To Peter Long, concerning taurine - Peter - Taurine is added to most commercial brands of cat food in the United states. Taurine deficiency is a well-known cause of dilatative cardiomyopathy in cats, a disease that ferrets also suffer from. Research into ferret requirements for taurine has not been done. I have seen cases of cardiomyopathy in ferrets on brands of cat food that contain taurine, so I'm personally not sure whether it is involved in cardiomyopathy of ferrets or not. Or perhaps affected animals have an inability to absorb or utilize it (I'm just hypothesizing here). But I would recommend that all ferret owners ensure that the cat food that they are feeding has taurine in it - you can always call the company. On a similar note - I am currently in contact with an animal nutritionist who I hope will be able to answer the many questions on ferret nutrition that crop up. I'll have more on this later... Bruce Williams, DVM [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 0789]