From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2001-02-25 11:53:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Dr. Williams/Food Question
I heartily echo your thoughts about how extremely cool it is to have
Dr. Williams here! And also, I think the yahoogroups environment is a
great match, with its file library and archives and everything. And our
wonderful cast of moderators and members. I could go on and on. I'm
psyched. :)
> Just out of curiosity for anyone that wants to answer this, is it
> better to give ferrets ground chicken (bones and all) or pinkie mice?
> Does one have more nutritional value than the other?
Keep in mind I'm not a nutritionist and most of what I say comes from
reading Bob Church's posts in the FML and elsewhere. That said, though,
I'd guess that if you were selecting one or the other, the ground chicken
would win. Pinkies don't have bones formed and calcified yet, so they are
really lacking in that area - an appropriate calcium/phosphate ratio is
very important. But why choose? I'd guess that a variety, including
ground chicken, pinkies, whole adult mice, etc, would be wonderful...
Whole adult mice might win if you had to pick one of the three. I think
I remember Bob saying that most grocery store chickens are juveniles and
their bones often aren't fully calcified yet either (but they're much
further along than pinkies), so that's one reason why egg shells are added
to Bob's Chicken Gravy.
There's a list called something like "ferretfeed" on yahoogroups that
probably has a lot of info on this, and if memory serves, its archives are
open to the public.
For lots more background, check out the FML archives at:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
and search on:
bob and (bone or bones) and ratio
If that gets your interest up, check out http://www.trifl.org/gravy.html
and you'll find easy access to Bob's Diet 101 series plus a few other key
posts he's made about diet. A lot of reading, but very interesting!
Not a vet, not a nutritionist, but I *am* a reference librarian. *g*
Best,
-Pam S.