To Gary, (and anyone else struggling with finding a good ferret food....)
 
I am sorry that somehow you believe Trish and Tom Willard are charging
unfair prices for thier food.  There are several things that I would like
for you to consider before passing judgement.
 
First, take the time to compare ingredients in the foods.  There are lots of
cheap foods, even ferret foods, on the market but if you compare ingredients
you can soon figure out why there is such a difference in price.  An example
is Iams Catfood compared to the price and ingredients of Wal-mart's brand of
catfood.  Many companies use lots of corn and other lesser expensive
ingredients in their foods solely for the purpose of keeping the price down.
They can also calculate the protein and include that *plant protein* in the
total percentage figure on the label, hoping consumers don't understand that
the portion that is plant protein is totally useless to most carnivores,
especially ferrets.  Now, you will also find corn in high quality foods but
in lesser amounts (farther down in the ingredient list) because corn is used
as a *binder* and works well for that.
 
*Meals* are not the same as *by-products*, or the same as the actual whole
ingredient.  You have to learn yourself to read and understand ingredient
labels.  Don't rely upon what stores tell you, they are not ferret experts,
they are *retailing* experts.
 
Secondly, many food manufacturers have not done research and testing
themselves as to what the nutritional requirements are for the domestic
ferret, they simply copied something someone else was doing, and many times
mink diets are copied.  Mink are a different animal and mink are not raised
for longevity, they are raised and fed to offer the best *coat* and are
usually killed at a relatively young age.
 
Other points to conider are ferret foods often contain fish meal and fish
oils to *entice* the ferret to eat it.  Well, believe me, offer a ferret a
good, nutritious diet and there will be no problem with them accepting it
unless they happen to be *hooked* on another food by a fishy or sweet taste
they grow to like.  Then it will take some work, but they can be switched,
and often live healthier, happier lives for it.
 
Experience is a great teacher.  I have had a great deal of experience with
ferrets here who arrived on crappy, cheap ferret foods, and grocery store
catfoods.  I have fed a variety of foods here with fair success at bringing
them back to health quickly, but I have not seen such drastic results with
any food like I have seen with Totally Ferret.  I also like the amount of
fat, and the types of fat it contains.  Fat in a ferret's diet is just as
important as the protein because without the right type and amount of fat,
the ferret will be unable to process the protein.
 
So what if it costs?  I *don't* want a cheap food for my kids or the shelter
kids.  I want the food that meets their needs.  Compare, too, the price of
Totally Ferret (roughly $2.00 per pound according to your figures) to the
cost of a food formulated similarly... the Iams Kitten food.  Here it costs
about $15.00 for 8 pounds (more in some places) so there is not much of a
difference.  Quality costs all across the board no matter how you slice it.
 
Shape is a very important consideration too.  Ferrets have a rough time
chewing the pelleted foods, one kid here always chokes if there is pelleted
food in her bowl.  Put yourself in their place, how hard do you think it
would be to chew if your teeth were pointed like the ferrets' and you were
given something round and hard to eat (similar to marbles).
 
Personally, I do not care for Science Diet for ferrets because of the high
corn content and the unusually hard and pelleted shape of it.  I have a
little girl, Sammy here now who came in on this food.  It took some doing,
but I have her switched now to Totally Ferret and Iams Kitten and she is
eating twice as much now, she has gained weight and her coat is in much
better shape now.  I believe she is more playful and happy now too.  That is
worth every penny of the difference in cost (though SD is pretty high too).
 
The real problem is that most of us (myself included) simply lack the
education and training to *understand* nutritional needs of ferrets,
formulation of foods, significance of ingredients and methods of processing,
etc., etc..  This is why I base so much on results I see with my own eyes.
I do not feed 8 in 1 foods here at all, nor do I use Kaytee, L & M, and
others, I use to, but I have found foods that give far superior results, why
would I even consider going back??
 
Sorry if some disagree with my opinion on this subject, but as a shelter
operator I have *had* to learn everything I can on the subject of nutrition
for these guys and I am very pleased with what I am seeing here now, as
compared to when I first started with ferrets and *believed* the cheap foods
were just as good as the more expensive.  That is simply not true.
 
If anyone is interested, I have an article on foods and how to read
ingredient labels written by Pam Grant that I will photo copy and send to
anyone who will send me a SASE, and I have Pam's permission to do this.  You
may find it enlightening, as I did.
 
My address is Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter   3801 Zion Hill Loop
Weatherford, Texas   76088........................thanks.
 
Kisses to the fuzzies.
 
Trish
[Posted in FML issue 1621]