My little boy refuses to eat dry food

Question
QUESTION: I bought my little fuzzy over 6 months ago and have been desperately trying to get him to eat dry food since his first vet visit.  The vet told me he should be on a dry food diet.  He will eat moist food all day long, but when it comes to any dry food touching or being in his moist food he refuses to eat it.  He will either dump his bowl of food out and push it into a corner or he will leave it in the bowl either way he will back his little butt to it and poop on it.  As if to say "I don't want that what else do you have."  I know by now he should be on a dry food diet, but I don't want to risk his health to try to force him to eat dry food.  I have tried everything to get him to eat dry food, but nothing works.  He is the type of ferret that won't even eat a ferret treat.  What can I do, if anything, to get my little boy to eat dry food?

ANSWER: Hi Melissa,

Have you tried wetting his dry food down a little bit? Will he eat it then? Because if he will eat it that way, you can gradually wean him onto all dry food. Also, even if you wanted to try and put dry food into his wet food and mix it up really well, that would work. You could just start out a little bit at a time. Have you tried "hiding" dry food in his wet food? With that, you could crush the dry food up in the wet food and get him exposed to at least the smell. I think what might be happening is that, since he has been eating wet food all this time, he isn't recognizing the dry food as food. That happens with ferrets. They are the finickiest eaters out there. That could be the case. So, you really should try sneaking some dry food into his wet food. Also, if he really doesn't like the stuff you sneak in (by sneak I just mean put a little bit in at a time), then you can always try crushing up the dry food and putting it in the wet food so your fuzzy will at least start to smell it and maybe he will start recognizing that smell as food.

I'm so sorry but those are the only things I can think of to tell you to do. You can also try drizzling his dry food with Ferretone and that may entice him to eat his dry food. If not, I would really try sneaking some dry food in his wet food or crush it up and put it in there. You can also try putting some in his mouth (gently of course), making it like a treat.He might spit out so I would try again and you can also try putting Ferretone on the single pieces of the food.

If you have any other questions, or if you are unsatisfied with this answer, please feel free to ask me or one of my fellow experts.

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews


P.S.

Also, make sure that even as you are trying to transition him to dry food, that he is still getting food to eat because a ferret cannot be deprived of food for more than 24 hours!!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: My little fuzzy will eat watered down dry food, by watered down, I mean there can be absolutely no chunks of dry food to be found.  I have tried, in the past, to crush up a little dry food and put it in there, but he poops on it.  I have tried ferretone, duck soup, etc. and he still refuses to eat it and poops on it.  I have even tried to give him very small pieces of chicken, but he poops on it.  You are right they are extremely finicky.  What are the consequences if I can't get him on a dry food diet?

Answer
Hi again, Melissa,

I am so sorry you are having so many problems with this! What kind of bowl are you using to feed him? I mean, does he literally poop on his food? If that is the case, you might consider getting a new dish, maybe one that anchors to the cage, so he can't tip it over and he can't poop in it.

As for you question about consequences for wet food, there are a few downsides to wet food over dry. The first is that dry food is generally and in the long fun less expensive than wet food. Dry food can seem like it would be more expensive, but with wet food, you cannot leave it out to free feed like dry food. You have to change wet food extremely periodically to make sure it doesn't spoil and to keep flies and other buggies away, and because of all of that, you will be buying more wet food than you would dry food. Also, one of the reasons people feed dry food is because it seems to help to remove tartar build-up from the ferret's teeth. With wet food, obviously, tartar build-up is not always kept in check, unfortunately.

That being said, though, wet food is good because it gives your little boy variety while kibble is a little boring. It has lots of protein in it which is good and a ferret doesn't have to rehydrate wet food before it is digested whereas dry food, needs to be re-hydrated in the digestive tract before digestion.

I think the tartar build up should be easily combated with teeth brushing. I just hope you are changing his food regularly (probably a few times a day) and that you keep a check on his teeth. Also, any harder treats you can give him could help with that.

I really hope I helped and if there is anything more I can do, please don't hesitate to ask!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews


P.S.
What kind of dish are you using to feed him, by the way? If you eventually get dry food, you should get one that is a little deeper but with wet food, you don't have to use a very deep dish because that wet food could be hard to reach for your little boy !