Vitamin overload?

Question
I am a new ferret owner, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can to ensure little Damien has a long happy life (:
He is about 8 weeks old right now and he is on the Marshall diet. I'm giving him vita-sol liquid multi-vitamin in his water and once daily a small amount of furovite. Though, I'm worried about the furovite because it contains molasses.
Besides this I want to start him on a melatonin regimen as an attempt to prevent AD, and Vetasyl for hairballs. I'm just wondering when is a good time to start and if this is too much for the little guy. Or if you have any other suggestions as to what he needs diet wise.

Thanks so much for your help!
-Sarah

Answer
Hi Sarah:

You're an awesome ferret mom to be thinking ahead now, while he is just growing his little bones and organs and making sure he has the best 'building blocks' possible to be a strong little guy when he's grown (at approximately seven months of age he is considered to be an adult ferret BTW :-).

I absolutely don't recommend the furovite, especially on a daily basis. There is definitive evidence that sugar in ANY form is the direct cause of insulinoma in later life in ferrets. My best recommendation is to continue to do what you are doing - read labels always and never feed anything that has any form of sugar in it; that's honey, molasses and any word that ends in "ose" such as sucrose, maltose, etc - they are all sugars. The best treat is a few drops of Ferretone, a mixture of healthy oils and it's great for their coat, nails and every ferret I've ever known LOVES Ferretone (or Furotone by the other manufacturer - same stuff).

The general opinion amongst experienced ferret owners is that if you feed a mixture of 2 or 3 premium ferret-specific protein rich (from MEAT sources since ferrets are obligate carnivores and their stomachs do not have a caecum, which does not would give them the capability to digest vegetables or fruit. Veggies are often troublesome for causing blockages because they don't break down in the stomach; and same with fruits, but the fruits also contain sugars, which makes them double bad for the little stinkers.  So, I feed my kids a mixture of two or  three top ferret foods (Totally Ferret and 8 in 1 Ultimate is the current mixture). Here is a link so you can see how the foods stack up as far as nutrition and overall wellbeing for your kids:

   http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html

Try to choose foods that are no lower than a "9" on the chart. However, if your ferret is a picky eater, sometimes you have to get a "9" or two and toss in an 8 or so to keep their interest - just make sure you read the labels and make sure the protein source comes from MEAT - the first four ingredients should be from meat sources of some type in an ideal world - getting the ferrets to eat that can be tricky, but you have a young one, so if he gets used to that early in life, hopefully you can get him on a good healthy diet and he shouldn't need any vitamins at all. When he his old and not eating well or having other health problems, you may want to reconsider vitamins, but not at this juncture in his life because yes, you can overdose him on vitamins and all he needs really IS in the food if it's a good food. Marshalls isn't the best, but it's not the worst either.

IF you do make a food change, make it slowly, first adding just a few kibbles to his bowl of food, then slowly adding more of the new and less of the old until he is finally all the way changed over, probably over the course of a week or 10 days. Otherwise you can trigger some tummy upset or they can stop eating. Ferrets don't like food changes and they usually resist in the beginning because they imprint on their foods at an early age. Best way to overcome that is to mix a good even portion of the old and new foods together and shake well so the flavors blend. Let this sit for a few days while you're doing the slow change and by the time you get to the 1/2 and 1/2 part, he will probably accept it better.

TREATS:

Treats can be tricky. The only ones I have for my kids are N-Bones, which are hard gelatin sticks just perfect size for ferrets (about the size of a skinny pencil, but shorter), Ferretone, which they shouldn't have more than about a tablespoon or so per week because of the vitamins in it - but since they like it so much, I mix it half and half with virgin olive oil, shake well and dispense in a little dropper bottle and let them lick it. Keep the big bottle in the refrigerator or it can go rancid before you get around to using it all. The olive oil makes it so the kids can enjoy twice the amount of Ferretone (their favorite and they don't even notice the olive oil, which is also good for their coats). I also got some packets of freeze dried white chicken chunks that one of my ferrets is crazy about. They came from a friend in the UK - I haven't seen them here in the U.S, but they are called "Chooks" and being 100% meat, the perfect food or snack for my little carnivore ferret.  Totally Ferret has some treats that are healthy too. Be sure to check out their website. The only thing I didn't like from their - my kids turned their noses up seriously at the Poultry Mix food, but the regular crunchy chicken  they love and they love the turkey and venison too, along with all the treats, which are so healthy I've used them for food one night when I was out of regular food - I just opened a packet into their food bowl to hold them till I could get to the store in the morning....that's a healthy treat!

Vetasyl is an excellent regimen to start when he's young because kits get into so many things - just like babies, they explore by putting things into their mouths and sometimes they swallow them, so a good cleanout about once a month is a good, healthy habit to get into. If you look back at the full directions (or write again if you need them), do an initial 3 day treatment, then follow with a single treatment monthly as long as his poops are big and fat and you have no reason to believe he's gotten into anything he shouldn't have. If his poops get skinny, scant or you see him straining in the litterbox or passing anything other than poop, it's a good idea to do another 3-day treatment to be sure he's cleaned out good. The treatments are not harmful in any way; compare it to people taking a good dose of a fiber laxative. The goopy cat laxatives in the tubes have malt, molasses and sugars the kids don't need. IF you ever decide to try a different laxative, (I have one ferret who refuses vetasyl) you can actually take a tablespoon of just plain old vaseline and mix 1/2 teaspoon or so of Ferretone into it, dribble a couple drops of Ferretone on top, offer it to the ferret and you'll be surprised that they gobble it down and it works. Since petroleum jelly (vaseline) is the primary ingredient in the tube laxatives, this is a way you can make your own SAFE one.

Regarding the melatonin injections. I guess that's a personal choice. WHen my Gilbert was showing some signs of early AD, I took him for a melatonin shot. We found out that they are very very painful injections. He screamed  like I've never seen him scream before, jumped loose (the vet and I were BOTH holding him - she had the front for the shot and I had the back and he still got loose and was flipping in the air he was in so much pain!!)  I cried to see this and would never ever take a ferret for another one of those shots. Maybe they aren't all like that, but I'd strongly recommend you talk around to some other ferret owners, maybe even write to another expert on here and see if they have had any melatonin experiences first hand - because the books can make it sound good and promising, but believe me, you won't want to witness what we saw that day.  So, that's just a suggestion and I think melatonin is very very "iffy".  I belonged to a ferret club and probably half a dozen folks had their ferrets on melatonin as an organized experiment. Over a period of six or seven years they collected data on their ferrets life spans and mortality and came to the conclusion that the melatonin made absolutely NO difference in the overall lifespan NOR the incidence of AD. I don't know if they ever published the results anywhere, but it was done by some very experienced ferret owners, so I do put a lot of weight on their results. If it makes you feel better to do the melatonin, do it, but honestly, I wouldn't expect anything except lots of vet bills and an angry ferret from being poked monthly :-*(

Give that little Damien a hug from me. I had to put my precious little Gilbert down this afternoon, so this has been a long and sad day for me. Love him lots - it seems like they are babies for such a short time, then they get cuddly after they slow down (once they get through the rambunctious baby/youth year or two) and those times are my favorite, when they will crawl up on your lap and snuggle; then all too soon after that they are gone. So love him lots, take lots and lots of pictures, and if you have time, start a journal of stories about the little antics he does and gets into. Someday you will treasure your little Damien journal, that I promise!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers