kitten food

Question
Is it ok to feed a ferret High quality kitten food? if so what kind would be best and also what treats would be best

Answer
Hi again Keyonna,

I'm assuming this is the same lady I gave advice to just a little while ago. If I'm mistaken, please let me know!

Here is a very good link that I like to give to new ferret owners. It is a chart that lists all the foods people usually feed to ferrets and the best foods are at the top. As you go down the list, the foods get lower and lower in ranking and I'll tell you why in a minute. You will probably want to stay with a nine or a ten. I wouldn't suggest going below a nine.

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

When looking at food, you want to make sure that corn, soy and wheat (or any similar products) aren't listed in the first three ingredients. Ferrets can't digest these products so having them as part of the normal diet is not a good idea. It is also better to feed a food that has no by-products in it because by-products don't have as much nutrition as meat products do. It is also good practice to mix a few high quality foods together and give that to ferrets because if one ever goes off the market, you won't have to worry about having to get them switched to a new food.

Treats are a good bonding idea for you and your ferret, but if her diet is well balanced enough, treats aren't actually needed. When thinking about treats, you want to stick with things that have very high protein. Packaged lunch meat sounds like a good idea, but shouldn't be given to ferrets because it has additives and lots of sodium in it; not good for little fuzzy tummies. Eggs are a good treat. You could hard boil an egg and feed him the yolk; the yolk is very good for them. If you don' t want to hard boil them, you could give him scrambled eggs, over easy eggs, poached eggs. You could give them raw if you like, as well. Just make sure that you don't season the eggs.

Meats are a very good treat. You can feed them raw or cooked, just make sure you remove all bones because bones dry and brittle and become a choking hazard for the ferret. Ferrets tend to enjoy chicken livers and hearts. If you have access to a dehydrator, you can make your own unseasoned jerky for your girl to enjoy. Insects can be a good source of protein for ferrets. Small animals (such as mice, chicks, and rats) can also be fed as a treat or a normal diet. Some people advocate a more natural diet for ferrets and others still love the kibble; it is up to you. Do some research into it and see what you find. It may be a good idea to supplement your kibble diet with some feeder mice or chicks once in a while, at least, to give them a treat, extra nutrients, and to give them a little variety. Meat baby food can be given as a treat as well. If you get your little girl used to meat baby food now, if they ever become ill, you can give that to them to help keep their strength up. Finally, if they like their kibble, they might see it as a treat if you feed it to them by hand!

In a lot of ferret care manuals, they will tell you that soft fruits and raisins are good for your fuzzy to eat. This isn't necessarily true. Fruits have sugars in them and sugars aren't good for ferrets at all. Feeding sugar to your ferret can lead to insulinoma, which is similar to diabetes. Also, ferrets really can't digest fruits, or vegetables for that matter. Both of these things should be avoided. As for raisins, people give them to their ferrets as a treat, but they really shouldn't. Raisins have a lot of sugar in them as well. Also, it has recently been proven that as little as five raisins can take the life of an otherwise healthy ferret. Stick to meats and proteins. You can also give Ferretone as a treat and it can also be used when you are clipping the girls' nails. It is an amazing distraction. Try putting a little on their bellies and sticking their noses in it. Most ferrets take right to it.

If you are going to switch their food, the switch should be GRADUAL!! When ferrets get fed a certain food young in life, it is extremely difficult to switch their food. Start off with about 85% old food, 15% new food and feed that for at least a week. Next time, try upping the new food percentage a little and going down on the old food percentage, and so on. This should be a few week process at least. Probably over the course of a month or two.

To answer your question, high quality kitten and cat foods can sometimes be okay but it needs to adhere to all of the guidelines that I listed above as far as not having corn, fruit, other vegetables, and so on. Also, you need to stick with a food that has at least 36% protein, 20% fat and no more than 3% fiber.

I hope this information helped and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews