Why Your Vet Dislikes Discussing Diet
Vets on Ferret Diets
By Tara Lea Preston & Holly
Many vets will tell you to not feed cat food to ferrets at all and will only suggest ferret food. It is very common for a vet to recommend feeding your ferret a food that is marketed specifically for them. If they recommend you feed your ferret a food marketed for another species and your ferret becomes ill from their diet, the vet can be held accountable, even if the ferret-specific kibble isn’t as healthy for them as a cat-kibble would be.
Most vets will avoid discussing raw since it is a complex diet and it's difficult to summarize quickly. That, and most vets don't even have much knowledge on the raw diet. A lot of owners will feed unbalanced raw (simply giving their pets muscle meat and nothing else) which leads to MANY health issues and nutritional deficiencies. This is a main thing vets are worried about and see many "raw fed" pets for. They also voice concerns about salmonella, e. coli, etc. I believe this is because many owners don’t know about the 4 hour window between kibble & raw, which increases the risk of these illnesses.
Dr. Karen Becker on why most vets aren’t the authority for pet food advice. If you ever read a link from our files, read this one.