Is this food good for my ferret?

[Deleted]

Hi! I'm getting ferrets in a month or so and I'm trying to get everything ready, buy food, etc. and I'''ve already decided what kibble to buy(I'm mixing it with wet food) but I have some questions about some of these ingredients and if they're good for my furnoodle. Please help me with this I want to know if this is good for them

So all the ingredients are(copied from the page):
Poultry (chicken 42%, turkey 6%, duck 2%), potato, animal fats, peas, beet pulp, salmon (1%), salmon oil (1%), brewer's yeast, montmorillonite clay, dried egg, fructooligosaccharides (0.3%), marigold, grape seeds, yucca extract, rosemary, green tea.


And I'm worried about it containing potato, peas, marigold, rosemary and expecially green tea and grape seeds since some pages told me that tea is dangerous to ferrets and grapes are pretty much toxic to all animals. 
Can I feed this to my ferrets? Thank you for helping!

[LindaM]

What brand of kibble are you getting? By the look of it the level of meat product in the kibble seems lower than it should be, only around 50% meat, meaning the rest will be fillers and indigestibles.
This is a link to the Ferret Kibble Comparison Chart (kibbles in green are the ones to aim for):
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ugt4k4JPUw8X-WDsxbbOIBUqIKkTubrkpyba4YsUeEg

Generally, Orijen is a good brand for kibble. And many of us will avoid feeding a kibble that contains peas or sweet potatoes due to their link in causing bladder and kidney stones. Orijen does have peas, but it's around the 15-18th ingredient in the list, meaning the actual amount used is so little it can hardly count. For a kibble one should aim to have the first 6 ingredients be meat-based, so the highest amount of something in there, will be meat, though on some brands that can't be guaranteed, which is why that list is helpful. Potatoes are an indigestible. Ferrets cannot digest fruits or vegetables, only meat since they are obligate carnivores.

Exactly what wet food to you plan to mix with it? Not all wet cat foods are good to use, and certainly not most of the ferret branded ones that's for sure. And while I mention that, it's good to also mention, do not get any of the things like Bandit Treats, Marshall Shampoo, Marshall Kibble, Ferretone, Ferrelax, Ferrevite, etc. Usually if it has a picture of a ferret on and is sold commercially, it's not the best to give them and usually unhealthy for them.

Personally, from most people's experience here, and even my own, a raw diet is the most beneficial to your ferret. Why not consider putting them on a raw diet instead? It's the most natural to them.

[Deleted]

I was gonna feed them this kibble I found from zooplus that seemed really good since it has no sugar or grains (http://m.zooplus.com/shop/rodents/food/ferret_food/other_ferret_food/126604)<br>
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And I was gonna mix them with Greenwoods canned ferret food since that it only has meat and it sounded really good for them. (http://m.zooplus.com/shop/rodents/food/ferret_food/wet_ferret_food/320631)<br>
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I'll look for the Orijen brand I'll see if I can order it from somewhere since I don't live in America so stuff might be hard to get.<br>
And I've heard from the dangers of using ferretone/anything from Marshalls so yeah that's a no-no from me. I was thinking of using salmon oil instead of ferretone while cutting their nails or as a small treat. I will also look into raw feeding more, I've been consireding it but I just though that it might be difficult getting the stuff for it? Thank you for helping!

[LindaM]

Hmm, I've actually not heard of that brand myself. But looking at the amounts they list for the meat in the kibble, I still feel it's too low, and chances are that other 50% will be a good amount of just potatoes and then other fillers and such. Sugars and grains are not the only problems in kibbles, fruits and vegetables are too, and your ferret shouldn't get any of it, or if unavoidable, as little as possible.

I do have a concern with the Greenwoods, even though it seems to be raw and not entirely horrible. I can only find Chicken or Chicken & Beef online, last I heard the company only made chicken. Now looking at the ingredients, they reference using low fat chicken, with ferrets fattier meats are better, they use it for energy. The balance in them doesn't seem quite right either. In a raw grind/commercial product like that your balance should be 65-70% Muscle Meat, 10% Heart, 10% Organs (half of that must be liver), and 10-15% Bone. Chicken and Beef are also key troublemakers in a diet if you end up with a ferret that has IBD (Irritable Bowel Disorder), which must then be avoided.

Salmon oil is wonderful to use for your ferrets, and can definitely help when clipping nails or as a treat, does wonders for their coat. The limit of salmon oil is 1tsp per ferret, per week.

Raw egg will take the place of a laxative like Ferrelax. Limit is 1 raw egg per ferret, per week (but we do double in the shedding season). You can give either the white and yolk whisked together, or just the yolk, never EVER give only egg white.

A Frankenprey diet is actually remarkably easy to get things for. If you want to take a look at it, I suggest browsing through these boards:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/board/18/natural-diet
holisticferret60.proboards.com/board/39/raw-feeding
holisticferret60.proboards.com/board/55/archives (The Finished Switches)

You can sign up for a mentor on here, and they can help you switch your little ones when you get them and also help teach you what you need to know about a balanced raw menu and how to keep your little ones healthy.

In the mean time, you can look around in your area to see if there are any Asian/Ethnic markets or stores, these are usually the cheapest to get meat from, but most of the time you can just get from a butcher or store too, so long as there isn't salt (usually to tenderize) or spices in the product.

[Deleted]

I looked into the Orijen brand but it seems that it contains alot of fruit and veggies(15%) including apple, pear, pumpkin, carrots and chamomille. They are really low on the list but I'm still worried. I might feed them both kibble and raw so their diet will be mostly meat. And Thank you for all your helpful tips. These will be my first ferrets and I'm just worried I'll blow something up
And I will check out that mentor thing it sounds great!

[LindaM]

It's still a better option than the kibble you originally listed, which would have closer to 50% indigestibles though. Wysong Digestive is top of the kibble list, but will cost more. Sadly kibble will never be 100% only. There's other options for that like raw, freeze dried raw (must be rehydrated), or commercial grinds.

As for a partial diet, you can do it, but you need to be careful with it. Kibble and raw fed together will cause a bacterial overgrowth that can only be treated with antibiotics. Therefore, when doing partial you need to remove kibble a few hours before feeding raw and wait a few before giving back. You also need to check that they're getting the right amounts of everything from their diet. Personally, I switched from doing that to full raw because it was much easier than a partial diet.

If you wish to do partial, I definitely suggest getting a mentor on here to help with that switch (I think a few can help with partial switches). And if you want to try full raw, a mentor can help with that too.

Just remember, kibble feeding means you need to brush their teeth regularly.

[Sherry]

Others can help better with this as I haven't had kibble in my house in over a decade. I will however say please do not feed wet and dry together. Although many do fine with it, some will develop a bacterial overload from it, necessitating a vet visit. Feed 2-3 hours apart at least.
Also if you must feed a kibble, please do NOT use anything with peas in the first 5 ingrediets. This following link shows what the results can be holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/20966/kidney-bladder-stones-related-diet

[Deleted]

After reading this I'm seriously considering raw feeding(even though I have to look into that a LOT more since I don't know much about it) but would you think that Nature's Variety Instinct would be good, it's only 5% vegetables so a lot less than Orijen and I think it sounds really good but since I'm just a newbie I'd like to ask your opinions on it.

[LindaM]

Actually, that's incorrect. The canned foods are like that, sure, but they are cooked and contain bone which is very sharp and ferrets must not get cooked bones, it's too dangerous for their little intestines. I tried it for my cat and cut myself on a little bone shard the next morning and ended up contacting NV Instinct to ask if the canned foods are cooked with the bone in, to which they said yes. I threw out all my cans right away.

The kibbles on the other hand have closer to 80% meat, it's listed on the packages individually. I used to feed NV Instinct Duck & Turkey kibble mixed with Wysong Digestive and Wellness Core (This has peas earlier on, and Orijen is a better replacement choice). When feeding kibble, it's recommended to have a mix of at least 3 kibbles, as well as being from different brands if possible, just in case a formula gets changed or a recall occurs or it gets taken off the market entirely, so your ferret won't all of a sudden have nothing they know to eat, since they imprint on foods.

Raw on the other hand, much easier, much better. On kibble, even high quality, Loki slept a lot, didn't play for much longer than 30 minutes at a time.. now on full raw, I can't get the little bugger to calm down, haha. He's full of energy, he bounces around playing with Athena and Hades, he's up easily for hours at a time, his coat is beautiful and he smells delicious. My little boy is happy and healthy, and so is Athena. Even my husband has noticed the differences immediately and we will never go back away from raw.

Refer to this about NV Instinct Kibbles:
www.instinctpetfood.com/for-cats

I think you may have been referring to the Protein kibble range.. there was something about it that I heard to avoid, but I cannot recall what it was right now. And I believe it was low on the kibble chart due to ingredient list formating for the first 6 ingredients... but if the first ingredient is chicken and 95% of it, it sounds decent enough, of course I haven't looked through all it's ingredients myself.

[Deleted]

So I found a place where I can get raw meat for them, and now I just wanted to ask that how do you feed your ferrets/give them in daily bases. Well.. How should I do it? How many of what(hearts, chicken necks, livers etc.) should I give them daily to give them everything they need, everyday? I don't know what I'm saying I'm kinda awkward

[Deleted]

Also I heard about some people giving their ferrets ground garlic and dried seaweed and I just wanted to ask if this is ok? They said it's good for the ferrets immune system and they also gave brewer's yeast for vitamins and I just want to know that I'm not doing harm to my lovely fuzzies

[LindaM]

You're perfectly fine dear, nothing awkward. And nooo, definitely no garlic, seaweed and Brewer's Yeast, those are bad for them. They won't need anything like that when on a balanced raw diet anyway, which is what you will be getting them on with the help of a mentor, so definitely sign up for one of those here:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/61/sign-mentoring-program

We're so happy that you want to take the step to getting your little ones on the best diet possible and are getting prepared for that well before getting them.

While you don't have your little ones yet, it's a good time to do a bit of reading up on the raw diet. Those links I posted yesterday will get you on the right path. Now, the actual amounts you will be feeding is going to depend on your ferrets, they don't all eat exactly the same amounts, but there are averages for sure. What they eat is going to depend on gender, age, and seasonal changes. This link gives you a good idea of the overall balanced menu that you will be working towards doing: holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/146/meat-bone-organ-weekly-menu

[Sherry]

If it is Nature's Variety FROZEN raw you are talking about, it is fine And here is something to start your reading off with holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/