Feeding ferrets
The ferret is a medium-sized animal, up to 50 cm in length. It is perfect for people with small apartments and small children. The pet will become a good friend and even a family member. Like any living creature, a ferret requires care and attention. First of all, of course, we are talking about nutrition and proper drinking regime. Any breeder or farmer needs to know what the animal eats and how to properly feed ferrets. For a pet to be energetic and healthy, it needs to eat right. The most common food is minced meat for ferrets.
How to feed your ferret at home
It should be borne in mind that a ferret is not a cat or a parrot. He is a full-fledged inhabitant of the wild, moreover, he is a predator, therefore, feeding should be appropriate. Your pet will not eat large amounts of greens, vegetables, and fruits. These foods are more likely to harm and undermine the health of the ferret. Ferret gets vitamins and minerals from other food products, for example, from cereals. The main diet for a predator is meat and products such as milk, cottage cheese, cheese, eggs.
Allowed Products
What does a ferret eat at home? Ferrets can eat natural foods or dry foods. Due to the fact that the ferret is a wild animal, it will of course eat raw meat. If the ferret is eating something and loves a certain type of meat, you can feed the ferret's favorite food with a little other food added to replenish vitamins and variety. Lean meats such as chicken, hare and turkey are preferred. It is advisable to occasionally pamper your pet with meat and fatter, for example, lamb or beef tenderloin.
One of the small difficulties with ferrets' nutrition is that the meat is not cooked. This is fraught with the fact that the pet may have worms. How to feed the little ferret in this case? It is simply worth giving drugs for worms from time to time.
In addition to the main food, the ferret's body also requires offal, so you need to know what you can and cannot feed your domestic ferrets. By-products are cereals and animal products mentioned earlier. The fact is that they do not constitute such an energy and nutritional value for an animal as meat. That is why portions of offal should be relatively large, but in moderation, as overdose can lead to bad breath.
It should also be noted that indoor ferret is a very active animal. Hence, it uses a lot of energy that needs to be replenished all the time. First of all, you need to make a list of foods and prepare a balanced diet every day. It is most advisable to feed your pet in small portions, but often enough, which, in principle, is recommended for humans as well.Well, if you really wanted to pamper the ferret, you can buy game for him at the pet store: a small frog or a rodent, which he will catch and eat with great pleasure. You can also sometimes feed the animal with fish.
Dry prepared feed
Of course, in the light of the latest technologies, there is also a ready-made dry food. Many farmers purchase it for future use and feed it with dry food like ferret or res (pep). Let's consider its pros and cons. On the positive side, dry food does not require additional preparation, for example, cutting into portions, like meat. But the negative side is that the pet may simply not like the purchased food. There are many brands of ferret food available.
Before buying any, it is worth figuring out which one is better and of higher quality. In addition, feeds within the same brand are divided into classes: from the simplest to premium, respectively, the price policy varies with the class. If you still decide to feed the ferret with food, then you should pay attention to the composition. It is important that proteins and fats are at least 30%, otherwise the pet will not be full. Fiber should be no more than 3-4%. And, of course, the feed must contain vitamins and minerals.
Additional recommendations
When choosing a feed, you should pay attention to:
- Specialization. The packaging must clearly state that it is ferret food. In no case should you feed your ferret with dry food for cats, mice or dogs, this can affect the health of the pet.
- Brand. It is very important to select feed or products from reputable breeders and product manufacturers. All quality marks and production holograms should be checked on the packaging.
- Class. If you feed the animal with food of the wrong class, which is intended for him, you can only harm the pet. Each type of food is designed for a certain age, height and weight of the pet.
- Composition. The feed should only be made from natural ingredients. The more chemicals in the food, the worse it is for the pet.
- Shelf life. Before buying, be sure to check the expiration date of food or feed. Do not give spoiled food. It is permissible to store food for a ferret only in the place designated for this, while observing all modes and standards of storage.
Nutritional norm
Of course, whatever the ferret is and its feeding should be portioned. Serving size will depend on the weight, age, activity and health of the animal. For example, it is better for a pregnant ferret to give more portions. Usually decent producers indicate on the packaging what portions are needed for the pet, as well as what food is suitable for the little ferret.
Each animal is individual, so you need to carefully monitor its behavior, especially in the first days of feeding. You need to make up the diet individually, since feeding is a very responsible process. So it will be easy to understand if your pet likes the food. It is also necessary to monitor whether the pet drinks after eating, because this is very important for the assimilation of food. Natural food is a good alternative to dry food as mentioned above.
From fish, the pet will be happy to eat flounder, mackerel, cod and trout. Boiled chicken eggs and raw quail eggs are also very useful. Occasionally, you should give your ferret cheese and cottage cheese. Vitamins (especially in winter) bought in a special pharmacy will be a good addition to natural nutrition. In this case, you should not engage in amateur performances. Before you buy and give an animal any, even the most harmless vitamins, it is important to consult a specialist.
At home, there is nothing better for a ferret than natural food, the pet eats such food with pleasure. Ferrets will not be able to constantly eat dry food. As in the wild, a natural diet and balanced feeding will be a real gift for a ferret. The best dish for a ferret will be self-prepared minced meat, many recipes for which are on the Internet.Here you can choose the recipe that your pet will like the most. It is very easy to calculate how much food your pet needs for a month.
The norm of products for the preparation of minced meat for a month for one ferret
- 80 g flour or oatmeal;
- 225 g rabbit and 200 g beef;
- 142 g of chicken hearts and 170 g of beef heart;
- 145 g chicken ventricles;
- 125 g beef liver;
- 250 g turkey;
- 1.1 kg of chicken necks;
- 250 ml of water;
- 250 g low-fat cottage cheese;
- 60 g of chicken skin and 251 g of chicken fat.
How to feed your ferret? Of course, all of the above products require high-quality processing: they must be thoroughly washed, removed from the film, if it is beef, and from bones, if chicken and turkey are used. Next, operations are carried out similar to the preparation of stewed meat with porridge. The meat is twisted through a meat grinder, the porridge is boiled, cottage cheese is added there, a little water and everything is mixed. As a result, you should get a homogeneous mass.
This food can be stored in portions, but it is more optimal to prepare a new one every time, since fresh food is more pleasant and healthier. Also, to make minced meat more nutritious and healthy, you can and should add fish oil, milk powder, grated vegetables (in small quantities), olive oil to it. All these supplements can be given only in minimal dosages, since the body may not digest large amounts, and the pet will feel bad.
Recipe for every day
What to feed your ferret every day? To prepare a simple, but at the same time balanced diet, you will need the following list of products:
- 1 kg of chicken;
- 100 g of chicken hearts, heads, stomach and liver;
- 600 g of any porridge.
Next, perform the actions that are detailed in the preparation of minced meat. You also need to add yeast and cottage cheese here. This will be especially useful if the pet is a girl. All kinds of recipes can be found on various ferret forums, where you can chat with lovers of these animals and share their experiences, as well as watch photos and videos.
Recipe number 3
Ferrets need to eat a variety of foods, so the following ingredients will be needed to prepare such a dish:
- 500 g chicken necks;
- 250 g chicken stomachs;
- 400 g of already boiled buckwheat or oatmeal, which is more to your pet's taste.
There are certain rules for preparing minced meat, recommendations on how to make food healthy and not harm your pet. You also need to consider what ferrets eat. Minced meat should be prepared only from fresh and natural products. The first and basic rule: all products must be fresh and of high quality. Do not cook too much minced meat or feed your pets only dry food. The pet will be pleased to eat fresh food, so you need to cook with the calculation of the number of pets. You can add fish, but very rarely.
The fish should be fed to the ferret once a month. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the fish retards the growth of the pet. Secondly, there are significantly more worms in fish than in any type of meat. It will be much more useful to buy fish oil at the pharmacy.
Of course, there are completely forbidden foods that should never be given to a pet. These include vegetables and fruits. Sweets and nuts are also taboo. The pet cannot be fed from the common table. A lot of flour can provoke big health problems. Also, do not give moldy foods and feed that have expired. Such products should be thrown into the trash can immediately.
Drinking regime
In addition to food, like any other creature, a ferret needs water. For water, a special container or drinker should be in store, located near the animal. Any diet requires constant drinking, especially if the ferret is eating dry food. Granulated food swells when it enters the stomach, in which case the ferret needs to drink as much water as possible.
A drinker can be purchased at any pet store.Water should be in the drinker at all times. It should be at room temperature and should not contain chemicals. Ingestion of ordinary detergent in the body can kill a pet in the same way as dehydration.
Features of the content
If you constantly feed a ferret with minced meat, then it will start to stink from its mouth. That is why minced meat is not suitable for constant feeding. The diet can be composed of different foods. It is worth remembering about offal, if the animal eats them. They are given at least 2 times a week. For example, let's say a chicken, turkey, or rabbit diet. It is best to feed the animal 2 times a day.
Some experts even recommend not feeding your pet at all once a week. If the animal does not tolerate such an experiment and then hardly eats, it should be fed in the evening, while leaving the bowl empty for the morning.
You should not feed with cat food or canned food, for each animal there is a specially designed feeding system.
An animal that eats properly looks like this:
- The ferret is active and friendly throughout the day and eats with appetite.
- Ferret's mouth does not stink.
- A ferret's normal stool is also an indicator of health.
- The pet sheds with its characteristic intensity and during the time allotted for this.
Useful Tips
In order for the pet to be healthy and energetic, it is required to follow the diet. You need to take care of the ferret carefully, then many problems can be avoided. You should not feed your pet only dry food. Usually they can come up if the owner leaves for a short time and does not have the opportunity to take the ferret with him, and therefore trusts relatives or friends to look after the animal. The ferret's diet should be balanced and normalized according to age, weight and health status. It is important to feed the products that the ferret eats.
Another important point: you cannot feed a forest predator with cat food, because this is contrary to their nature. The best ready-made feed is the one that has been produced specifically for this group of animals, otherwise it must be said a solid no.
You should also pay attention to the diet in winter, during molting. Females and males have different nutrition. Males need large portions. You should be very careful about the quality of the products and the shelf life of the feed. It is also very important to observe the behavior of the ferret, as abrupt changes can indicate a poor condition of the animal. A healthy ferret is very active. Do not forget about foods that are contraindicated for ferrets. Do not overfeed animals: the ferret must eat small portions.
In addition to the feeding regime, it is necessary to monitor the drinking regime. Water must be in the shelf at all times, otherwise the ferret will simply die of dehydration. Sometimes it is worth pampering your pet: it will bring pleasure to both you and him. It is very important to show attention and care to the animal, to play with it. You can try different games, the only way to really find one that he really likes. If you follow all the recommendations for nutrition and care, your pet ferrets will be happy and the nutrition will be well established.