Ferret Food - What Should You Feed Your Ferret?

Apart from all of the other obvious things, one of the most important areas in Ferret care and to ensure that it has a long and healthy life, is the diet? A lot of people make the mistake of feeding their furry friend, Cat food, Dog food and even Rodent food and that can be a major no-no; in a good number of cases these foods are unsuitable as they are low in protein and high in fiber content.
If you give your Ferret low quality pet food it will not only find it difficult to digest, but it has a lower nutritional value meaning that there will be an increase in food intake and inevitably, higher levels of waste.
Ferrets are carnivores which means they like eating MEAT.
Not bread and milk, or a whisked eggs, not even bird seed or rabbit food, but MEAT! And When I say meat, I mean fresh meat, not frozen meat that had been in the freezer for a couple of years! Their wild ancestors were of course hunters and their diet was made up of small prey which once caught, was totally consumed; meat, bones, feathers, legs the lot and the diet of the domesticated pet isn't a lot different! However, today, they don't need to go out hunting for food as plenty of pet food producers have available, high quality food for your little pal.
The basic requirement is that their food should contain at least 30% of meat, which provides lots of proteins, has at least 19% of fat content and a maximum of 4% fiber - some would argue that 3% is the maximum.
However, you have to watch out for high carbohydrate levels in some processed ferret foods.
You can actually buy dry food that meets this criteria, but make sure you read the label, closely! Ferrets have a sweet tooth, which isn't exactly good for them...
The high sugar content of foods such as Bananas, Raisins and sweet fruit in general, has been linked to Insulinoma (cancer) and other diseases, so although you may 'love' to give your pet some little treats, you could be doing more harm than good.
Another good idea is to find out what your Ferret has been eating prior to you taking it home.
If it seems happy and is thriving on its current food and that food meets with the requirements of proteins, fat and fiber stick with it.
If you change foods there is a chance that you will have wean your Ferret off it and have to introduce the new diet slowly and gradually, mixing it in with the current food until such time, that the new food makes up 100% of the diet - 'Hell hath no fury like a Ferret starved'.
Ferrets by their very nature are hoarders, hence the expression to 'ferret something away.
' If you are not observant, the chances are very strong, that your pet will not finish its food at feed time but instead, carry it off to somewhere where it can be saved for a rainy day.
If this is fresh food then it could attract mice and rats and turn rotten, which would make the Ferret odor smell like perfume in contrast.
The only thing that they should drink is water.
Ferrets are lactose intolerant meaning that if you feed them milk, the chances are that that will come back to haunt you with a viscous bout of diarrhea.
Ferrets have a short intestinal tract, which in comparison, is only half the size of say, a Cat's.
As a consequence, it will take somewhere in the region of 3 hours for food to be digested, where a cat will take up to 6 hours, so if you have litter trained your pet, make sure that the tray is kept clean.
There isn't a lot more to be said about diets at this stage.
Commonsense as usual should prevail, but I hope I have given you some really good pointers as to what your Ferret should and should not be eating.