[Moderator's note: Guess there was also a part 19 a couple of days back,
but this part 19 is different than the last part 19 :-)  BIG]
 
The most difficult aspect of improving ferret diets is not in the research
of nutritional needs, nor in the decision to make changes in the foods
offered to the ferret.  The single most difficult aspect of changing the
ferret diet is getting the little boogers to eat the stuff.  You can offer
food that would make a grown polecat weep in joy, yet the little fuzz butts
look at the stuff, sniff, and walk away.  Put some in their month, and they
spit it out with a look that essentially says, "Do that again and I'll poop
everyplace BUT the litter box!"
 
The difficulty lies in the food imprinting mechanisms of ferrets.  Ferrets
may have a deeply ingrained instinct to attack small animals that move in
specific directions and speds, but food preference are completely learned
from the mother ferret and caretaking humans.  Ferrets are taught by their
mother what is good to eat before their eyes are even opened and those
choices are imprinted--via the ferret's sense of smell--within the brain.
By the time a ferret is weaned and kicked out of the nest at between 4 and
6 months, its food choices are (for the most part) completely determined
for the rest of its life.  The ferret still has a slight ability to add new
foods for a few months, but by time the ferret is a year old, its food
preference imprinting is essentially set for life.  Notice the imprinting
is not visual but through the sense of smell.  That means, if it don't
smell like what they think food should smell like, then they will not think
of it as food.  To CaCa Land people, this means ferrets will not go out and
hunt local game; they might kill something that runs in front of it, but
because they don't recognize a duck or a mouse as food, they don't actively
seek it for eating.
 
This imprinting is very difficult to overcome and in some instances may be
impossible to override.  There are a few tricks that help, but for older
ferrets with very little experience with varied foods, it may be next to
impossible to change, and that possibility must always be expected.  Its
the old story of too little too late.
 
The best thing is to start when you first get a new ferret, and give the
little beastie a wide and varied diet for the first year of its life.  This
will most certainly prepare the ferret for the type of natural diet their
physiology (and perhaps psychology) requires for optimum health.  Start
young, and feed them everything, and you should have no future problems.
As for the older ferrets, there are a few tricks that have worked for me.
 
Ferrets that have never had bone will rarely know what to do with the stuff.
First, get the ferret used to eating a chicken baby food, then dip the ends
of the chicken bone into the baby food to stimulate interest.  This is also
a good way to get them to try pieces of chicken meat, although I've had to
graduate from chicken broth to creamed chicken to tottler's chunky chicken
to real chicken to chicken bone to finally get the acceptance I was looking
for.  Once they discover the stuff is tasty, they will accept it without
much problem.  I find the chicken baby food can sometimes be difficult to
get into some ferrets, but found puting some on the tip of my finger, then
wiping it on their nose causes them to lick it off.  Mixing the chicken
50-50 with heavy cream will help to stimulate interest.  Do this a few
times, then maybe squirt some in their mouths and most will come to love
the stuff.
 
Making the food *smell* like what the ferret thinks the food should smell
like is another effective trick.  I use an expresso-type coffee grinder
(cost about $13) to grind the preferred kibble to a fine dust.  These kibble
grindings can be used to coat an unknown kibble, making it acceptable, or
can be used to scent the more natural foods in a similar manner.  This is
actually quite effective, and the finer the power, the more effective the
treatment..
 
Removing all food for several hours, then offering the new food--coated with
the kibble dust--can be effective, but only when the ferret is more than
slightly hungry.  This is the time a lot of ferret people give up; keep the
faith and allow hunger to help make the switch.  Sometimes I offer a piece
of the old stuff, a piece of the new, and back and forth until both types
are being eaten.
 
My last resort trick is to grind kibble to a powder, as well as the new
food (if meat, grind to a paste).  Mix the two together, and moisten with
neutrical or ferrettone.  Form the stuff into small balls, and allow to
dry to a "new" kibble.  Once they start eating it, you can back off on the
amounts of the kibble until they are eating nothing but the new diet.
 
Finally, remember taste is mostly smell; think about the way things taste
when you have a cold.  It is probable that your ferret may have a better
sense of taste than you do (they have about as many taste buds as we do, but
have a sense of smell far superior) and I'm sure not all kibbles taste as
good as others.  They certainly can have a different taste and texture than
"natural foods," so expect some individuals to simply not like something
based on individual preference.  I don't like beets, why can't a ferret
simple not like the food you are trying to introduce?  If your ferret has a
particular seasoning it is wild about, try using some if it you disguise
the new food.  For example, Bear loves Taco Bell hot sause, and if I put a
little on anything, he will eat it.
 
Finally, you have to realize ferrets are hardwired in their response to
new foods after the olfactory imprinting stage is completed, and getting
them to accept new foods is the biological equivalent of rewiring their
brains.  It is not easy and in many cases it might be next to impossible
for the ferret to make the switch.  Use common sense in your approach to
introducing new foods, like a gradual introducion rather than a sudden
one, or introducing a new food that is silmiar in texture or smell to
another food.  Gradual shifts seem to be easier for the ferret to accept
compared to sudden or drastic ones.
 
Bob C and 20 MO Ferrets De Maniac
[Posted in FML issue 2340]