Holy Crap, Fertman!  You got so many Natural Gold questions it put your
inbox in the toilet!
 
Ok, I don't have a sidekick who would energetically Boff! and Zowie!
my curiously dressed enemies, but I did get emailed questions from 27
different people.  If I had a week of free time, I still couldn't answer
each individual email in the depth they deserve.  Since many of the
questions overlap one another, I'll just pull out the most representative
and post answers here.  There will be a number of questions answered
during the next few days, so be patient.
 
Q: why won't my ferrets or cats except this food?
 
A: The ultimate reason is because Natural Gold does not SMELL like other
ferret foods, and ferrets become extremely olfactory imprinted on food.
So much so, it is not unusual for ferrets to stop eating when owners
change their food, or for ferrets to become anorexic when a food is
discontinued or reformulated.  This is not an instinct, but is rather a
physiological response during early growth and development.  You can no
more prevent it than you can float in the air.  The only thing you can
do is to feed a wide range of foods while the ferret is a kit.  After 6
months to a year olfactory imprinting is complete, and the ferret's brain
is hardwired to only recognize imprinted odors as food.
 
Natural Gold smells different because it has a lot less carbohydrates
and they use oil in the process of manufacturing.  I wish there was a
commercially available product that mimicked the smell of other foods
that you could spray on a new food, but there isn t.  The FML archives
are loaded with advice on how to get ferrets to eat a new food, which I
recommend you read.  The bottom line is that in older ferrets, because of
olfactory imprinting, they will be reluctant to try the food, especially
if they have only been fed a single type, and they will ALWAYS prefer the
food they imprinted on as kits.
 
These recommendations can be used to introduce ANY food:
1) remove all food, wash and bleach the dishes, then only offer the
   new one.
2) Using a pestle and mortar, small coffee grinder, or food processor,
   grind the old food to a powder, pour a half-cup into a gallon zip-lock
   bag, add 3-4 cups of the new food, and shake it up, baby!  Use the
   zip-lock bag to store the food until dispensing.
3) Mix the new food with water, and spoon or finger feed it to the ferret
   (this is fun because a new food almost always makes the ferrets act
   like they are poisoned- -very funny!).
4) Mix equal portions of Nutrical and olive oil, dilute with water to
   make a liquid that can be sprayed, and spray down the new food.
5) Mix 75% new food with 25% old food, and heat the mixed food in a
   microwave to disguise the scent.
6) You can try just mixing the old and new food, which might work, but
   from my experience they just dig out what they want.
7) Pour some duck soup or Bob's Chicken Gravy on the food, whichever they
   like best.
8) Don't give up; it takes take some time, so use your tricks every
   single day if you really want them to work.
 
Q: Can I mix the Natural Gold with water and spoon feed [my ferret]?  The
Natural Gold people suggested I do not do this because water mixed with
anything creates a bacteria pool and so this mixture would not last long
if it sat out for a while.
 
A: You can do it, but the advice is sound; the wet mixture WILL grow
bacteria.  This is true of any food, not just Natural Gold.  You are
basically making a nutrient rich soup- -hard for bacteria to ignore.
However, you CAN do it as long as you spoon feed your ferret and
discard what is not consumed.
 
More questions answered tomorrow.
 
Bob C
Communication?  [log in to unmask]
Questions?  [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 4571]