia the lumpiest fattiest chunkiest part 1/2 to the boys mildly chunky and 1/4 to lulu still very soupy, in other news nails are already starting to grow faster and ichabods coat is already looking more lush I also had a question since im making the soup once a day and feeding them throughout the day with it I'm wondering how long its good for out of the fridge, its not like i can tell from the smell

[Heather]

I believe that the running rule is about 4 hrs...pushing it at 6. Your guys won't eat it if it's bad. No you're right, you certainly can't tell by the smell
Sounds like you're making wonderful progress. That's great that they're using the boxes to stash and they're returning to eat from their stashes. Yay Lulu, a special hug for making it to soupies...there is always one that decides to hold out when you're trying to switch a group They catch up in the end
I will check in tomorrow and see how you're doing
ciao

[taratee]

so i was wondering if i could give them a chicken wing maybe half for the girls and half for the boys also the boys are having seedy looking poo what does that mean?

[Heather]

Yes, let them have the chicken wing. You may have to play some tug games with it until they realize that it's theirs to chew. I always find it fascinating. They don't ask our permission to chew the buttons off the tv remote but they can't take the initiative to chew on something that is good for them
The seedy poops is a common problem in the switching stages. It means that they're not processing the fat in their diet. A couple of things go with this. Not enough bone, their bodies aren't used to having to process real food and therefore moving through their system too quickly, their bodies are also not equiped to handle the amount of fluid they're intaking and if they're still eating it kibbles. As long as the stools don't become watery then you should be ok. You may want to add about a tsp of pumpkin to their mix if you're not already doing so
ciao