Carol writes
>I recently asked about adding soy oil or such to the chicken gravy for
>added fat and was told, essentially, that ferrets couldn't use it
>because it is a vegetable fat.
 
This makes lilttle sense to me.  Maybe the person thought you meant soy
protein.  As far as I know, ferrets can digest vegetable fat as well as
animal fat.
 
The concern may be the overall makeup of the fat, ie, the amount of
saturation/unsaturation.  For humans, too much saturated fat is
considered bad.  The fat composition in Pretty Bird's Natural Gold Ferret
Food is designed to match the fat composition in a mouse.  Besides the
soy oil and chicken fat, it has coconut oil, which as a highly saturated
fat is considered bad for people, but may be good for a carnivore like
the ferret.
 
Linda Iroff
[Posted in FML issue 4305]