From Australia

Question
hi, its james again from australia.
thanks for the tips and stuff for breeding but i have a few questions about food.
ive done what you have told me too do and am now feeding them chicken necks, lamb hearts and chicken liver. is there anything wrong with this?
i also have some dry food called hagens living world, is this good?  
How many times a day should i be feeding my ferrets and how much should i be feeding them?

thanks again,
james

Answer
Hi James!

Glad to see you come back again! So happy to hear you're trying to get some better food for those little ones. No doubt their health will show it within a matter of just a few months. Especially when you are wanting to breed them, you really want them on the highest quality food available.

Did you have problems getting them changed over? Most ferrets 'imprint' on their food and it can be very very difficult to change foods. If you do have problems, just mix a little of the old in with the new and keep making less old and more new until you get them completely changed over 100% - hopefully within a few weeks to a month. It's really important that you do watch them to be sure they are continuing to eat while changing them over, as they may not be eating, so be sure to check.

I looked up the Hagens Living World food and it scores only a "6" on the chart for quality of ferret foods and we usuallly like to see people try to keep their ferrets up in the 9's or 10's...especially if they are thinking of breeding. Breeding takes a lot out of the females, so it's just critical that they be at their best nutritionally so the kits don't kill her when they start to nurse and draw their nutrition from her body. You want to have healthy momma, healthy babies and  healthy papa too!  Otherwise you end up with lots of vet bills and/or dead ferrets and that gets expensive and sad at the very least.

Here's the list I found the Hagens Living World on :

http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html

Maybe you can see if you can get more of a "9" or a "10" rated food for them?  You would want them on this for at least six months before you breed them anyway - so they are healthy and can pass that health on to their babies.

Ferrets are "free feed" animals, which means they should have dry kibble food available to them at all times of the day and night along with FRESH CLEAN WATER, with the bowl washed out and refilled with fresh water 2 to 3 times a day. I find if I put the water bowl a few feet away from the food bowl, they don't drop so many pieces of dry kibbles into the water bowl, which is what makes it so yucky so quickly. I'm not sure they like it, but they like fresh water, so I hope they will adjust to the change in location of their water bowl. It's only about 12" from the food bowl.

You can give the fresh meats probably just once a day at night so it is cooler outside.Again, it is best to give them all they will eat, but not so much that it will stay in the cage and spoil by the next day. You will have to practice until you can figure out how much that is. Do your ferrets have a nice cool shady place to live in? They should never be in temperatures over 80-degrees F. If you ever see a ferret panting, it means the ferret is too hot and will probably die. Ferrets aren't like dogs, their bodies can't pant as a way of cooling their body. A ferret who is panting is a ferret who is dying. So please do be sure they are in a very cool area far out of the sunshine and with lots of water at all times.

Also, ALWAYS remember to ONLY give bones RAW, NEVER COOKED.  Cooking bones makes them brittle and brittle bones can break and cause injuries in the ferret's mouth and stomach. You can cook the meat, but not the bones. OR you can give the meat raw too, as long as it is nice and fresh.

I hope you were able to get in contact with a breeder somewhere closer to you, or someone who would correspond with you and help guide you a little bit?  Another place you might want to write to try to find someone is to contact the people who have a newsletter that goes out to hundreds of people all over the world every day (ferret owners/breeders/shelter owners, etc). First you must get on their mailing list, then once you are on the list, you can write a "post" and ask them to post it on the newsletter. Then just watch the newsletter for replies to your post. Hopefully you will have some and get in touch with folks who can be of more help than I have been for you. Here's how to contact the folks at the FML "Ferret Mailing List":  http://ferretmailinglist.org/sub1/sub1.html

Please don't hesitate to write again if I can be of further help to you! Give those sweet ferrets of yours some ear rubs and kisses from me to them, okay?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers