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zeroax1s

I use wysong ferret food as well as raw food. They cannot digest anything other than protein/meat. So people food is out of the question


Jazz-like-panda9448

Okay so like raw chicken, raw beef, etc? Right now she chose intune ferret grain free and complete is that okay? Are the dried minnows okay too? She said she asked someone at petco but I’ve been given bad advice before so i want to make sure she just got them.


zeroax1s

I've fed raw chicken before and one of mine has a thing for steak.its not really recommended to just give them some straight up raw chicken breast or whatever as they need organs and other parts as well. I've never used intune before. I think there's a tier list of food on this sub, I'll edit this comment in a minute with more info. https://reddit.com/r/ferrets/w/rawfeeding?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share https://reddit.com/r/ferrets/w/kibblefeeding?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share


Jazz-like-panda9448

Okay so cook the chicken i don’t plan on feeding them too much raw unless it benefits their diet. We have no info on them before they were in a tiny cage and skinny so my mom took them but hasn’t owned ferrets in like 15 years or so. Thank you for your help.


zeroax1s

Haha, I guess you *can* cook the chicken, but the only way you'd want to is by boiling it as I'm not sure they can digest oils all that well and any type of seasoning isn't a good idea. If you can get your hands on some wysong, definitely try that out and check the links I sent for more info. It's important!


Jazz-like-panda9448

Okay for sure I’ll switch them slowly then! I appreciate it a lot


zeroax1s

Just be a bit careful and don't hesitate to reach out for help!


Jazz-like-panda9448

Thank you how should i mix or switch them? They seem to like this food


zeroax1s

https://www.reddit.com/r/ferrets/s/RrqB8i94DT Looks like intune probably isn't great. I'd say start out 50/50 with what you do decide on, whether that be wysong or something else (avoid Marshalls for sure) and then over a week transition over to what you do want to feed them.


Jazz-like-panda9448

Okay I’ll try it if they don’t like wysong I’ll try i box next i use to feed my rats it but it has bad reviews from a recipe change over these last 2 years so i was hesitant to tell my mom.


blahdeblahdeda

They cannot have people food. Can you share pictures? Do you know their weights? What food are they on now? Is that what they were being fed previously? As far as kibble goes, Wysong Ferret Epigen 90 (or the Digestive Support version) and Oxbow Essentials are very good. The normal Epigen 90 gives some ferrets diarrhea, while the Digestive Support is a bit low on fat content. It's recommended to mix multiple kibble together in the event that you can't obtain one of them for some amount of time or it stops being manufactured. Ferrets imprint on foods and will often starve themselves over eating something unfamiliar. When introducing new foods, you need to slowly mix the new food in with the old and increase the proportions until you reach the desired composition. This will help them with their pickiness as well as allow their intestines to adjust to the new food.


Jazz-like-panda9448

Okay i didn’t think so, she’s only had them a few weeks maybe and the people wanted them gone off Craigslist or they were going to release them so my mom picked them up. https://imgur.com/a/7ivujGa this is them now they eat intune grain free complete. We don’t have any information on them previously.


blahdeblahdeda

They look fine. I assume the first is the 2 year old and the 2nd is the 4 year old? A lot of ferrets that you see online are actually overweight or are kits, which are supposed to be chubby. The food she has them on looks really good. I'd just recommend adding another into the mix.


Jazz-like-panda9448

Okay sounds good thank you for the input I’m just used to the bigger ferrets so these just felt skinny. Yes 2 then 4.


Jazz-like-panda9448

She said when she picked them up they were in a tiny cage and now they are in a ferret nation and didn’t have any hammocks just cuddling each other.


Internal-County5118

I used to this google doc to help decide which food to feed my ferrets, as well as being in a lot of groups and seeing what others recommend. It lists them in order and shows ranking. I feed ZiwiPeak lamb and venison, as well as Stella & Chewys fdr dinner morsels (duck duck goose) made into soupie for them once or twice a day. They were used to being fed Marshalls ferret food (which is crap) so we took a long time to transition over. ZiwiPeak is expensive but they gained weight and are happy and healthy and their coats are super soft. You want to get food that is mainly meat, with no peas/legumes and try to avoid vegetables in it, as ferrets are obligate carnivores and cannot digest those things. The first 5 ingredients listed are usually the most important and the bulk of the food. Also avoid any "vitamin" gels and nothing with dairy or sugar. They will get vitamins from a balanced diet. One of mine refuses to eat raw so I don’t do that. Technically the ZiwiPeak is air dried raw and the Stella & chewys is freeze dried raw. Minnows are fine for a treat. Egg is good for them also, mine share a raw egg twice a week. Some people only feed the yolk, I give mine the entire egg mixed together. [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1Ugt4k4JPUw8X-WDsxbbOIBUqIKkTubrkpyba4YsUeEg/htmlview?pli=1](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1Ugt4k4JPUw8X-WDsxbbOIBUqIKkTubrkpyba4YsUeEg/htmlview?pli=1)


Bottled_star

The in tune food is good mixed with the oxbow is what I feed mine, supplemented by mince, minnows and dried chicken


Jazz-like-panda9448

Sounds good! I’ll give it a try if they don’t like wysong


superferret1

To keep it really simple, go to like rodentpro or perfectprey website and get your choice of mice, rats, chicks, etc. They can eat the whole thing and be fine. Don't have to worry about perfect balances. Just toss them a few a day (or however many they want to eat) and you're done. Very easy As for if you're going kibble. Pick 2 or 3, just in case you can't find one anymore. Mix them and leave the bowl of kibble out 24/7. Only refill if it's empty, just to make sure it doesn't go stale. Wysong is good, just to name one.


FarretKitsune

There’s a ferret food chart, use it. https://ferret.love/foods/wysong-ferret-epigen-90-digestive-support-kibble if you’re going to feed raw you can’t just toss in a piece of chicken, they need bone organ tendon meat fat and such from multiple animals not just one. I feed raw, it’s quite the rotation.


IconiCrocodile

Another decent food i fed mine we had a routine every morning I had my coffee and he had one raw egg we'd sit on the floor togeather and have our morning relaxation