Hello fuzzie lovers!  Me again .... I ve recently stumbled across a dry
kibble product that I m curious to hear some input on.  (Disclaimer: For
those of you who do not support the use of dry kibble products, ferret
specific or otherwise, I am sure you will probably not have positive
input and that is not what I m looking for this is primarily directed at
those who DO use dry kibble ferret food or high premium cat food).  And
please keep in mind that I am a very conscientious, thorough, responsible
and well-meaning ferret owner and with every product I use, it is not
without thorough investigation and a personal, satisfactory level of
research all with the ultimate goal of providing my furballs with the
most optimum care possible.  (Also note that I am NOT endorsing this
product in any way just trying to pass along what I feel might be good,
helpful information, for what it s worth)!
 
Having said all that, here goes the product I found (which will purposely
remain nameless until you have read the ingredients, to avoid unfair
pre-judgment) contains the following ingredients and analysis:
 
Crude Protein (min) 36%, Crude Fat (min) 22%, Crude Fiber (max) 2.5%,
Moisture (max) 12%, Taurine (min) 0.17% So far, so good I believe.
**Ash is not listed anywhere on the analysis or ingredients!
 
Ingredients: Chicken, chicken meal, brewers rice, fish meal, corn gluten
meal, beef tallow, corn meal, egg product, beet pulp, animal digest,
phosphoric acid, potassium citrate, etc..  (it goes on to list other
incidental supplements).
 
In comparing this to 9 other well-known name brand ferret specific dry
kibble foods, it appears that this product stacks up reasonably well?
If nothing else, this product (in my opinion) could safely be used as
at least a supplement to a ferret s regular diet of a more premium end
ferret food.  In doing my ferret food comparisons, what I ve found is
that there will always be one or two more optimum ingredients that one
product will have more of than another but that same better product will
lack in another area or areas, whether it be in the actual ingredients
or in the analysis breakdown so what I always try to do when comparing
anything is look at the OVERALL content.  In that respect, this is why I
feel that this particular product holds it own right up there with the
rest of them.
 
So what IS the product you ask?????  WalMart brand Maxximum Nutrition
Super Premium Cat Food Chicken and Rice Formula for Kittens.  I guess the
reason I was hesitant to say the brand name right off is because I felt
that just hearing Wal-Mart would immediately dissuade all of you readers
(just like it did me until I actually read the package myself).
 
So unless I m missing something here (or am just behind the times, or am
not doing a proper ingredients analysis), this seems like a pretty good,
nutritionally sound ferret food and my kiddos really like it, too (they
won't even touch Eukenuba products and don't care much for Totally Ferret
either, unless that's all there is).
 
I m curious to know if there are any other ferret owners out there
currently using this product or any that have previously used this
product in the past and what your opinions/thoughts are about it.  And
for those of you who might think this is not a good product, I am
interested in knowing why you would not or no longer use it but would
prefer your argument be based on solid evidence and reason rather than
personal opinion.
 
Thanks in advance for your input!  Peace and joy to all those owned by
their wonderful, loving furballs!
 
Jennifer, Sasha & Snowball in KC, MO.  ([log in to unmask])
[Posted in FML issue 4174]