by Zofia Zbiegiel

Created on: July 27, 2009

In order to fully understand what kind of diet the ferret needs in order to be healthy and happy, one must look first at their ancestors. The domestic ferret's closest relative is the European Polecat. These animals feed exclusively on prey animals including mice, vole, rabbits, and even the occasional amphibian or insect. The domestic ferret, while no longer a wild animal that needs to hunt its prey, still retains a similar digestive tract as its wild ancestors. Ferrets are obligate carnivores, as such their system is designed to process and digest meat-based proteins. The ferret's ancestors would eat almost everything from the prey animal, leaving only bones too large or dense to be chewed into smaller pieces, and the prey's intestine or stomach. Any plant material that the prey animal would have eaten would most likely be entirely by-passed during these feedings. Ferrets, in order to be healthy, should be placed on a diet that mimics the natural diet as closely as possible. They should be given diets high in animal-based protein and fats, and low in fiber and plant-based proteins.

Ferrets should not be given foods or treats which have fruit and vegetables mixed into them. Neither fruits nor vegetables give any sort of nutrition to ferrets, as the animals cannot digest them properly. Also, fruits can have a high sugar content, something which can be a big problem in ferrets if they are given fruit regularly. The very, very occasional snack of a raisin is generally thought not to hurt, but this should not be a regular practice. Sugary snacks should be avoided as much as possible, however. Recent studies have begun to see links between sugary snacks and insulinomas. Ferrets given regular snacks of fruits or other sugary items were shown to have a much higher case of insulinomas later in life than ferrets who had not been given sugary items. As insulinomas are considered to form when the pancreas's cells are overworked and "burned out", there is speculation that the sweet snacks given to ferrets, whose systems are not designed to deal with that type of food source, are actually overworking the pancreas.

There are quite a few options for feeding ferrets, and you should always pick the best possible for your own situation.

Kibble

The first and most popular option for feeding ferrets is kibble. Kibble comes in many forms, and from many companies, although it should be noted that not all kibbles have the right mix for ferrets. Since ferrets need high protein

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