Sorry it took a couple of days.  My FML didn't arrive, and I had to talk it
out of someone!!  Okay, now... Reet wrote about feeding ferrets high quality
food:
 
>But I'm thinking, somehow I don't see ferrets that live in the wild now,
>and lived in the wild and were kept as pets by the poorer communities long
>in the past, chomping away on $50 damn bags of 'rich, good quality ferret
>pellets, ideal for the health and well-being of your ferret'.
 
A note here Reet.  Domestic ferrets in New Zealand are essentially the same
as those in America.  However, New Zealand has some special circumstances
which allow ferrets to live 'feral' or in the wild.  Those circumstances
being that there are few predators and many prey animals.  Very little
competition meant ferrets could survive in the wild.  Thousands of ferrets,
stoats, weasels and polecats were released in New Zealand for them to
survive and thrive there.  However, from my understanding, it's a rare feral
ferret that you find over the age of 18 months.  Personally, I'd rather my
ferrets survive longer than that time span.
 
Oh, by the way... I've seen the ferret food they have available in the
country... personally, I consider it vastly over-priced and far inferior to
some of the Kitten foods available.  Spending money on something 'better'
for them, such as Iams Kitten will help.  Because of the sudden interest in
ferrets in the country in the past year, some ferret food has become
available.  However, it's not worth even a quarter of the price they're
charging.
 
>Has it occurred to anyone that perhaps the sickness and stuff in our
>ferrets come from plastic-bagging (pun) them from life?
 
Actually, several people have thought of that, and there could be merit to
it.  However, my ferrets have lived on "kibble" for years, and are all
thriving, rarely have health problems (other than the occasional cold).  I
have a happy, healthy, dooking, playing and general pain of a seven year
old at home.
 
>I'm thinking, perhaps if we didn't shelter our fuzzies so much, they
>wouldn't get so sick?  I feed mine pretty much anything I've got in my
>hands at the time (bar things like chocolate and lollies and excessive
>stuff) and he seems to be getting on just fine.
 
Hate to say it, but too much of that will cause your baby to get sick.
Giving it in moderation, however, shouldn't be a problem.  Personally, I
prefer to give mine treats either designed for carnivores, or else human
foods such as meat (cooked or raw) Lollies are mainly dangerous in that
they aren't digested properly and could cause a blockage.
 
>I treat Dexter the way I would treat anything (perhaps with slightly more
>care and caution) but I don't wrap him up, keep him away from anything
>remotely dangerous.  He has free run of my room, there are quite a few
>wires etc around, an open heater, and I have never *once* seem him to
>anything that would even slightly endanger himself.
 
Then you're lucky.  Many ferrets do chew on wires and electrocute
themselves.  Some ferrets never try.  It's an individual thing.  If you get
a new ferret in, however, and that ferret chews on wires and electrocutes
itself, then you'll learn to be more careful.  It would be a shame however,
if you would have to learn this at the expense of a ferrets' life.
 
>Anyway, I'll stop ranting now.  I'm no ferret expert, so feel free to tell
>me I'm wrong, however you'd be unlikely to change my mind.
 
Hopefully Reet, this helps you to have some understanding, it's never a
good idea to become close-minded about anything, especially at a young age.
 
Good luck.
 
Sam
[Posted in FML issue 2398]