My two ferrets are chocolate standards, and for as long as I've had them
(over a year) they have had brown fur for the chocolate part and creamy
yellow for the light face areas and undercoat.  Until recently.  I'm not
sure exactly when it happened but today I noticed that the fur that has
always been yellowish was bright white!
 
I'm assuming this is diet related.  The bad news is I've made several
changes in their diet, so I'm not sure exactly which one may have made a
difference.  Normally they are on a mix of Iams Kitten and 8 in 1 about half
and half, with some occaisional ferretone.  Over a month ago (I'm not sure
when) I changed the mix to 1/2 Totally Ferret, 1/4 each Iams and 8 in 1.  I
wasn't expecting a color change from that because I've read that TF can
cause yellowing in white ferrets.
 
The other changes-a few weeks ago I started to add supplements to their
food.  I grind up about 2 cups of the mix to a powder and feed it as mush;
to the powder I've been adding:
- Taurine 1000 mg (2 500 mg capsules which also contain the B6)
- Vitamin B6 20 mg
- Coenzyme Q 30 mg
 
The mush mix is about a 10 day supply; regular kibble is in another bowl at
all times.)
 
I ran out of Ferretone about two weeks ago and haven't ordered more yet.
(Order goes out tommorow.)  Now I know, some of you are thinking that the
thought of being without Ferretone would turn the hair of *any* ferret
white!  But they didn't get a lot to begin with.
 
The only other diet change is that I've been a bit lax (no pun intended)
about giving then Petromalt for the last few weeks and they haven't gotten
much.
 
If I figure out which it is I'll post about it.
 
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2344]