RE: Ferret who only eats grocery store brand food - Lynn-Anne, In my position I get lots of samples of cat/ferret food (at least I used to, many companies aren't as free with their samples any more). Since I had about 8 different kinds of food sitting around, one day I decided to run a taste test to see what my ferrets really liked the best. This was about a year ago, and I didn't have all the types of food (for instance Kaydee ferret food and regular Purina Ferret Chow). Here are the results, which were posted at the time on the list: --- begin inserted text --- I conducted this test with 8 different types of food. I put 1/3 cup of each in seperate bowls, then just watched the order in which they were consumed. You should also note, that there were only two subjects, Percy and Bree. Max Cat - adult Max Cat - kitten Pro Plan - growth Nip Chee Crackers (Hey!! Where did they come from??? O.K., I never said this was scientific... :-) ) Iams - adult Iams - kitten Purina Mini Friends Ferret Chow Science Diet - kitten Bil Jac - adult The first three (four) were consumed fairly sequentially, showing a definite preference for each. The last five had quite a bit of overlapping. --- end inserted text --- Try Nutro Max Cat/Kitten or Purina Pro Plan, as they seem to be the most flavorful. Science diet is very bland, and I've heard several pet owners and vets complain that pets tend to not like it as much. Many of the grocery store brands are very high flavored, so your ferret may go for one of the more flavored pet store brands. When you go to the store for food, try to go to a store that sets out samples, and just pick up one of everything. Call ahead, explain your situation, and ask them if they can set some aside for you or ask the distributors for extra samples (if possible talk to a manager, sales clerks probably won't be able to help you). As a general rule, any pet store food is going to be better than grocery store food. Just check the label to make sure that animal products are the most important ingredient. And, stay away from fish-based food. If all else fails, maybe you could try grinding up some of the grocery store brand and sprinkling it on the pet store food. Maybe just the hint of that flavor will entice your little albino to eat it. But, no matter what, don't let your other ferret eat the grocery store food!!! If you can't get the albino to eat the good food, then you will have to set aside a feeding period for her, two or three times a day for about 20 minutes each should suffice. Do not leave the grocery store food out for all of them to free feed on it, and make sure they can't get to it during her feeding time. Don't make your other ferrets sick, too. (make a schedule such as: when you get up, after work, and before bedtime set her aside with her food) How long have you let her go hungry with the pet store foods that you have tried? Good luck, and please keep us posted! - Nancy Nancy Hartman CIS graduate student [log in to unmask] U. of Delaware President and founder, Delaware Valley Ferret Club Owner of Percy, Bree, & Popcorn, the ferrets [Posted in FML issue 0412]