Food

Ferrets are carnivores (meat eaters).  They should be given food made especially for ferrets, or a high quality kitten food.  Ferrets need the mineral taurine, which is found in cat food but not dog food.

Never give a ferret dog food.  Ferrets can die of malnutrition on a dog food diet because it does not have the correct nutrients for ferrets.

The FerretLady says:

Never give your ferrets mutiple choices of foods, as this will encourage finicky feeding behavior.  They will learn that you are willing to give them all sorts of choices, so eventually they will train YOU to buy a them dozen different brands so they get to taste them all!  Pick one high quality food and stick with it.

My ferrets' favorite food was Purina Kitten Chow.  They preferred that over any of the ferret foods.  I imagine that the kitten food was sweeter and higher in fat (like fast food for us! - tasty but not that good for you).

Then one of my ferrets started getting really fat.  He was so overweight, he had trouble hauling his back end around.  My vet told me to get all the ferrets off the kitten food and onto a high quality ferret food.  He recommended Totally Ferret.  That's what I use now.

I don't recommend canned food.  I don't know any seasoned ferret owners who feed their ferrets the canned soft food.  It's bad for their teeth.  Dry food will keep their teeth in better shape.

Other excellent ferret foods include:

An excellent ferret food rating sheet can be found at the Northern Ohio Ferret Association website: http://www.ohioferret.org/textual/nutri.asp.

Some people give their ferrets kitten food.  If you choose this route, purchase only high quality kitten food, such as Purina Pro Plan, available at most pet stores.

Water

However, you may want to keep a shallow, six-inch diameter bowl of water in the cage for water play.  Ferrets enjoy splashing around in water!  Just make sure to keep the bowl and the water clean, and always keep fresh water in the drip containers.  Since they will get the water in the splash-bowl dirty, it should not be their only source of drinking water.

Treats

Treats should be given sparingly, or to reward good behavior.  Ferrets are famous for liking raisins.  There are also numerous commercial ferret treat products on the market.

For more information, see http://www.peteducation.com/ferrets/ferrets_basic_nutrition.htm

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