8in1 Super Premium Ferret Food blend & Marshall Bandit Peanutbutter Ferret treats

Question
I have a 1 1/2 year old ferret whom I love as one of my own kids and I have owned him since he was 3 months old. I have tried a few different ferret foods and the one he seems to like the best is the 8in1 Super Premium Ferret Food blend with taurine, but it also says that it has high protein chicken formula with real fruit bites in every bite, he is very healthy and happy and has 2 cats to play with that are only 6 months younger than him. I also just recently bought him some Marshall premium ferret treats that are peanut butter flavored and he loves them as well, but my concern is that he may not be getting the nutrition that he needs. I bought him from a pet store that gets their ferrets from Path Valley Ferret farm. Could you help me make sure that he is getting the nutrition he needs and what I could do to make sure he does if he isn't getting it from his food and treats?

Answer
Hi Joy:

You are very wise to be examining your ferret's nutrition!  I think you must have a built-in mommy instinct.

Ferrets are "obligate carnivores" which means they are MEAT eaters. Ferrets do not have a caecum, a part of the stomach that digests plant material, such as fruits and vegetables, so these items, while these items sound yummy, they have absolutely NO place in a ferret's diet!  There is NO "FDA" regulating pet foods and what they must and must not have in them in regards to meeting animals' nutritional needs, so here we come along, trusting the manufacturers with our little ones lives and they make something that looks good to US, but uis not good for our kids!  Rather, it has recently been found that ANY SUGAR in a ferrets diet over time causes insulinoma, a cancer of the pancreas (part of the stomach). BUT, there is nobody to regulate the pet food industry, so pet owners are left on their own to find the answers for our babies!

Here's a GREAT chart that was made up by some wise folks when it comes to ferret nutrition. You can choose any food with a '8' or *9" rating on the chart and you will be choosing a good, healthy food for your ferret.  Here's the chart:

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

Please help your ferret live a longer and healthier life by feeding
as natural a diet as possible.....meat (or kibbled meat products). Ferrets
are obligate carnivores do NOT need to eat oats, corn, rice, wheat, broccoli,
barley, kelp, garlic, cranberries, blueberries, bananas, raisins, potatoes
or the plethora of other plant products processed into kibbles and
marketed under the guise of "natural and beneficial nutrition".  

Your ferret's health is inextricably linked to the nutrition it gets.
While some health issues can be related to genetics, early altering
and housing. Insulinoma is diet related and preventable. If you keep ALL SUGARS (read the labels: if it ends in "ose", i.e., lactose, sucrose, maltose, etc), it is a sugar - do NOT FEED IT. Learn to read the label of any food before you put it in your ferret's mouth - even their treats. As small as ferrets are, even a tiny treat has the capacity to do great damage to your ferrets' overall health.

AN ounce of prevention (in the form of an ounce of natural food) is
worth a pound of cure is never more true than with the case of
insulinoma! Please evaluate your ferret's diet and adjust as
necessary - these tiny critters offer us so much - its unfair to kill
them silently by feeding them stuff their systems are not designed to
eat!

Hope that helps!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers