TlS writes:
>Personally, I feed kibble, always have. I let the ferrets eat Beneful
>puppy food because they like it, I give them Marshmallow mateys because
>they like it, I feed a liquid kibble/AD/supplement recipe morning and
>evening, I let them eat from my plate if they want to, that includes
>cereal, pasta, pizza, whatever I'm eating that won't cause a possible
>blockage or cause them to be sick. I've had hundreds of ferrets since
>1985...
The things you are allowing your ferrets to eat "because they like
them" is to me appalling and life threatening to them! The fact that
you are a"Domestic Ferret Information, Education, and Welfare Public
Service Organization" and an "International Ferret Congress Advisor"
(as listed on your .org page via your link) is even more disheartening
that you aren't offering your ferrets more appropriate food.
I fully understand that kibble is a food choice many people will
continue to offer their ferrets. It is, after all, convenient for the
humans to use. Open the bag, pour into a dish and the ferret is fed!
Simple. But not necessarily beneficial to the ferret. But the labels
tell the humans everything their ferrets could ever need nutritionally
is already IN the bag. So the human can have peace of mind they are
doing what is best for the ferret.
Even knowledgeable kibble feeders will recognize that dog food has no
place in a ferret's diet! Especially "Beneful" which isn't "beneficial"
at all to the ferret (much less the dog)! The primary ingredient is
ground yellow corn followed closely by, corn gluten meal, whole wheat
flour, rice flour, soy flour, then it has sugar, sorbitol, (which are
sweeteners); these ingredients have been known to cause intestinal
blockages in ferrets: dried peas, dried carrot; and ferrets don't
derive any benefits whatsoever from these dyes:Yellow 5, Red 40,
Yellow 6, Blue 2
Who in their right mind allows ferrets to eat Marshmallow Mateys?
Nothing in their ingredients will benefit the ferret at all! The
high sugar content is not beneficial to their already carbohydrate
overloaded system. Whole grain oat flour with oat bran is the primary
ingredient followed immediately by marshmallows made with sugar,
corn syrup, corn starch, dextrose and the dyes yellow 5,6; red 40
and Blue 1!
Cereal, pasta, pizza have no place in a ferret's diet! I see on your
website how you also recommend making a tea from raisins for already
sick ferrets. Raisins are known to be toxic to carnivores and should
never be fed to ferrets. Yes, I know many people have done it for
years and years - which only proves that doing something the same
way for years only means it is a habit, not that it is correct!
If a specific kibble was in fact "nutritionally complete" and "totally
balanced" as so many of them claim to be, then why is it necessary for
you to be mixing 22 different types of kibble? If you are mixing 22
different types of kibble together are you also using dog and cat
kibble? There certainly aren't 22 different types of what is considered
QUALITY ferret kibble.
Encouraging people considering what to feed their ferrets to search
"archives"; then blithely listing numerous potentially harmful and
decidedly NON nutritious items as being perfectly o.k. to feed, because
you've fed such things to hundreds of ferrets for years, is in NO way
encouraging people to make responsible choices regarding their ferret's
health!
Regards,
Kim
please visit :
for ferret help and info:
http://holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi
http://ferretopia.proboards51.com/index.cgi
yahoo groups Natural Ferrets
for fun:
www.vanityferret.com
[Posted in FML 6062]
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