Cheerios and the ferret

Question
Stinky, the other man in my life and a ferret, loves whole grain Cheerios.  He goes crazy for them.  He is rather spoiled and I give him a lttle every day.  Is this OK?
Thanks,
Jenn

Answer
Hi Jenn, thanks for writing. Many ferret people enjoy giving Cheerios to their ferrets. The reason why we are down on this now is because of the prevalence of insulinoma (pancreatic cancer) within the USA ferret population. If Stinky is over the age of 3 or so, the odds are quite strong that he will develop insulinoma. Well over half the elderly ferrets I see have it; that's how common it is. We don't know why although typical American ferret diets are strongly suspected.

In any event, a diagnosis of insulinoma means immediately cutting anything with sugar, corn syrup, etc. out of the ferret's diet. This would include Cheerios. I do have a very elderly ferret with insulinoma and on very rare occasions (maybe once every couple of months) I do give her one Cheerio to relax her after she gets some unpleasant medication, or some situation like that. But in general I recommend eliminating treats altogether. Ferretone or Furotone are OK because they don't contain any sugars. Try substituting 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. of that for his Cheerios. Also, my ferrets get the same "treat experience" when I dip some Totally Ferret or Path Valley Farm ferret kibble into warm water and hand feed them. They love that and they don't miss sugary treats at all.

Hope this helps, and if you simply can't resist the urge to feed Stinky Cheerios, at least cut way back on them (i.e. no more than two and no more than 4 or 5 times a week).

DG