I too come from the "way back when" group who owned ferrets in the late
70''s early 80's, a time when there was little information available on
how to care for ferrets.  My first ferret, Hobbie, came from the local
zoo where he was fed the same diet that the lion's and tiger's and bear's
got (well not quite...but it was a raw meat type of food supplemented
with kibble).  When I brought him home he was unneutered, so he would
have been between 2-3 years old when he got sniped.  I fed him "grocery
store" kibble and canned dog food and he lived to be 12 years old with
no serious health issues until well after his 7th year when he developed
an adrenal tumor.
 
Over the last five years of working with the Alberta Ferret Society I've
spoken with many people who also had ferrets "way back when" and who also
fed what today we would consider totally "inappropriate" diets (cheap cat
food/table scraps etc).  The one thing I found in common with all of them
was that they each claim that their ferrets lived to be between 9-12 years.
 
I've never given a lot of thought to these statements but after seeing
similar posts on the FML I'm starting to wonder.  I wonder why, when we
were doing everything wrong "according to today's beliefs", it seems that
our ferrets lived longer and healthier lives than they seem to be doing
today!!  Is it just coincidence or is there something that we're missing
or overlooking?
 
Barb Gustafson
Alberta Ferret Society
[Posted in FML issue 3953]