Hello there!  I have a serious problem here.  I thought I could handle
it but definitely after trying many things I can not.
 
My ferret Gigio is an almost 3 years old healthy male ferret, the only
one and very, very spoiled.  At the moment and temporary we are living in
Connecticut but originally we lived in Mexico city where there is no good
ferret food available so I have only fed Gigio with kitten food like IAMS
and Pro-Plan.  When IAMS change one year or more ago their recepy, Gigio
stopped eating it, so basically he ate only Pro-Plan kitten.  When we
moved here to the United States I didn't want to switch to ferret food
because by September this year we are coming back to Mexico and there were
no point to use him to a food that he won't have any more later.  I came
here with a 4lbs bag of Pro-plan food and I have been occasionally mixed
other brand of kitten food like Chow that I know is not very nutritious
but Gigio really enjoyed the taste (and that is available in Mexico too).
Well, the problem starts when I run out of the Pro-plan food and go to
buy one here at a petstore.  Is the same product (also the food I buy in
Mexico is made in USA) except for the batch.  Well, Gigio refused to eat
it, I thought that maybe that particulary batch was the problem, so I
bought one with a different "best before" date, I tasted it myself.  and
it seems to have the same taste as the old one, but obviously there a
slight difference in the smell.  Gigio refused again to eat it.  As I had
finished my old bag Gigio was eating more and more of the Chow kitten food
which by then was almost finished too.  In my desperation I bought other
box of Chow, and to my surprise Gigio refused to eat this too!  This are
small dougnuts shaped kibbles and is incredible how he can tell which
comes from the old box or from the new one, if I mix lets say three of the
old ones and five of the new ones, he can selectively eat just the three
of the old box!  Now I am sure is not that there is something wrong with
the food but is he that is not willing to accept even the minor change,
which always happen from batch to batch even when talking of the same
brand.  Of course I have been trying with other foods, I have tried with 8
in one ultra blend for ferrets, and again with IAMS, at the moment I have
5 different brands at home including two of those he was has been regulary
eating and he won't eat any.
 
I know he is not sick and because of that lacking of appetite, he is
hungry indeed because he comes to call me the way I know he comes to me
when he wants something, he goes to sniff the food but then moves back.
If I offer some of the old food (I have like a couple of dozens of the old
pieces as a control) he immediately eats it.  I tried to wait to see if he
becomes hungry before giving him Gerber with dust of kibble that is the
only thing he keeps on accepting no matter what kibble I use to mix with
the Gerber (of course because the Gerber masks whatever he does not like
of the new food).  I was thinking to complete the 24 hours before rushing
to feed him with Gerber which is something I would do if I have to but I
wouldn't like it to become his permanent source of food.  Any suggestion
will be greatly appreciated.  I already tried to put some ferretone on the
new food but he just licks a bit a then goes away, the same if I add some
dust of the old food over the new one or if I mix some pieces of the old
food in the new one, even with tartar control treats that he loves so
much, he just picks the pieces and leaves the rest.
 
Thank you very much I feel really frustated and worried.
[Posted in FML issue 3734]