I was really glad to read Bob C.'s last post about calorie restriction
with all of the references.
 
As a relatively new (1 1/2 yr.) ferret slave, I had read everywhere that
ferrets had to have food available all the time and that they have to eat
6 times a day.  Rocky ate like that when he was a little kit, but now he
eats at most twice a day and not very much at that.  I was very worried
about his eating habits because of what I read.  He is on the thin side
but very strong.
 
Rocky is free roam all the time now (I'm thinking of putting his cage
away now that he's learned if he doesn't bite my feet in the middle of
the night, he can be free).  I wonder if some ferrets who spend a lot
of time in their cages eat more out of boredom.  At one of the shelters
where I brought a rescue, I noticed that a lot of the ferrets were really
plump and my rescue, who was always thin, was fat after just a month.
(One reason is the food was better!  His original humans gave him
terrible food.)
 
I realize that most people have to keep their ferrets in their cages most
of the time, especially the shelters, but I wonder if this has something
to do with all the disease via obesity, since ferrets are more like a cat
or dog than a typical caged animal.
 
One of the reasons I hesitated to get a ferret was that I didn't want to
have a cage in my small apartment and now I feel very lucky to have a
ferret who doesn't need one.  I do close him up in the bathroom, with the
cabinet duck-taped shut, when I leave the house.  But he is much happier
there in his camp site, which he selected as a kit, with his sack and
makeshift tent and his stuffed animal friends.
 
Just rambling--don't assume I have any evidence for what I'm postulating.
 
Shron + Rocky
 
P.S.  Rocky's motto: "If it's in my food bowl, it can't possible taste
good."
[Posted in FML issue 3951]