I just have to get into this debate a little bit.  I feed my ferrets a
mixture of Totally Ferret and Iams Kitten.  The Iams Kitten was added to
their diet because I have to mail order Totally Ferret and I don't want to
risk running out, a shipment being late, receiving a "bad" batch, or any
other number of risks when mail ordering.  Iams can be purchased in many
locations locally and is always available.  I don't want any animal on only
one food.
 
Four months ago, I took in a little boy, believed to be between 5 and 6
y.o. whose owner took him to be euthanized because of a tentative diagnosis
of insulinoma.  She had him for 3 years and the previous owner is thought
to have had him for 2-2 1/2 years, thus the guess at his age.  To make a
long story short, my vet asked me to take him and, with the owner's
permission, he came to live with me.  He was terribly underweight as he
hadn't been eating.  He was finally taken to the vet when he had a seizure.
I was fortunate to be able to talk to the previous owner and found out he
had never had any vaccinations (what medical records??) and ate Friskies
Ocean Flavor food.  OK.  I grit my teeth and bought the Friskies and
started mixing in little amounts of the TF and Iams mixture.  I finally
have him on the "good" stuff, with the Friskies as a little treat.  It
took about 3 months.  He was given lots of Duck Soup to get his weight up
and it worked.
 
Don't suggest that I don't know what the Friskies has done to him
internally.  He did have surgery and I was right there observing.  He did
not have insulinoma, just a rubber thing in his tummy and horrible looking
teeth, a result of no vet visits and no owner examinations.  Those two
things are why he quit eating, lost weight and had a low blood sugar crash.
Both were taken care of and he's now a plump, totally healthy, active
little boy!  I saw his internal organs and they were all very healthy
looking (according to the surgeon).  Two biopsies were taken (one from the
pancreas and one from a node) and both came back completely clean.  His
coat is softer , thicker, and shinier than my others.  Maybe cat/kitten
foods are not the best for ferrets and, certainly, the "cheap" foods are
not ideal but, if Cedes is any example, he is a healthy, active big boy,
inside and out.  And, I can say that his insides are very healthy after a
lifetime of no medical care and cheap cat food.  As soon as the surgery
ended, I decided that, if he absolutely refused to start eating the "good"
stuff, I would let him continue with the Friskies.  Fortunately, I was
eventually able to get him to change.
 
I'm not advocating feeding ferrets cheap (or not so cheap) cat foods or no
medical care.  Just giving you one example where the food didn't seem to
make a difference.
 
Katharine
[Posted in FML issue 3089]