dnrfl
New member
Posts: 7
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Post by dnrfl on Feb 16, 2022 7:45:20 GMT -5
Hello all my fellow dookers. I live in South America, Brazil, and I have one little girl which I love SO much. As you all might expect, ferrets are not quite common in here and there's not too much products available for them.
As I love my little fuzzy one I wanna certify she gets the best quality food she can get and make sure she will be always happy and healthy. She is a free roam ferret as my house if fully ferret-proofed. So I have been reading about our ONLY ferret kibble available here in Brazil. It is a brand called ''Nutropica'' which manufactures quality bird food for different species. However, they have started the manufacture of ferret kibble a couple years ago, and are our only option here in Brazil as Ferret Kibble.
So, I went to search all of the ingredients that they put in their kibble and I have found some stuff that I don't find appropriate for ferrets, like Rice, Dried beet pulp and Linseed. I particularly wanna know if there are any long term issues that can harm my beloved ferret if she keeps being fed this kibble in long term? I tried to search for some good quality kibble but I am unable to get some different brands like Wysong 90 Epigen because they do not export them to Brazil.
About a raw diet, I have been studying about introducing to her, but I have not been prepared to do so yet, so I need to provide her a good kibble while I study about a raw diet.
Here's a list of the ingredients contained in our Nutropica Ferret Kibble:
**Chicken offal Meal, Rice, Pork Protein Isolate, Chicken Fat, Dehydrated Whole Egg, Whole Flaxseed, Brewer's Yeast, Beet Pulp, Fish Oil, Hydrolyzed Chicken, Mannan-oligosaccharides, Fructo-oligosaccharides, Taurine, Yucca Extract, Wall Yeast Cell, Sodium Chloride, Chloride and Potassium, Chelated Vitamin and Mineral Premix, Antioxidants (BHA and BHT)**
**Moisture (max) 12%**
**Crude Protein (min) 40%**
**Ether Extract (me) 20%**
**Fibrous Matter (max) 3%**
**Mineral Matter (max) 6%**
**Calcium (max) 1.35%**
**Calcium (me) ) 0.80%,**
**Phosphorus (me) 0.60%**
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Post by eclipso on Feb 16, 2022 8:22:18 GMT -5
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Post by eclipso on Feb 16, 2022 9:19:57 GMT -5
A food chart rating freeze dried raw, kibble, air dried raw, and canned ferret food ferret.love/ferret-food-chartIt's a really good resource and shows you why the foods are rated good or bad. |
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Post by Corvidophile on Feb 16, 2022 18:30:46 GMT -5
Honestly it doesn’t look TOO bad. Rice isn’t great being that high on the list, but there appears to be a lot of meat, enough fat and protein, and the right balance of added-in nutrients to make up for the fact that dry food loses nutrients readily with age. How about researching a high quality cat food instead, though? Ferrets can eat cat food all day long and be ok, and cats are certainly a more popular pet where you live.
Kibbles are always gonna have to be glued together with a dry carbohydrate, and rice is a good one. Very long real life trials of feeding exist on rice. The problem with a lot of higher end kibbles nowadays is that they’ve produced so many commercials convincing people that there are better carbs than rice, when it really isn’t true. Wheat pops allergies readily and is more inflammatory, peas and sweet potatoes cause kidney stones to develop. Peas are very sneaky because they have plant protein in them, which bumps the protein percentage of the food up as they measure it the same as animal protein on the label, and displaces the need for actual animal protein to make up that number. Of course, the ferret (or cat) can’t access the protein in peas very well, so it’s of no use to them.
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 16, 2022 19:03:09 GMT -5
Hi there. Offal is the organs, and raw feeders need to include them in the diet. Nutritionally It looks ok for kibble. I'm curious to know if there are any other ferret kibbles in Brazil. (It's a Big country, I know) And what are you feeding her now?
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Post by Charlie on Feb 16, 2022 21:42:01 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum!! Your avatar is really cute! I used a cat food before I switched my ferret to a raw diet. He wasn't on it too long and I can't recall what I had fed him before. I switched him to raw when he was still a kit.
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 17, 2022 19:30:23 GMT -5
Also, If you must feed cat kibble, avoid corn, sweet potatoes, peas, chick peas as ingredients. Meat should be the first, and hopefully 3 out of the first 4. I agree, your avatar is really cute.  |
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dnrfl
New member
Posts: 7
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Post by dnrfl on Feb 19, 2022 12:06:13 GMT -5
Hello y’all! Thank you so much for your opinions, I am really glad I got so many answers about my kibble, and thank you for liking my avatar, it is really cute indeed! While I write this I am still feeding her the same kibble, but going further for a meat soup for the next week. I am thinking about blending chicken heart,liver,breast and wings together! I hope she likes it. She is not a very picky ferret when it’s about food (she’s only picky with toys tho), but at the same time I want to look for some high quality cat food in here. We have a good variety of brands, as cats are a lot more popular in here, but only what concerns me is that all of them contains fruits and grains mixed up together. Some are grain free, but still get fruits. Some do have less fruits on their composition but they’re transgenic. Those which are not transgenic have peas and starch, so basically, it’s really hard to get one since all of it are not 100% perfect  |
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Post by eclipso on Feb 22, 2022 8:10:58 GMT -5
Some tips to know if a kibble is good:
- The first 2-5 ingredients are animal meats
- It says that the product is 90% protein or some other high percentage (some products won't show this)
- It doesn't have too many ingredients
- It doesn't have too many legumes (peas, chickpeas, lentils, beans all raise pH and over time can cause kidney stones)
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