I am a fairly new ferret owner, and have been feeding my babies Iams Kitten.
They love it, and it seems suited to them nutritionally.  I am worried,
however about the sort of vague references to the preservative ethoxyquin
causing cancer in ferrets and perhaps dogs and cats, too.  I asked my vet
about it.  He deals with lots of ferrets, as they are very popular here, and
he seems very knowledgable about them.  ( I sort of quizzed him with some of
the info I have gleened from the FML, as well as AOL's numerous ferret
bulletin boards, just to make sure.)  He had heard about these claims, but
didn't seem to think that they had been proven at all, and he saw no reason
for me to switch foods.  His office does not sell Iams products, so it's not
that he's trying to make a buck at my fuzzies' expense.  So,  I guess my
question is this.  Have there been any verified, scientific studies linking
ethoxyquin to ferret cancer?
[overly protective ferret mommy mode off]
Thanks,
Gail, Tigger & Roo  (BTW, Tigger and Roo say "Hi!" to the other fuzzies of
the same names we've seen mentioned here.)
 
[Posted in FML issue 0741]