<ON FOOD: Interesting dialog on food choices and mixing. >
 
I wanted to add my 0.02 here too, as well as throw out a question.  I got my
first ferret Jasmine a little over a year ago, and the bag of food I got
with her at the time was the only this pet store in Reno had, and I believe
it was Mazuri.  She was fed this from age 6 weeks through approx.  12 weeks
of age.  During this time I was scouting every pet store in the Ca-Ca bay
area I could find and found nothing but 8-in-1 and Kaytee foods, both of
which I discovered thru the FML are not the best choices due to fiber/fat
contents.  By then, I'd finally found a way to mail order Totally Ferret and
weaned Jasmine over to it around 12 weeks of age; she's been eating it ever
since.  Jasmine is energetic, but pretty skinny/bony ( 1 3/4 lbs), and has
always had a rather thin coat of hair (she's just over a year old).
 
Casey, my second fert came to me last October from my boyfriend, who had
been feeding her 8-in-1 for the first year of her life, due to its wide
availability here.  Casey is a healthy 2 1/2 lbs with lush, soft fur, but
she is slightly less energetic.  She's been eating TF for the past 6 mos &
is now 18 mos old.
 
Sam, my newest addition to the family is now 4 1/2 months old and has been
eating TF since I got her at 6 weeks old, is already the same weight as
Jasmine, but has the most energy of the three and a beautiful coat - but not
very thick/lush fur.  BTW, all three of my fuzzies are from Marshall Farms.
 
For comparison, my sister's boyfriend also owns two ferrets and he brought
them over for a visit with my three the other night (and wow was THAT fun...
but that's another post in itself!  :-).  He feeds his ferts Iams Kitten
food exclusively and not only are they very energetic dookaholics, but they
also weigh more and have really thick, soft coats - you can see the
difference immediately when comparing them against my girls.  Now, granted
one of his ferts is a male champagne blaze from a private breeder in Arizona
& he weighs 4-5 lbs, *but * the other is an albino female from MF - she
weighs about 2 1/2 lbs or so and also has a better coat than my babies.
 
sooo - I don't want to drag a food debate on forever or start a flame war of
any kind please, but I just think it's interesting to see the differences.
My girls also get a pretty wide variety of treats, so this might be why
there's a difference too.  The coat quality on Jasmine especially may also
be related to the photoperiod/light thing - I live in an apartment w/
insufficient natural lighting and they are out of their cage nights and
early mornings when I usually have artificial light on.  Unfortunately I
cannot bring them outside until this stupid CaCa law passes.  Jasmine's
never molted, BTW.  Casey does every spring and fall, and Sam's fur darkened
and shed a bit this spring too even though she's a baby.  But, I'd be
interested to hear any other opinions of why my fuzzits' coat-quality is not
top notch even though they eat TF... should I mix Iams in occasionally,
especially for Jasmine who could definitely fatten up a little?  Please
reply on the FML since I need to post anonymously (sigh!  hopefully someday
I won't have to -wish CaCa land good luck tomorrow on AB363!!) Anyway,
enough rambling for today, & sorry for the long post.
 
TNT & hugs to all the fuzzies,
Jen, Jasmine, Casey and Sammy the terror-ferts!
[Posted in FML issue 1926]