Ferret Food suggestions

[Jay_Bunny]

I put the link out there for anyone who was interested. $15 is a maximum per week. If I find meat on sale or if I start feeding whole prey that I breed myself, that goes down.

[GoingPostal]

I'm on holistic ferret forum already and evo dog food has plenty of protein. But yeah raw would be ridiculously expensive where I live, breeding mice cuts down on costs but keep in mind I have to order food and bedding shipped in for those as well, it's hard to get anything where I live. There's no way I could buy meat here for 6 ferrets for $15 a week, more like double that and that isn't affordable for me. I would if I could. I've looked into ordering frozen whole prey but that's not cheap either once you add shipping and I don't have a freezer.

[Oxylepy]

Why not feed them the raw + the kibble? If you are breeding rats already then I think sparing 1/ferret/week would be decent for them.

[Jay_Bunny]

There is no point to feeding both raw and kibble. There is no benefit, other than saving money. I can say that the improvements I've seen in my ferrets with the raw diet is convincing me to switch the cats and dog as well. I even did an experiment last year with the cats by feeding them 100% raw for a month. They loved it! And a lot of their medical problems went away (one cat had the beginnings of gingivitis. It was gone by the end of the month on raw).

Feed what you want, but I would like to see more ferret information articles having raw as a diet option.

[recycling goddess]

and people wonder why i eat raw foods...

we feed our dogs raw... they love it and any health issues are now gone. we are getting a ferret tomorrow... and will go read that site you posted to decide what to feed it.

thanks for the info!

[Derrick13]

Kibble with extremely low or no veggies/fruits with fresh chicken broth added to soften it up is fine for ferrets. Raw may straight up be better in the sense that your feeding your fuzzy exactly what they would get in there natural habitat , however a combination of what I already stated with chicken and maybe a mouse every now and then would give excellent balance to a ferrets diet. Switching up a ferrets meal gives the fuzz some mental stimulation and access to all necesary vitamins and minerals, and dont forget you can give your fuzzy vitamin supplements as well.

I'm not against raw , on the contrary I am against pure kibble diets. However, kibble with combinations of othere choices like I stated will keep the general idea of a ferret healthy. I say general becuse every ferret is diffrent and has diffrent needs then otheir ferrets.

[Rockstar Reptiles]

I would like weigh in on this discussion.

First- RAW is optimum, if done right. However there are other great alternatives that lead to a healthy and happy ferret with less work and often less expense.

Don't fall into the "ferret product" trap. Many cat products are absolutely safe for ferrets. MOST ARE NOT! However, many are. Also, from the standpoint of their digestive morphology ferrets and cats are very similar. There is a good amuont of research tying the use of dry kibble in cats (and even dogs) to diabetes, UTI, and vomiting. The reason is that cats and ferrets lack the digestive enzymes that dogs and people have in our saliva, and therefore do not properly break down kibble. This makes me also wonder what problems (adrenal!) that may tie back to that same issue!

I use a large amount of natural balance and avoderm canned foods. I also choose foods that are low in fish because the fish can really bring out a stronger musk. I use some dry kibble as well, softened with hot water. I usually use either taste of the wild (grain free and 42% protien!) or VF complete (good quality with no soy, wheat, corn, by-product and totally fish free!). I find fish also causes issues in many ferrets that people may not realize, so I will often try to avoid fish all together.

Just my 2 cents!

[Jay_Bunny]

I actually found a kibble that I like and will use as emergency food for my ferrets. It is $23 for a 5lb bag but it is amazing.

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_w..._dry_core.html

[kc261]

There is no point to feeding both raw and kibble. There is no benefit, other than saving money.

Can you explain this more? It is something I've heard about feeding a dog a raw diet, that there is no point in switching halfway, you should either switch entirely to raw or you may as well stick with kibble. I just don't understand why if raw is so good, half raw wouldn't be better than no raw.

[Jay_Bunny]

Carnivore digestive systems are short. Ferrets, cats, and dogs are all carnivores and benefit from an all raw diet. It is meant to move and digest food very quickly. When you feed a carnivore kibble, it takes longer to go through their digestive system. If you are feeding both raw and kibble, the kibble slows down the digestive system and the raw sits in the digestive tract for too long. It is kind of like when humans eat foods that cause us to feel backed up and constipated. It doesn't feel good for the ferret and doesn't provide any benefits.