>I do not care how many years anyone has done anything, IT DOES NOT
>MAKE YOU RIGHT!!! If you never try it and keep at it for the same
>amount of years, then you have no way to compare the results.
Are you proposing that natural feeders spend decades feeding kibble
rife with plant matter and carbohydrates to their ferrets and watch
their teeth deteriorate, watch them become obese, lethargic and suffer
systemic and intestinal irritations before they can comment about the
improved health their ferrets experienced while on a natural diet?
Are you saying that before one can move forward in a progressive manner
that it becomes necessary to do things "the old way"? That'd be rather
like forcing someone to learn to ride and drive a horse before they
could be allowed to drive a car. Or staying in the kibble vein - would
you propose that those feeding "high end, quality kibble" have to feed
their ferrets store brand cat food and dog food in order to then
justify their observations of improved health since their ferrets have
been eating better kibble?
What a novel idea - Back pedal to move forward, oh yeah, that's
progress. Geesh!
>There ARE certain kibbles out there who provide almost 99% the same
>diet as if a ferret ate whole prey.
Oh really? And which kibble might that be? I know of no star shaped,
crusty, crunchy, dry-matter whole prey animal running around hiding
from predators! Certainly, I have never observed, nor read of any
freshly grown kibble or plucked any kibble from a tree!
Ferrets and Polecats are not routinely spotted browsing wheat stalks,
oat groats or corn cobs. Ferrets aren't thriving on blueberries, diving
for kelp, or grazing clover and alfalfa fields! However they HAVE been
helping humans for thousands of years to keep these fields, orchards,
barns and storage areas free of the hordes of rodents and rabbits that
devour such plant stuffs! THAT is PROVEN historical fact!
>Do you RESEARCH FIRST and then go for it.
I have, and continue to do so, and will continue to share my findings
with the ferret world. Why do so many veterinarians and even the kibble
manufacturers themselves repeatedly say that natural prey diets are
ideal for the obligate carnivore known as the ferret?
>Totally Ferret has done EXTENSIVE research to make sure their kibble
>is as close as possible to whole prey. DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST.
Then why do any requests for such studies go ignored? How can a company
only in business a dozen years have done "extensive" research?
I have used Totally ferret kibbles in my transitions and upgrading of
kibble quality for my adopted ferrets, but I've never been deluded to
think that kibble even comes close to whole prey! That's rather like
saying an apple flavored pop tart is the same thing as an actual apple!
Let's compare "Whole prey": Rodents and rabbits are the staples for
ferret and polecat natural whole prey diets.
To Kibble: Nope - don't see mouse OR rodent listed as any ingredient
in Totally Ferret OR any particular kibble diet! Kibbles typically use
Chicken or turkey meals and by products as their supposed "main"
ingredient. But did you read the links I posted previously regarding
how kibble ingredients get listed? They get listed by weight not volume
of the ingredients BEFORE processing. Animal by products and meals will
have considerable moisture weight BEFORE processing, but once mixed,
extruded or pressed, cooked and dried will no longer be a major part of
that kibble! I HAVE done considerable amounts of "research" - much more
than just putting blind faith in a pretty label!
Enlighten me, and tell me what whole prey animal that is made of:
Chicken-By Product meal. Rice flour. Dried egg product (of which there
are three grades and the particular grade used is not listed). Wheat
flour. Corn Meal. Herring Meal. Dried beet pulp (which they do not
mention if the beet pulp is plain or has molasses added which of course
increases the sugar content of the kibble). Dried Brewers yeast. Whole
ground flax seed. Vegetable oil.
It is perfectly understandable that people will have brand loyalty -
but to presume an item cooked, processed, made of a multitude of plant
stuffs is somehow a replica for a whole prey food source is truly an
exhibition of blind faith!
>I would like to know who actually feeds WHOLE PREY and who feeds
>LIVE WHOLE PREY, I really think there is a huge misunderstanding
>and everyone needs to get their wording right FIRST!
There is no difference between WHOLE prey and LIVE prey. Live prey is
whole prey. "Whole" denotes feeding the animal to the ferret in its
entirety. Some people make a distinction and use the term "Whole prey"
to denote the food animal is already dispatched (dead). Live prey of
course means feeding the animal in its live form and letting the ferret
dispatch it. Both methods mean the WHOLE animal is offered as food
for the ferret. Whole prey is also noted by many vets and kibble
manufacturers as the ideal food form for ferrets, but it is also
recognized that many humans are squeamish about offering recognizable
whole prey to their ferrets. Kibble manufacturers prey upon this
squeamishness and play it up too in the hopes that offering their
particular substitute product will part you from your money and put
it in their pockets!
I feed whole prey in inanimate and animate forms as well as raw meaty
bones from whole prey sources. Those of us who do offer whole prey
often note that the ferrets will NOT eat the digestive tracts of the
prey which puts a huge dent in the statements by kibble manufacturers
trying to promote their plant matter based product that ferrets in the
wild" would be eating plant matter. Even for the few ferrets that do
devour the intestinal tract of a mouse or a rabbit - the percentage
of plant matter in those intestines is certainly no where near the
percentage of plant matter found in kibble!
Of course the standard statement needs to be repeated. We all know that
whatever food is offered to the ferret is ultimately the choice of the
human, not the ferret. Responsible caregivers WILL do research and
usually try to offer the best they can. If people can accept that one
kibble is better than another, why is it so difficult to accept that
feeding whole prey and natural forms of raw meaty bones is ideal for
ferrets?
It can be extremely difficult to let go of what is familiar and to see
first hand that what you though you were doing was fine could actually
be inadequate. Even kibble manufacturers make improvements upon their
own recipes based upon new information will the consumer negate the
manufacturer's improvements because the product was doing ok for the
past "X" years?
Keep an open mind and broaden your horizons, do your own research, talk
to people who HAVE been feeding natural species appropriate foods every
day and make your own decisions. Its your ferret after all!
Cheers,
Kim
[Posted in FML 6241]
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