My Ferret Care

Feeding a ferret these days is actually quite easy. Before ferrets became popular pets it was a different story. The only way to feed a ferret used to be to make your own food from rabbits and chicken. Because the only people who could buy actual ferret food was zoos. Thankfully there are many companies which make food specifically for ferrets today. So getting a balanced diet for your ferret is as easy as picking out the right bag of food from your pet store. So there are two basic different ways to feed your ferret you can either buy prepared food or make your own. I will discuss these two different ways the pros and cons of both you can then pick which one you prefer.

Commercial Food

The first obvious pro of commercial food is that it is simple and requires absolutely no work. It comes in moist semi-moist and dry. With dry being the most common but you can pick which ever one you like. The commercial food will have every thing your pet ferret will need to keep him on a healthy diet. You do not need to give them anything else except water to drink of course. Maybe a special treat or two on those special occasions. One of the down sides of the commercial moist food is that is gives almost no exercise to the jaw and the moist food does not clean the teeth which can cause dental hygiene problems. The same thing can happen to cats and dogs if they are fed moist food. So if you where to go with commercial food I would pick the dry food. On top of that the dry food stays fresher longer once the bag is opened and flys don’t like it as much. Unfortunately one big problem with commercial food is that it never changes your pet will be eating the same thing day in and day out. Some times the best diet is a mix between the old and the new.

Natural Food

Before ferrets became house pets they where fed with hole rabbits and chicken carcasses that where caught by the owner or raised. They would get all the vitamins that they would need from it to have a good diet. Unfortunately the first obvious con with this way is the opposite of commercial foods first pro. Natural diets require quite a bit of work on the owners part. Along with that the natural food can have a high risk of diseases that can be transmitted to your ferret easily and nasty things like fleas. This meant that ferrets would often die quite a bit earlier then they do today. I would not recommend this method at all.

Best of both worlds

I think the best diet that a ferret can be fed is a little bit of both. I would recommend feeding them a good dry ferret food most of the time with a little bit of meat now and then. They can be fed raw and cooked meat. Don’t feed them low quality meat a good like scraps a good rule of thumb is don’t feed it to your ferret unless you would eat it yourself. This means getting it fresh from a butcher you can use beef, rabbit, chicken and fish. You can even give them the beef bones to chew on. Do not give the other ones though because they are small and can break apart and hurt or kill your ferret. You can feed your ferret fruit if you want keep in mind that they are carnivores so fruit does nothing for them but if they like it they can eat it. Milk is aright to give them but not on a regular basis because to much can make them sick. Never feed them chocolate or other sugary things they provide no dietary benefit so they just make your ferret eat less of its actual food which they need to keep a balanced diet. One good thing to feed your ferret every once and a while is a dog biscuit which can help with there dental hygiene.

Ferrets should be fed two small meals a day rather than one large one every day. This will make sure they have a healthy metabolism. They should also be fed around the same time every day your ferret will look forward to it so try not to feed them at random times. For how much your ferret should eat its hard to say because this depends on how old your ferret is, How large it is, if its a baby or not, the quality of the food and even the time of the year. So I find the best way to find how much your specific ferret should eat is by putting out a dish of food and see how much they eat in about 15 minutes. If they devour all of it give them more until they lose interest in the food. Then just keep track of how much you give them and with in a few days you should be able to figure a rough amount that they should get every day.

Just one final thought before I close this blog post if you are switching your ferrets diet around make sure you keep an eye on them because some ferrets can be picky and won’t eat there food if it is changed. It can also give them diarrhoea which can dehydrate them. So just make sure you watch for that. I hope this blog was helpful in your quest for ferret care greatness keep watching for more blog posts in the future that will be filled with great ferret care tips.