Ferrets or ferrets are becoming increasingly popular pets, although it is not so easy to keep them, as it seems. Fashion for ferrets is conditioned ??their funny habits, beauty, bright individual traits and difficult character. For competent content you need to understand, eating ferrets, than to properly feed a ferret.
Features of feeding house ferrets
Ferrets are predators, carnivores. Their teeth and jaws are arranged for that, to bite and tear meat, break small bones. Ferrets have a very fast metabolism, digest food for two to three hours. Therefore, animals eat often and little by little. They can not set a diet, as for dogs, ferrets regulate their energy needs themselves, therefore it is necessary, that in their bowls there was always food.
Ferrets can live peacefully under one roof with cats and dogs, but do not eat dog and cat food. Dog food contains a large amount of fiber and plant proteins, therefore absolutely does not approach a ferret. Ferrets do not need plant food. They need protein, which are easily digested. Example, they eat chicken meat, ducks, turkeys, rabbit, fish, eggs. Improper feeding affects the mood of the animal, condition of animal fur, can cause obesity, diabetes in ferrets, lead to the development of rickets.
Types of feed for ferrets. How to choose ferret food
so, eating ferrets? The first type of feeding for a ferret is live food. This is the most natural and healthy food for the animal, assigned to him by nature. But in urban conditions, the animal is quite problematic to feed live mice, small birds, chickens, fodder cockroaches. And the owner of the ferret will need endurance and self-control, to observe contaminating the pet's blood, crispy bones and insects, blows small feathers and pieces of wool from food from the nose.
The second type of feeding is specialized dry premium feed for ferrets. It is often difficult to buy high-quality feed for ferrets in Russia. Many ferret owners are getting out of position: feed them cat premium food for kittens and nursing cats, they have more protein. When choosing a feed should pay attention to its composition, it must include two or more types of meat. The recommended amount of protein in the feed 32? 40% and 18? 22% fat, minimum amount of fibers and ash.
It is important to note, at what place in the composition of cereals, grain products are very difficult to digest by ferrets and have no nutritional value for them. You need to choose food, containing taurine, it is necessary for the health of the eyes and heart of the pet. Many ferret owners celebrate, that the animals really like dry food, watered with chicken broth, as well as animals with appetite eat canned baby food, made of poultry. Dry food is convenient to store, they are good for ferret teeth.
The third type of feeding - "minced meat". Quite a troublesome occupation - self-preparation of food, it requires the advice of a veterinarian. Only a doctor, who has experience working with exotic animals will help make a diet for ferrets, recommend the necessary vitamin and mineral supplements. "Farshekash" do so: boiled turkey, raw chicken with giblets, but without tubular bones, in a meat grinder grind to a porridge with a very small addition of cereal (wheat, oat, buckwheat, rice), that mimics food in a bird's stomach. You can add a boiled egg or a little cheese to the finished minced meat.
If a novice choreographer has chosen "minced meat" to feed your pet, then he must be confident in the freshness of all components and quality of purchased products. Even knowing, how to properly feed a ferret, but preparing ferret food yourself, the pet owner risks making an unbalanced meal, and then calcium deficiency, zinc, fats can affect a pet's health. It should also be considered, that the needs of ferrets in certain nutrients depend on it, males or females keep houses, whether the gin passes, whether a pregnant female or nursing puppies.
What can and can not be given to domestic ferrets
Food for ferrets, prepared at home, should consist exclusively of animal proteins, to replace them with vegetable is inadmissible. It is better not to mix ready-made dry food with natural products, this upsets the balance of the finished feed and can lead to urolithiasis in animals. And you have to remember, than you can feed a ferret, and that it is forbidden to give it even in small quantities.
Recommended for ferrets:
- Poultry meat, by-products, skin, lived, cartilage.
- Not raw lean beef or lamb.
- Not raw boneless sea fish - trout, flounder, mackerel, cod, herring, horse mackerel.
- For delicacy - boiled chicken egg yolk, quite a small slice of banana, pears, melons. Ferrets are happy to eat special treats, made of tendons, but owners cannot overfeed their animals.
It is forbidden to give a ferret:
- Any food from a person's table is fried, smoking, sausages, drinks, etc..
- Apples and carrots are difficult to digest.
- Dairy products - lactose can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
- Whole nuts and popcorn - can lead to intestinal obstruction.
- Sweet desserts are bad for your teeth and can cause diabetes.
- Chocolate is toxic to ferrets.
- Bread and rolls are difficult to digest.
- Pork is a very fatty meat.
Utensils and drinkers for ferrets
Moving animals like to rattle bowls and turn them over, therefore it is better to put ware with food heavy from ceramics, glass or metal. Water should be available to animals at all times, to avoid overheating and dehydration. Ferret water bowls can be used for bathing, splashing and pouring puddles. It will be more convenient to buy nipple or ball drinkers. Water should not be chlorinated from the tap, The owner of the ferret needs to regularly wash the dishes for drinking and eating pets, do not allow, so that food or dirty water spoils in the bowls.
With careful and proper care, ferrets can live at home for more than ten years, delighting the hosts with communication and their moving games. A balanced diet and following the recommendations of experts will strengthen the health of the pet and prolong its life.