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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 11, 2011 15:53:10 GMT -5
So since so many people replied telling me I can do raw w/ my schedual I am soooo excited. I do have an issue though. Mojito.
Since both Kahlua and Mojito are adopted, I tried to set down and figure out approx ages since it will be a factor in nutrition (and if im understanding correctly, portions but feel free to correct me if I am wrong). When Mojito was adopted his previous owners told me he was 6 months old when they adopted him in xmas 06, that makes him approx. 4 and 7 months old (using the same theory Kahlua, btw, is 3 and 4 months old approx. When I adopted her, her p/o told me she was 2.5)
When I got Kahlua, she was on the worst imaginable kibble, she- however- will eat near bout anything you put infront of her. She has been a doll, trying everything (except sardines) and enjoying herself. I've heard people talking about their ferts choaking and throwing little fits, not Kahlua. Even though I have only been giving them the BG 95% canned meat + gravy from BG and a few raw odds and ends treats, I have already seen a giant improvement in her. She will tear apart some gizzards and hearts.... Eggs took a little, at first she was licking and nibbling and then i let her sniff a hard boiled egg that I was about to eat and like a baby (or Tequila, lol) when she saw me eat it, she went wild over it, she makes mommy so proud. I also see a lot of you talking about having to convince your significant others and I feel lucky that I dont. At first, i thought i would have to. He works 12 hr shifts 6 days a week so he didn't even KNOW i was feeding them REAL meat. He is from honduras where animals aren't treated the very best, so I was surprised how well he reacted when I tossed him the idea of getting a fert in the first place. One night we were making wings because we were having a little party, and Kahlua came into the kitchen to beg and I gave her a little meat/skin and then broke a bone and gave her some marrow-- toootally forgetting he was in the room. When I realized I thought he would flip but he didnt. He was really curious about them eating raw diets and he was pleased to hear how it would make them live longer. Now he's the one telling me that we should try some prey treats (at least with Kahlua, for now).
So I guess its only fair that I hit some road block, right? Mojito is my road block! The only non marshal farm brand thing he would eat when he came home was sardines (lol, the only thing Kahlua wont eat). With a lot of work he will now eat various kibbles and (it took a while) ferretvite and he'll lap at gravies from canned meat. He will, if I'm lucky, *nibble* mashed eggs and something from the gizzard bag. I had heard cooking it would help him learn its food cause it will throw off more smell, so I crushed up some of his kibble and used it like a seasoning then heated it up in the microwave until it was cooked. It was really soft/mushy whatever it was and if I mushed it between my fingers he would lick it off and even eat the chunks (same thing he does with eggs but he seemed more interested in the mystery giblet than he ever has been with the eggs. Maybe it was adding crushed kibble? Not sure..) Thats as far as I have gotten him. He really has been so hard to get this far and although I have been learning more tricks as I poke around (that I am hoping to try soon, if the snow doesnt get bad before I leave work and can go shopping) and I was just wondering 2 things.
How did you switch your absolute pickiest eater?
and
Is it to late for him/them?
I know that MF ferrets usually dont live as long as breeder ferts and both Kahlua and Mojito are MF and Mojito is almost 5 (i think i heard MF's usually only live to 7) Does he still have the chance of benefiting from raw if hes in good health now? Does Kahlua, even though her previous owner fed her the preverbial fast-track-to-insulinoma diet?
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Post by Heather on Jan 11, 2011 16:30:51 GMT -5
Don't ever cut a ferret short I have had several Marshals ferrets live to ripe old ages of 9 and 10. Pooka is my old lady of the manor right now. She's 10 and going great despite being adrenal. She's going in to get her second Lupron tomorrow and will be on deslorin by the end of the month. She came in with her senior partner, Lady Babushka. Babushka was 9 yrs old when she came to me (I had the papers to prove it, she had only one owner, who handed her and Pooka over to me). Lady Babushka was eating a total raw diet by the time she was 10. The biggest laugh she ever gave me when she and Pooka got into a screaming match over a rat. Babushka won and dragged off her prize which was a whole lot bigger than she was. She was a funny little thing. She lived another 18 months after being handed in to me, she finally passed on to total organ failure. You're right, Marshals don't live as long as they should but they give it a good fight. In my opinion every ferret deserves a chance, and if you get them to eat raw you have an even better chance. I use a soupy to switch each of my ferrets, it's just easier for me. Most of the little ones I get have never had anything but kibbles, so I just start from scratch. I've switched over 30 ferrets, who have lived at my hospice at one time or another. Any ferret can be switched given them time and patience. Check out the actual mentoring threads, you can't post to them but there are a ton of various switching methods mentioned there. Check them out. If you have questions about the method, you can either ask a question of the group as a whole in the newbie section in the nutritional part of the forum or you can pm the mentor themselves. ciao
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 12, 2011 12:28:26 GMT -5
Don't ever cut a ferret short I have had several Marshals ferrets live to ripe old ages of 9 and 10. Pooka is my old lady of the manor right now. She's 10 and going great despite being adrenal. She's going in to get her second Lupron tomorrow and will be on deslorin by the end of the month. She came in with her senior partner, Lady Babushka. Babushka was 9 yrs old when she came to me (I had the papers to prove it, she had only one owner, who handed her and Pooka over to me). Lady Babushka was eating a total raw diet by the time she was 10. The biggest laugh she ever gave me when she and Pooka got into a screaming match over a rat. Babushka won and dragged off her prize which was a whole lot bigger than she was. She was a funny little thing. She lived another 18 months after being handed in to me, she finally passed on to total organ failure. You're right, Marshals don't live as long as they should but they give it a good fight. In my opinion every ferret deserves a chance, and if you get them to eat raw you have an even better chance. I use a soupy to switch each of my ferrets, it's just easier for me. Most of the little ones I get have never had anything but kibbles, so I just start from scratch. I've switched over 30 ferrets, who have lived at my hospice at one time or another. Any ferret can be switched given them time and patience. Check out the actual mentoring threads, you can't post to them but there are a ton of various switching methods mentioned there. Check them out. If you have questions about the method, you can either ask a question of the group as a whole in the newbie section in the nutritional part of the forum or you can pm the mentor themselves. ciao I hope I didn't sound like I wasn't going to give him a chance on raw, I am def. still trying. I was just suddenly worry stuck that even though I do, it wont matter since hes been on kibble so long and I was begining to wonder if I should try to push but.. or like try to move the switch along faster i guess (and if theres a way to). I've already got him on mostly grain free kibble (we've almost cut the MF kibble out entirely, the rest is Zupreem GF which I will cut out and EVO poultry cat which is my fav kibble but I will cut out for meat, now that I know I can. I want to keep kibble available till we're all meat all the time though I made a soup last night, we make them little soups all the time but Mojito usually eats AROUND any bits of meat i have on my hand and we dont have a puree machine/blender.. I am working on cutting them smaller but with my hand (my left hand has issues, maybe nerve damage maybe a cyst setting on a nerve... Just developed recently) it can be kinda hard to cut that small. Oh I almost forgot, I have a question for you since you seem incredibly knowlegable, lol! Last night when we defrosted the meat, there was a lot more blood than usual (we just got it from the butcher at the latino market on sunday). My fiancee said I should wash the blood off the meat cuz thats were all the "bad stuff" is. Hes kinda um.. iuno a word for it in english but "indio" it means indian literally but I guess its like.. he is superstitious about a lot of things and really set in his ways because hes from a back wash town between some mts in honduras. Like he thinks if you sleep with a cat, the purring will cause you to have a rumble/flutter in your chest. So.. sometimes I don't know if its one of his nutty superstitions or set in truth (cause despite being indio he is really intelligent) Since I didnt know if the blood was bad or good, i washed the meat but I never have before when I made a soup.. does it make a difference of weather or not theres blood? Thanks, I will. I am having so much fun getting little tips and tricks off of everything. Though I haven't gone into the mentor section yet i think. Its like when your eating something really good and u save the best for last, I will check it out though today! I actually did try a trick I learned on here yesterday and it got Mojito to lick the soup out of the bowl (usually it has to be on my finger) I put ferretvite on one side of a plate and some of the soup on the other and when he was enjoying the ferretvite i turned the plate so the soup was under his nose and he just kept eating it like it was no big deal then a little while later he walked over to the bowl and was eating from the bowl.
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Post by rarnold18 on Jan 12, 2011 23:10:35 GMT -5
no need to wash the meat, the fuzz will eat it up just the same...some cuts are just more "juiceier" (can't spell worth a poo today!) than others
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 12, 2011 23:11:12 GMT -5
As for the blood- I pour it into a dish, and mine LOVE it As for the soup, can you get ground chicken, turkey, etc? You can mash it up with a fork, combine it with some liquid, and make a soup for them There are so many myths around about animals and raw diets, as well as other thing, it doesn't surprise me your other half believes some of them. But they are totally untrue
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Post by Heather on Jan 13, 2011 0:09:13 GMT -5
You've got some good information. My guys love the blood and have been known to lick it up if it pools in the bowl. I use it to make their food juicier, they like it better that way ciao
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 13, 2011 11:38:56 GMT -5
no need to wash the meat, the fuzz will eat it up just the same...some cuts are just more "juiceier" (can't spell worth a poo today!) than others Thank you!
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 13, 2011 11:43:53 GMT -5
As for the blood- I pour it into a dish, and mine LOVE it As for the soup, can you get ground chicken, turkey, etc? You can mash it up with a fork, combine it with some liquid, and make a soup for them There are so many myths around about animals and raw diets, as well as other thing, it doesn't surprise me your other half believes some of them. But they are totally untrue Thanks, thats what I thought but he scared me so I wanted to double check first! I will see if i can get ground chicken/turkey. I know they'll cut it up but I don't know if they can grind it, I'll have to ask.. as for going to an american grocery store- can you get whole ground meats there (bone and all like you were saying is good)? Before my fiancee said that, I hadn't been washing to remove the blood and they didn't seem to mind. TBH, Kahlua seemed more enthusiastic about it though shes still eating this batch. I'll just leave it next time. Thank you so much!
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 13, 2011 11:45:47 GMT -5
You've got some good information. My guys love the blood and have been known to lick it up if it pools in the bowl. I use it to make their food juicier, they like it better that way ciao I have been getting so much help, its fab. Last night, same batch of soup, Kahlua seems less enthusiastic about it than previous soups and the only real difference is that this time I washed off the blood so I think thats why. Next time I will keep it in, Thank you!!
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Post by sherrylynne on Jan 14, 2011 0:12:04 GMT -5
No, you cannot buy complete ground meat in the grocery stores here. That would be too dangerous for the people eating it I get my commercial grind from a raw feeding pet store.
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 14, 2011 11:33:45 GMT -5
No, you cannot buy complete ground meat in the grocery stores here. That would be too dangerous for the people eating it I get my commercial grind from a raw feeding pet store. Bella= Jealous, atm lol I wish we had a raw feeding place around here, at least if we have one I dont know about it. I will have to look into it- I know I've seen people mention commercial raw and ive seen it in the pet section at grocery stores as well as commercial pet stores like petco and petsmart but ive never really looked at the ingredients and what not. I think Ill do that today, whats your opinion of them?
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Post by Heather on Jan 14, 2011 14:18:32 GMT -5
Some are really good, just read the ingredients, watch for high levels of plant matter and fruits....seeds are another favourite to add (see plant matter is cheaper, bigger profit margins ) I believe the percentage shouldn't be any more than about 5 percent. ciao
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 14, 2011 16:26:34 GMT -5
Some are really good, just read the ingredients, watch for high levels of plant matter and fruits....seeds are another favourite to add (see plant matter is cheaper, bigger profit margins ) I believe the percentage shouldn't be any more than about 5 percent. ciao So far I havent seen any that dont have plant or seeds, among other scarier things! I think I am going to have ask super nice if they can grind the whole meat (skin, bones, blood, fat and all) all together at the latino market. The butcher is going to look at me like I am nuts, I have no idea how to explain that to him. Ferrets arent exactally... popular in the hispanic community- at least the people who come from really rural areas- because they look like weasels who often kill and eat chickens or make off with eggs. The first time that my fiancee saw a ferret (back when we were 1st dating, it was Ms. Martini- my sisters first sprite) he was like "Oh yea, I know what that is, when I was a kid my mom used to pay me $5 a head if I caught them near the chickens." of course we later figured out that he was refering to comadrejas which are weasels not hurones which are ferrets, though he swears there are weasels down there with markings like a ferret Aaannyway- wish me luck
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Post by sunnyberra on Jan 14, 2011 16:57:39 GMT -5
All my guys are MF. Pixie's my oldest at 5, and I switched her at two years, and she was by FAR the pickiest switch I've had (granted I've only done it 5 times, so not that much experience compared to some).
I did the fasting method with her. I took up the kibble in the evening of the first day, and the next afternoon I put down some kibble dusted diced chicken. Of course she didn't want it, and so I handfed some baby food. A few hours later, I tried again, no go, another meal of baby food, and then I tried different combos with the meat (baby food, olive oil, ferret tone, etc) so on and so on. I was thankful it was summer and I was out of school because it was an intense (but short) period. Finally, I had some chunks, I had Pixie on my lap (front legs on my hand, back legs on my thigh) and she smelled the chunk on my finger and ate it like it was manna from heaven! She was hooked, after that, and didn't bother with anything but raw from that point on.
Overall, it took about a week to get her eating on her own, and two days of handfeeding supplemental baby food every 4/5 hours. I just knew with her that if I dragged it out, it be worse than a brief switch (plus, she didn't have any health problems and she enjoyed the baby food, ha), so I went with that, and now she's a sassy, healthy 5 year old, so no complaints!
The only quirks Pix has from that is an obssessive love for baby food, and every time she tries something new she has to be in my lap to try it (she'll wait for me to sit down and then stare at my hands like, "where is it? Aren't we eating?" until I scoop some up and offer it to her to taste, LOL)
Like Heather said, any ferret can be switched, you just have to find the method that works for them and plug away at it. They'll cave eventually ;D
And as for using up the blood, Sian loves it. Every time I get a shipment from Hare Today, I pour the left over blood in a bowl and when I'm finished, I'll just set it down in the ferret room, and while everyone enjoys it, she adores it. I think it's like crack to her, because she loses her mind afterwards, it's a blast to watch (along with her little blood 'stashe)
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Post by comadrejaloquita14 on Jan 17, 2011 13:52:11 GMT -5
All my guys are MF. Pixie's my oldest at 5, and I switched her at two years, and she was by FAR the pickiest switch I've had (granted I've only done it 5 times, so not that much experience compared to some). I did the fasting method with her. I took up the kibble in the evening of the first day, and the next afternoon I put down some kibble dusted diced chicken. Of course she didn't want it, and so I handfed some baby food. A few hours later, I tried again, no go, another meal of baby food, and then I tried different combos with the meat (baby food, olive oil, ferret tone, etc) so on and so on. I was thankful it was summer and I was out of school because it was an intense (but short) period. Finally, I had some chunks, I had Pixie on my lap (front legs on my hand, back legs on my thigh) and she smelled the chunk on my finger and ate it like it was manna from heaven! She was hooked, after that, and didn't bother with anything but raw from that point on. Overall, it took about a week to get her eating on her own, and two days of handfeeding supplemental baby food every 4/5 hours. I just knew with her that if I dragged it out, it be worse than a brief switch (plus, she didn't have any health problems and she enjoyed the baby food, ha), so I went with that, and now she's a sassy, healthy 5 year old, so no complaints! The only quirks Pix has from that is an obssessive love for baby food, and every time she tries something new she has to be in my lap to try it (she'll wait for me to sit down and then stare at my hands like, "where is it? Aren't we eating?" until I scoop some up and offer it to her to taste, LOL) Like Heather said, any ferret can be switched, you just have to find the method that works for them and plug away at it. They'll cave eventually ;D And as for using up the blood, Sian loves it. Every time I get a shipment from Hare Today, I pour the left over blood in a bowl and when I'm finished, I'll just set it down in the ferret room, and while everyone enjoys it, she adores it. I think it's like crack to her, because she loses her mind afterwards, it's a blast to watch (along with her little blood 'stashe) Oh my goodness! She sounds like a difficult little girl! I got Mojito to eat the soup I made the other day by putting ferretvite on the plate and the soup on the other side then switched while he was enjoying a mouthful. I made another soup, so far hes a no go. I even tried the same thing, its like he learned that and isnt going to fall for it again. I used crushed up kibble to 'season' it and even mixed some ferretvite in. Nothing. Sigh... Maybe I should put some baby food in it. I wish I had more time at home with them, I had a mix of the last bits of soup plus gravy from their canned meat and he didnt like it until I put it in a spoon and hand fed him but I had to hand feed him everytime he ate it. He liked the hand feeding thing I think, but it was a weekend. Now that its week, its going to be more difficult. I will keep trying, no matter what! I definately agree with the blood thing, I was happy to hear that it was okay for them because Kahlua seemed upset that their last soup was bloodless and this time she was upset too, it has blood but for some reason less than any of the previous ones I've made with blood. Thank you for your stories! We will get him eventually! lol
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