How to Feed a Ferret a Healthy Diet

One of the most important things you can do as a ferret owner to ensure the health of your beloved pet is to feed them a proper diet.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A good commercial brand of ferret food
• Vitamin supplements
• Hairball remedy

1. Choosing the proper diet for a ferret is not difficult, but you should take the time to learn about proper nutrition for your pet in order to enable you to select wisely. Ferrets digest their food very quickly as they have a fast metabolism and ideally should eat every three to four hours. It will be easier for you and better for the ferret if you leave dry food available around the clock. Ferrets seem to instinctively know just how much to eat and won't overeat when they have constant access to food.

2. Ferrets must have high quality protein, a high amount of fat and a small amount of carbohydrates and fiber. In their natural habitat, ferrets do not eat any form of plant matter and depend on protein as the main ingredient of a proper diet. The easiest way to accomplish this is to feed your pet a specially formulated ferret diet that is available at a pet store. Do not feed your pet cat or dog food. At one time, the school of thought in ferret feeding was to feed a premium dry cat or dog food. Another feeding option was the use of mink food. Minks and ferrets have very similar feeding requirements, however mink food is sold in huge bags, which makes it impractical for the ferret owner. The danger of feeding them cat or dog food, especially the cheaper brands, is that they are nutritionally incomplete for ferrets. They know this instinctively, and compensate by eating much more of the food in order to get what they need. These foods are too low in fat as well.

3. Coat conditioners and vitamins are also an important part of a ferret's diet. Ferrets need fatty acids for proper nutrition and good coats. There are many to choose from and a veterinarian or breeder can be a big help in aiding you in selecting these products.

4. You can also give your ferret snacks of the same foods you eat as a supplement to a high quality ferret food. Just be sure to choose the right kinds of human food. Sugary foods are not good for your pet and dairy products can give him diarrhea. Cooked eggs, cooked meats and chicken, and meat-based cat treats are all good choices. There are canned ferret foods available that are suitable for snacks.

5. Ferrets are wonderful fascinating pets who deserve the small amount of time it takes to insure that they receive a proper diet.

Tips & Warnings

• Ferrets need fresh water supplied several times a day. They tend to walk through it or play in it so frequent changes are required.
• Too many snacks for your ferret can cause malnutrition and obesity. Snack foods are not complete foods so make every bite your ferret takes count.

[ferretlady]

on 8/9/2008 This is very good advice! Here is a link to a nice comparison chart of most ferret kibbles:
http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html
(I highly recommend the Ferret Store Natural food)

PS- What a cutie in the intro pic!