Its easy to sit on the commercial pet food bandwagon and toot your horn
in synchronicity with the big bands of commercialism, especially when
one is the recipient of donated commercial foods. And some commercial
foods have been the staple diet for many animals only resulting in what
most veterinarians as well as "experienced" people claim are normal,
accepted and expected health maladies in that particular animal.

And its lots of fun to sit on that band wagon with a whole parade of
like minded individuals proclaiming how wonderfully convenient it is
to feed something they personally didn't have to think about! A whole
platoon of people safe in the notion that such a pretty package with
its reassuring label of offering "complete and balanced nutrition",
"USDA inspected", "taste tested", "new & improved", and "veterinarian
approved" could ever harbor ingredients their sweet pet has no way to
digest or could be full of things that cause systemic injury. Oh
there's no way that such tested and certified products could ever be
a problem for the pet!

And its grand fun to take that band wagon and drive it over the people
offering healthy natural forms of food to their pet all the while
singing limericks and ballads of how horrible the very diet that
sustained these animals for thousands of years is now somehow
poisonous and deadly to them and will turn them into monsters!

For folks in the U.S. venturing into the ferret world for the first
time, its probably a safe bet that their first ferret originated from
a local pet shop, which means its quite likely they got a Marshalls
ferret, and the accompanying food that goes with it - Marshall's
premium Ferret diet. With the standard directions to keep feeding it
moistened until the kit is 6 months to a year old. Pet stores offering
Path Valley ferrets and Triple F ferrets are also issued a bag of that
farm's "specially formulated" kibble with the same directions.
Furthermore each of these breeders makes a claim that feeding their
"special formula" for the first year of the ferret's life will keep
their "health guarantee" in effect. So that if the animal expires or
becomes ill in that first year, the manufacturer agrees to replace
the animal - blah blah blah.

All gimmicky commercialisms to:

A) sell the ferret.

B) make the person feel safe about their purchase.

C) to ensure built in sales of their food product. Because once a
ferret imprints upon a specific product it can be extremely difficult
to get them to change.

When these people take the ferret to their vet, who is likely to be a
recipient of commercial pet food promotions, the vet lets them know
what is considered a normal life span as well as normal health issues.

If the ferret is lucky they might end up with a person who does a bit
of research and maybe at least upgrades to a better quality kibble than
what the breeder offers. If the ferret is unlucky, it ends up with a
person who only looks at cost to their wallet and the ferret's kibble
gets changed to the Wal-Mart brand, or worse yet to the cat food so
many people "recommend" and say that with their years of experience -
it is perfectly o.k. to feed cat kibble to a ferret! The saddest
ferrets of all end up trying to survive on dog food.

If the ferret is supremely lucky - they end up with a person willing
to spend the time researching species specific natural diets and the
ferret gets to dine like it should!

The recent recalls of pet foods have caused many people to take a
second look at what they serve their pets. Sometimes they just look for
a different manufacturer, sometimes they look at an entirely different
format! When people who are feeding natural foods successfully try to
offer their views it isn't surprising that so many kibble encrusted get
upset and begin to spew myths while all the time demanding facts.

The facts are that kibble contains plant items that ferrets cannot
digest, has preservatives which ferrets do not need, are in form
factors that do NOT promote good oral hygiene and contain ingredients
that have been proved to or are being shown to actually cause systemic
harm!

Where to start when researching the differences of kibble and actual
natural diets:

http://www.underyourwoof.com/foodresources.htm

This page has multiple links to commercial diet information,
veterinarian sites and natural feeding sites. Most of course are
geared to cats and dogs - because ferrets are third rate in the U.S.,
but then again, ferret kibbles are only manufactured from extrapolated
information gleaned from fox, dog, cat and mink diets anyway. No
specific studies have been done to formulate a proper commercial diet
for ferrets - which is why the natural diet really is easy, economical
and offers optimal health!

"Expert Scientific" Voices regarding feeding ferrets can be found here:

<http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=479>

http://www.truecarnivores.com/whatvetssay.shtml

http://www.exotichobbyist.com/NaturalFerret.html

http://www.weaselwords.com/page/ferret_art032.php

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/nutritioninformation/a/QandA_barf.htm

As I've said before, the choice to feed naturally or commercially
resides with the care giver. Doing the same thing for years does not
equate to being an expert it only proves you've done the same thing
over and over. New ferret owners DO look for answers from people with
more experience. I know I have, and continue to. Offering concrete
information about diets is much more helpful than continuing to repeat
myths. 11 major recalls in the past 12 years by pet food manufacturers
is NOT something I'd say that puts a whole lot of faith in commercially
prepared foods! Feeding naturally is NOT fraught with dangers if you
use common sense and read the freely shared information that is
available from people with ZERO commercial interest in sharing!

[Posted in FML 6239]