|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 13, 2010 12:29:20 GMT -5
I'm finally on my way home, I am sooo excited to see my babies! My bf doesn't understand. Lol.
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 15, 2010 9:41:55 GMT -5
Ok! So vacation was great! But I am really glad to be back. I could not believe how big Clovis has gotten in only two weeks! OMG. Anyways...my mom got me some meat at the store and I was worried the ferrets wouldn't like it because it was turkey meat, but they seemed to love it. I cut up some chunks of chicken and mixed it it with the mush and this morning both bowls were empty. I doubt Badger ate it, but I did hold and watch her eat at least the mush. A pretty good amount at that! How much taurine do they need per day or per week? I forgot. About Clovis... wow is he a handful. He LOVES water and actually jumped in the shower with me. His personality is different from the other two for sure. Here is baby Clovis! and an update of Mega and Badger!
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Aug 15, 2010 14:40:38 GMT -5
OMG he is SOOOO adorable!!!! Your so lucky! I want another baby! Thats great they are eating so much! Just make sure to put more out when you see the bowls empty. Turkey is pretty bland too so Im not surprised they loved itm but Im glad they are trying things so freely! keep watching badger to see how much of the raw she eats...make the mush more and more raw and less juicy so we can get here on plain raw meat. and you can feed Clovis whatever you want to see what he will eat and what he likes. then we will go on from there....he will not have any problem with raw it seemsm whcih is really great!
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 18, 2010 0:14:36 GMT -5
I got a pestel and mortar thing, so grinding eggs and taurine just got ssoooo much easier! I love getting new things that makes ferret care easier and better.
Right now the soup is part ground chicken, cut up chicken breast, egg and shell, duk soup, nano greens, taurine and a little bit of water. It is much thicker than before. Clovis eats chunks of chicken fine. Badger is SSSSOOOOOOOO frustrating. She only eats when I sit her down and feed her!! Idk what I am doing wrong with her!
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Aug 18, 2010 16:58:33 GMT -5
Your not doing anything wrong! its just that when your around shes gonna show you that she can be a handful, she is obviously eating while your not there, so dont let it frustrate you too much....try to leave out some plain shredded meat for her and maybe try to hand feed it and see if she will accept it.....it took me a really long time with one of my girls too so dont worry, its not you, its just some take much better than others Just keep doing what your doing and gradually keep moving forward until they are on plain chunks of meat....tell me how things go with her when you feed her plain shredded meat from your hand
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 19, 2010 17:33:54 GMT -5
I'm worried she isn't eating while I'm gone because the other fatsoes inhale everything. With my school schedule it's hard to get up early enough and make them all eat separate breakfast. She initially won't eat it at all since I have thickened it up unless I scruff her. I feel bad. Should I just stop feeling guilty about it? I know it sounds dumb, but I feel bad that I am forcing her to eat something she doesn't want.
MegaButt is now giving me problems. I call him that because he is sssooo fat. Anyway he seems to be on strike now that it has gotten thicker too!! Not that it would kill him... I mean do you think if they get hungry enough they will eat it? I am also really weaning out the duck soup to barely any mixed in, and I think that makes him unhappy. I really the most annoyed with Mega because he was doing so well. He used to eat whole chicken wings and now he wont. I won't lie, I did get slack making him eat them because it was just easier to feed everyone mush, and once it was out anyway he didn't want anything to do with the wing.
As for Clovis... he keeps taking the big chunks of chicken out of the mush and stashing them under the bed!! I don't like feeding them in the cage, but this seems to be the only option in this case.
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Aug 20, 2010 17:56:23 GMT -5
No I totally understand how u feel, I felt bad too with my little girl....take it back a step where she would eat without you pushing her too (it that means making it more soupy then so be it), once we get her eating on her own again then we can move forward again.
Like I mentioned before, Mega could just be turning up his nose at the raw b/c the mush it that much better lol....like a bag of chips compared to carrot stick (even though we know which is better for them haha) so I wouldnt worry too much about him, also he could still be acting funny if hes still missing Beatrice (you never know, but ferrets are very sensitive animals, especially with their feelings), we know he IS eating so dont be too worried about him, we know he WILL eat raw so we can always get him back in the groove!
All my babies hide their food under everything they can find, I am starting to find it pretty inconvienent picking up all the raw stashes so I think Im going to make them a feeding den, so thats another option maybe you may be interested in as well.
I will speak with Heather again to see if she can help out with Badger a little, shes very good with "hard to switch" ferrets....so hopefully we can get her opinion as well....but for now just step back and see if this works
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 21, 2010 15:14:17 GMT -5
Ok so megaweasel is back on track...eating the big chunks! I scruffed him and made him try it and when I let go he downed a bowl. Clovis is fine too. He loves swimming underwater...its cute. If anyone is missing beatrice I think it badger bc when I got badger, I had Beatrice and it was just the two of them for a while. Badger just doesn't seem happy...its sad, she sleeps so much. Idk what to do bc she's always seemed a little sad and Idk how her life was before me bc someone had returned her T 2 or 3 yrs of age to a pet store. Her and Beatrice got along really well, but she never seems to have bonded w me.
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 23, 2010 7:00:15 GMT -5
I know I have asked this, but I can't seem to find it skimming through and don't remember. How many mgs of taurine should they have? Daily or Weekly. And I mixed a liver (or a piece of one...idk lol) into their food, and they seemed to like it more. How often can I do that? I remember you saying liver is like vitamin C for them, but idk if it can be overdone?
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Aug 26, 2010 14:43:39 GMT -5
I feed one capsule of taurine a week to mine (1 capsule feeds all 3 of my guys)...I think mine are from a health food store like 1000mg capsules and I open them and mix it into their soup.
Yes they can OD on vitamin C....only feed organs once a week, they are very rich
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 27, 2010 6:42:25 GMT -5
Ok, sounds good.... where should I start heading from here? Both boys are doing really well on their soup/mush. Can you tell me if it sounds ok? I am worried about them not getting enough of something or too much. I make it to last about 3-4 days. I cut up chicken breast into chunks (slowly making them bigger), add some ground chicken, 2 1000mg capsules of taurine, 1 egg with the shell, and I was adding a couple livers every other time, but I may just add that into their bowls once a week instead. What is a good amount to feed them each week?
Badger is doing a little better. I'd really like to moved forward with the other two though, so I guess I'll just make her some separate stuff and go from there. I have noticed such a difference in how nice the boys coats are. Very fluffy and soft!
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Aug 30, 2010 16:33:52 GMT -5
that sounds good, I would do one egg a week as well as one organ a week since both are very rich....basically theres no real amount to feed, you just have to watch how much they eat and base it off that, like if they eat all of what you give them then next time add a bit more, etc...
the boys can keep moving up to larger chunks of meat, and try to switch it up a bit....add more variety of meat chunks for them so they can get a taste of everything (the rule of thumb is to at least feed 3 different kinds of meat)
Heather said to keep doing what we are for Badger....sometimes some just take a lot longer to get use to it than others....keep up with the soup, and when you start to thicken it do it very slowly, almost barely noticable and we can see if she takes to it. yes this is the thing you will notice...how much healthier they will look when on raw!!! It makes you realize what great things raw actually does for them!!
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Aug 30, 2010 17:55:28 GMT -5
what other kinds of meat can they eat? obviously chicken and turkey...but what else?
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Sept 2, 2010 19:07:08 GMT -5
duck, beef, pork, cornish game hen, venison....pretty much anything you can find, and any cut, but stay away from large animal bones like beef steak bones are too big for them, if you get these you will need to cut off the meat around it
|
|
|
Post by mjohn143 on Sept 12, 2010 5:42:27 GMT -5
I have started to add pork and turkey into their diet, and I have cut up chunks of meat, cut up chicken wings, an egg, and a little ground turkey or chicken. They are doing well with that.
|
|