>What I also found, when I fed kibble, none of the ferrets were obese.
>But when I started feeding raw meat and bones, some ferrets liked it
>so much that they ate large amounts and became very obese.
 
Wow, that is interesting.  Was this true during a time that wasn't a
seasonal change?
 
We've noticed that obesity among our ferrets doesn't seem to be related
to diet type at all -- that's with assorted changes over 2 decades.
Here are the things we HAVE noticed that it seem to be mostly consistent
here (remembering that these are a small enough sample and spread of 20
years, plus the situation was not controlled so it is not definitive):
a number of ferrets who are rescues who were badly starved seem to have
perturbations of their sense of hunger (I've read of this happening in
some people, too.), some meds such as steroids cause a tendency toward
obesity (documented), adrenal neoplasia is documented to cause the laying
down of fat -- even on very rare occasion in places where it should not
be like in the thoracic cavity, many ferrets gain during seasonal
changes, and more than a few here have been more likely to lay down more
fat at seasonal changes during their peak years of 2 to 4 here.
 
>One ferret in particular will overeat if given the chance and then
>bring it all back up...
 
Glueball does that and always has done it if she get access to too much
flesh food.  We have limit her access.
 
>now he eats at most twice a day and not very much at that.  I was very
>worried about his eating habits because of what I read.  He is on the
>thin side but very strong.
 
That's fine.  We often have someone who has an illness requiring food
around these days (which is what we get for taking in almost entirely
compromised rescues over the years so that is to be understood and we
aren't complaining about having to shape to their needs), and we don't
find them eating more volume often here when it is than when it isn't
present all the time.  Certainly, for healthy ferrets food does not have
to be always present, but when some illnesses are present it does need
to be.
 
Interestingly, the food spilled doesn't change much, either, because when
they get a few meals a day they chow in so hard that they topple dishes,
and when it is available all the time they treat the dishes like toys.
 
IMPORTANT reminders, though: managing micronutrients is not necessarily
an easy thing to do right and on a calorically restricted diet it can
much harder, so folks could accidently hurt their ferrets if they don't
take the time to learn enough beforehand (which, I guess fits into the
"measure twice, cut once" category).  Also, recovery from some illnesses
or procedures may be compromised by weight extremes to either side.  Go
by what the TREATING VET and the CONSULTING VETS say since those are the
people who will have the best info for any given illness and how ferret
bodies respond.  DO NOT let the advice of someone who is not a specialist
in that field cause you to ignore veterinary advice.
 
>I realize that most people have to keep their ferrets in their cages
>most of the time, especially the shelters, but I wonder if this has
>something to do with all the disease via obesity, since ferrets are
>more like a cat or dog than a typical caged animal.
 
Levels of exercise have as much to do with fat level control as the
Calories consumed do, and sarcopenia (lack of muscle mass) carries a
pile of health consequences that are bad (some human studies link it
to increased risks of some malignancies, to heart disease, to poor
bone density, bad balance, etc.).  We cage at night and we go crazy
alternating toys and playing with ferrets who too quickly become
accustomed to their room and even to our entire small home.  Caging too
much also has bad behavioral consequences for a critter due to boredom
and lack of interaction.
[Posted in FML issue 3952]