Nutritional Advice
Ferrets are true carnivores. Their diet should consist almost entirely of meat and animal products. They have a short intestine that food passes through rapidly.
Diets high in vegetable proteins, fibre or carbohydrates must be avoided.
Too much carbohydrate or sugars may lead to problems with the pancreas. Vegetable proteins in a complete food can lead to stones in the urinary tract. Whole pieces of vegetable (such as carrot) may block the intestine and need surgical removal.
Some people feed ferrets a natural diet of mice, rats and birds but this is a bit messy!
It can be difficult to find commercial ferret food in Hong Kong as ferrets are not commonly kept, but they can be ordered on line.
The ideal ferret food contains:
- Protein content of 30–40% (preferably at the higher end of this range)
- Fat content 15–20%
- Fibre content < 3%
- Meat or meat by-products should be listed as the first 3 ingredients (not corn/grains)
- Highly digestible
An alternative to feeding a commercial ferret diet is to offer premium quality dry kitten food. Diets such as Hill’s Science Diet Kitten, Iams Kitten or Royal Canin kitten dry foods are appropriate.
Canned versions of these kitten foods should not be given as the main diet as the ferret cannot physically eat enough of it to supply its needs. A small amount twice a week is fine.
We do not recommend a poor quality cat or dog food ( for example most of the supermarket brands) for ferrets – they are inadequate due to low digestibility and high levels of sugars and vegetable proteins.