>From:    Kevin Gifford <[log in to unmask]>
>
>My kit's pushing 11 months old now, and I paid the breeder a visit last
>week with the guy.  There I got to see two of my ferret's siblings, who
>were being boarded there over the weekend.  I had my ferret with me, so
>I was able to make a direct comparison -- surprisingly, compared to my
>ferret, these two were longer (more strung-out), thinner, less muscular,
>and more out of shape.  Even the shapes of their heads were different --
>my ferret's head was wider and broader, while their ferrets' heads were
>noticeably smaller.
 
Rest of the post aside... this is exactly the same reason I believe that
natural feeding is better for my ferrets.  Of my first two ferrets, one
(Ruben) was adopted when he was about one year old, the other (Finley)
bought at about eight weeks.  I never intended to feed them dry food -
I've never beleived that dogs or cats should be fed only dry food, so why
should ferrets be any different?  And besides, of the resources I found
online, everything outside of America indicated that dry food was fairly
unhealthy for ferrets (my local ferret club, in fact, insists that its
members feed at least partially meat).
 
In any case, Ruben had already been fed solely on dry food for his first
year, and while we loved him tremendously, he was never an overly healthy
ferret.  Even though he wasn't desexed until adulthood, he was always
small and skinny, never too lively, and generally always seemed very...
fragile.  Finley, on the other hand, got nothing but natural food during
his formative years (now, since we have the opportunity, we make sure
it's hormone- and antibiotic-free) - and he became one of the biggest,
fluffiest, healthiest ferrets I've seen.
 
I don't know if the difference in diet has affected their lifespans, but
Ruben passed away not long after he turned two (a respiratory condition),
and I've never stopped wondering if perhaps things might have gone
differently if hid diet has been changed earlier.  Around December will
be Finn's second birthday, so I guess we'll see.
 
In short, I have no faith in dry food to keep my carnivorous pets
healthy.  To me, it's so simple that there's really no argument - they
were made to eat meat, so I give them meat.  Even the best recommended
dry foods have worthless grains and such, which everybody agrees are at
least unnecessary to a good ferret diet, if not detrimental.  And who
even /knows/ how much actual meat is in that "meat and meat by-products"
heading?  At one point, I gave my boys cat biscuits because I didn't want
to have to clean up their stinky meat stashes - but then, I realised, it
was phenomenally selfish of me to give them what I felt was an improper
diet because cleaning up after them was icky.
 
As for diseases, maybe I'm a tad blase about it (I'm told that's typical
of Australians), but I've never been any more concerned about catching
bird flu than car crashes or shark attacks.  It's just another way to
die - I don't let any of those stop me from living normally, and that
goes for my ferrets too.  I think the health benefits of having a
high-quality natural diet far outweigh the risk that they might catch
whatever livestock disease the media is yapping about this year.  I
just don't see it as something to worry about.
 
I'm looking forward to trying them on rabbit too, when I can get ahold
of it, since they (as opposed to what I generally hear) seem perfectly
willing the try new foods all the time (not saying that's because of a
natural diet - just that I'm lucky ;p).
 
In short, Kevin, I think you're right.  I've had beautiful fantasies of
someday setting up a reputable network of breeders in this country, who
can produce consistently healthy babies and educate buyers /properly/.  I
really think that a natural diet is the most significant step any of us
can make toward that ideal.
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fox Lee: The Girl Your Mother Warned You About
http://hypercrescendo.net/foxlee/fls/
http://www.furbiddenrealms.com
http://blurty.com/users/leechimera/
 
"A longbow says, 'I learned archery the hard way, you crossbow-wielding
gits.'" - Bob MacFie on style
[Posted in FML issue 5193]