Donna wrote:
>they are not experiencing problems, but...
>My nose knows!
 
If the food were bad the ferrets would be rejecting it or would be sick.
Since they aren't, it's simply an aroma which doesn't agree with you.  They
like a lot of smells many humans don't and it's the ferrets that food needs
to attract, not the people.  Ferret noses are so sensitive that we use them
to let us know when our tap water is acceptable and when it's not, and they
historically were used to test milk for being acceptable.  It was called
"Blessing the Milk" when a ferret would drink it.
 
And Troy Lynn wrote:
>I'd noticed a marked difference in aroma of the Totally Ferret Senior as
>far back as a year or more ago.  It doesn't smell rancid to me, but it
>does have a strong sharp smell to it.  I actually had exchanged bags a
>couple times because they smelled a bit off to me but every bag I've
>gotten of the Senior has a strong sharp aroma to it.  The ferrets that
>like the senior eat it just fine and it makes the recipe especially yummy,
>or so it seems but as they eat more of the recipe with the TF Senior in
>it.  I'm curious too as to why such a drastic aroma difference.  The bag
>of regular Totally Ferret didn't have the same strong aroma.
 
That is consistent with what we have experienced.  They made the smell
stronger and the ferrets like that.  Our guys like TF better since the
smell change though we open a bag and personally think "Yuck.  Not spoiled
but not a smell we'd eat." Heck, they ravenously eat and prefer a lot of
things that aren't associated with general human-favorite smells: giblets,
liver, vitamins with cod liver oil in them, etc.
 
If a person encounters mold, or an ammonia smell, or other signs of a food
being actually "off" as it sounds like happened to someone, or the ferrets
won't touch it, or the ferrets get sick on it, then, yes, there is a bad
batch to understand.
 
DO remember that this happens to EVERY maker of pet food, but I know of
only TWO which have then gone to real trouble to set things right for
buyers and their ferrets: replaced batches, then tracked down the source
of the problem when CUSTOMERS have reported it and then corrected it.
Performance Food did that and so has 8 in 1.  The others that have been
around a long while are either too close-mouthed to say anything, or don't
seem to care enough when they wind up with a bad batch, and a few are young
enough -- like Superior Food -- that they haven't encountered this, yet,
though they will at some time, like everyone else.  There is also the PV
situation years ago in which their own ferrets were dying and severely ill
so they tracked down at least in part that ratio problem due to their own
experiences -- if the reports of the time were accurate enough in that
regard.  It means a lot to me when a company listens to customers.
 
BTW, has anyone noticed recently (last six months or so) that there seem to
be a few instances cropping up of nasty things said about competitors by
people who appear to have connections to competing companies?  I won't
say anything more, but use that grain of salt because a few folks with
complaints may not be playing straight with the rest of us.  I don't at
this point have any reason to think that is happening in this situation,
BTW.  It bugs me when people slam competing companies; bugs me worse when
they don't then mention their own connections -- that's below the belt but
it happens on and off.
[Posted in FML issue 3512]