From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2006-07-25 00:14:06 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] RE: new owner
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Well, food discussions have a tendency to get out of hand too often but luckily there is a lot in the archives. For instance, you will find info there on homemade foods, risk factors argued fully in the raw vs. kibble discussion which has been pretty much completely covered, preferred kibbles, preferred treats, how to introduce new foods, sick ferret foods, and some nutritional diseases and how to avoid them.
People vary in what they choose to feed based upon personal experiences and on how they personally weigh the risk factors.
There are a range of acceptable foods, but there are also some basic rules such as:
1. Ferrets are obligate carnivores so you want the food to have a high meat-origin protein content almost always. (There can be some medical exceptions.) That is true for the main foods and for treats like meat baby foods.
2. Feeding large numbers of raisins (7 or more in recent past FML posts if memory serves) has been connected to acute kidney failure, just as with dogs and cats.
3. Ferrets stash food, so if something like a raisin is given a person has to make sure that it is eaten right then and there so that a large number can not be eaten at once.
4. Ferrets stash food, so make sure that anything which may spoil is not stashed.
5. Know your ferret's stash places
6. Keep away indigestible items that may be eaten and cause a fatal blockage, such as latex toys, rubber, erasers, etc.
7. Do not feed ferrets in beds with fake sheep's fleece because it can cause a fake fur ball and even require emergency surgery.
8. Avoid sugary treats or starchy treats because they are awful for dental and gum health and they might contribute to the development of insulinoma.
9. Avoid nuts, hard fruit pieces, carrots, and anything else hard which could cause a life threatening blockage.
10. Although fish and fish oil in food make the waste smell more, the omega 3 fatty acids in them have health benefits so if you give a food without them you may want to supplement some flax seed oil, but be sure to refrigerate it since it goes bad easily.
11. Introduce new foods gradually to get best acceptance and to avoid diarrhea.
You will find a large number of foods for ferrets in the archives.
The archives are very easily searched and can be found at
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
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