Hey Everyone,
 
My vet actually came up with this, and I am going to try it out.  Science
Diet has had a food called TD for dogs for quite a bit.  It is formulated to
help clean the teeth as it is chewed.  Recently they added a much smaller
kibble for cats.  The ferrets tried it as a bribe from the vet.  LOL!!  She
was trying to make nice with them.  They went nuts over it.  So I am going
to start adding it to the other food I feed (Totally Ferret), about 5 lbs.
to 30lbs of TF or so.
 
On milk, all I can say is that it is probably much different for animals
than for humans.  Speculation on what little knowledge I have on the
subject.  Cow's milk has much more nutrition than human milk and may be
linked to early maturation in humans as a result.  Human milk is very lean
nutritionally.  Also, the protiens are much larger and as a result, can be
easier absorbed by babies, whose intestinal tract is still growing.  As we
mature, we loose some of the ability to digest milk protiens.  But I do
think that the hypothesis that regular comsumption of dairy actually helps
your body learn to digest it.  My step-mom, as common with many Oriental
folk, has trouble eating any dairy.  She didn't eat it as a child at all in
post war Tokyo and still has to watch it after 40 years in this country.
 
This bears on ferrets I believe on several points.  They can probably digest
it better than most humans to start and the regular consumption helps get
their tracts used to it.  I have living example.  I eat lots of dairy, have
cereal or yogurt every day, sometimes more.  Love cheese.  And unless I want
to eat standing up, I share EVERYTHING I eat with the Pookster.  She can
climb any furniture in the house and demands sharing.  So she has dairy,
mostly milk, on a daily basis along with many very high fiber foods (which I
eat for my diverticulosis).  She is very healthy, happy and isn't ever sick.
Didn't even get the flu.  But most importantly, she has only had diarrhea
one time from eating with me, and that day she had 6-8 bite size shredded
wheat biscuits.  And trust me, the output was definately related to the
cereal.
 
She also gets hunks of chicken and pepperoni (can we say pizza?), chocolate,
malt o meal, Dr. Pepper, Cafe Mocha, pasta (not sauce), ice cream, nuts,
etc.  The only thing she eats that I worry about is rubber.  She loves
rubber.  Has had two surgeries because of this.
 
I haven't yet gotten the nerve up to feed her bones, although that is a
purely emotional decision and not one borne of rationality.  I realize full
well that carnivores eat damn near anything they can in the wild, including
most parts of the carcass.  Hell, hyenas who have very strong jaws (I know,
scavengers) will even break apart the large bones in animals to eat the
marrow left.  Watch a nature show on carnivores, any carnivores, and you see
very little left when they get finished.  That is exactly what all those
sharp teeth are for.  And biting me when I clean ears.  ;-)
 
A nd I would have to think that bones would help keep the little beggars
teeth cleaned too.  Perhaps someone can extrapolate on this?
 
There are probably a lot of things I do that most would take exception too.
Perhaps it is a more practical outlook than most Americans have with their
pets, I honestly believe in letting the animals be animals.  I don't let
them run the place (outside of Miss Stella and Pookie) but I do try to
understand and allow for natural behavior.  This means I treat dogs
different than cats (pack beha vior) and ferrets different from cats.  I
will not tolerate things from the dogs that I regularly let the ferrets do.
This is because ferrets, although fine in groups, are more solitary animals
and think in a different manner.  Dogs NEED the alpha control or they just
plain get out of hand.  Now I don't make the dogs completely subserviant to
me, but they will listen when important, I always teach commands such as
"drop." Handy when they try to eat something they shouldn't.
 
I also understand that I do lean towards a more human diet sometimes with
the ferrets, but not all my guys will eat like the Pookster does.  So I
allow the animals judgement to play a part, I think they are more smart than
people a lot of times in this respect.
 
Ok, Ok, off my soapbox.  hehe.  Basically it just amounts to this, ferrets
are a lot stronger than a lot of folks give them credit for.  You can play
rougher, they will tolerate more food, etc than you think.  Try it, you
might just love the results.
 
Margaret and the Mid Missouri Mob of Mustelids, run by Miss Stella and Miss
Pookie Bear.
 
She don't want to save my life, she don't want to be my wife
but oh, the games we play....she's too good for me
 
Sting
[Posted in FML issue 2127]