If you want your ferret to be happy and healthy, you’ll have to pay close attention to what you feed your pet. Ferrets are carnivores and eat meat. You should not give them grains, fruit, or vegetables as they cannot digest these foods. Instead, they should be fed a variety of meat products. You can also try offering your pet some bones and insects.
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Wet or raw diet
A wet or raw diet for your ferret depends on what the ferret enjoys. Generally speaking, they’ll be happier with a mixture of both. Some of the main differences between these two diets include the meat and bone content. Although they’re both essential for healthy living, your pet’s diet must contain a good proportion of red meat and muscle meat. Bones and raw meat are both acceptable sources of protein.
A balanced raw diet is healthier than kibble, as a ferret doesn’t need much protein or nutrients to be healthy. Because raw foods are easily digested, the ferret won’t have any trouble digesting them. Raw food also means that your pet won’t have to go through the trouble of digesting it yourself, which can be time-consuming and messy. However, the benefits outweigh the downsides.
Bones
Ferrets should be fed raw meat and bones. While raw meat and bones are a healthy source of calcium and phosphorus, cooked bones may become brittle and can puncture internal organs. It’s best to give your pet raw meat and bones as often as possible, because they are also beneficial for cleaning the teeth. If your ferret doesn’t like raw bones, grind them into more palatable pieces.
Ferrets need varied diets. They should be fed raw bones or dry food about five to eight times a day. Their activity level and age will determine how often they need to be fed. You should also weigh them regularly. Their weight should be even with their sides, not bulging. Otherwise, your ferret is overweight or underweight. Ferrets should be fed bones, raw meat, and dry food.
Insects
Although ferrets love bugs, you can’t give them all the nutrients they need. The best way to feed them is to buy them from an exotic food shop. They usually raise small creatures for a living. Insects are a great choice, but you should avoid garden spiders as they may have been exposed to toxic chemicals. If you’re worried about a ferret eating insects, don’t worry. It’s perfectly fine to give it insect dust instead.
Although ferrets shouldn’t be given live crickets every day, they should be given at least one small cricket at a time. They can eat live crickets and other insects as a treat, but they shouldn’t be offered the whole insect on a daily basis. However, you should provide your ferret with a consistent supply of animal-based food. Ferrets should eat at least one small cricket every two days.
Worms
If you’ve recently brought home a new ferret, it’s probably time for you to begin the worm prevention process. Worms in ferrets can cause many health problems, from intestinal worms to heartworms, which can eventually cause heart failure. Although heartworms are rarely found in ferrets, they can be dangerous. While they are not commonly found in domesticated animals, they can be passed to ferrets by mosquito bites. If your ferret has this disease, it’s best to get rid of the worms as soon as possible.
Mealworms are not a complete food for your ferret, and they don’t provide all of the nutrients your ferret needs to thrive. However, you should feed them occasionally. You can start small by adding a few mealworms to your ferret’s normal diet. Try introducing them slowly, by mixing it with their current diet. Besides, they’re generally choosy eaters and won’t take kindly to changes in their food.
Carrion
Since ferrets are obligate carnivores, they can only survive on animal matter, and are sometimes called hypercarnivores. Their diets contain high amounts of protein, and they have no digestive enzymes to digest plant-based foods. Ferrets are often fed supplemental animal-based proteins as well as fats. Providing these foods to your ferrets can provide a variety of protein and fats, and allow you to spend quality time with them.
There is a possibility that communal carrion feeding by ferrets may facilitate transmission of bovine tuberculosis to humans. This transmission may be via ingestion of contaminated carrion, fighting, or close contact. In some cases, it may even be transmitted through cannibalism. The fact that cats and ferrets share a common food source has led to some researchers to believe that contaminated carrion can be a major factor in the spread of the disease to humans.
