Hello all,

Yesterday I got a baby male ferret (perhaps a month old~accurate age is not known) from MonsterPets. He is a Path Valley farm ferret and I was told that it is strongly recommended that he stays on the Path Valley farm kibble diet for at least 1 year. I would like to keep him on this diet until he is at least 2-3 months old since he likes it so much (I mix it with 8 in 1 wet ferret food for now but would love to switch him to raw later on), but do I absolutely HAVE to keep him on this diet for 1 year? I was also told I can switch him to another food very slowly but if something goes wrong he can "get very sick". What do you guys think of this? Is this true?
If Path Valley farm kibble is so nutritious and fortified with everything a ferret needs, how come the third ingredient is cooked corn? They cannot digest vegetables.

Also, I really would like to give him a little bath, he still has that smelly pet store smell. Is it wise to do that at his age? I wouldn't dunk him in the tub or anything, but just a little spot bath?

Please enlighten me on some things, I am a little confused. I have two other, older female ferrets (Marshall Farm ferrets) that I did not encounter these issues with.

Thanks!

I imagine the store that sold you the ferret is telling you this due to they have to to keep their contract with the farm they are getting the ferrets from I know that is why stores always push Marshalls food on you if they get their ferrets from Marshalls and I doubt other farms are any different and they also require you to keep them on their food if you want them to replace the ferret if something happens to it. I never went by anything a store told me about ferrets since few know what a ferret needsand I would never have let them have a ferret back if they got sick I just went to the vets and had them treated. I buy food with high protein and fat and could care less what the store recommends. I never even slowly switched them over to another food since the kits I got would go eat from the other ferrets I had bowls if I tried to wean them slowly from Marshalls. You may get loose poos for awhile but I never had a problem switching they certainly never got sick. I have had 48 ferrets total now many of them kits others were rescues and they took to the new food easily too. Look at the charts here on food to get an good idea what the ferret should eat and if you are going raw do it as soon as possible don't wait.

I second what raml said.  I know some people switch kits to raw within weeks and they do fine.  When I got my first ferret, she was a Marshall's and I believed what they said about feeding them marshall's food until I joined this forum.  I haven't fed marshall's in years.  They say you have to feed their food for a year, as long as their health guarantee lasts, to keep the warranty valid.  I don't know how you'd prove what food you feed anyway.  We've never had a Path Valley ferret, but if he was to get sick within a month I'd let the store know anyway.  They may work with you.  When I told Pet Supermarket that one of mine most likely had a urinary infection when I got him, the manager said to bring in the vet bill and they'd help me out, but I didn't bother.  It was only $35 back then.  


Your fuzz is probably 2 months old.  Even Marshall's doesn't ship them before 2 months anymore.  You should be fine giving her a quick bath.  Just try not to get her nose wet.  That smell is from the cage at the store.  As long as you keep their cage clean it shouldn't come back, like your older girls.   When we got 3 two years ago, we were only looking for 1, but couldn't bear the thought of leaving Pandy in that stinky glass box one more night after she'd been there 6 months, and that would have left Abita, Yoshi's sister, alone, so...

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

I agree with everything said above.. One more point I wanna add is I believe they also smell so strong from the pet store because of the food they are eating..  I don't know about Path Valley Food,, but Marshalls has a lot of fish in it.. In my opinion fish makes ferrets stink.. I have adopted ferrets from private homes who stink as well,, but two days on our mix of kibble and they smell way better... The poops smell really bad when they are on the lower quality food..

I as well,, didn't worry about store warranty and switched mine right away..  I did put a bit of the kibble they were eating in with my mix.. But I have yet to have one not switch pretty  much instantly to the better quality mixture.. 

I bathe my guys in kitchen sink,, makes it easy on the back and you can hold them securely and keep their head dry.. 

Good luck 

Path Vallies tend to be a bit bigger and more aggressive compared to marshall ferrets but might have a slightly better gene pool as well. I'd recommend getting another path valley to play with as the marshalls might get beat up on. Just from my experience the path vallies are also more stubborn and harder to train due to their big headedness but in groups with an alpha they tend to mellow out(some are just big softies).

Raw is far and away the best diet to be on and the sooner you start the easier it is to make the switch. Pet stores don't make money off of raw which is why they say it's bad for pets. Crazy how veterinary schools are sponsored by pet food companies.  That being said I'd look at the more dooks food chart and get something like wysong to transition them to while you do raw. It's always best to have some kibble around for emergencies like power outages when all your frozen meat is lost. 

Bathing. Ferrets don't really need baths that often. Maybe every few months or when needed as bathing strips them of their bodily oils which come back even smellier. I'd just take a warm wet cloth and wipe him down. The cages they keep them in are atrocious. Don't buy any ferret shampoos or garbage like that as they are more harmful than good. Baby safe shampoos are perfect for ferrets and tend to be cheaper and much higher quality.