What is the BEST brand of food to feed a ferret? Also is it true the better the food, the less they stink?

Answer 1

ok you need a high qulity ferret food or kitten food i do not ever recomend marshals they mas produce people think because of their name it mean it is good not true just in it for the money they sell to labs tells you how much they care.

my latest rescue was on science kitten food and he loves it and my vet ok it so i kept him on it because i tried the half in half you need to try when intorducing new food to a ferret picked the old and kept his they are very smart about that,

never buy a food that has fish in it

a ferret digests it's food very fast my rule is cheap it stinks expensive what smeall LOL.

8-1is a wonderfull brand
their is a brand named ferret bites oh my mind went blank sorry any way walmart has a great kittie food called maximum somthing like that my ferrets also love that
iam at one time use to then started selling to supermarkets and their qulity went down
eurka kitten food is also good
their really are a lot of great food just read the lables
stay away from low qulity foods

also i give my ferret organic apple chips or
organi bannana chip ' i belive all natural is the only way i even make my dogs biscuits

Answer 2

Do not feed them rabbit food. Ferrets are carnivores and rabbits are herbivores. Ferrets cannot digest fruits, vegetables and high fiber foods all that well, because they lack a part of the intestines called the cecum.
Marshall's makes ferret food, but it's of poor quality, there are kitten foods that are better.
The quality of the food really does not determine the odor, but the source of the protein does. If the main source of protein is derived from fish, the ferrets waste will smell worse than if it was derived from chicken or lamb.
I'll post a list of different foods people feed their ferrets, so you can make up your own mind. I personally feed a mix of Maxximum kitten and 8in1 Ultimate CRUNCHY(other 8in1 products are not very good, but this one is).
You have to make sure that the food you are feeding is high in protein and fat and low in carbohydrates and that it contains Taurine for eye and heart health.
Here's the site:
http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html
Hope this helped.
PS: In regards to Steve H's answer, most ferrets are already spayed/neutered and descented when you purchase them at the pet store. And CAT food is not the way to go. If anything it should be KITTEN food. Cat food's nutrionally not nearly complete, for instance it lacks the Taurine component.

Answer 3

I feed 8 in 1, Total Ferret, ZuPreem, Iams cat food, and have fed Marshalls. The Marshalls food gave their feces a really bad odor, once I cut that food out, it's not so bad.
You really should offer your ferret several brands of food in their feeding. Since they are very picky eaters, if a company changes one ingredient in their food, they will not eat it.

Answer 4

I order my ferret feed at the feed store, they special order it for me. I think it is made by Purina and I can't recall how many pounds it comes in---I think about a 20 pound bag. My two ferrets love it.
After I buy it I put it in a container with a lid--so that it stays fresh.(it is much cheaper to buy it in bulk--I think it costs me about 16.00..alot cheaper than a small bag for 10.00 eh?)

I wouldn't consider feeding mine anything but ferret food.

You can also supplement their diet with small pieces of chicken, a bit of boiled egg, or baby food turkey or chicken sticks.

for an occasional treat, I might give them a fruit loop, or a tiny piece of apple with a tiny bit of peanut butter......but not often.

I watch what I feed my ferrets.

Ohhh....I do add a bit of feretone to their feed everyday.

~~Good Luck with your fuzzy

Answer 5

I don't have much to add to the post above. Just would like to share a chart that compares more brands of food and takes more variables into account: http://www.everythingfert.proboards36.com/index.cgi?board=kristen&action=display&thread=1109195167 . Just choose a few foods that rate a 1 or 2 and you'll be all set.

Answer 6

Ferrets are carnivours and need to be fed similar food to cats infact you can feed it any cat food wether is is dry or moist.
Ferrets will smell no matter what you feed them. If you consider getting your pet nuetered this might help to remove the smell.
Also it removes the chance of unwanted breeding.

Answer 7

in order for the ferret not to stink you will need to go to the vet and have the gland taken out . so that way he can's spray around and stink

Answer 8

the 3 in 1 at petco seems to be very good for them and ferrets by nature have a woodsy smell. u can give them a bath but only like every 3 months so u dont dry out their skin. marshals in not so good for them

Answer 9

ferrets loves cat food no they still stink

Answer 10

I always fed mine marshals....and mine loved bananas and peanut butter and just plain butter. As for them not smelling....i don't think there is much you can do about that but give them a bath, and you don't want to do that too much because it is bad for their skin and coat, just like once a week. Do you let them out of their cage to run the house? If you do you should try to train them to come to u when you call. I used a dog toy that squeaked and i would just hold them and let them hear it and give them some Nutri-Cal, it comes in a tube and is a paste that they love. After about a week of it they would come running when they heard it so it was alot easier to put them up...it also came in handy if they ever got outside, which they are very good at. Hope this helps you and Enjoy!!!