John Byerly wrote:
 
>My question is, I now seen many discussions of food for the feazles..
>and I have heard many brands mentioned.  ... So, am I okay with Mazuri?
>Or, do I need to change to Totally Ferret or something else??
 
I like Mazuri and it has been 1 of my main feeds for years.  There have
been some detractors (About Mazuri) here on the FML in the past, making
statements that can't or haven't been be substantiated.  Food makes for
an easy scapegoat!  Some of the better ferret specific foods are: Totally
Ferret, (The best but very expensive), 8 in 1 Ultimate, only (standard 8 in
1 is awful!), The Ferret Store Specialty brand (Brand new but looks very
good!  My kids love it!) and ZuPreem are the top brands.
 
If you are comfortable with cat foods, use only kibble, not the wet cans,
and use only the very best..IAMS, EUKANUBA (sp??), etc.  Personally, I am
against feeding cat food to a ferret.  Don't get me wrong, a LOT of people
do, with no adverse affects.  Folks here on the FML can tell you more about
the cat foods as I am not up on them.
 
A note here...ferrets imprint on foods at a young age and after they
grow older, it is almost impossible to change foods.  They will starve
themselves to death.  What I do is buy three different kibbles (Totally
Ferret, Mazuri, and The Ferret Store house brand) and mix them equally in a
big 2 gallon sealable plastic tub.  That way, the kids are imprinted with
three foods.  If I ever run out of one, no problem, they eat the others.
 
Robin Longley wrote:
>I asked them why they were "shipping kits at under six weeks?" There
>response was they "never ship kits until they are six to seven weeks old."
>I told them that was not true.  I told them I knew this to be fact,
>because I myself bought a kit that was under six weeks old.
 
And how did you 'know' the kit was under 6 weeks of age.  Did it tell you?
Was there a sign around its neck that said it was under 6 weeks?  The pet
store told you?  You have no idea the kit's age other than opinion.
 
Greg Lee wrote:
>It seems that a group of people that own and small,independent ferret
>breeding program have interbred different breeds of ferrets to produce
>what they called a "superferret".
 
Greg, the 'superferret' rumor has been around for as long as I have had
ferrets!  Our fuzzies are all the same.  Some of have different traits,
ie: Long coats (Angora) color extremes (Albinos and Pandas...many times
accompanied with deafness and/or blindness) temperament, etc.  These are
genetic traits, not 'breeds' All of our fuzzies are M.  putorius furo.
Well, there IS some interbreeding of M.  putorius (European polecat) and
M. putorius furo (Domestic ferret) but that cross is not creating new
breeds of ferrets, just different characteristics.
 
For our ferrets!
 
MC, The Rude One
(With Snorkle, Tuzigoot, and Bancho.  In spirit, Bubba, Billy-Bob, and
Garret)
[Posted in FML issue 3109]