Thank you to everyone who replied to my post and or contacted Purina.  I
was asked why I don't just feed my ferrets on the Proplan Turkey & Barley
the Totally Ferret Food instead.  Here's why:

I used to feed all my guys a mixture of Totally Ferret, Ultimate, Iams
kitten food and Marshalls.  This way if a ferret came in chances are they
ate one of these and could pick out of the bowl what their preference
was.  When I rescued Houdini, he was dumped off at the Animal Rescue
League on the Thursday before Memorial Day.  He had severe ECE, horrid
hives covering most of his face (swollen lips, eyes, mouth, bloodied ears
from incessant scratching) and weighed less than a pound.  I was being
called in as they figured he had only hours to live and wanted him to
pass away in a nice place as the vet wasn't coming in until after the
holiday to euthanize him.  He was scary to look at, and when I picked
him up, he moaned.  I never heard a ferret moan before like that so
with a tear-filled face, I drove straight to my vet office.

Even though he was in pain and weak he kissed my face.  I brought him to
my vet and we thought maybe he was allergic to something on top of the
ECE.  We put him on feline ZD food which is used for cats with allergies
to stabilize him.  Although he will eat this food, it has hardly any fat
in it, and a low percentage of protein.  This was a short term solution
and this food would not sustain a ferret.  I tried Lamb, Veal, Beef as he
is severely allergic to Chicken.

Eventually I got him to eat the Totally Ferret Food with Turkey bits.  He
can sometimes digest it without the litter box and vomiting problems, but
he still gets horrible hives from it.  Imagine greeting your ferret in
the morning to vomit all of the cage, and a ferret face with eyes swollen
shut and bloody ears from the scratching he did while so miserable from
the hives.  Miserable doesn't begin to describe how he feels when he eats
a couple of pieces of another food.

I switched him to the Proplan Turkey and Barley and he was like a new
ferret boy.  He eats with gusto, he gained two pounds, he plays and
dances around like a little fool.  Then all the others started to steal
his food.  Then they all wanted it.  My senior ferrets with various
medical issues thrived on this food and lived to almost ten years old.
When I do a rescue and can't figure out what it is that they will eat
being stressed, they almost always choose this ProPlan.  I tried the
Turkey and Rice, it binds them up and they have problems eliminating.

Houdini would have died without this food.  He has had three good years
on it as well as my other ferrets.  While I can maybe switch my other
ferrets to another food.  Houdini will have to be by himself (away from
his other seven buddies) to ensure that he doesn't eat even a few pieces
of another food.  I tried to give him the Totally Ferret Turkey yesterday
and this morning his was grinding his teeth, throwing up and had a huge
bloody hive on his face.

I'm scared for him, I ordered as much of this food as I could to stock up
but once I run out, his complications will multiply, he will become ill,
and his food allergies will be fatal.

He is not the only ferret who has these problems; there are others who
depend on this food as I do.  So far no reply from Purina, it doesn't
look good.

With all the other things we do for the ferrets, take a moment to
shot off an email to: [log in to unmask] and or call their
customer service area gathering details on whether they should continue
this Turkey & Barley ProPlan formula: 1-800-776-7526

Diane Wall, South Shore Ferret Care
[Posted in FML issue 5269]