D A N G E R-BEWARE: KAYTEE FIESTA

Question
my ferret is a few months of old I just read the letter that you rout about the kattee food once i read that i got scared so i went to my room and got my bag of ferret food and i was shocked I have kaytee select blend and if you can tell me if that is good food and what do i do... my food is mixed with a different food do i through it all out or can she finish it up?

Answer
Hi Kitty:

Thanks so much for reading past questions & answers! Sometimes when I have so many repeated questions I wonder if anyone reads the already posted questions/replies. You've certainly done your homework and I really appreciate that!

The food you are asking me specifically about, Kaytee Select, has NO DRIED FRUIT PIECES like KAYTEE FIESTA - the DANGEROUS DRIED FRUIT FOOD food. Kaytee Fiesta is commonly called "Blockage in a Bag" in ferret circles...that should give you some idea of what other folks' experiences with the food are. From one mom who has paid far over $1,000 for intestinal blockage surgery, I can assure you, I'd toss out a $5 bag of food so fast it would hit somewhere in Tokyo before anybody here even know it was missing!

Not sure how big the bag is that you have left. It's usually a good idea to change a ferret's food slowly instead of all at once anyway, so you will need some of the old food in order to make a healthy change to a new food. IF there is ANY dried fruit in the food, be sure to pick it out before giving it to your ferret - always check food before giving it to your ferret anyway - accidents do happen, just as they do in our homes. Something as simple as a rubber band used to close a bag tightly can pop off and end up in the ferret's food dish and cause intestinal obstruction. That's how quickly it can hit and we can lose these kids. .

To change foods - have at least a week's worth of "old" food left (either one food or multiple foods, whatever ferret is currently eating). Choose ONE (NOTE: Change ONLY ONE food at a time; most likely IF your ferret refuses) other healthy food from our list of ferret-specific premium foods found here:  

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

The higher the number on the chart above, the better the food is rated overall.  Be sure the foods you select are available to you locally. While it's okay to maybe get ONE of the foods in your 'mix' from an online store, your mainstay food should be one that you can purchase locally. Almost all pet stores carry Totally Ferret. Since your ferret is young, you will probably want the 'baby formula' for UP TO ONE YEAR OLD.  Then there is an ADULT DIET, then a LOW CAL GERIATRIC DIET for elderly ferrets.  There are other foods that are good too - personally I'm partial to TF I guess because I know they employ full-time folks who are constantly testing and finding ways to improve their product to help our ferrets live longer AND most of *them* are ferret owners too!

**TIP FOR INTRODUCING ANY NEW KIBBLE: Before you even put any in the bowl, keep a cup or so in a serving bowl or in your pocket all day - depends where you spend your time - and at every chance you get for to reward your ferret with a treat...say "good boy!!" and give a new kibble.  He/she just knows that it's something new. They don't know treats from kibbles. The only difference is that we give them bowlfuls of food and just one or two treats...so start with the few handfed pieces and watch him crunch them readily, then you know you're ready for the 'bowl test' :-)

Now (got sidetracked, but you should have two foods in front of you, the old and the new) you put 3/4 of the old food in the bowl and the other 1/4 you will put the new food and be sure to stir them around.

The best way to do the rest of the food for the week is to take enough food from each bag to mix food for a week - until you see how the ferret takes to the new food (don't *contaminate* the whole bag of old food yet until we're SURE he will like it) at 1/4 new and 3/4 old food ratios.  At the end of that week, IF HE IS EATING THAT MIXTURE WELL, including the new food; go to 1/2 and 1/2 new and old.  If this goes well, then go ahead and mix the rest of both bags together. You can also start sneaking in some pieces of another premium brand if possible....

WHY??  Do I keep trying to get people with only one ferret to keep buying so many bags of ferret food?? Won't it get stale??

1.  The reason for using several types is that ferrets "imprint" on their food at a young age. Especially with young ferrets, the more flavors your ferret is introduced to, the easier he will be to feed throughout his life, through many changes of manufacturer's recipe changes, vet dietary prescription type changes and lots of other reasons. You REALLY DO want to get that ferret to eat four or five different flavors if you have multiple ferrets...but 3 is just fine for one ferret.

2. Stored properly (AIRTIGHT in a cool, dark place) the bags will not become stale and they should last just fine. I buy the smallest bags of each food (I currently only have one ferret, he was on FOUR 'rotating' dry kibbled foods for years, just got reduced to TWO different kibble foods in addition to his warm 'soup' at bedtime each night since he's a senior) As an 'elderly' ferret, he no longer needs 38-45% protein; and it *could* actually damage his kidneys by continuing to give food that is too high in protein when his little body just can't process it all.

I hope this has answered your questions, Kitty. Please don't hesitate to come back again - either to browse, or to ask another question - you are always welcome!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers