FaunaClassifieds - View Single Post - Reputable Ferret Breeders?
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Old 02-20-2011, 10:12 AM   #6
kerit
There are lots of ways to minimize the "mess" of raw, like feeding dens, but I'm not going to convince you of anything in this thread. Really, I think watching my BP deepthroat a mouse millimeter by millimeter is equally disturbing as watching my ferret bite off a piece of mouse and swallow it. (Which is to say not very disturbing, but there you have it.)

Also, there are several "commercial raw" diets on the market today that are better than kibble, even EVO. Nature's Variety makes a frozen patty that's a nice single serving for a ferret. Ziwipeak is a dehydrated jerky-like diet. Stella & Chewy's is freeze-dried and can be served as-is or rehydrated. And they're all about the same price as feeding EVO, in my experience -- I used to use EVO, then switched to commercial stuff on my way to raw. I still like to have some dry stuff around for various circumstances.

Additionally I go through a lot of frozen ground raw from Hare Today. They offer a ton of different protein sources like chicken, duck, turkey, beef, rabbit, goat... in a mix of the entire ground animal, so the proportions are there. That doesn't keep teeth clean, though. It's the muscle meat and bone that does that.

As for adrenal disease, that's a whole other novel with no conclusion. I'm beginning to subscribe to the "every altered ferret has adrenal" theory. Whether our ferrets are exposed to natural light or not, their glands are still producing hormones that aren't usable by their bodies, and that's what eventually may cause tumors to metastasize. Light cycles have some effect on hormone levels, so we might as well try to control that too -- but I've mostly read about offering your ferrets plenty of total darkness, to replicate an underground environment. And there've been a lot more Deslorelin implants imported into the States lately, and talk of it possibly "preventing" adrenal disease as well as treating it, so hopefully in the next couple years we'll have a better option for handling the symptoms if not the cause.