Which Ferret food is the best?

Question

My 4 year old Ferret is currently on EVO and while he's been on it, he's filled out nicely. He's fluffier and plumper. It's a little too expensive, though. It has 50% protein and 21% fat which is the highest I've found (except Wysong Ferret Archetypal-1 Diet which I won't get because it has bones in it). I'm looking at 8 and 1 Ultimate which seems to have great reviews but it only has 45% protein and 16% fat. I heard anything with fish in it's ingredients is bad because it causes smelly poop. And I don't know why all these foods have fruits and vegetables in them if these guys are strict carnivores. Never mind the fact people feed them Cheerio's and raisins as treats... But anyway, should I switch and if neither of these two, which one would you prefer?

!DookDook! ♥ · Accepted Answer

Why do you refuse to feed Archetypal? Bones are a great source of calcium for ferrets and are completely edible. Ferrets are carnivorous, so any food you feed them is going to contain dead animal in it. When you switch to a cheaper food with lower quality ingredients, you'll find that the ferret will have to eat more in order to get all of the nutrients it was before, so you rarely save money when you go to cheaper food. 

8 and 1 Ultimate seems to be liked by ferret owners, but I personally wouldn't feed it. Make sure that when you are looking at the protein and fat content, you're also looking at the ingredients. Companies can add in cheap and even unusable sources of protein and fat to up the percentages. So, while the protein might be high, a good percentage of that could be plant-based if you don't check. For example, 8 in 1 has brown rice as the third ingredient, which contains a reasonable amount of protein (which will up the percentage), but has no nutritional value for a carnivore. Not to mention, garlic oil and raisin juice are high up on the list, both of which are deadly in large amounts. 

I give my ferrets a mix of Orijen cat/kitten food, Go! Natural Duck cat/kitten food, and Nature's Variety Instinct Turkey and Duck for cats. I've tried a ton of foods in the time that I've had ferrets, and my boys have the best coats by far on this mix, and I highly suggest it. The protein might not be as crazily high, but the majority of the protein is actually sourced from meat, so the protein is all usable.

darlene c · Answer

I personally feed raw,but Wellness Core Cat & Kitten is very good also. The previous poster recommended some good ones too.

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Which Ferret food is the best?

2 Answers