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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
 Make sure your ferrets always have fresh water.
Drip-type containers that hang on the side of the cage are the best -- the water
will not get dirtied as with a regular bowl.
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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