I was absolutely swamped by notes from people, too many to send
individual notes with our current family needs, so one more note
before I shut up to answer those people, and this is also because
I had an unfair omission about differences AMONG kibble types that
I am kicking myself about.

So, here are some basics from what bits I know:

Study results on feeding raw (having read a large number) are very
mixed and when taken ***as a whole*** do NOT indicate better health,
nor do they indicate longer lives.

There is only ONE thing that all the study results agreed on: the
animals had better coats, but we all know of at least two other
instances with ferrets in which better coats do not equate to better
health or longevity: ferrets who have coats replaced by adrenal disease
meds but whose illness is not simple neoplasia or not early enough to
avoid it quietly continuing to grow, pretty fancy ferrets whose
genetics simply don't allow for good health or long live. So, this
might be one more case where coat is not a good indicator of other
things. It WOULD be very interesting the know for sure which components
lead to better coats and the mechanism(s) involved and on which part of
the ferret, for example it may only be dermal effect. Some mechanisms
can have other implications if pronounced enough, but at this stage
any postulations would be quite a leap even though intriguing so...

It does look like some kibbles can wear teeth differently BUT WHICH
KIBBLES? That is actually an incredibly important question because the
different types are made very differently. Not only would knowing the
answer to that be most fair to those who make kibbles but it would be a
guideline which could help them with future choices, but what is needed
is a careful study, of course. It also begs the question: DOES THE
DIFFERENCE IN WEAR HAVE ANY IMPLICATIONS THAT MATTER OR IS IT JUST
SOMETHING DIFFERENT? Pardon me for shouting, but those are actually
very important questions that tend to be overlooked and I am kicking
myself for doing exactly that during the recent hard days in our
extended family.

Most of the people who I have read in the past (lacking time recently)
who feed raw are new to ferrets so they still don't have a long picture
and they don't have anything that is known well enough to compare.

Having asked some people who have fed raw long enough to about
longevity I find that some refuse to give their typical ages of death
or to say what medical problems their ferrets do get. There are ones
who do, of course, and they don't appear to talking about any
difference in longevity once a person separates out plain old fashioned
lines that aren't fancies. In fact, one friend used to have long lines,
but changes in life had that person in a situation where the ferrets
were no longer from the original sources, and some fancies also wound
up in the family. That person still does all the husbandry the same
way, including raw feeding, but the more recent ferrets are much
shorter lived and less healthy. It really brought home the problems
that can exist for animals who were bred for looks rather than for
health, longevity, and personality.

Now, some who would not give longevity or health info did say their
ferrets are happier with raw feeding. Are they? I simply don't know.
If so, is that true in general? Again, I simply don't know. I also
don't know which kibbles that was in relation to.

Back before there were good kibbles and before raw feeding took off
there also were dramatically fewer fancy ferrets out there, and even
on the food that is not as good as today's foods it was not in the
least unusual for pet ferrets to typically get 7 to 10 years of life
(over 10 years). Not only that, but the number of people reporting very
long lived ones was much higher. Such reports in the U.S. have been
incredibly rare ever since fancies became so common, and there seems
to have been a very noticeable trend to shorter lifespans.

The biggest things about food choices are these:

1. Don't feel guilty if you feed a balanced diet of ANY type. Your
choices do NOT need to be the same as anyone here. It is up to you. If
you feed raw, fine. If you feed kibble, fine. If you feed a balanced
cooked diet, fine. If you feed a mix, fine.
2. Know the downsides as well as the upsides of any dietary choice you
make so that if something goes wrong you know how to respond, and so
that you can avoid some risks.
3. Suit the diet to the ferret's needs. Remember to weigh risks. For
example, if a ferret has kidney problems or is past a certain age
enough that the kidneys might be a bit compromised them reducing
phosphorous and upping Omega 3 Fatty Acids can become important. That
may mean a dietary change, such as increasing the proportion that is
lower in phosphorous such as egg (according to a vet who isn't ours)
and adding fish oil (not cod liver oil which is too high in Vitamin D
for many members of Carnivora) which decreasing other protein sources,
or it may mean decreasing protein levels in general to protect the
kidneys since chronic kidney disease can be such a limiting factor.
SO BE SURE TO DISCUSS DIET WITH THE TREATING VETS AND SUIT IT TO
INDIVIDUAL NEEDS.
4. (It bears repeating again.) Don't feel guilty.

Sukie (not a vet) (Requesting no more private notes on this, please. We
had a death in our human family last week, yesterday was the one year
anniversary of Dad's death, and there are number of responsibilities
and needs on-going, so I want to keep the amount of personal mail down
for a while.)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 6233]