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Last Login: 1/17/2008 1:27:45 PM
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| DAY 1: 6:45p Removed Ferret food bowls. Cut up chicken into tiny pieces, fridged. Crushed kibble. 10:20p As boyfriend is squeamish and doesn't wish to be home for feedings, he leaves for work. The bunch have been out for 3+ hours playing rough and keep looking for food. Pour ferretone into chicken bag, dump in crushed kibble and shake it all up. Seperate into two dishes. Put ferrets in cages (2 in each cage). Harley checks out the bown and gives a few cautious licks. Everyone else snubs it and goes into their hammocks to sleep. 10:30p Harley steals a chicken ball (3-5 small pieces of chicken stuck together) into a corner and chows down. He eats most of it and goes to sleep on the floor next to the bowl.
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Average Member
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Last Login: 9/15/2007 8:43:51 PM
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| Oh boy! Harley what a good boy! Isn't it funny how the chubby ones are always willing to try new foods? Im so proud of Harley! Give the others some time, you might have some trouble with one or two of them, BUT if they see the other ferrets eating the food, they will catch on soon enough! Try to get some pics or video clips if you can. I was really glad that I documented my ferret's journey to raw. Its cool to look back and also have pics to show people how I switched my ferrets diet. Keep us updated!!![:O]
--------------------------------- Love, Giuli 
Check out my pictures/videos of all my "furkids" by clicking on the links below! http://lugnutandhendrix.myphotoalbum.com (The cats album is also here) http://samsonanddelilah.myphotoalbum.com http://willowandweezie.myphotoalbum.com http://apollopuppy.myphotoalbum.com Interested in natural feeding? Join NaturalFerrets! (Just click on the button below) 
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| DAY 2: 9am The bowls have not changed any. No more food seems to have been eaten. I let the children out to play. 11:30am Re-moisten chicken with ferretone as it has dried out conciderably. Re-cage ferts to do chores so I dont step on them in the process. 12:30pm Un-cage ferts. Still no change in their bowls.  2:45pm Cage the ferts when they start falling alsleep in strange places. 3:45pm Need to leave for work. Re-fill water bottles with fresh water and multi-vitamin suppliment. 10:10pm Let ferts out to play as soon as I am home from work. Begin to clean the cages with hard-surface spray. I find that the girls' cage has their bowl completely empty. I'm wondering which one (if not both) ate it concidering they were the ones that snubbed their noses to it the most. The boys' bowl is still unchanged. 10:30pm Clean the bowls out completely. Cut up fresh chicken, lather with ferretone and shake it up with crushed kibble. Place new bowls in their cages. Harely again eats a couple small pieces then leaves to play with the others, who at this time don't seem to care food is in their cage.
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Average Member
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| You are doing great! Keep up the good work! If you'd like at this point you could give each of the ferrets 2.5ml of chicken babyfood. You dont have to, but it will ensure that everyone has eaten atleast a *little* in the last day or so. So Harley is eating and the girls bowl was empty? I bet it was Rayn, younger ferrets are easier to switch. Although I wouldnt be suprised if slinky was trying some too! So is Ninja the only one not trying the chicken? If so, definitly give him so crushed kibble/babyfood/ferretone. I am really excited that the change seems to be going relatively smoothly. Are ya takin any vid clips or pics? If so I'd love to see them ] Keep updating! I cant wait till all your babies are eating the chunks with gusto. About 5 days or so after ALL of the ferrets are eagerly eating the chunks, then you can stop giving chunks and switch them to either a WHOLE chicken wing or those 'party wings' (which are basically chicken wings broken up into three pieces) its up to you. Good luck good luck! You should be proud of your kiddos, they are doing GREAT! Just wait! Harley should REALLY slim down and build some nice lean muscle after the switch. Weezie was SOOOO fat, but after we put her on raw and once she started to exercise more the weight just flew off! She looks like a totally different ferret!
--------------------------------- Love, Giuli
Check out my pictures/videos of all my "furkids" by clicking on the links below! http://lugnutandhendrix.myphotoalbum.com (The cats album is also here) http://samsonanddelilah.myphotoalbum.com http://willowandweezie.myphotoalbum.com http://apollopuppy.myphotoalbum.com Interested in natural feeding? Join NaturalFerrets! (Just click on the button below)
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Last Login: 9/15/2007 8:43:51 PM
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| Thanks for all the pointers G! Question: How much chicken should I be putting in their bowls daily at this point? Ive got two ferts in each cage right now (until the Ferret Nation cage arrives) Another question about poop: Have you ever had a ferret 'save up' to poop when he was let out of the cage, but refuses to do so inside the cage? Harely seems to have this problem. And it seems Rayn was the one eating the chicken! I just put them in their cages for the night as they fell asleep in odd places again and she was the one raiding the bowl. 
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Average Member
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Last Login: 9/15/2007 8:43:51 PM
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Thanks for all the pointers G! Question: How much chicken should I be putting in their bowls daily at this point? Ive got two ferts in each cage right now (until the Ferret Nation cage arrives) I would feed 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloin to two ferrets. If they eat it all up and the bowl is empty, then you can obviously add more. Ferrets are generally good self regulators (although I'd keep an eye on harley [ ] ) IF the bowl gets empty, fill it up. Eventually you can just put 1 inch chunks of plain boneless, skinless, chicken breast tenderloins into the bowl (minus the crushed kibble and ferretone). Another question about poop: Have you ever had a ferret 'save up' to poop when he was let out of the cage, but refuses to do so inside the cage? Harely seems to have this problem. Hmmm...never happened to me, but here is some advice. When you take him out of the cage, let him walk around a little bit, and then keep putting him into the litter box that is outside of the cage. Once he goes potty praise him extensively. I've never had a ferret that wasnt comfortable with going potty in their cage. Speaking of poop, how is there poop looking? Is it a little runny? Or relatively firm? If its a little runny, then I'd give them half pedialyte and half water in their water bottle/water bowl. Once they start to eat bone, the fiber content of the bone will help to firm their stools right up. Their poop will not look the same as when they were eating kibble though. Once they've been eating bones for a few weeks, you will learn what 'regular poop' looks like on a raw diet. And it seems Rayn was the one eating the chicken! I just put them in their cages for the night as they fell asleep in odd places again and she was the one raiding the bowl. Good girl Rayn! So Rayn and Harley are the only ones eating? That makes sense, Rayn is the youngest (correct?) and Harley is a little piggy [ ] . Ninja and Slinky should come around soon. I would reccomend giving them some babyfood, but dont give any babyfood to Rayn or Harley. If you dont have a feeding syringe, just take a tablespoon of babyfood and let Slinky and Ninja each take a turn eating the babyfood out of the spoon. This should help to keep them from getting *too* hungry. They should try the food soon. To have two of your four ferrets already trying the food on day 2 (?) is a VERY good thing. Dont give up, things are actually going VERY good for you! Once you put all four ferrets together into one cage, and Slinky and Ninja see Rayn and Harley eating the chicken chunks with gusto, they should catch on pretty quick that chicken is actually quite yummy to eat. You should be proud of your little ones. I bet that in 1-2 more days, Slinky and Ninja will finally try the chicken. Dont forget to give them each 1-2 tablespoons of babyfood per day if they arent eating ANY chicken. Keep me/us posted! Im excited to see your updates![] |
---------------------------------Love, Giuli
Check out my pictures/videos of all my "furkids" by clicking on the links below! http://lugnutandhendrix.myphotoalbum.com (The cats album is also here) http://samsonanddelilah.myphotoalbum.com http://willowandweezie.myphotoalbum.com http://apollopuppy.myphotoalbum.com Interested in natural feeding? Join NaturalFerrets! (Just click on the button below)
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