Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have read a lot of bashing on MF on these boards. I have also seen lots of theories on why people hate MFs. The last post made my mind up to respond to this. What proof do you have that MF ferrets are more prone to illness? Please don't tell me to look at all the sick fuzzies that are MFs out there. That is not a viable theory to me! The reason why is because there are many more MF ferrets then any other breeder. What do you expect would happen? Of course you will see much more MF ferrets come down with an illness because of the shear numbers of MF ferrets that are kept. While they mass produce their ferrets what do you think Path Valley and Triple F do? Do you think they are small time breeders? They may not produce as many ferrets MF, but I am sure if a official study was done the numbers of sick to healthy ferrets would be about the same as MF. I have to say that other then Path Valley, MF ferrets are the nicest temperment ferrets that I have seen. There are the occasional nippers, but that happens.

As far as MF ferrets being small... I had a MF ferret that pushed the 5 - 6 pound range every winter, he died at the ripe old age of 8 1/2 years. I have MF ferrets now that push the 4 - 5 pound range every winter. My females are in the 2 - 3 pound range believe it or not. These are MF ferrets for the most part. Most of my ferrets are also ferrets that were given up by their owners for various and assorted reasons, so there care before hand may not have been the best so that may have something to do with their current sizes. These ferrets are smaller then the ones that I have gotten from a petstore, so maybe that can have something to do with the size difference especially if they are ferrets that weren't yours to begin with.

I am not even going to get into the research part of MF... I will be highly unliked if not already by this response, because of my feelings towards research.

Also MF seems to have the best guaruntee out of the 3 big companies here in the US. It may say 1 year, but I have heard many people calling up when their ferret is over 3 or 4 years old and getting part if not all of their vet bills payed for by MF. If you have a deaf ferret I have heard that either you will get 1/2 your purchase price back or a voucher for another ferret, plus you get to keep your deaf one. I just recently bought a Triple F a couple weeks ago. He is a 6 week old Panda, he is also deaf. I talked to Triple F about this and they told me I would have to give him up and they will give me a voucher for another ferret. I asked what they did with them when they are returned and they wouldn't answer me. I have heard that they put them down when they are returned. As far as I know MF does not do this. I have heard that they will give them to shelters that will work with them and adopt them out if they are returned, but given the option I think most people will hold on to their fuzzie.

In closing I don't think that MF deserves 3/4s of the bashing that you do on them. They are pretty respectable when dealing with their "pet" customers and as far as I am concerned I will continue to buy MF ferrets. There food on the other hand... well that's another post. I prefer Totally Ferret over anything and mix it with 2 different HQ kitten foods to spread it out.

LoneGreyWolf20

I hope all of your ferrets live long, happy, healthy lives! I have recently heard (from other people on this list) that they too have MF ferrets that are 4 & 5 lbs. I hope they live long healthy lives, too. My statements were based on personal experience and discussions with vets & vet techs that treat ferrets. So, I would ask you if any of your MF ferrets
have reached the age of 4 or 5 yrs. without splenomegaly, insulinoma or adrenal disease. Bright blessings to them if they have! That has not been my experience or understanding from vet professionals. Sorry you feel the need to be defensive about MF. Nancy

Actually I currently have 3 male MF ferrets between the ages of 4 and 7 with no major health problems. These are my oldest that are MF ferrets. My other MF ferrets that are between 1 and 3 have no major health problems. In the last 5 years we have only had one MFs ferret come down with adrenal and he was 6 when it overcame him.

Like I said it seems that MF ferrets are so prone to disease and seem to be the majority, but the majority of ferrets out there are MF ferrets. See how that works? Of course Vets and Vet Techs will say there is a problem because again they only see them for the most part when they are sick and will remember them because they are sick. They will see more MFs ferrets because again they are more MFs ferrets then any other ferret breeder.

Yes I am defensive because as far as I am concerned they do not deserve the bashing that they get. People assume that because the ferrets that they see that are sick are MF, they then assume that they are a bad breeder without really thinking about the fact that they are the largest supplier of ferrets and therefore will inherently have more ferrets that require more sick vet visits overall. It's all about numbers and MF far outweighs the competition when it comes to the numbers of ferrets owned.

LoneGreyWolf20

I agree with this post. I have had nothing but bad ferrets from MF. Right now after 2 years of saying I would never have another ferret due to all the med expenses I had to pay on my 3 MF (that BTW passed away after all our efforts) I have a 5 month old female that is VERY VERY ILL. I got her ruffly alittle over a month ago and starting tomorrow she has to have more blood tests and echos done. The vet said "Its a MF, what did you expect?". I had to smile as I had to deal with diseases with EVERY MF I have owned. This little female was a rescue situation that...well the owner was allergic to her and was desperate to find her a home so I took her.
Anyway I strongly discourage MF or any other large breeding places. Nothing but a puppy mill just with ferrets. One day I pray they will go out of business.

I have had 4 MF ferrets, the first one developed adrenal around age 4. The second one developed insulinoma around age 4. The third is over 5 now as has had no problems, but she is a silver mitt, the others are all sables. The last one has no problems but is only a little over a year old. I think it may have just as much to do with veriety of ferret as breeder, if indeed there is a correlation.

i personally think it has to do with the food more than anything. i have 2 male MF fuzzies, weighing about 2.5 pounds each, about 4 yrs old, never any health problems. i have seen other MF ferrets double that weight. the difference was they were fed on Totally Ferret and our 2 guys will only eat MF feed. anybody else had this experience?

I can see that, but to me Totally Ferret is a much better food then MF food. I will not feed my ferrets MF food and as soon as they come home start the switch to our mix. We use TF, Iams and Eukaneuba Kitten. I don't know why I have had som much luck with my ferrets not coming down with anything major like Adrenal, Insulinoma or the like. Only had one come down with Adrenal. I don't know what makes my ferrets seem healthier then others.

My second best hypothesis is food as well. My first two, the ones who had adrenal and insulinoma, were fed kitten chow for the first 4 years, with a little MF mixed in. I was an inexperienced owner and the only person I knew with ferrets had always fed kitten chow, so I thought it was ok. The pet store never told me any different, and I was young. I wish I had it to do over now that I know more. The silvermitt who is around 5 now was fed Iams kitten before I got her and now gets that and TF. My newest adoptee was fed some cheap ferret food from Wal-mart, can't even remember the brand, but she had no problem switching over to the mix. I am slowly using her old bag of food as treats. Shes only around a year old, so hopefully the early switch will be beneficial.
However, I think probably the best answer is a combination of diet and genetics, just like people.