This message is regarding a post from about a week ago from
[log in to unmask] about feeding her ferrets twice a day with raw
food.  I tried to send directly to the poster, but the mail got bounced.
Here are my opinions:
 
Ferrets should be given access to food almost constantly.  Feeding a few
times a day severely taxes a ferret's system, and the ferret will wolf down
the food you give them (because they are literally starving and trying to
make up for all the smaller missed feedings they should have had throughout
the day).  Bingeing and starving is unhealthy for ANY animal.
 
Why is this the case?  The ferret has an extremely fast metabolism and
needs constant nutrition to support the energy burn.  They have a shorter
digestive tract because they don't have the apparatus to digest fiber or
certain kinds of proteins.  The normal complete passage of food through a
ferret's digestive tract is about 2-3 hours (for adult humans it is about
12).  If I have an ill ferret who needs hand feeding and has no access to
other food, I have to feed every 3-4 hours, all day and all night.  Many of
my ferrets are "free range" and on their own, and they visit the foodbowl
every 2-4 hours throughout the day and night for a bite to eat.
 
As someone with extensive master's level coursework in animal nutrition, I
have to disagree with your statement:
 
>I know that no dry food is going to have the nutritional value of raw, or
>cooked fresh food.
 
Raw meat (without bones and organs) does not have the balance of amino
acids necessary to digest proteins properly and is actually quite an
unbalanced diet.  Raw meat also has the danger of having parasites and
bacteria.  If you live in the United States, you should know that USDA
standards for meat assume that it will be COOKED, so they let through a
lot of parasites and bacteria (that are inspected for in Europe, for
example, where there is more raw meat consumption by humans.)  After my
3-month USDA meat inspection class, I would never ever consume or feed
raw meat sourced from the United States.
 
Cooked meat is better (at least to kill the germs), but still can
contribute to an unbalanced diet if the meat is not ground with bones,
marrow, organ tissue, skin, fur, feathers, etc.  However, cooked/mixed
meat, supplemented with other healthy sources of protein and fats that
ferrets need is pretty close to a lot of the kibbled and pelleted food you
can find on the market today.  My favorite foods, by analysis, are Totally
Ferret, ZuPreem, and a ferret diet by Kellogg's that may or may not be on
the market yet.  You are correct that the process of heating foods can
decrease nutrition -- however, the high-quality commercial ferret foods ADD
extra nutrition to make up for the loss, which is something most people
don't know how to do at home (given that few people have the chemistry
analyzers at home to see what needs to be supplemented).
 
If you want to feed your ferrets home-made meals, go ahead and feed twice
a day, but also allow them free access to dry foods so they can remain
healthy.
 
Being close to nature is great, in which case you should grind up lots of
whole mice and feed to your ferrets.  However, ferrets in nature have a
much shorter lifespan than our house ferrets; many succumb to various
parasites in their natural diet.  In the domesticated ferret's case,
"close to nature" could mean a shorter lifespan for your ferrets.
 
- Erika Matulich
 
[Moderator's note: About that "[log in to unmask]" address:  Some
subscribers send in posts with a "spamsucks" or a similar phrase added to
their email address to thwart attempts at automatic "harvesting" of email
addresses by spammers.  For the last few months, ALL posts from invalid
addresses are brought to my attention (automatically) and usually are not
accepted, but I do make an exception for subscribers who use this method.
But it certainly DOES cause confusion... BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2920]