What kibble do you feed your ferrets?

We don't feed kibble. We feed a 95% raw meat diet and 5% fruits, vegetables, eggs, and supplements.

totaly ferret  

Bad day? Just grin and ferret!
Donna
StinkyPete, ClaraBell and Stewy McWeasel

Erm, hi there "LesbianFerretMom", you're not meant to feed ferrets fruit & veg.

Ferrets are mustelids, i.e. strict carnivores.

A ferret was designed to get goodness from its diet by eating a large amount of animal-based proteins (i.e. meat) and doesn’t get much nutrition from plant-based proteins (like grains, fruit or vegetables)! They can't digest it and it hurts their digestive system, it can also lead to a disease in the pancreas!!

• They have a very short intestinal tract, only about 5 times the length of its body. A cat, another obligate carnivore, has an intestinal tract 10 times the length of its body.
• Food usually passes through a ferret’s intestine in about 3 hours, compared to the 5-6 hours it takes to go through a cat’s gut.
• The food a ferret eats must be highly digestible and concentrated to allow for the short digestion time, and must also be high in animal protein and fat, to help maintain a healthy immune system.
• Ferrets are lactose intolerant, meaning DO NOT feed them dairy products obviously i.e. cheese, milk, yoghurt, cream. It can lead to some very nasty diarrhea.

That is basic common knowledge, but you can also look here for a general gist: http://www.all-about-ferrets.com/what-do-ferrets-eat.html

You would seriously be doing your ferrets a favour by taking them off fruit & veg, maybe even take them to a vet who knows about ferrets and tell them what you have been feeding them & if they are in any danger/have signs of any pancreatic diseases. Then make the switch to kibble because it contains everything a ferret needs, you'll notice a change in their coats as they become thicker, fuller and shiny (remember ferrets beg for any food they can get their paws on, but it is up to YOU to make the decision, just look at wild polecat's for example, these are domesticated ferrets but should not be treated any diferently).

There are numerous websites that will tell you the same thing. Ask any experienced ferret owner and they will also tell you the same thing.

I'm not having a knock but please please please take into consideration the safety of your little furries, happy ferreting =)


Anyway on topic, we feed our ferrets Pet's at Home Ferret nuggets, superb stuff. We have found it to work wonders with our ferrets coats. We watched Rikku (a resuce) go from being stupidly skinny and short haired to being healthy and having a now lush coat that is so fluffy, full, thick and shiny. It is amazing.

I use Totally Ferret along with duck soup every other day (my guys like it more like a paste) except for Potter besides what he isn't suppose to have all he'll eat is kibble! He will steal chocolate, fig newtons, milk, and if anyone leaves a beer sitting out he will fight you for it.  I have to keep all this completely out of his reach and smell paths! 

I feed him 8in1 ultimate and pro plan

I feed a mix of 8-1 (originally the only food he'd ever eaten since he was a kit, and thus the only food he'd eat) and several different high quality grain free cat foods, also a freeze dried pet food gets put into the mix.  I feed such a variety of cat foods so that if something happened to me, or to him and he ended up with someone else, there's a looooong list of good for him foods that he will eat, so that no matter where he ends up at least one of them can be found.  I'm not a huge fan of the 8-1 personally, but he still favors it quite a bit and I'm working it out of his diet while I use up what he has left.

Is finally a woozle-mama.  I loves my Albion!

darrahdragon


Marshalls. But I'm hearing some not so good things about the way it exits, so I'm in the process of switching over.... if Philip allows it! :\

What have you heard?  I feed Marshalls because that's where mine came from and has been feed that for the 5 months before I got her.  I haven't seen any problems with her poops, except that she does eat and poop a lot.  But this is my first ferret, so I have nothing to compare it to.

Bonnie,
 
The "bad" thing about Marshall's food is that it contains corn and fish products in the first five ingredients.  
 
Corn is a no-no because ferrets cannot digest fruits or vegetables; they are carnivores. Feeding them foods that contain ingredients other than meat products can cause a number of health related problems for your ferret. 
 
Ferret food should contain at least 36% protein (the higher the percentage, the better), moderate fat content (18-40%), and 3% fiber.  The first five ingredients should only be meat-based products. 
 
Fish isn't necessarily bad for ferrets, but it's more appropriate for a mink diet.   Ferrets are from the weasel family.  Also, foods that contain fish within the first five ingredients will cause your ferret's stool to become loose and make the critter STINK to high heaven! 
 
Feeding your ferret a high quality, fishless food will cut down significantly on his odor, and he will not eat or poop as often because he will absorb the nutrients from the healthy food.
 
Some favorite foods on this forum are 8-in-1 ULTIMATE Crunchy, Drs. Foster and Smith (Natural and Original), Zupreem, Natural gold, Totally Ferret, EVO. 
 
Here's a food chart: http://www.ferretuniverse.com/care/food.asp
 
I personally use 8-in-1 Ultimate Crunchy and Drs. Foster and Smith Natural. 
 
It is recommended that you feed your ferret at least two different foods since ferrets imprint on what they consider food after 8-12 months of age.  If a food becomes discontinued or is out of stock, you will still have another food to fall back on. 
 
Hope this helps! :)
 
Vixen
 

Wow, I'm surprised that more people aren't going for the Ferret Store Natural.

We (and even our most finicky ferrets) love it! Good stats, good ingredients, smaller less-smelly poo . . . and for less than the price of Marshalls (esp. when you get a big bag or two at a time to balance out shipping costs.) It's the cheapest ferret food to score a 10 on the food comparison sheet, right? Only downside is having to order it online.

We recently adopted two new ferrets who are eating Marshall's and I can't WAIT to get them fully transitioned over to FSN and Innova. PHEW!! Marshall's is truly disgusting, both pre and post-digestion!

I'm also hoping the new guys will like Wysong; I've never had any luck getting any of my ferts to eat it :(

ferretlady


Wow, I'm surprised that more people aren't going for the Ferret Store Natural.

We (and even our most finicky ferrets) love it! Good stats, good ingredients, smaller less-smelly poo . . . and for less than the price of Marshalls (esp. when you get a big bag or two at a time to balance out shipping costs.) It's the cheapest ferret food to score a 10 on the food comparison sheet, right? Only downside is having to order it online.

We recently adopted two new ferrets who are eating Marshall's and I can't WAIT to get them fully transitioned over to FSN and Innova. PHEW!! Marshall's is truly disgusting, both pre and post-digestion!

I'm also hoping the new guys will like Wysong; I've never had any luck getting any of my ferts to eat it :(

I agree, Ferretlady!  It really is an amazing, affordable food.  I'm a bit baffled by its unpopularity, as well.  As soon as I bought my first two ferrets, I researched foods and found that Ferret Store Natural (a.k.a. Drs. Foster and Smith brand) is one of the best foods on the market. 
 
I combine it with 8 in 1 Ultimate Crunchy, and my ferrets couldn't be happier or healthier! 

My ferrets aren't fussy at all, they seem to eat anything I put in front of them, the two I go between are Zupreem and an Eagle Pack Holisitc ferret food

We switched a few months ago. We now give them Totally Ferret and Zupreem. They also get soupies. We get the TF from ferret.com. Haven't had to buy the Zupreem yet because we won a 30lb bag at the ferret show in Chicago in Oct.

  
Fuzzbutts Rule!
Thanks Wenmister for help with the banner! 

for the most part Zupreem and EVO and baby food now and again. Thinking my new years resolution will be not for me but to switch my two to raw.

i give mine totally ferret baby ferret formula and they LOVE ITTT!!!!

I feed Krash 8 in 1 Ferret Food. He loves it!!!

I feed my boys Zupreem, they absolutely love it. When Zupreem isn't readily available though, I use Sheppard and Greene, which they also enjoy.

As previously posted I switched to Totally Ferret and Zupreem. I am now exchanging Totally Ferret for Dr. Foster and Smith ferret food to mix with Zupreem. Very similar to TF but alot cheaper. I already know my crew like it because I was given a sample.

  
Fuzzbutts Rule!
Thanks Wenmister for help with the banner! 

Started Pocky off on Marshall's because that's what the pet store employee suggested. Did more research and now Pocky eats Zupreem. It took a few attempts before he started to eat it, now he loves it. First I mixed it in with the Marshall's and he would pick out the Marshall's only. Eventually I just took Marshall's out of the equation and he got the idea. Marshall's had that funny fish smell that made his poop extra stinky. I'm sticking to Zupreem.

There should be an "I don't feed kibble" option. ;) I clicked Other for raw food.

Our ferrets devoured Totally Ferret when we started them on it.  That must have been what they had at the pet store.  However, it was the basic / generic kind of Totally Ferret, and while they enjoyed it, they were getting loose stools from eating it.

We now feed them a mix of Totally Ferret for Baby Ferrets, and Iams kitten food that comes in a light-purple bag.  No problems eating or digesting that.  My husband obsesses over the ingredient labels on the back of each brand of kibble when we're shopping, and Totally Ferret, Iams for kittens, and the 8-in-1 seem to be the only acceptable ones to him.