How do I get my Ferrets to try new food?

Question

There all almost 1 year old. I want to intergrate wet ferret food into there diet. Right now they only eat dry ferret food, and treats from time to time.

Answer 1

Ok, so you have alot of mixed answers here, and I have heard alot of mixed things myself. I own 5 fuzzies of my own.

I have heard that it is a good idea for ferrets to get to know multiple types of food. One reason being, that when they are sick and older, they may require a change in food and it is hard to get them to switch if you wait till these times.

I wish you would have elaborated on what wet food you want to offer them. It would have helped on if it is a good idea or not.

If you want them to get use to wet food, it should be the Duck soup or Bob Church's chicken gravy. Here is the link for the chicken gravy. http://www.ferretfacts.com/chickengravy.html

I offer all five of my ferrets the chicken gravy along with their hard food. It is great to use to hide meds in.

Anyways, a way to get them to try it:

First, just offer it to them. Let them smell it. They might dig in on their own.

If that doesn't work, put a little on your finger. Put it up to their nose and see if they will lick it off.

Finally, if those don't work, and I had to do this for one of my sick babies, put it on your finger and rub it on their gums. You might have to do this a few times. After each try, offer it to them in a dish.

I will agree with some of the other posts, they do not always need wet food. Please DO NOT mix the wet food and the hard food. Different dishes are the best idea. However, from experience, it is alot easier to get them acustomed to the wet food before they must have it.

I have never used the duck soup, but all of my babies love their chicken soup. Unless they need it, they get it only as a treat. This keeps them eating it.

Answer 2

There really isn't any reason why you need to add wet food at all. It's like someone said, crunchy food is better for their dental health. And if by "wet" you mean canned, you better keep it seperated from the dry anyway, because of the spoiling factor. Besides your ferrets may refuse to eat all together and it's never a good idea for a ferret to go without food for more than 6 hrs.
So keep them in different bowls.
It IS a good idea to introduce a different type of dry food though. This way you have one to fall back on should you ferrets refuse to eat the one they are on now or if that one is temporarily unavailable for whatever reason or if the manufacturer changes just one ingredient in the food.
I introduced my bunch to 8in1 ULTIMATE crunchy. I first fed them a few morsels by hand. That kind of made them think it was a treat. After that I put a little of the new food into a seperate dish and sprinkled FerreTone on top of it. They can't resist the Tone. Lastly I started adding the new food to the old food a little at a time.. Do not mix the two foods into one big container right off, just in case they still won't eat it. You'll end up picking the refused morsels out by hand. Just add a little at a time to their food dish.
I switched all of mine to a food mix this way and mine are 4, 3, 2 and 1. The younger the ferret the easier it should be to get them used to something new. Ferrets get imprinted on tastes when they are very young.
Good luck.

Answer 3

i don't know why you want to add wet food, unless you're getting them prepared for "duck soup" in case they get sick at some point...they don't need wet food if their dry food is of high-quality. wet food greatly increases tooth decay. and please be don't give sweet treats...ferrets develop insulinoma easily...i just lost my oldest rescue ferret to insulinoma. good treats are, whisker lickins tartar control. mine go nutso for them. if you are set on giving wet food, use pure chicken or turkey baby food and add ferretone to it...they'll eat it. it does help with weight gain too. you can also make your own wet food...boil a whole chicken until it falls off the bone--no spices. put it in the blender bones and all, and liquefy it. get some really small storage containers and freeze it. you can let it thaw overnight. always warm the wet food, as they will eat it more readily. hope this was helpful.
EDITS: i wouldn't suggest adding wet food to dry food. it spoils fast, and the dry food is way too expensive to waste. ferrets will stop eating and starve if they don't like the food. if you switch dry foods, mix the old dry food with the new dry food. i'm super lucky to have fuzzies that will eat anything. the ferretstore.com has a very good high-quality ferret food in 20lb bags. (their own brand) it has no fish meal in it, which makes them smell yucky.

Answer 4

I suggest blending the dry food with the wet food. It is always suggested to transition foods rather than abruptly change foods anyway. It can cause problems for your carpet shark. You might also want to sprinkle a raisin or two into the wet food.

Answer 5

just mix the old food with the new food
but first put a very small quantity of the new food and decrease the quantity by the time until u use 100% the new food ;)

Answer 6

if u want the truth i think u should try giving them cat food for treats and dry food for regular food

Answer 7

only give them the new food and nothing else,,they will eat it .....