Ferrets have extremely particular predilections in food, due mainly to
the phenomenon of olfactory imprinting.  By the time a ferret is 3 months
old much of their food preferences are set, by 6 months they are almost
entirely set, and by a year dietary inclinations have been "hard-wired"
in the brain.  Regardless, taste enrichments have value to stimulate the
ferret even if the presented treats are not accepted as food.  The goal
is not to teach the ferret that particular taste enrichments are supposed
to be a meal, but rather to stimulate the sense of taste (although giving
favored foods is also enrichment).  When Moose was declining in health
and near death, he was too weak to enjoy physical enhancements, but those
that he could participate in included taste and visual enrichments.  Here
Moose is sampling beef jerky paste (homemade beef jerky blended with beef
broth and Nutrical) while being bopped with a feather toy.
 
http://homepage.mac.com/billgruber/fml/taste.html
[Note: image is large -- apx 5.3MB  BIG]
 
Bob C
[Posted in FML issue 4209]