Feeding Options?

[Deleted]

Hi, I got my first ferret just over a year ago, and I now have three, the oldest is three and a half and hasn't really been in good health at all during the time I've had him. I've switched their food around a lot, and currently feed a mix of 3 parts orijen regional red cat, 3 parts wysong epigen 90 ferret, and 1 part Marshall ferret, to be honest, I'm trying really hard but I don't know what I'm doing. I feed orijen for the quality meat content and the ferret kibble for the added vitamins, do I need to do that?
I've also been told on all counts that raw diets are healthiest, but my guys won't touch it, they do however love orijen raw freeze dried treats, is there any reason I can't use those as a primary, or at least substantial food source for them?

[LindaM]

You might want to try using Wysong Digestive (it's the original Epigen 90 formula) instead of the Epigen 90, the Epigen 90 has been known to cause some tummy upsets and diarrhea which leads to dehydration. And I'd remove the Marshall's kibble entirely, that stuff is horrible for them and will lead to health problems.

As for raw, yes it is the best, and we all advocate it. But there's plenty of ways to go about doing the raw, some easier, some harder, some cheap, some expensive. And it does take a lot of patience and persistence to switch them to raw, unless you have a baby, those will usually switch very easy compared to the adults. There are also things you can use to lure them into trying some raw, I'll list those at the bottom. Usually we start to switch ferrets using a raw soup at first, chunkies can be intimidating for some at first, especially the picky eaters.

So onto ways of raw:
*Frankenprey, the usual raw method if you don't want to do whole prey. It also works out rather cheap. Needs to be given in a balanced menu. Bone-in meals will work to brush their teeth.

*Commercial Frozen Raw, an easy way for those who do not wish to do frakenprey for various reasons. You can get these as grinds or medallions. It works out a little more expensive than frankenprey. Usually the grinds will be fully balanced (Stella & Chewys and NV Instinct are good brands to try). You'll need to regularly brush their teeth for them. There are other companies online that will also sell raw grinds.

*Freeze-Dried Raw, another relatively easy one to do as most ferrets enjoy FDR for treats already. You will need to rehydrate this when feeding as food (can stay dry when given as a small treat). This is the most expensive method. Brands to use are Stella & Chewys, NV Instinct, PureBites, and Orijen. Do not use a lot of the liver ones.. even just as FDR treats, too much liver causes a Vitamin A overdose. Try and avoid ones that include peas or pea protein. You will still need to brush their teeth regularly for them.


Raw and kibble shouldn't be fed together. This can cause a bacterial overgrowth inside the ferret as they digest as different rates. When doing any type of raw with kibble, take the kibble away a couple hours before feeding the raw.

Stuff to use for luring:
*Salmon oil (you can add a dab or drizzle to new foods), the limit is 1tsp per ferret, per week. This also generally takes the place of Ferretone (which has carcinogens that can cause cancer in long term use).
*Raw egg (white+yolk scrambled together, or yolk only, never ever give only the white), the limit is 1 egg per ferret, per week. Double in shedding season. This is also used to replace unhealthy Ferretlax which has too much sugar and can cause insulinoma.
*Crumbled FDR treat. If your ferrets already enjoy FDR as treats, you can crumble one into a powder and use that on the food.
*Raw soupie. Once they've taken to eating a raw soup, you can use that to lure them into trying new meats or bigger sized chunkies of meat.
*Powdered Kibble. You can also crumble a little bit of kibble into powder and use that on new food.

[Deleted]

I think it's the digestive support one that I'm using. This one had nicer ingredients.

So if removed the Marshall ferret (I hate the ingredients anyway, I just thought the added vitamins might be good for them) and kept them in kibble could I feed them freeze dried raw maybe once daily or every other day or something if I took the kibble away a few hours before and after? Would that even be worth it or would I need to switch entirely?
The youngest guy is only 11 weeks old, but it feels impractical to have them on two separate diets, so freeze dried raw seems like the most practical choice for me.

I was also wondering if Olive oil was a safe oil to use on occasion for them, and whether there is a risk of raw egg making them ill and how high that risk might be?

[Lily]

Have you considered joining their mentor program here? It's great to start transitioning ferrets onto a raw diet. Since one of your ferrets are only 11 weeks old, it's a lot easier to switch them over at a young age. Switching during adulthood is also totally possible, just more patience and persistence is required! I switched my male over at 2 years after he was diagnosed with Insulinoma (Linked to be caused by kibble). One of the main reasons why ferret owners prefer to feed raw is because kibble has been linked to causing Insulinoma. In addition, kibble isn't really the healthiest if you know how and what they are made of.

If your ferrets take the freeze dried raw diet well, have you considered maybe just putting them on the freeze dried diet and eliminate the kibble?

Ferrets are strict carnivores and olive oil is a plant-based oil. I wouldn't recommend it. Any fish oil is great, especially salmon, just avoid cod oil. Careful not to give too much of the fish oil though, as it can cause an overdose of Vitamin A.

As for the egg, if it's healthy for you to eat, it's okay for your ferret to eat. Make sure you only feed the yolk, so separate the whites. Just remember for anything raw, especially meat/protein, to perform proper hygiene routine!

[LindaM]

How worth it can be will likely be up for debate. You'll get those telling you it's not worth the bother if that's your plan. And those who will tell you anything is better than nothing.

Getting them used to eating the FDR as a meal would be really good, though I'd just switch them entirely then. All switches take some patience and persistence. But the benefits are sky-high once switched. Kibble, even high-quality kibble, can lead to insulinoma in ferrets and you'll need to have your baby on medicine from there on out, which if you then keep on kibble, means a dosage needing to be upped all the time (so bad for their liver). So once diagnosed with that, most kibble feeders will end up switching to raw then, even if it is late. But why not just avoid that possibility entirely? They will be much healthier, have smaller poops that smell less, they themselves will smell delicious (I can stop sniffing my ferrets, they smell so good), they will have good energy levels, and their coats will be beautiful, etc.

It is definitely easier to just have everyone on a single diet.. I'm trying to get my poor idiot cat to switch to eating raw.. but he's so picky and giving me so much h*ll with it.

If you can switch them entirely onto a single diet, it'll be great. FDR as full diet will cost you an arm and leg though. But it can be great in getting them starting to switch, and you can just get them onto something like commercial raw grinds if you do not feel like doing frankenprey (some people really struggle with raw meat.. I myself get sick to the point of going faint from raw meat in general, but amazingly I can stand in the kitchen and chop up packages for my ferrets, it's like a switch that gets flipped in the brain).

I don't use any vegetable oils for my ferrets. It's better to use animal oils. I just use salmon oil when I need to use it as a treat, or lure, and some use it for clipping nails (mine don't even need it to lie still).

And raw eggs are great for them and won't make them sick (unless you give too much, then you'll get some nasty poops). Each ferret should get 1 raw egg a week. They do not need to eat it all at once though, you can give them some and save the rest in the fridge to use throughout the week. We use raw eggs as a preventative for hairballs, since hairballs can create fatal blockages in ferrets.

[LindaM]

Lily They can actually have the entire egg. White and yolk scrambled together is fine. The only thing they can't have separate by itself is the white.

[Deleted]

I feel I could do best with a commercial raw diet rather than making them raw food myself. I would be so worried about contamination, or improper balance, not to mention that the idea of breaking down animals freaks me out, even if they are already dead.

Any recommendations for commercial raw food brands for them? Should I mix a small amount of egg and animal based oil with their food daily? How long can raw food be left out in their cage? Should I freeze it or refridgerate it, and what safety precautions should I take to avoid contamination and bacterial growth?

Sorry for all the questions, this is a very new concept for me. Good smelling, less poopy, and preferably slightly chubbier ferrets sound very appealing though. I love healthy babies.

[LindaM]

You sound exactly like me, lol, at least when it comes to chopping raw meat. Honestly.. I still get sick when my husband handles the raw meat for us and I see him doing it.. for myself I follow the belief that my chicken breasts come from a tree in a factory. That's how bad I am with eating meat. So my husband has to always make sure our chicken breasts are nicely cut, with no fatty bits, or veiny looking bits, and NEVER mention to me what got cut off or I won't touch it. I do not eat beef, only ground beef (extra extra lean, never less than 93% lean), and I'll eat a beef burger only from "In and Out", that's it. I eat chicken breast or turkey breast.. meat on bone freaks me out, especially how it darkens the meat near it, and I won't do ground chicken, I feel a chicken's meat shouldn't be mutilated that way, lol. So hearing all that about me, should make you think I am batcrap crazy, and yet, I can still stand in the kitchen and chop meats for my ferrets. Like I said, it's like a switch that gets flipped off. Granted, some nights after doing a lot of meat prepping to freeze.. I feel a little sick after.

When it comes to balance.. there's loads of links on here to help you with it. And you can sign up to a mentor who will help you with your switch and walk you through it all and inform you of things and check up on your knowledge of them before graduating you from the program.

Contamination shouldn't be a problem, wash your hands, wear some gloves, and use clean equipment in a clean kitchen.

But if you wanna do the commercial raw, that's good too. You're trying! I suggest using brands like Stella & Chewys and Nature's Variety Instinct. You can also use grinds from this list: holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-and-whole-prey-providers/
Rad Cat, Darwin's Pets, My Pet Carnivore, and Hare Today make grinds. The list should help tell you which are balanced and which are unbalanced.

I'd try the egg by itself at first, some ferrets don't need to be lured with oil to eat egg. Only if they really refuse to touch it, add a tiny bit of salmon oil (and make sure you use pure salmon oil, Grizzly is a good brand, I've also heard of using Alaskan Wild or Yummy Chummies). The total limit of salmon oil is 1tsp per ferret, per week. So you need to carefully use that, but you can ration however you like through the week.

Uhm.. as for leaving the grinds out.. NV Instinct recommends only leaving theirs out for 30 minutes. But this is the general chart for leaving raw out:
Soups - 6-8 hours
Grinds - 8-12 hours
Chunks - 10-24 hours (Depends on size, larger can last longer)
Bone-in Meats - 12-24 hours (Depends on size again)
Whole Prey - up to 48 hours

And it would be smart to go through their cage and check if they've stashed any meat anywhere so it doesn't spoil after those recommended hours.

Personally, I buy the meats I need, portion them, and freeze them in little portioned bowls or baggies, and then just thaw what I need the next day. With the grinds, you keep those frozen and just take out what you need a little while ahead of time as the grinds thaw pretty fast compared to frankenprey (normal raw).

[Deleted]

I recommend Primal Raw Turkey for cat as a good starting point for picky ferrets. My boy loves it, and he hates everything.