>I was wondering if any of you have had this problem and if there is
>a non-chicken based ferret food out there anywhere.
 
You might try Hill's feline z/d (their hypoallergenic diet), available
through your vet.  It actually IS made with chicken, but it is supposedly
processed so that the proteins aren't recognized as an allergen by your
pet's system.
 
Adult cat food - including z/d - isn't the best as it doesn't have
the fat levels ferrets need.  It's better than nothing, though, if it
causes him less upset.
 
IVD also makes several alternative diets for pets with food allergies.
These are also available through your vet.  They make diets with duck,
rabbit and other uncommon meats (uncommon for pets, anyway).  Again,
you'll get feline formulations that aren't ideal for ferrets.
 
Read those labels carefully!  (As you obviously have done.) Just about
everything commercially available contains chicken.  Look at your popular
beef diets...contains chicken.  Your lamb diets...contains chicken.  It's
just amazing how little the labels resemble the contents.  Most pet foods
should really be called "Corn and Rice Diet!...with a little chicken
thrown in."
 
Finally, you might try making food for him yourself.  A more "natural"
food might be easier on his system (after an adjustment period) than the
highly-processed store-bought stuff.  You might try frozen feeder mice
(thawed, of course).  Or start with Bob Church's Chicken Gravy recipe and
substitute some other meat for the chicken.  If you do this, make sure
you include enough fat.  I once made turkey gravy this way - for the same
reason you have - and it didn't have nearly the fat that the chicken
does.  (And you people thought grinding *chicken* bones was hard
work...try turkey.  Wow.)
 
roger & the wolverine wannabees
missing bear
[Posted in FML issue 4140]