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Post by cristina on Jul 4, 2010 22:31:37 GMT -5
OMG Im sooooo sorry to hear that!!! At least she is a peace now....what happened? I can't even imagine what that must feel like for you, I haven't lost a furry friend yet, I can only imagine how hard it must be......my heart goes out to you!!!! How are the other little ones taking it? Do they realize yet? I have heard that ferrets are pretty sensitive when it comes to the loss of a companion.....but its a good thing they have eachother still!
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Post by mjohn143 on Jul 5, 2010 14:16:36 GMT -5
On Sunday afternoon I was laying on my floor and Beatrice had crawled into my dress and was sleeping beside me. Out of no where she awoke with a jolt and ran to itch. Just a few seconds later she was stretched out on the floor almost gasping for breath. I screamed and my boyfriend went to pick her up as I ran for the Karo. She kept pushing her head back against his hand and I gave her some syrup, but it didn't seem to do anything. None of her symptoms seemed like a seizure, but I wanted to be sure since she had insulinoma. We immediately got into to car and drove an hour to the emergency vet (I honestly didn't think she would make it). After talking with the vet (who was really sweet) I made the hardest decision of my life, to have her put to sleep. She was maxed out on her prednisone, very thin, and had just turned 7 years old. Oh my goodness... I cried for literally 5 hours non stop. My face hurt so bad and my eyes were very swollen. The worst part was when the vet came in after they gave me time to say goodbye and asked if I was ready. Of course I wasn't...I never would be ready to give her up. I will NEVER be able to forget her beautifully precious face peeking out of her favorite blanket as the vet took her away for the last time. It was so indescribably painful, thinking about it still hurts and is making me cry. The vet gave me a little clay heart with her paw prints in it, and I brought her home and buried her outside my favorite window and put a garden lamp next to it, so I can look out and see her.
I saw my regular vet this morning for Badger's annual visit and he said it didn't sound like a seizure and it could have been something else that we didn't know about like adrenal or lymphoma. The other 2 seem to be doing really well. I think they or at least Badger knows something is up. But she was over sniffing Beatrice when she was having her episode so she may have sensed it. They say to let the other ferrets smell the dead body, but I just couldn't do it. The vet had her wrapped up so I could taker her home to bury and I just didn't wanna see her like that so I kept her wrapped up. Since Beatrice was the only one that wouldn't poop where she should have when she was out of the cage I am able to leave Badger and MegaWeasel out a lot more. I don't think he is really affected bc I just got him in January for the purpose of helping Badger out when this time did come. She seems okay...kind of sad at first, but her and MegaWeasel are good friends. I mean the last few months Beatrice really kept to herself and slept all day or woke up just to eat. I think they will be okay. I don't want a new one yet, but would eventually like another bc I do think 3 is a good number. My birthday is in Oct. so maybe by then I will be ready and my boyfriend will take a hint...if not maybe Xmas I'm not sure. Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it!
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Post by cristina on Jul 7, 2010 16:33:40 GMT -5
OMG Im tearing as I read this.....At least shes out of pain (if she was in any), ferrets are very stoic, they dont show they are in pain really. You did the right thing to grab the syrup, thats what it sounded like to me but you never know Thats nice they let you take her home and bury her in your yard....Im sure the others know whats up, but like you said its good they have eachother for support! Well hows the diet coming? any progress with badger?
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Post by mjohn143 on Jul 8, 2010 22:39:38 GMT -5
Since Beatrice died I can leave the ferrets out a lot more. I haven't put them in the cage in a few days. Anyway Badger seems to be doing okay. She is eating small amounts at a time. But then again she is really small...about a 1lb...so maybe she is eating all she needs?
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Post by mjohn143 on Jul 8, 2010 22:50:24 GMT -5
Oh yea...I found those duck jerky treats. The ones I got were "Waggin' Train". MegaWeasel loves them and stashes them...but I fig it's no biggie since they are dehydrated. Where do you think I should go from here?
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Post by cristina on Jul 11, 2010 15:14:45 GMT -5
Thats good....yea my guys hide them too but after a couple days they end up eating them all, plus since they are dried they can be left out
Basically if they are both eating meat right now, then we would work on bigger chunks and adding variety and bone.....but how far has Badger come? will she eat small chunks of meat or the ground up wings, or does she just eat the soup? And yes my little one whose about a 1.08pounds only eats very small amounts too, you just need to leave food out since they eat all day, just in little bits...but thats normal
Im not worried about megaweasel, I know he will eat whatever you give.....that will be easy! The thing is to get Badger totally on board...you can prettty much feed MegaWeasel anything....try a variety of meats and bone
Just give me an update on Badger, and we can work with her from there on and figure out a plan
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Post by mjohn143 on Jul 13, 2010 22:01:22 GMT -5
Badger is eating pretty chunky soup. I make 2 kinds. One is with already ground up chicken; I add a little bit of water and a little bit of the duk soup mix and kinda swirl it around in the bowl (but it is still not liquidy) and she will eat that when I put it on a fork/spoon and offer it to her. She may be eating it on her on too. Every now and then I leave a little bit of kibble out for her (MegaWeasel won't eat that unless he is really hungry) bc I worry about her...should I just quit putting any out? I think I just felt bad for her about Beatrice and didn't want to upset her more. Also I make soup by putting chicken wings in the meat grinder, it isn't really soupy but I do add a little bit of water and some duk soup...I have bee adding less duk soup mix too. It isn't really soup anymore, but the consistency of wet cat food. Anyway she will eat both of those, but no wings or whatever like Mega.
Also I am pretty bummed bc I noticed a bald spot on the tip of Badger's tail a few weeks ago...and today I noticed it seemed to be spreading! I can't handle another disease like that. I need to make her an appt and see what's up. Do you know of anything else that could attribute to tail baldness other than adrenal?
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Post by cristina on Jul 15, 2010 22:53:43 GMT -5
the change of season brings on over production of oil which clogs the pores on their tails sometimes....my male gets it pretty bad every summer, one of my girls tails is thinning out too right now b/c of this, it also happens when I give them a bath which I try not to do alot....he has bald patches on his tail, so dont worry yet... how does it look exactly?
Ok thats good, if you want to leave kibble out b/c your worried its ok, but what I would do is pour some soup mix (but make it more watery) and mix it with the kibble, so when she does eat it she has the raw taste in with it (and you can start off with mixing just a little, then work your way to more and more)
let me know how this goes
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Post by mjohn143 on Jul 19, 2010 4:47:13 GMT -5
I actually just took her to the vet for her annual stuff and he told me to wait about the tail too. Her tail isn't bald, just really thinned out with the black hairs mostly gone and a lot of little white under hairs.
I went ahead and took her kibble away and just left her meat mush out. I would feed her some so I could make sure that she was eating at least a little, but she must be eating on her own too bc like I said it has been a week and she has not lost any weight... and I imagine I would notice a difference by now. I got MegaWeasel a feeding din so I can give him chicken wings without having to hold them for him so he doesn't run off with them. It works great...it is a stackable laundry basket and is open in the front with holes in the back so he can walk in the front and I attach the meat to the back holes with a shower hook. I'll post pics soon. The only problem with MegaWeasel is that with Badger eating the meat mush, he prefers that over the chicken wing...but I am working on it. What else should I work on him eating?
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Post by cristina on Jul 19, 2010 18:55:32 GMT -5
Oh good! just a pointer I learned with the shower hooks....they get rusty fast so just keep an eye out for that You can pretty much give him anything to eat now, see if you can find more bone sources, i.e. cornish game hen (very small chickens), chicken necks...things like that, since you need some more bone than just the wings Yes you would notice if shes losing weight, if you do get worried you can always buy a kitchen food scale...I bought one off amazon for like 20 bucks or something just to keep track of their weights (just a weird thing I do lol) Im glad shes eating though on her own, now I would add in more ground raw with the soup so we can start getting her eating a more chunky based soup so she gets use to the new texture
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Post by mjohn143 on Jul 19, 2010 23:40:12 GMT -5
Kitchen food scale is a really good idea! I was actually thinking about buying something to keep up with their weight to make sure they're feeling ok and what not. I just didn't know what would work well, but now I do!
What about MegaWeasel getting a "balanced diet"? I am only asking bc I read one of the cons for feeding raw is that it is really hard to balance their diet out. I mean do I need organs and all that wonderful stuff too?
And as for Badger... she seems okay with the soup, so I will work on making it thicker.
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Post by cristina on Jul 21, 2010 12:31:09 GMT -5
Oh yea we can work on organs with him if you want, I just want him to get more bone sources.....but definitey try some organ and organ meats (i.e. chicken hearts (organ meat), chicken liver...anything you can find) sometimes I find calf liver at the store so keep your eyes out for any organs...you can also get these online, I find kidney and things like that on hare-today.com, although its a bit expensive (just an fyi)
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Post by cristina on Aug 3, 2010 16:38:21 GMT -5
Have you tried organs yet? or anything new?
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Post by mjohn143 on Aug 3, 2010 23:05:25 GMT -5
I went to the 2 butcher shops in town, but they only had pre cut boneless chicken breast. The other day I found a whole cornish game hen at Ingles, but I am on vacation right now, so I just put it in the freezer. My sis is taking care of the ferrets, continuing with meat mush, but this will be the longest 2 weeks without them! I meant to tell you I got another baby. Wasn't really ready yet, but he really needed a home. They all get along really well. I am a little frustrated bc MegaWeasel would eat a whole chicken wing at one point, but now he just barely chews on it before going to the meat mush. Any ideas to help me out? It makes me mad because I finally got a really good feeding den set up!!!
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Post by cristina on Aug 4, 2010 16:47:42 GMT -5
Oh thats great you got another one! ferret math has hit you! lol tell me about him!!! Dont get frusterated about mega going to the mush....it does have more flavor and everyone (including animals) go for the things that arent the best for us lol....its like a bag of chips for him haha I would start cutting very small pieces of chicken breast up and crush up some kibble (if you have it) and bread the tin pieces (so its like breaded chicken but with kibble) and see is Badger will eat this....if you dont have kibble you can put some of the mush on it like gravy instead Just keep up your patience, this may take a couple times for her to even go near it....so dont get too frusterated if she sticks her nose up at it in the beginning Oh and with the cornish game hens....mega should hopefully LOVE this...all my guys do, even my finicky eater so Im thinking that should go over well
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