There are several of us in the East coast breeders circles experimenting
with meat and bone in ferret diets.  We use the standard kibble as the basis
of the diet.  With the importation of some English ferrets we've added
various meat products to the diets.  Some of us had already believed that
one of the possible reasons for fewer cancers in English ferrets than
American ferrets was dietary so these new ferrets helped in something that
had already started.  I personally believe in the value of 'meat
by-products' in the diet.  This is a reason we use Iams over the other
brands.  I had a person from Nutro try to sell me on Nutro Max Kitten
because it didn't have by-products, couldn't explain to her that is why I
didn't want to use Nutro.  Watching dogs you can see that they want to eat
bones, especially the marrow.  We are limitted to what meat products are
easily obtainable in this ultra-suburban township we live in.  We buy odd
cuts of meat from the local groceries.  Pork shank slices were a favorite of
the ferrets.  We microwaved the slice to kill possible bacteria.  Tossed the
slice in to the ferrets.  Next day all that was left was a little white ring
that had been ejected from the cage.  Bob is not alone in trying to feed
'better' than dry kibble.  We see we have a lot we could learn from Bob on
this as well.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1389]