I'd like to help out the new ferret owner, advise you in what products are good and what are a waste of money to save you time, money and the hassle that I had to go through when I first started out. I'd like to help you find some good ferret communities to be a part of to answer the myriad of questions you're bound to come up with no answers for eventually.
What Every New Ferret Owner Should Buy:
These are items that you will need to keep your ferrets safely and comfortably housed with you and well cared for.
A copy of the book "Ferrets for Dummies" is strongly recommended.
High quality, grain free kibble* (More about that later!)
A good brush and possibly a flea comb
Ear cleaner
Nail clippers. I prefer the guillotine style with a safety guide.
An appropriately sized cage. Preferably a Ferret Nation brand cage.
Fleece remnants or blankets for bedding, or you can use old t-shirts, sweat shirts and other clothes.
Lock on crocks or ceramic/stoneware dishes for food and water.
High back litter pans
Appropriate, safe toys (More about that later!)
Safe, appropriate litter or newspaper. (More about that later!)
A bottle of Rescue Remedy or a similar product
Cans of pure pumpkin (NOT pie filling!)
Jars of baby food- chicken and/or turkey flavors with nothing else added
Oral syringes
A pet/infant tooth brush and pet safe toothpaste if not feeding raw, meaty bones regularly.
Harnesses and leashes
Styptic Powder
Nature's Miracle Pet Cleaner or a similar enzymatic product.
Scent and dye free laundry detergent.
Hammocks and/or snuggle sacks.
Storage bins or containers for kibble, litter and possibly for toys and grooming and health care products.
A traveling carrier. Preferably a hard plastic one with a top loading entrance.
An oil based supplement such as Cod Oil, Salmon Oil, Krill Oil, or Seal Oil. NOT Ferretone or Furotone or Ferrevite!
Ferret proofing Materials (More about that later!)
*Only if you choose not to go with a raw meat, natural diet. I strongly recommend spending the extra money to feed your ferrets the way nature intended. You will get so much more out of them and spend so much less time and money at the vet's.
What Every New Ferret Owner Should NOT Buy:
Cheap ferret food
Paper, wood shavings or other "special" bedding
Corner litter pans
Shampoos, spritzes, sprays, deodorizers
Drip water bottles
Clumping style cat litters
Bandits, Yogies and other sugary, bad-for-your-ferret treats.
Now that I have given you a list of things you should and shouldn't buy, let's discuss certain parts of it.
Feeding Advice
Ferrets have pretty strict dietary needs. They are obligate carnivores just like cats and as such they need to eat meat. Meat, meat and more meat, but very little else. They have a short digestive tract which food passes through pretty quickly, so they need lots of high quality fats and proteins in which to absorb necessary nutrients from. They are unable to digest and process plant based protein or fiber, so feeding your ferret fruits and veggies is a waste of time, money and a hazard to their well being. Dairy is also right out. Sugar is the nemesis of all ferrets, which is problematic because most ferrets have a real sweet tooth and will actively seek out sweet things. You should never never never give your ferret sugary foods! It can cause long term problems such as insuloma and diabetes.
Many commercial ferret foods available are not actually very good for them. Also, since a ferret's dietary needs are so similar to that of a cat, you can feed them high quality cat food. Kibble is the most popular form of food for ferrets in the United States. Unfortunately, kibble can cause all sorts of health problems in life. Particularly if it is a low quality food. Just like with humans, if you put garbage quality food in you will get a garbage quality of life back out with a sick animal living a much shorter life span. Kibble can cause a lot of problems for a ferret's teeth if the ferret does not receive regular tooth brushing and/or teeth cleanings. It causes your typical expected problems of plaque and tartar build up, but also bits of it it can also become lodged in the gums and cause infections.
If you must feed your ferret a kibble, please choose a high quality one. If you need assistance picking out a decent kibble you can look under the Recommended Reading section for the "Moore Dooks Food Chart". This is an excellent resource for scoring kibble and decided what to purchase.
As a rule of thumb for kibble, the food needs to have: [at minimum]
40% protein
20% fat
No grains, starches or fillers
There should also be taurine somewhere listed in the guaranteed analysis. The first 4 ingredients of a kibble should be meat or meat based products, though the first 6 is ideal. This means it should contain meat/organs/bones and be listed as things such as "chicken, chicken meal, chicken by products, chicken fat, chicken bones, chicken carcasses, chicken frames" etc. There should never be any grains such as wheat, corn, rice, or barley in a ferret's food. Also, starches such as peas, potatoes and other binders should be avoided if at all possible, Unfortunately, because of the way kibble is made some sort of binder is needed to hold the kibble's shape. So nearly all foods will have some sort of binder such as potatoes or peas. Just make sure that these things are listed as far down the list of ingredients as possible.
The Ideal Diet
The ideal diet for a ferret would be live prey the ferret catches and kills them self just as their wild ancestors would do. Unfortunately not everyone can provide this sort of diet for their ferret. That's OK, because there are some great alternatives.
The next best thing to live, whole prey is dead whole prey. This is still tough for some people, looking at all those cute bunnies, mice and chicks even when dead may be too much for a person. That's still OK, because there are still more great alternatives.
Next best is a raw diet made up of organs, muscle meat and bones, ideally from several protein sources. Ferrets can be fed a wide variety of farm raised animals and wild game. Mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, quail, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb, bison, venison, elk, moose, insects, cornish game hens are all excellent food sources. You can buy meat for them from the super market and cut and portion it up yourself as needed, or go have your local butcher do it for you, or hunt and raise your own food sources.
But wait you say. This sounds like a lot of work! I just want to pour some food out of a bag and be done with it. That's still OK, because there are still some great commercial raw products as an alternative to kibble.
You can purchase either freeze dried raw or frozen raw products and still provide your ferret the benefits of a raw diet with less work- just thaw and pour into a dish, or for freeze dried just pour right into a dish! Most mainstream pet store chains do not carry many of these products, you will often have to go to a specialty all natural or holistic pet food store.
What are the cons of feeding freeze dried or commercial frozen products? Well mainly that freeze dried products and commercially frozen, pre prepared products obviously cost a bit more to buy than doing it yourself. They are about comparable though in price per pound to a high end, grain free kibble. Your ferret will also eat a lot less of it than a kibble and usually need to see the vet a lot less, so it will save you money in the long run.
Some good brands to look into for commercial frozen raw or freeze dried diets are:
Stella & Chewy's
Nature's Variety Instinct
Ziwipeak
Primal
Rad Cat
Urban Carnivore
Bravo
If you are seriously interested in learning about raw feeding a ferret the natural way, a great place to read up in more detail and find help is the Holistic Ferret Forum. You can find a link under Recommended Reading.
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