Q: You have talked about nutrition before...can you tell me what time in a
   ferret's life is nutrition the most important?"
 
A: About the time they start eating your toes.
 
Good question.  IMO, it is throughout the entire lifespan of the beastie,
because each phase has its own specific nutritional requirements.  There is
a real danger answering this, because discussing each phase could be a post
in itself, and keeping things short can lead to misunderstanding.  So to
start off, let me say the best diet is one you and your vet choose for your
individual ferrets.  Got it?
 
With that said, I think the most *critical* time of nutrition is the first
year of life, because in the ferret, that is the time they grow and mature.
I have probably a thousand papers that indicate growth rates and adult size
are directly proportional to nutritional levels during this critical phase.
Within that year, probably the most important times are 1) Suckling, 2)
Weaning, 3) Initiation of Juvenilization, and 4) Juvenile to Adult Growth
Spurt.  I'm not a breeder, but I can say with authority that larger litters
result in either diminished size of all, or the runting of a few, which is
why so many breeders either kill the "surplus" or pass them off to foster
mothers.  Weaning is a critical time for all infants (and prehistorically a
major factor in infant death); there is a major growth spurt here, as well
as an increased need for energy to make up for the newly acquired skills of
running around.  Most kits are obtained during the initiation of
juvenilization, about 6 to 9 weeks old (I define the phase ending when the
teeth begin replacement) Kits can double their size during this period, and
poor nutrition will *stunt* their growth.  The juvenile to adult phase
starts about 4-6 months, when the boys get really big.
 
If growth during any portion of any growth phase is effected for *any*
reason, the result is often a reduction in the final size of the beastie.
Think of growth in terms of a genetic potiential; your DNA says "This is the
maximum size your body is programed to grow." You can get fatter, but you
cannot get larger (excluding pathological problems).  If everything goes
right, healthy mother, you eat well, no injuries, no disease, etc., then you
have a good chance of reaching that maximum potiential size.  But because
your skeleton has it's own clock, the growth plates can start to fuse before
you reach your final size if you are suffering from undernutrition.
(Undernutrition is not the same as malnutrition; with undernutrition, you
can progress in life fairly normally, you just don't reach your potientials.
Malutrition is vastly more severe) The evidence for this is staggering; even
in humans, a good diet during growth results in bigger people.  The mean
size for Japanese males has increased dramatically since the end of WWII,
attributed to better nutrition.
 
It also results is healthier people, provided overnutrition doesn't cause
health problems.  Ferrets are no exception; I've seen dozens of runty
ferrets (and other animals) die 5-6 weeks after birth because of health
problems caused by undernutrition during infancy.  Undernutrition reduces
the body's ability to defend itself-not as much as in malnutrition-but it is
still impacted.  Resistence to infection has been shown to be significantly
lower from undernutrition compared to the normal.  The bottom line is, if
you want your ferrets to be as large as possible, they need to eat well that
entire first year of life, until they reach skeletal maturity and growth
shifts from the bones to the gut.
 
Bob C and the 20 MO Furry Worms
[Posted in FML issue 2103]