Late Bloomer??

[newsquirrelmommy]

My Squirt is now about 9 weeks old and weighs 275 grams and eats about 14-15cc's each feeding. About a week ago i tried dropping his feedings from 5x/day to 4x/day so he would hopefully start eating his blocks more but noticed yes he was shredding them but eating very little of them and he was getting extremely crazy running around like he was hungry. So yesterday/sunday i went back to 5x/day and he seemed a little better, not as crazy looking for food. He has been eating a little bit of his blocks within the last 3-4 days because i notice his poop pellets are getting more brown. I'm getting nervous because i see people on here that are feeding vegetables already at this age. I know he'll eventually eat the blocks because he does hide them and shred them and eats a little. But should i have kept him at 5x/day or 4x/day with the FV formula??:thinking He's also not gaining that much weight since he went to 4x/day. Any help is much appreciated. I know im a worried squammy but i just want to make sure im doing this right...thanks again everyone

[CrazySquirrelLady]

Hmmm, mine won't even eat good this morning after 8 hours nappie time for Mommy.... overslept....

These KIDS! what we gonna do? I'm doing every 6 hours.

General do like some baby Gerber food in the strawberry, banana and apple flavor. He eat a little bit every day. It seems to fill him up.

Could you do four feedings and snack of some baby food couple times a day? I love having an excuse to buy those cute little jars of baby food.. never had a skin baby, just fur babies... hahahahah

GOOD LUCK


hugs
CSL

[PennyCash]

NSM, I will be watching for an answer to your question because I'm in the same boat with my girl Resilie. She's a bit younger, smaller than Squirt, but she also doesn't seem to do well when I drop her feedings to far apart. She becomes a maniac at feeding time and then eats less, WTH??? Last night was the first time I let her go an hour longer on her night/morning feeding and she lost like 7 grams, after eating weight. Just know... Your not alone being a worried squammy we're in that boat together :D

[newsquirrelmommy]

thanks CSL and Penny:D. He's just not as crazy when he's fed 5x/day. But he has been eating his blocks a little more each day. At least thats what i assume being that his little pellets are turning brown. i know i was told that the formula is the best for him and to give it to him as long as he'll take but when i see other squirrels at the same age or even younger eating veggies its make me wonder if im not doing something right.

[CrazySquirrelLady]

We could feed more veggies too, but we wanna get them HOOKED on the blocks first right? So I am holding off on veggies till I see they are EATING the blocks. General does eat a wee bit of the baby food each day x 2, but he'll never figger out those are veggies! mwahahahahahah

I sorta worry about JEB, he is too little for blocks yet, but have caught him trying to eat the General's... guess it is gonna hafta be OK, not much I can do about that.

[newsquirrelmommy]

I guess i'll just have to wait and see. I do know his blocks are the best for him so i'll just give him some time to start hopefully eating them more and more. Such a worried squammy i am. Im like this with my other fur kids too.:rotfl

[PennyCash]

I consider myself a neurotic squammy mainly because I'm not quite as bad with my other fur kids. They are loved, spoiled but I'm not constantly wondering if this is right or wrong. :dono I think we all just want to take the best care of them possible and there's so much to learn. :thinking I do know that I'm not introducing anything more to her diet until she's eating HHB's like they're the best thing ever made. I'm trying to spread out the formula feedings but that 6 hour gap is just too much I think so unless someone says otherwise I think that I will increase by 30 minute intervals. I'm thinking that we want them to get to the HUNGRY point so that they will be hungry enough to eat their blocks. :dono

[newsquirrelmommy]

Thanks Penny. Im back on to 5x/day feedings since yesterday so maybe tomorrow i'll go back to 4x/day and see how that goes again. Right now i put 1/2 of a block cut into 2 1/4's in his cage 2x/day and he is shredding and nibbling on them. i dont want to give him more til i see he's eating more of them. Plus at lunch time i saw he had golden nuggets again which means he didnt eat his block so i think i'll definately cut down to 4x/day starting tomorrow and i guess we'll see.:D

[Nancy in New York]

Thanks Penny. Im back on to 5x/day feedings since yesterday so maybe tomorrow i'll go back to 4x/day and see how that goes again. Right now i put 1/2 of a block cut into 2 1/4's in his cage 2x/day and he is shredding and nibbling on them. i dont want to give him more til i see he's eating more of them. Plus at lunch time i saw he had golden nuggets again which means he didnt eat his block so i think i'll definately cut down to 4x/day starting tomorrow and i guess we'll see.:D


Just for the heck of it, check his teeth to make sure that they are a good length etc.
I had one that loved his formula and seldom ate, but I noticed that his teeth were too long, so that most likely was why he preferred formula.
BTW I love when they stay on formula. You can give him safe branches and hard nuts (black walnuts are ideal for this) to chew on, just to make sure the teeth stay "filed" down.

[newsquirrelmommy]

Thanks Nancy. Maybe i will try my best to get a look at his teeth. Don't think it will be easy though as he never sits still literally unless he's peeing..hehe:rotfl but i will definately try. I have 2 small branches in his cage now that he chews on plus a fresh femur bone as well. I did start to notice he is starting to nibble on the bottom of his ladder that i put in there too. I had to take one out already because he chewed the bottom. I wrapped them both in fleece but he got through it to chew it..lol:jump