BEST FOOD FOR FERRETS

Question
What kind of Food should my Ferret need to eat?


Answer
Hi Aimee!

Thanks for your question.  Ferrets are "obligate carnivores", which means their stomachs are designed to digest ONLY meat and animal byproducts. They cannot digest vegetables of any kind and they do not need vegetables in their diet.  They should NOT ever have sweets, fruits or anything with sugar in it.  Although some merchandisers sell treats with either sugar in them and/or dried fruits and/or vegetables, these are really dangerous items for ferrets!  Dried fruits and vegetables can and DO cause intestinal blockages, which can only be resolved by surgery to remove the blockage; sugar can and does cause the pancreas to eventually stop functioning properly (insulinoma) and can make surgery necessary to remove the pancreas and the ferret goes onto medication for the rest of their life - IF they are lucky. Many ferrets who get sugar regularly die as a direct result of it, as insulinoma is a very very serious health problem that many ferrets die of. It is possible that insulinoma is entirely preventable in ferrets if they have NO sugar in their diets.

Here's a great ferret food chart that lists the various ferret foods available and lets you see which ones do and don't meet a ferret's nutritional requirements:

   http://www.ohioferret.org/INFO/nutri.asp

There is a LOT of information on that page about ferret food and what is and is not good for them.

As far as TREATS go, just remember the rule about never giving your ferret anything with sugar or ANY DRIED meat, fruit or vegetable items in it, such as dried fruits or vegetables (blockage danger). Ferrets have too short of a digestive tract to rehydrate ANY food as it passes from the mouth to elimination.....so is a common cause of intestinal blockage, which is often fatal if not recognized in time and the ferret taken to surgery to remove the blockage.

A great book for all ferret owners is called FERRETS FOR DUMMIES by Kim Schilling - you can get it at http://www.half.com for a really reasonable price.  If you read that book from cover to cover, I guarantee you will have a healthier ferret who will live a better and probably longer life for it! SO many problems can be eliminated by knowledge beforehand (such as good ferretproofing to keep your ferrets safe from dangerous items).

Best of luck - please don't hesitate to write again if I can be of any help to you!  Best of luck with our ferret.

Sincerely,
Jacquie Rodgers