There seems to be yet another food debate running, so I'd like to add some of my own experiences here. I used alot of different ferret foods when I first became involved with ferrets, and after starting the shelter. Many foods recommended contain alot of corn and grain products which are pretty useless to ferrets. Ferrets need a diet high in animal protein, not plant protein! They also need a diet high in animal fat to provide the proper balance and energy to utilize the proteins. BTW, I've added a section to my web page on ferret nutrition written by a veterinarian and nutritional consultant. It explains what is good and bad in ferret foods on the market, and how to choose a good food. I hope all of you will check it out. Excellent reading! My web address is http://www.flash.net/~ffrs Through my experiences in sheltering, I learned that Iams Kitten Food was much better for the ferrets and began using that, I saw quite a difference from the old foods (ProPlan, Kaytee, L & M, Marshall's Ferret Food, Mazuri, and several others). Running a shelter you see all kinds of ferrets in all kinds of good and bad nutritional health. They did better on the Iams than the other foods, but when I switched later to Totally Ferret, the results were *astounding*! Many who had just been getting by on the Iams, became much healthier and more active, and some recovered from whatever was ailing them at remarkable rates on this food. I have switched completely to TF (but still use Iams when it is *donated* to the shelter from time to time, I feed it to the youngest and healthiest kids here, those 3 and up ONLY get TF, any other foods donated with ferrets that come in are either rejected or trashed...that's how strongly I feel about the crappy foods on the market) and even though TF is expensive by some standards, it lasts longer, there's less poop in the boxes and the kids feel great! That is worth alot to me, in fact, it is *everything*. How can I call myself a shelter and claim to be providing the best of care for these kids and not provide them with the best possible diet also?!!! Actually, in dividing out the costs of feeding TF I found that it only costs about 65 to 80 cents a day per ferret (depending on how much the ferret consumes...boys eat more) to feed TF, that's about the cost of a drink at a fast-food place, a ferret is certainly worth that!!! You may note that the ingredients in Iams Kitten Food and Totally Ferret are quite similar, but it seems to be the quantity of each ingredient and the *balance* of nutrition that makes the difference. Read the Ferret Nutrition document on my website and you'll at least understand why so many so-called "ferret foods" are not good for ferrets, you'll learn how to read an ingredient label, and you'll also see how many foods are simply mink chows re-labelled for ferrets. Mink are bred and raised for their *coats*, not for longevity. Most are killed at a young age, so this is why some foods will give mink and ferrets alike a beautiful and shiney coat, but do very little for keeping them healthy throughout their lifetime. Don't fall for the advertising and marketing, do the reading and learn for yourselves how to choose the proper diet for your fuzzy-child. Trish Director, Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter [Posted in FML issue 1919]