Keith has a 6 week old kit:
Yes that is too young.  We don't let ours out to the general public before
about 11-12 weeks.  At 8-9 weeks they are still with their mamas.  Ferret
ranches are in the business of pumping out kits not in the business of
keeping kits with their mothers.  If they pull there kits early the
mothers are more likely to go back into season.  At 6 weeks a kit should
be able to eat but might need moistened food.  At that age we feed our
totally ferret food mixed in with Science Diet A/D prescription food that
we get from our vet.
 
Jaya, Ang and Nikki were looking for a new coompanion:
Some people claim thatbreeder ferrets are 'healthier' than petstore
ferrets but I don't believe that.  I am a breeder and have seen cancers
in both pet store and breeder ferrets - all breeders that I've known.  I
prefer private breeder ferrets for other reasons.  Later neuter/spay
leads to more properly developed adults.  What you should think about
doing is going to the Big Apple Ferret show in White Plains (outside NYC)
where there will be a lot of breeders with kits (including us).  SHows
are fun anyway with lots of stuff other than ferrets to buy.  If needed I
can post a phone number for Big Apple Ferrets who is running the show.
I'm sure it will be posted before the November 11th show date.
 
Kelleen was describing Lab Ferret food:
The food seems to be too high in protien and too low in fat.  Should be
more like 32-36% protien and 20-22% fat.  Most cat foods are too low (and
kittens foods as well) so a mix will make the protien look fine.  The
quality of the protien loks pretty good.  Grians protien such as corn and
rice is not very digestible by ferrets but with high chicken and even
beef content the protien should be most useable.
 
Some people are getting freaky about Ethoxyguin.  They think it is a bad
chemical but I don't it is a poblem.  It preserves the fat and rancid fat
is more likely to be problematic than Ethoxyquin.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1340]