Providing the proper diet for ferrets, one that is both complete and
balanced specifically for ferrets, is one of the most important jobs we
undertake as ferret owners. As a shelter director, I receive questions
almost daily regarding what to feed and proper diet/nutrition for ferrets.
Because some ferret owners feed Eukanuba and Iams cat and kitten foods to
their ferrets, recent changes in the formulation of these foods has sparked
even more questions in the minds of some. Some of these questions I
presented to Dr. Tom Willard. I thought that all of you would like to
read his reply to me. I have his permission to post his letter...
Subj: Totally Ferret as compared to Iams or Euk cat food
Dear Trish:
In regard to your questions last week concerning Totally Ferrets
nutritional background and the questions regarding the Iams cat foods.
As you are aware there has been a great deal of emailing in recent weeks
regarding Iams and what they may or may not do with their formulas. I
wanted to respond to your questions and comments as they are pertinent and
representative of questions we receive daily on our web site and calls to
our CS dept.
Most companies will not ever say they are "changing" a formula. These
words not only strike fear in the hearts of the pet food companies but also
the consumer's. All major public and most private pet food companies will
"test" all changes they make before putting the new formula on the market.
Iams has a rather large and very modern research facility where they test
their foods on their "dogs and cats." I emphasize "dog and cats" because
they do not test any of their food on ferrets since they have no ferret
food. This is an important fact that everyone reading FML needs to grasp
and understand.
Iams, like all reputable pet food companies, do make changes from time to
time as the ingredient market and other factors change. Most companies
feed the new formulas or formulas with changes in ingredients to their
research animals for a period of time. Generally, they will check the
change for palatability, digestibility, manufacturing efficiency or any
other area that will impact the finished product. Changes such as adding
more chicken or less chicken, or more corn and less rice are examples of
changes in which a company would conduct feeding test on their products.
These changes almost always will effect the cost. Which means most changes
are made to decrease cost while "maintaining quality at or above the
current level." This is a big challenge, because "maintaining" usually
means within statistical parameters. In theory, this is sound because
short term, with "changes" made within statistical parameters, there is
little if any recognizable animal or visual differences. However, over a
one to three year period there may be more recognizable differences because
during this period there may be several "changes" or "enhancements." These
changes may impact the palatability as well as the nutrition.
As a nutritionist, this is my major concern when people ask me if I think
Iams will change their formulas. Ferret owners need to realize that any
changes being made by companies which only manufacture dog and cat foods
are only going to test these changed foods on either cats and dogs and they
are leaving any testing to the individual ferret owners.
Remember also, that ferrets are more of an obligate carnivore than cats so
even if an apparent "minor" change is made on the cat food, it may have
"major" impact on the ferret. Unfortunately, your ferret nor you may know
of a problem until it is a problem and your ferret gets sick or becomes
unthrift looking or develops a deficiency. So, when Iams or any other
company says they have "enhanced" their food it does not necessarily mean
it is "enhanced" for ferrets.
There are other nutrients besides protein, fat and fiber one must consider
when evaluating foods for their ferrets. Ferrets require different
levels of most vitamins, some minerals and amino acids than cats and
"enhancements," will not be tested on ferrets, so major problems could
easily develop for ferrets being fed this cat food.
The other question you had was regarding the level of chicken in the Iams
Eukanuba cat and kitten food. "Chicken," as used in the pet food industry
is not exactly what you may think it is. "Chicken" as defined for pet
foods (AAFCO definition. Which is the official publication regulating the
pet food industry.), comes from the processing of fresh chicken for human
consumption. It is some muscle meat and soft connective tissue remaining
on the frame of a chicken (broiler) after it has been filleted. It is
not whole breast, thighs, and legs as they may want you to believe. The
connective tissue makes up the majority of the "chicken" and is not as good
nutritionally as the muscle meat. This means it is lower in digestibility
and palatability than regular human grade chicken.
The second factor you need to be aware of, is that this "chicken" meat is
about 68% water. So, for every pound of "chicken" added to a formula,
there is only about 1/3 pound of meat added. The regulations allows a
company to list the ingredients by the raw weight or "wet" weight as
opposed to actual "dry" weight. Therefore, when a food has chicken meal
or chicken by product meal listed as the first ingredient, it has about
three times more chicken protein than one which has chicken as the first
or second ingredient combined. This is neither illegal nor unethical, it
is the regulation. However, it may be misleading as far as the average
consumers is concerned.
In light of the two points above, please consider this when selecting a
"premium" cat food as your food for your ferret. Totally Ferret, has
always fed and proven its foods on ferrets, not cats. Totally Ferret is
the ONLY company that has tested, proven and presented their data at three
national veterinarian conferences regarding its nutritional completeness.
No change has ever been made that was not researched and tested on ferrets
first and shown to be better, not statically equal. We have never tested
Totally Ferret on cats nor will we, because Totally Ferret is for ferrets,
not cats. Ferrets are significantly different from cats in looks, in
physiology, in organoleptic properties, and most importantly,
nutritionally. So, before you blindly accept any cat food for your
ferrets based on what is on the bag please go the next step and ask the
manufacturer if they guarantee the food is 100% nutritional balanced and
complete for ferrets of all life stages. If not, how can they say it is
OK to feed to ferrets?
DR Tom Willard
President
Performance Foods, Inc.
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Feel free to email me if anyone has further question, I'll try to help.
Trish
Director, Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter
[Posted in FML issue 3003]
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