I have no argument with Bob or Linda on carbohydrates.  Just an observation
about carbohydrates and mustelids.
 
My ferrets eat a mixture of ferret and cat kibble.  But once a day, and
sometimes twice a day, they get a giant bowl of Bob's chicken gravy.  Some
of them also enjoy small amounts of raw meat once or twice a week.  The
chicken gravy is slightly modified from the original recipe--I put in more
fat.  The upshot is that our ferrets get a whopping big dose of protein
and fat at least once a day, far beyond what dry kibbles could supply.
 
Observations:
 
Hogley came to us a year ago with a rather rough coat from a shelter.  His
integration into the business was hard on him, and he wouldn't eat much but
the worst cat chow.  (Now he's happy and eats properly.) He developed an
enlarged spleen and swollen lymph glands.  I expected him to develop
full-blown lymphoma.  Amazingly, he hasn't.  His spring coat, coming in
now, is noticeably softer.  The cavities in his back teeth appear not to
be growing.
 
Joe also had an enlarged spleen when he came last year.  This spring his
coat is downright silky (it had been just ordinary), and his spleen, though
still enlarged, is somewhat less smaller.
 
Chester developed galloping adrenal disease shortly after he arrived, and
had major surgery.  His fur is coming back (even on his 'rat tail') and it
is softer than before.  He acts like a different ferret these days, and is
the first to try to dash out the door.
 
Blackfoot has the softest coat I've ever felt on a ferret.  She's is active
and inquisitive at age 4.  (She and Silver came from Animal Control--they'd
been seized from an awful home.)
 
Silver, who had severe ECE, got quite fat for a time on this diet.  She
used to do nothing but sleep and was a sorry looking bag of bones.  Now her
fur is luxurious, and she has become a champion backstroker, 'swimming' on
her back through the play tubes.  She also likes to climb.
 
Ivy, Nameless, and Killer were Marshall Farms babies from pet stores.
These three are robust.  No signs so far of any disease.  (They're all
1.5 to 2.5 years old.)
 
Evie is a frail old lady.  She is very thin, thinly furred, hasn't a great
deal of energy, and probably has kidney disease.  But...she survived being
attacked by our cat, she survived a severe overgrowth of clostridia in her
intestines, and she is right now seeming to survive another intestinal
illness.
 
Fang, Attila and Hannibal are the babies, less than a year old.  These boys
are stocky, beautiful, hyperactive little stinkers.  (Attila will bark, and
I mean bark, at anyone who tries to mess with his raw meat.)
 
A good diet isn't a cure-all.  Joe and Hogley may yet develop real lymphoma.
And the diet didn't help Lily, who had adrenal disease.  But it sure does
seem to make them look good.  Grinding piles of chicken into ferret food
month after month is a pain, but I do think it is about the most valuable
thing we do for these critters.  A high fat, high protein diet seems to
really pay off.
 
Jacqueline
[Posted in FML issue 3014]