Ferret question - please help?

[TopCat3]

Hi there all you ferret lovers, I want to know what to buy a little ferret as a treat to munch on for Christmas. Someone at work has one and it would please her little girl if I got something for her beloved ferret to have as a special treat but I have no idea what they eat - I'm a cat/dog person myself so my kitty-loving/puppy-loving pals are easy to buy for, but on this little critter I'm stumped.

Any ideas please?

Thanks much
TopCat

[Queen of Poop]

Pet stores sometimes carry a variety of ferret treats. I found with my 4 that none of them actually liked the same treat so it was really hit and miss. A better suggestion might be to get a ball with a bell in it. One of the ferrets all time favorites were these fleece balls that had a bell in them. It drove me nuts, but at least you always knew where the ferret was.

[TamanduaGirl]

I know you should avoid dried fruits, even though they sell them as ferret treats.

[TopCat3]

Thanks folks.

So what's their staple diet? Do they eat vegetables and things like rabbits or kibble and meat like cats or what? Everything and anything?

Thanks - sorry :rolleyes:

[kittycats_delight]

They eat an extremely high protein, high fat diet. Most but their ferrets commercial ferret food. Ours used to get dried meat treats and all of them went nuts for yogurt drops. It was the only treat they would all eat. You can get them at the pet store as well. They don't eat veggies like rabbits. We had one that went nuts for fruits though. She would crawl all over you and try to steal it. We never gave her any at all. We did buy her a package of fruit flavored kibble like treats that you could sprinkle over her food and she loved those. Ours also loved crinkle bags as toys. The more noise it would make the better they liked it. :)

Good luck and let us know what you get and if the ferret enjoys it. :)

Michelle

[WELOVESPUPPIES]

Also another thing ferrets love to play in is drier ducts, the shiny silver tubes that you can get at hardware stores in all different lenths. I would resort to getting something the ferret can play with more than something it will eat. They usually love balls or hard rubber dog toys, even some baby toys are safe, like the key rings with the big plastic keys. Ferrets love things they can hide. I use to have a ferret and the drier tube though was her absolute favorite thing to play in. Oh and pillow cases, they love to hide.

[TopCat3]

Thanks everyone for all your help and ideas. That was really educational! I bought a little mineral stone for her to gnaw on - it's pale purple in the shape of a bunch of grapes cos her "Mom" likes wine! Apparently it's good for their teeth and contains minerals that are essential for their diet. It's good for all small cage pets (guinea pigs etc etc)

[TamanduaGirl]

but ferrets are carnivores. They don't need to wear down their teeth by chewing on stones.

[Ferretgirl]

I know you should avoid dried fruits, even though they sell them as ferret treats.

Thanks folks.
So what's their staple diet? Do they eat vegetables and things like rabbits or kibble and meat like cats or what? Everything and anything?
Thanks - sorry :rolleyes:

Thanks everyone for all your help and ideas. That was really educational! I bought a little mineral stone for her to gnaw on - it's pale purple in the shape of a bunch of grapes cos her "Mom" likes wine! Apparently it's good for their teeth and contains minerals that are essential for their diet. It's good for all small cage pets (guinea pigs etc etc)

but ferrets are carnivores. They don't need to wear down their teeth by chewing on stones.

TamanduaGirl is right!!! Ferrets are carnivores and shouldn't have hard toys to gnaw on! Petstores sell chewy treat toys for ferrets (in flavors like chicken and such) And you should avoid giving them fruits! An occasional raisin is fine, like once a week or less. (typicaly they LOVE raisins!) Nuts and seeds should be avoided at all costs!!! Their stomachs can't digest them!
They eat meat, I feed mine a mix of ferret food and a brand of kitten food I found that has a higher protein percentage then the ferret food does!
Examples of good treats:
http://www.petdiscounters.com/mc_images/product/image/d_5392.jpg
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p_31399_41332P_ferret.jpg