From 1986 but finally made it to Pub Med.

As we all know, introducing new foods to sick ferrets can at times be
difficult, depending on the individual, but it is not impossible. Some
foods introduced later can even become strong favorites.

We make a point of trying to introduce things which might be needed
later in life BEFORE their need -- yogurt with live cultures, banana
for potassium, cranberries and blueberries for UTIs, all meat baby
foods, pasteurized egg yolk, etc. then the ferret does not need to
first learn that food during a time of illness when it can help but
only relearn the food.

Here is that study from decades ago:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24924694

QUOTE

Behav Processes. 1986 Apr;12(4):363-81.
doi: 10.1016/0376-6357(86)90005-7.
Imprinting on prey odours in ferrets (Mustela Putorius F. Furo L. )
and its neural correlates.

Apfelbach R.

Abstract
The effect of different feeding conditions during ontogeny was
investigated in the carnivorous ferret. Behavioral tests and cardiac
responses towards known and unknown odours as well as food choice tests
showed that in this species olfaction plays an important role for prey
recognition. Yet, the knowledge of the prey odours has to be learned
during a sensitive phase which was found to exist between postnatal
days 60 and 90. In adult ferrets, searching for prey can be elicited
reliably by familiar odours, unknown odours are not reacted to. The
maturation of the granule cells of the ferret olfactory bulb around
the time of prey odour imprinting has been analysed. Rapid Golgi
impregnation studies reveal a temporal overshoot in the development of
the spines on the external dendrites of the granule cells. Electron
microscopical examinations of the synaptic contacts in the external
plexiform layer indicate that the time course of synapse and reciprocal
synapse formation is similar to that of the formation of the spines on
the external dendrites. The results show that the maturation of the
external plexiform layer with respect to the number of dentritic spines
and synapses, occurs at a time when the animal is most sensitive to
olfactory imprinting stimuli.

Copyright (R) 1986. Published by Elsevier B.V.

PMID: 24924694 [PubMed]

END QUOTE

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