How can you tell which ferret and cat foods are good for your ferret and which are not? Ferrets needs lots of protein and fat, the protein content should be over 35% and the fat content over 20%.

Look at the ingredients list, the first ingredient should be meat of some kind, and of the first 5 ingredients, 3 of them should be animal protein sources. The ingredient list should not contain large numbers of multi-syllable chemical names. A few fruits and veggies way down the list are okay, but they should not be the majority of the top 5 ingredients. The food should not have any added sugar in the form of corn syrup, malt flavoring or raisin flavoring. The food should not have any corn, as corn is a filler that is extremely hard for ferrets to digest and may aggravate intestinal problems like IBD. Other grains, such as wheat and oatmeal, as well as soy, should not be high on the ingredients list, but are not as bad as corn. Byproducts, like chicken by product, are acceptable, but should not be the main protein source (by product is all the parts of the animal minus the muscle meat, they are necessary to complete nutrition, but should not be the main protein source in any diet). Fish should be avoided as much as possible, it makes your ferret and their poop really stinky, plus ferrets are not aquatic animals, their wild ancestors came from the plains and forests of Eurasia and would not have caught fish.

I also recommend mixing protein sources in your food mix. Ideally, you should mix 3-4 brands of high quality food, and include more than one protein source (ie two chicken based foods, a rabbit based food and a turkey based food) as this will help give the broadest range of nutrients and also give your ferret some variety.

Some foods my ferrets and I like:

• Innova EVO Cat, Ferret or Dog Small Bites Red Meat or regular flavor [Note: EVO is the only dog food acceptable for ferrets due to its high protein and fat content, but it must be mixed with a ferret or cat food to add the appropriate amount of taurine for ferrets]
• Nature’s Variety Instinct Cat (Chicken and Rabbit)
• Zupreem Ferret Diet
• Totally Ferret Turkey and Venison (good for ferrets with chicken allergy or IBD)
• Wellness CORE

My current blend contains Innova EVO Cat or Ferret, Nature’s Variety Intstinct Chicken and Rabbit, Zupreem, and for my ferrets that are not allergic to beef, EVO Dog Small Bites Red Meat. My ferrets who have IBD eat Totally Ferret Turkey and Venison and get treats of California Natural’s Herring and Sweet Potato cat food.