Hello everyone,

Long-time lurker here, but due to recent events I'm looking for some
opinions/suggestions. I apologize in advance for the length of this
post.

I'm a first-time ferret parent, but I've had my 2 girls since April
2011. Noodle is just over 3 years old, and Princess turns 4 in a couple
weeks. Both are Marshall girls, purchased from a local Petco.

Noodle was only about 2 months old or so when I brought her home, and
Princess was about 9 months old. They were eating standard Marshall
dry food, but I started feeding them Zupreem Grain-Free along with
some fresh chicken. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them to warm up to
the chicken, so for the last 3 years they've been eating the Zupreem
and have been healthy and happy. I give them each 1/2 a teaspoon of
Ferretone each day, and very occasionally (maybe 3 times a week) they
get a single 8-in-1 Ferret-vite soft treat. Water is filtered from my
kitchen tap, and I go through a good 1/2 gallon of that each day
myself. That's it - no other food or water sources.

They are kept indoors in a Ferret Nation double unit - the one that's
essentially a Ferret Townhouse, and have no contact with any other
animals. They get at least 5 or 6 hours out of the cage each day -
essentially, if I'm home, they get free run of my apartment except
for the bedroom and bath. Everything is ferret-proofed.

They both get regular vet attention and have a clean bill of health
aside from the Cysteine Bladder Stones.

I noticed about 2 months ago that Noodle was making frequent trips to
the litter box - almost once an hour. So I took her to my doctor, who
is wonderful and experienced with ferrets. An X-ray revealed a bladder
3/4 full of stones. Surgery took place the following week, and I'm
happy to say she's made a full recovery.

Unfortunately, I noticed discoloration in Princess's urine last week.
(She's usually the better one about using the litter box, but
fortunately this time she went on the white tile floor and I could see
her urine wasn't normal.) A trip to my doctor and an X-ray confirmed
she has stones as well. I caught it earlier with her, and the number of
stones is significantly less than with Noodle. Her surgery is scheduled
in a week and a half.

I've read many reports from other ferret owners that have reduced the
common factor to the Zupreem Grain Free and the high content of peas in
that food. This was even discussed here late last year - unfortunately
I must have overlooked those posts when they occurred. I'm currently
in the difficult process of weaning them on to a different food. I'm
trying Wysong Epigen 90, Drs. Foster and Smith Premium, and as a last
resort, Zupreem Premium (not Grain-Free).

My doctor strongly suggests that I contact Zupreem. She offered to
assist in whatever way she can as well. I have the stone analysis as
well as some of the actual stones that were removed. I think this is an
issue that Zupreem needs to really look into, and those of us who have
ferrets that have had stones removed need to provide genuine medical
analyses of those stones.

What I'm curious about is if anyone here has contacted Zupreem or is
thinking of doing so.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Any suggestions are
appreciated.

Dan

[Posted in FML 8147]