Help! I switched my FERRETS food from Marshall Brand....now she has diarrhea?

Question

My ferret came from the pet store eating Marshall ferret food. I switched to Sunshine Ferret food (still 36% crude protein), and now she has diarrhea. I'm confused, since she is out of her cage 3 times a day, she frequently nibbles at my dogs Beneful dog food and this never bothered her. Do I switch back or will she eventually get used to this new brand?

Alamahara- Thanks for the great advice. I have been looking around for someone to tell me what else I can do nutrition wise (all they recommend anywhere I look is Marshalls. They even say no treats. I have 2 dogs and they eat more than dry food, so I felt bad that all my ferret was getting was dry food. Mixing it makes sense, so does the supplement. Thanks again-Julie

I should have mentioned, that I did mix the two foods for approx. 4 full days of feeding (I've had many pets and I know that you don't mess with digestion! lol )

Answer 1

The reason your ferret has diarrhea is because you switched foods...plain and simple. While the food may still have the same amount of protein it is still a different formula. It is, in short, messing with the ferrets digestion.

The proper way to switch a ferrets diet is to slowly integrate the new food into the old one. What I mean is...put Marshalls in your ferrets bowl and put a couple pieces of the new food in. Up the amount of the new food until that is all that remains.

I would like to give you some advice. Marshals ferret food is inadequate for nutrition. It is also overpriced for the quality you get. In other words...you are paying too much for their crappy food. I recommend 8in1 brand or ZooPreem. To make sure your ferret is getting what they need I recommend you blend 2 or 3 types of food to make a mix. I usually mix a bag of 8in1 with a bag of ZooPreem. I also offer my ferrets FerreVite every day. It is a gooey, high calorie, vitamin supplement that ferrets love.

Good luck and take care of those fuzzers!

Answer 2

Both foods mentioned above are crap. Sunshine ferret food, if I am correct, has fruits and veggies in it, which are extremely innapropriate in a ferret's diet. I would switch to ferret diets like Zupreem, 8-in-1 Ultimate Crunchy, Innova Evo, and Nature's Gold. Try to find food that has AT LEAST the first three ingredients as meat(not bi-products). Chicken is best. Avoid corn. High protein is a very good thing. And fiber should be 3% or less of the diet. Avoid extra additives. Egg is also a good source of protein in a ferret diet. Make sure their is taurine on the label.

Answer 3

Ii feed my ferrets dry KITTEN food. my vet is OK with it. my ferrets are ok with it. my ferrets also get dryed bananas and ygurt raisins for treats. i also have a free roammming ferret that eats whatever it wants when it wants and eats a lot of my 2 year old sons fruits and veggies for him LOL. what is the fat content of the new food?? compared the the marshall stuff. i dont like the ferret food cause it has more meat in it and i think that makes the poop smell worse than the kitten food i use. and i have 11 ferrets in my house. 10 in cages rught here by my computer. they dont smell as bad now as they did when on ferret food.

Answer 4

Marshall is adjusted to your ferrets body. if you keep feeding it sunshine food in many months it will adjust. but if you do that it will suffer for those months. so i say you should change back to Marshall brand.

Answer 5

Ferrets are just like all animals. When changing a brand on them, do it slowly. mix small amounts of new into old. adding a little more. do not do it quickly-it is kind of like a baby.

Answer 6

Anything that your babys tummy isnt used to will make them have the diarhea. Just let the tummy get used to it and the poop will go back to being solid again.