I had a conversation recently with Tom Willard of Totally Ferret, regarding
the high cost of his ferret food.  I have purchased TF for my own ferrets
and for ferret shelters I support when I have a few extra dollars.  I live
in Connecticut where there aren't any local distributors.  I had to buy my
TF by mail; no small cost.  I lived with the price because after 15 years of
experimenting with different foods, I found there was a visible difference
in the health of my ferrets.
 
Why does the food cost so much?
 
** TF buys the highest quality and most costly ingredients to produce their
food.
 
Apparently there are a minimum of 4 GRADES of chicken and poultry by-product
meal that pet food manufacturers can use for ingredients.  The consumer has
no way of knowing , by label information, WHICH grade is in the product
they're buying.  TF uses ONLY the highest grade products.  They cost more.
 
** TF processes their food differently than typical pet food manufacturers
 
Ferrets have unique digestive sytems.  They can't digest raw starch .....TF
uses specialized equipment and technology to process the ingredients so that
.....they keep their protein and vitamin content, as well as the correct
balance of .....some 60 nutrients.  They cook the food with a difficult
technique that ensures the .....correct texture, uniformity and food value
.so that the ferret can eat and digest it .....with the most efficiency.
.....Specially built and equipped machinery must be purchased to produce TF
in this .....intricate manner.  The machinery is built to perform at very
accurate specifications.
 
It is very expensive.  .....The process itself, is time consuming..takes
much longer to produce than other ......pet .foods .....The longer a process
takes, the more money it takes to produce.Time is money.  .....People must
be trained to maintain and run the equipment as well as learning the
.....specific procedures involved with preparing, mixing, cooking and
testing the .....product.  Because these techniques are not routine to the
usual production of.pet .....foods, employees have to be specially trained.
Training costs time and money.
 
** TF does not produce its food in volume
 
TF is manufactured as it's ordered.  It is not produced in volume as other
pet foods ....are.It is made on a 'just in time' basis to meet customers'
immediate needs.  TF does ....not sit onthe shelf for months at a time.  It
is .guaranteed to be fresh and current.  ....The product is not allowed to
age as that might compromise the quality.  That kind of ....short term
production does not lend itself to large volume.  It is more costly to
....produce short runs.
 
**Distribution
 
...Distributors do not tend to buy TF in volume, so they increase the price
to make the ...profit they require.
 
 **Scientific Research
 
All of the ingredients of TF are scientifically researched, analyzed and
selected by ....experts to provide 100% of the exact nutritional ingredients
needed by a ferret+s ....physiological ....internal system and metabolism.
There are only a few experts with ....that kind of ....advanced education in
ferret nutrition
 
Well, I think I covered all the things he told me.  My phone bill was
climbing to the cost of a medium sized bag of food, so I rather stopped the
good doctor midstream in his enthusiastic explanation.  There have been so
many questions about the price of TF and I had the same questions soI'm
sharing the answers I got with anyone interested.
[Posted in FML issue 1641]