johnny boy68 11,726 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Dry cat biscuits. Tinned cat meat. Whole fresh rabbit. Chicken carcass. Tripe. Bedding shredded paper. We have got a cross shredder at work and it produces small 2" strips of paper. Perfect free bedding. Easy to clean out. Absorbent. Warm. Cat products are for cats not ferrets, if you can't feed meat get a ferret kibble, ferrets have a very fast digestion so cat biscuits and cat food give them very little nutrition. I feed meat 90% of the time and always leave a bowl of dry cat biscuits for them to graze on. I've done it for years and never had any problems. Cat meat is just meat in jelly. I feed this a couple of times a week and they love it. My dogs love cat food but I wouldn't feed them it Gaz, it just goes straight through the ferrets. Ferret kibble is widely available these days so no reason to cut corners with cat kibble or tinned meat imo. Each to their own Cat food isn't just meat in jelly, its about % water and if your lucky 4% meat. You've only just got ferrets so how have you been doing it for years? Quote Link to post
Ideation 8,217 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Dry cat biscuits. Tinned cat meat. Whole fresh rabbit. Chicken carcass. Tripe. Bedding shredded paper. We have got a cross shredder at work and it produces small 2" strips of paper. Perfect free bedding. Easy to clean out. Absorbent. Warm. Cat products are for cats not ferrets, if you can't feed meat get a ferret kibble, ferrets have a very fast digestion so cat biscuits and cat food give them very little nutrition. I feed meat 90% of the time and always leave a bowl of dry cat biscuits for them to graze on. I've done it for years and never had any problems. Cat meat is just meat in jelly. I feed this a couple of times a week and they love it. My dogs love cat food but I wouldn't feed them it Gaz, it just goes straight through the ferrets. Ferret kibble is widely available these days so no reason to cut corners with cat kibble or tinned meat imo. Each to their own Cat food isn't just meat in jelly, its about % water and if your lucky 4% meat. You've only just got ferrets so how have you been doing it for years? About the highest protein count in a commercial tinned catfood, is 8%. . . . that's in whiskers. And worse . . . . the fact content is about 3.5 %. That's shit by the way. Ferret food is about 35-40% protein and around 20% fat. And all of the protein and fat tends to be from animal rather than plant products. Quote Link to post
Gaz_1989 9,539 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 I grew up with ferrets mate. Had them as a kid. I've just started keeping them again after 18 months off. If you don't like what I do then don't do it. But I have had no problems. I know tinned meat isn't the best but its convenient for me and variety for them. I wouldn't feed it my dogs but these are ferrets and mine thrive I did say they get whole carcass most of the time. Quote Link to post
johnny boy68 11,726 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 I grew up with ferrets mate. Had them as a kid. I've just started keeping them again after 18 months off. If you don't like what I do then don't do it. But I have had no problems. I know tinned meat isn't the best but its convenient for me and variety for them. I wouldn't feed it my dogs but these are ferrets and mine thrive I did say they get whole carcass most of the time. If you grew up with ferrets Gaz why you asking all these newbie questions then? LOL Quote Link to post
bigdaz 688 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 No7, Poultry, live or dead?. 1 Quote Link to post
Gaz_1989 9,539 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 I grew up with ferrets mate. Had them as a kid. I've just started keeping them again after 18 months off. If you don't like what I do then don't do it. But I have had no problems. I know tinned meat isn't the best but its convenient for me and variety for them. I wouldn't feed it my dogs but these are ferrets and mine thrive I did say they get whole carcass most of the time. If you grew up with ferrets Gaz why you asking all these newbie questions then? LOL Questions about breeding? Because I never bred them... Next? Quote Link to post
johnny boy68 11,726 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 I grew up with ferrets mate. Had them as a kid. I've just started keeping them again after 18 months off. If you don't like what I do then don't do it. But I have had no problems. I know tinned meat isn't the best but its convenient for me and variety for them. I wouldn't feed it my dogs but these are ferrets and mine thrive I did say they get whole carcass most of the time. If you grew up with ferrets Gaz why you asking all these newbie questions then? LOL Questions about breeding? Because I never bred them... Next? Here you go Gaz, you said yourself your know very little about ferrets and now you've grown up with them. http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/285170-small-jill-i-took-in-a-while-ago-old-type/ Quote Link to post
AirgunGuy 362 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 (edited) Agree with most of the guys. Just look at the answers. Feed the proper gear and have happy, healthy ferrets for years. If you feed cat food or anything other you could end up with ferrets with malnutrition. If you want them to work their peak...feed the right gear. You know it makes sense ;+) Don't listen to the cat food brigade :-D I'm new to it again and feed mine raw and proper kibble. The saps and cat food shite went years ago ;-) Edited April 18, 2013 by AirgunGuy 1 Quote Link to post
Gaz_1989 9,539 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 I grew up with ferrets mate. Had them as a kid. I've just started keeping them again after 18 months off. If you don't like what I do then don't do it. But I have had no problems. I know tinned meat isn't the best but its convenient for me and variety for them. I wouldn't feed it my dogs but these are ferrets and mine thrive I did say they get whole carcass most of the time. If you grew up with ferrets Gaz why you asking all these newbie questions then? LOL Questions about breeding? Because I never bred them... Next?Here you go Gaz, you said yourself your know very little about ferrets and now you've grown up with them. http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/285170-small-jill-i-took-in-a-while-ago-old-type/ I was referring to the breeding side. It was a post about a possible pregnant Jill... Next. Quote Link to post
johnny boy68 11,726 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 I grew up with ferrets mate. Had them as a kid. I've just started keeping them again after 18 months off. If you don't like what I do then don't do it. But I have had no problems. I know tinned meat isn't the best but its convenient for me and variety for them. I wouldn't feed it my dogs but these are ferrets and mine thrive I did say they get whole carcass most of the time. If you grew up with ferrets Gaz why you asking all these newbie questions then? LOL Questions about breeding? Because I never bred them... Next?Here you go Gaz, you said yourself your know very little about ferrets and now you've grown up with them. http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/285170-small-jill-i-took-in-a-while-ago-old-type/ I was referring to the breeding side. It was a post about a possible pregnant Jill... Next. Aye ok !! Quote Link to post
GreyRake 108 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Not having a go, but you will find a ferret will eat lots more cat food that it would ferret specific food. They will get less nutrition from the cat food and not absord as much... Just crap it out... And eat more. So maybe switching to ferret food would save you some money.kitten food has more protein and is better suited to ferrets than adult cat food. Quote Link to post
Gaz_1989 9,539 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Not having a go, but you will find a ferret will eat lots more cat food that it would ferret specific food. They will get less nutrition from the cat food and not absord as much... Just crap it out... And eat more. So maybe switching to ferret food would save you some money.kitten food has more protein and is better suited to ferrets than adult cat food. Thanks. But I think everyone is missing where I said I feed predominantly whole carcass. Pheasant, rabbit, hare, pigeon etc. I only feed the cat food as extra and as a filler. Similarly to how I feed the dogs predominantly raw and feed dry biscuit as a filler and for the odd day when ive not got any raw. Quote Link to post
Country Joe 1,411 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 But the whole point gaz is, there has been umpteen threads and posts on here telling owners of ferrets not to feed cat food as its not good for ferrets, and then you come on, saying you feed it, where someone new to ferrets might think its okay reading your posts. Quote Link to post
Gaz_1989 9,539 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 But the whole point gaz is, there has been umpteen threads and posts on here telling owners of ferrets not to feed cat food as its not good for ferrets, and then you come on, saying you feed it, where someone new to ferrets might think its okay reading your posts. Quote Link to post
ferretsuk 5 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 this link gives you all the info on ferrets http://www.britishferretclub.org.uk/ Quote Link to post
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