>Could anyone give me good reason NOT to feed my babies Science Diet
>Feline? Scientific facts are not necessary to support your theories BUT
>personal experience is appreciated on this one AND if you are a shelter
>director, even better.
Science Diet foods were basically the first high-quality pet foods to
become readily available to pet owners. They're actually not that good. I
don't have the label in front of me right now, unfortunately, but I'll tell
you some of what I can remember. Science Diet is made with lots and lots
of preservatives, some of which have been linked with causing cancer in
animals--and cancer is such a problem with our babies that the extra risk
isn't a good idea. It's also mostly byproduct. Read the label and look
for chicken or lamb meal--good sources of protein--NOT "animal meal," which
can be anything up to and including ferrets or lab rats. There shouldn't
be any ground corn in the food -- this goes for dogs, cats, and ferrets --
because it's less digestible than other fibers like rice. Look for mixed
tocopherols as a preservative instead of BHA--they're a source of vitamin
E. And look for ground flaxseed somewhere in the list; it's a good source
of fatty acids that are not only good for the coat, but also have been
linked to cancer prevention. You're going to want at least 30% protein
and 18% fat. Fiber should be low--3% or lower is good--because ferrets
don't actually need it.
I've done a lot of nutritional research when deciding what to feed my
critters. I settled on Nutro Max Cat or Kitten (depending on whether I'm
feeding a cat or a ferret). And before anyone flames me for feeding
ferrets cat food, I really HAVE done my research on this one, and the Nutro
is at least as nutritionally complete as all the ferret foods I could buy
locally. Totally Ferret is probably better, but extremely expensive
compared to the Nutro. Besides, all my furries steal from the cat food
bowl all the time anyway. :-)
My actual reason for writing is just a little (very uplifting) story.
Dennis and I and a friend or two brought the whole crew to the park
yesterday for some fresh air. The fuzzies love their outings. We fended
off the normal crowds of kids, chased the occasional ferret who was chasing
a squirrel, and experimented with swimming in the duck pond. Fun. Did
you know ferrets could climb trees? Straight up the side of it like the
squirrel she was hoping to eat for dinner.
Anyway, we fended off a bunch of kids ranging from irritating to dangerous,
talked a few animal lovers--and then six people came down the path toward
us. Three of them were in wheelchairs--developmentally disabled young
people. Lauren, Julie, and Gary. Luckily, one of their caretakers is a
ferret lover, so she stopped and admired the babies. We have three
ambassador ferrets, Tess, Winter and Simon--ferrets we never, ever have to
worry about. Pampered babies who never nip, and are used to being handled
by all kinds of folks. So each of the handicapped folks got to hold a
ferret for a while.
They all loved them. Lauren was the most talkative--she kept making us put
the ferrets back in her lap. Julie didn't have much of an affect, but when
Winter kissed her on the chin she broke into a beautiful smile. And Gary
grinned from ear to ear when Tess tried to go up his shirt sleeve. They
all got kisses and cuddles, and Simon bedded down in Lauren's lap like he
was never going to leave--much to her delight. When it was time for them
to go, she said, "Bye, ferret!"
It brings tears to my eyes to remember. I felt so wonderful. These three
young people who don't have the abilities most of us take for granted also
lack a lot of the enjoyment we get out of life. If you've never seen it,
it might be hard to understand, but a smile on the face of someone who
has to make an effort to smile is an amazing thing. Speech from someone
essentially non-verbal is too. Our fuzzies really made a few people very,
very happy. Including me.
Jen and the Crazy Business plus lots (more in tomorrow's FML!)
[Posted in FML issue 2697]
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