There was a time several years ago when I could easily get prepared packaged
Mink food sent to me.  I used it in a mix with other cat/kitten/ferret foods
and for the most part, many of my ferrets would eat it.
 
The following are MY opinions only, based on what I read constantly
concerning nutrition and the comparison of my personal ferrets with those
that come into my shelter fed on lesser quality and their transition after
diet and other care changes:
 
Mink food is meant to provide beautiful coats and healthy skin as quickly as
possible to prepare ranch mink for the fur market.  The average mink is
raised to 8 months of age for maximum growth and coat potential, killed,
skinned and sold for (if lucky) $30 per pelt.  Adult mink kept for breeding
are usually kept for their colors and size, and are disposed of in several
years when they can no longer produce well.  Mink food was not developed for
longetivity - it is fine as a supplement or additive to pet ferret diets but
should NOT be used a the sole diet.  Many mink farmers turning ferret
farmers out there are still treating ferrets like mink and their lines for
health and longetivity will suffer or show true in the upcoming years.
 
Now - if you like Marshall Farms, you might want to skip this next
paragraph....
 
Technically, Marshall Farms ferret food is made by the Bil Jac company and
it is a variation on the cat diet.  MF says that their food provides
everything a ferret needs.  So why not just buy Bil Jac cat?  Once again, MF
is similar to mink farmers in that they raise a vast amount of kits, want
them to grow quickly and cutely so they will be sold, and after about three
years they put down their breeders because their production is not cost
effective.  They have not done longetivity studies with their food - ferrets
from MF live 5-6 years in my experience (yes, I know some have lived longer,
there are exception with every case).
 
Someone asked about diet being related to health problems - I believe that
is very true.  Genetic problems can also be related to diet problems in the
past - remember the story about Path Valley and the lawsuit for the food
content mixup which resulted in ferrets with weak bones, loosing teeth, and
other calcium related problems.  Even with a diet correction, it would take
Path Valley a few years to get the mixup out of the genetic pool unless they
scrapped all the ferrets and started fresh.
 
In my opinion - no one food is perfect for all lifestages of a ferret.  My
husband can not understand why I keep buying different brands of
cat/kitten/ferret food and mixing it once a month into a "blend" that I feel
balances the mixed groupings of ferrets in my household.  Like many ferret
owners, I have a 2 year old living with a 4 year old and a 6 year old, etc.
and they all need different diet requirements.  I also believe that they are
intelligent enough to eat what their bodies need if it is provided for them.
So the 2 year old eats the higher protein foods which are mixed in with the
lower protein stuff for the oldtimer who happily eats that and takes a
snitch of the higher protein stuff when he feels like it.  My kits and
mothers are fed a high quality blend and as they get into the dry food only
stage, I toss in a variety so the kits will accept many different flavors
and shapes as they grow up for new homes.
 
In the shelter, I use a variety because many incoming are feed poor quality
foods by unknowing people and they need to find something familiar in the
food dish or with other factors of stress in the shelter, will get ill.  In
time they start to try other shapes and flavors in the food dish and start
to blossom in coat and body.  Unfortunately, one can not reverse the
"damage" done to improper feeding at the critical growing stage (birth to 8
months).  We do what we can with what we are given in the shelter system.
 
Getting a ferret and having it altered later in life does not guarantee that
the ferret will live longer.  Genetics play a major portion in that role,
and diet plays its part as well.  Stick to the minimum guidelines:
 
Protein 32% or higher
Meat/poultry/byproduct as the first ingredient
18% fat or higher.
 
Pamela Grant
Shelters That Adopt & Rescue Ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1532]