Ferrets are carnivorous, they eat meat, not vegetables. They are obligate carnivores, which means that they require a special diet that is mostly meat-based and contains between 32-38 per cent protein and between 15-20 per cent fat.
For some considerable time now the club has been looking into and experimenting with the best type of feeding for ferrets. The Bones and Raw Food Diet seems to be the most satisfactory, if not always practical, in terms of the health and welfare for your ferret. Read more about this at
Re-thinking the ferret diet
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=479
This is an excellent article written in laymans terms that spell out all the issues around ferret diets.
If you are at all sceptical about this then read the following websites which represent the benefits of raw food feeding for ferrets.
http://www.ferretlove.dsl.pipex.com/barf.htm
http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/showcontent.toy?contentnid=7209
http://www.pet-plus.co.uk/Info%20Feeding%20raw%20food.htm
We do however, also recommend Vitalin Ferret Food (which is a dry biscuit complete ferret food) as being the leader in biscuit ferret food. So if BARF (Bones and Raw Food) is not for you then Vitalin is your next best option.
What do you feed in a Raw Food Diet
The best possible diet is a raw food diet of things like chicken wings, stripped carcasses and necks, turkey necks, rabbit, any of the game birds, pigeons, cheap minced beef, cheap lamb, all the offal’s, lambs heart is a good one and cheap, each ferret has its own preferences. Raw bones are good for cleaning their teeth and the calcium in the bone is good for them as well. They are lactose intolerant so cows’ milk is out but goats milk is in and goats’ yoghurt, occasionally an egg for a treat beaten up with some lactose free milk. Ferrets also like a little fruit, melon is good in the summer to help them keep cool again each ferret has its own fruit preferences. (Beware of food poisoning and hoarding, ferrets love to hide things.) If worried about this feed in a special cage that is easy to clean and prevents hoarding and hiding. A good time to do this is when you are cleaning the main living accommodation out.
No Salt, pork, chocolate, or nuts. The salt and chocolate are death to a ferret. The pork is generally not good for them and nuts get stuck in their teeth leading to mouth problems.
Alternatively, a ferret biscuit like Vitalin, Alpha, TTP, Merlin, James Wellbeloved, and Companions Choice are some of the possibilities. I feel that it is OK to feed a mixed diet of raw food and biscuit but raw food is best, it drastically reduces the occurrence of adrenal disease.
Water
Ferrets must have a supply of good clean water at all times especially in summer because they can become dehydrated very quickly. A very heavy weight bowl is important because the little monsters tip it over or a water feed bottle with a large feed end.
