I hope everyone is enjoying their summer thus far.  The warm weather has
made it possible for us to start tackling our 3 page long project list,
which has been taped to the fridge door for months.  We've been getting a
lot done and as a result have had little time for the internet or posting
to the FML.  But my morning ritual at work does include skimming the FML
for topics of interest to me.  Recently the topics of feeding ferrets
mice and volunteers (not feeding volunteers to ferrets, but volunteering
volunteers - you understand...) have come up.  I'd like to chime in on
these issues.
 
On feeding mice to ferrets: BY ALL MEANS DO IT, if you have the stomach
for it!  Call me heartless, call me crazy, but not one of you could
convince me to remove this dish from the menu.  When an animal comes
through my doors, I commit to caring for it in every aspect to the best
of my abilities.  This includes stuff like housing, enrichment, hygiene,
vet care and diet.  Overall man has done a mediocre job at mimicking the
nutritional needs of our pet carnivores, but there are some foods that
are better than others in meeting those needs.  But there is nothing
available to our ferrets that even remotely comes close to being as
nutritionally complete as a whole prey food item such as a mouse or baby
chick.  I raise mice specifically for our carnivores.  I purchase chicken
500 pounds at a time.  I also buy as many frozen rabbits as possible!  A
mouse contains no preservatives, no additives, and the only vegetable
matter you'll find, if any, in a mouse would be in its gut.  Each of my
ferrets receives 3-4 mice per week.  I've been doing this for several
years and I've made some simple personal observations.  Not only is their
poop firmer and less stinky, but they poop less than my few ferrets who
refuse mice.  The reason is simple, a mouse is so nutritionally complete
that most of it gets digested, so less is pooped out.  The less stinky
part comes also from a lack of fillers/additives/etc... Additionally,
although kibble is always available to them, they barely touch it.  It's
not so much that they don't like it, but they don't need to eat as much
or as often, because their nutritional needs are satisfied.  So what do
my ferrets look like?  They are extremely muscular and meaty from head to
toe.  Their coats are silky soft and glisten.  They play for hours on end
in their play yard (which is filled with sand, by the way - gasp).  And
how do they act?  HEALTHY and LOVABLE.  With the exception of one
youngster who arrived nippy, our ferrets are very cuddly and loving (in
between dancing and dooking).  Even our unaltered males are complete
lovebugs.
 
I generally prefer to feed pre-killed mice to the ferrets for several
reasons.  First off, most of my ferrets haven't displayed the speedy kill
tactic that their wilder cousins would.  This means a slow death for the
mouse, which I don't particularly find pleasure in.  However, several of
our ferrets possess the ability and character to kill a mouse within a
couple of seconds - the same or less amount of time it would take for the
mouse to be "pre-killed".  For these ferrets, it's an additional sensory
enrichment before the enriched meal.  People should remember, however,
that EATING the mouse is the enrichment goal.  There's no NEED to watch a
ferret chase, tackle, toss, roll and mame a poor mouse - especially if
the ferret then just buries the dying mouse.  If you want to demonstrate
that sort of ferret behavior, hang a feather from the end of a stick and
you do the work!
 
So, if you don't feed mice to your ferret, does that mean you're an
inadequate caretaker?  Absolutely not!  Most people can't stomach the
thought of feeding mice.  That's okay, as long as it's not based on myth
or misconception.  Feeding mice or meat does NOT make an animal
aggressive!  It's not like the taste of < whisper> blood is going to
unleash the psycho killer within.  If that were the case, I certainly
wouldn't allow my cats to share my pillow at night........or at the very
least I'd be missing an eye, which I'm not.  Additionally, some people
think that domestication involves a radical change to an animal's
nutritional needs.  When people argue that they don't feed mice to their
ferrets "because ferrets are domestic animals", I have to ask, what does
that have to do with anything?  A mouse is still more nutritionally
appropriate for our domestic pet than man-made kibble.  Your domestic pet
will still be domestic.  The only difference is that it might be a little
more nutritionally satisfied, and I dare say, healthier for it!  I can't
prove a correlation, but I haven't seen adrenal disease or insulinoma or
blockages in any of my ferrets for a very long time.  Coincidence?  Ask
the Europeans.
 
If you can't do it, you can't do it.  Remember: "To the best of your
ability."  But please don't bash the people who do it for the nutritional
value.  If you're sitting on the fence, do what others have done.  Find
someone who feeds mice and bring your ferrets over for a trial lunch
date.  You don't even have to watch.  If it's the live mouse thing that
bothers you, get them frozen or fresh pre-killed.  That's what one of
my volunteers does ;-)  She gets the fresh killed mice from me.  6
months ago, she would've puked at the idea or at least fainted watching
the ferrets at mealtime.  I'm so proud of her openmindedness and
advancement ;-))))  But she does still hold the little "mouse baggie"
with the tips of her thumb and forefinger (pinkie in the air) as though
she's holding the world's most toxic dirty diaper.
 
Wanna learn more about feeding a "more natural" diet?  Do a google search
on BARF.  No kidding.  Just do it.
 
Getting your ferret to eat mice? Well that's whole other subject.........
start 'em young...
 
Kim S
[Posted in FML issue 4213]