New to ferrets, the rescue told me to continue feeding him these foods and was just wondering how good of food they are? Want to make sure I am giving him good, healthy food. He is 3 1/2 yrs. Old. Foods: zupreem, 8-1 crunchy, marshalls. Thanks for any  advice

shelter mom's will mix their food.   Due to intake of ferrets.  They try to find out what type of food that the little one is on, so that it makes it much easier for the ferret to adjust to it's new environment.    

I would keep your little one on this diet for awhile, as he is in a new environment.    Down the road you can slowly switch out the old food....by adding little bit of the new food into the mix.


You don't want to do it all at once, as it might upset his tummy.

But are these good foods? I dont want to change diets if this is a good diet for him, but if these are not good diets then what are better foods? Thanks

Marshalls generally is not a good food. 

It seems that everyone has a special opinion on what is good and what isn't. What they can afford vs what they can't. I have 3 ferrets and 2 cats, so I found a food that seemed to be good for both of the animals. Ended up getting the Wellness Core Original. It isn't the BEST, but it's in the recommended list, and I can feed it to all my critters and spend roughly 50$/month to feed them which is doable for us. It did make my cats litterbox stink to high heavens, though. But both of them seem healthier, and the ferrets like the food. 

I think there's multiple people here that feed their ferrets zupreem, or mix it into another food. I used a food chart website that is old now. From that food chart it's not the worst, but there are still better options. I just googled and found this new image. It seems comparable to the old food chart but updated (because the foods occasionally change their formulas). It also has treats on their rated by their ingredients. Hope this helps a little. 

http://acwn-designs.deviantart.com/art/Ferret-Food-Chart-359164566



EDIT: Also, I believe Raw diet is considered to be the best, but it is a lot more work than a kibble diet and there's more thought that needs to go into it. I don't feed mine this way, as two of them rejected it entirely multiple times. Perhaps someone else can weigh in on that - or there may be some older threads about it. I did not learn about that from this forum, but rather the first forum I was on. I think it was the holistic one. 


I'm also going to include the old link to the food chart I used when I picked, because it does have off-links to why ferrets need certain things in their diet and why other things shouldn't be there. I found it very informative when I was researching if I wanted to get ferrets. http://moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret 


It's also notable that the new list has less foods listed than the old one. If you choose to go by the old list I would highly recommend checking the ingredients and percentages versus an actual bag of the food to ensure it's still the same, since the list below was generated 2 years ago I believe. 

They are middle level foods, but not ones I would personally feed. I would much rather a ferret be fed these foods than say...WalMart food, or Friskies, etc.

When choosing a food, select ones with at least 35% protein, 20% fat, and 3% fiber. At LEAST 4 of the first 6 ingredients should be meat. Some cat foods can be fed, provided they meet the criteria above. It's a good idea to mix at least 2 brands for variety.

Better foods would include Wysong Digestive Support, Orijen, Natures Variety Instinct, Wellness Core, Go! Fit and Free, and even Blue Wilderness.

A raw diet definitely is best, but it does take a bit of work on the part of the human. You can't just offer them meat and expect them to eat it. First you have to teach them it's food. After that part is done, the hard part is really over. Really the most time consuming part is prepping meals, but if you set aside a few hours, it's not too bad.
I find that the benefits outweigh the negatives. My litterboxes are so easy to clean now, and they don't smell.

Ferrets: Wesley, Percy, Owen    -rip Bandit-
Bettas- Kitty, Pip, and Logan
Sun Conure- Kita
Gerbils- Piper and Tailer

I've fed Zupreem for 7 years, and Ultimate for 6, until the ferts suddenly stopped liking ultimate  We mix in some raw, and have at least one other kibble mixed in.  They all have at least 40/20 protein/fat.

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD