I have recieved several anonymous postings regarding what type of food
wild carnivores eat (especially mink); the motivation (I believe) is to
improve the quality of life of the fuzzies.
 
To start off with, I DO NOT advocate the use of any wild animal as food, for
any reason.  You are taking risks with your little beasties--REPEAT: DO NOT
FEED YOUR FERRETS DEAD WILD ANIMALS!  There are too many diseases they can
catch.  Remember the beasties' wild kin evolved half way around the world;
the little guys may not be resistant to many North American pathogens.  If
you insist, then never let the beastie come into contact with the animal,
and cook everything thoroughly.  There are other reasons I am against
offering wild animals as food, but I will discuss them at a later date.
 
Regarding bulky foods/dietary fiber.  As part of an honors thesis, I looked
into 42 bobcat and 112 mink stomachs (the animals had been killed by fur
trappers-You already know my opinion of the practice.  I used the source
because it was a resource literaly being thrown away).  I did the same thing
for 24 coyotes, but compared the stomach contents to the scat contents.  The
results were quite ill-lumin-ating (my only pun....I promise!)
 
From the animals investigated, upwards of 35-40% of the contents were
undigestible roughage; fur, bone, insect carapaces and legs, grass and other
vegetation, twigs, and small stones were most common.  (I also found bits of
plastic and metal).  Two animals were suffering from partial intestinal
blockages; a bobcat had swallowed parts of a garden hose, and a mink had
swallowed a fishing lure.  In both cases, the animal had eaten large
quanities of grass.  I never found hair nor hairballs except when caught on
pieces of metal or plastic that remained in the stomach.  Several of my
resources state that carnivores regularly eat grass or other herbs to help
the hair through the gut, which makes sense.  Wet hair is slippery, and
crushed cellulose had all kinds of projections which can catch the slippery
hair.  The presence of insects, fur and bone is self-explanitory.  The
stones and twigs probably got there as the carnivore ate food on the ground.
A good way to get minerals....
 
Just because an animal is a carnivore does not mean that it doen't need
undigestible bulk.  I am not a vet, just a zoologist, but I have often
wondered if some of the intestinal blockages we hear about might have been
prevented if the carpet sharks had access to a patch of grass or herbs.  In
any case, there is good evidence that felines with access to grass have
fewer hairballs.  (Might this help explain why many of our companion pets
have this thing for our companion plants?)
 
If you can stomach it, (ok, two puns) watch some of the nature programs
showing carnivores feeding, and you will see they eat hair, hide, bone and
toenails--very little is wasted. Yet our carpet sharks eat food with very
little roughage.  I do not know of a study which has addressed this
problem in carnivores, specifically Mustela putorius (furo), but I wonder
what kind of long term health problems can be caused by this unnatural diet.
 
What I do is simple.  First, I grow grass in a pot that has been covered
with hardware cloth/screening wire (1/4 in).  As the grass grows through the
holes, the cat and ferrets can "mow" it down.  Bast the Cat no longer has
hairball problems, nor do any of my fussy fuzzies.  Second, (I know I'm in
for it now...) I give my beasties (*gasp*) BONES.  Usually the bone is
poultry, and it is cooked until the middle part (diaphysis) is slightly
soft.  They will eat the ends (Epiphyses) to get to the marrow cavity, and
sometimes eat the diaphysis as well.  I will also give beef or pork bone,
cooked but not soft.  The bone to too thick to be fractured, but the porkers
love chewing on it anyway.  (In my defense, polecats and feral fitch eat
uncooked fish, rodent and poutry bone with no ill effects; they just crunch
the bone up and swallow it.  However, they are eating all parts of the prey,
not just a little cooked flesh on naked bone.  Undigestible bulk comes to
the rescue again...)
 
Last, as long as they maintain health and vigor, I let them eat a variety of
foods; some, like raisins, may mostly be bulk and sugar, but so what?  I
have found that ferrets are quite capable of deciding what is good for them
to eat.  Excepting Stella (who has been ill), my beasties have beautiful
coats, strong bodies with little extra fat, and are otherwise downright
healthy.  The ONLY time I have seen the fuzzies gorge on something is when
it has limited access (like ferret jerky!).  I have six small bowls wired
together, (Bone, cooked poutry/beef, Excell, Iams, Science, and wet Iams),
and each ferret will take turns at each bowl depending on preference.  Many
times, they will eat from each one.  Also, if the beastie is craving
something, I assume they are trying to fill a metabolic need, and I give it
to them.  When the kits were in their major growth phase, they craved bone.
They would eat more bone than anything else.  Now that they are adults, they
eat very little bone, and I throw most of it away.  (Spoiling foods are put
in a little plastic bowl which fits inside the main bowl.  I make several
weeks worth of 'spoiling' food at one time, snap on the lid, label and date
it, and plop it in the freezer.  When I need them, I defrost it, then drop
it in the bowl.  When finished, throw away the excess, wash the container,
and repeat.)
 
As for mink food, depending on the composition, it should be fine.  Most of
the mink ranches I have visited made their own, and it seemed to contain
lots of fish and poultry waste.  Most mink ranchers are only looking trying
to raise the kits for a single season, and feed to maximize the fur coat.
This may or may not be compatible with our little furballs; but it depends
on the exact composition of the food in question.  Remember, polecats are
not mink; they fill different ecological niches, and eat different prey.
Polecats eat lots of insects, rodents and small nesting birds.  They also
eat fish and other small mammals.  I have caught my couchivores munching on
crickets, spiders, and cockroaches.  I no longer allow the house to be
sprayed for fear the beasties may poision themselves.  How do you tell a
sprayed cockroach to stay out of the ferret room?  I would rather live with
the occasional insect visitor.
 
Bulk and minerals are very important, and seem to be lacking in most modern
diets.  While it is true that the beasties seem to eat until full, so if the
stuff is low quality they may not be able to eat enough to maintain health,
it is also true that with a high quality diet, roughage will not hurt them
at all.  It may in fact be very good for them.  If all it does is makes them
happier, whats wrong with that?  (Some of you vet students now have a thesis
or project to work on...the effect of roughage on the long term health of
ferrets...send me a copy.)
 
Stella has gained a third of her weight back, and is running around the room
looking for trouble.  Her shaved patches make her look rather comical, but I
have promised her I will not laugh.  The blood work came back normal all
around, except for a slight increase in WBC (normal with infections).  The
vet thinks Stella just missed me, became anorexic, which lowered her
resistence enough to get the urinary tract infection.  Who says ferrets
aren't loving pets?  Thanks to all who sent nice notes and wonderful
suggestions.  All are appreciated and valued.  (I read them to Stella as I
feed her.)
 
My goal now is to make my little guys as happy as the beasties running Troy
Lynn's household.  I wish the SO would take care of me as well as the TLE
Sprite takes care of her carpet sharks ;-}
 
Bob (thats with one "o")
Moose, Stella, Daye, Tori, Bear, Apollo, Foster, Buddy, and Razz.
Stella says, "Would you be quiet and give me some more of the Good Stuff?"
[Posted in FML issue 1387]