ferrets and protein needs

[Ideation 8,216]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

[countryman12 1]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

We have all been told that most things can give us cancer you just have to watch the news. As for scientist how many do you know and how does sweeping floors at a school qualify to speak about ferrets. Now tell us about how to replace a brush head and i will maybe listen. Thinking things up in your head does not make them right and as for me i am a little bit bored with your crap. So and your band of merry ferret owners should give it a rest and let it go.

Edited April 7, 2011 by countryman12

[whin 463]

are youse b*****ds true country men or just feching nit wits ferrets are best fed whole diet rabbs phesis etc and if you tiol to feed them how they should be get afeching ginea pig ,ferrets were for hunters not silly daft shows or poochy pets now get alife and tell us of your hunting stories or exoetise at it cause all you go on about is silly diets not real hunting killing game fish etc

[Ideation 8,216]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

We have all been told that most things can give us cancer you just have to watch the news. As for scientist how many do you know and how does sweeping floors at a school qualify to speak about ferrets. Now tell us about how to replace a brush head and i will maybe listen. Thinking things up in your head does not make them right and as for me i am a little bit bored with your crap. So and your band of merry ferret owners should give it a rest and let it go.

 

 

I take it you used to be on here under a different name then ya coward.

 

Sweeping floors? hahaha. Don't pretend you know sweet F.A about me sunshine.

 

"As for me, i'm a little bit bored with your crap", and what crap would that be?

 

You know f**k all about ferrets.

 

Suck my balls.

[ferret100 47]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

 

I like the points you've made and thanks for the reply.

 

Personally, I think alot of commerical feeds are poor quality and yes, I also agree they have been linked to various disorders. A question was asked, why would they need dried food, and my point was that dietary requirements of domesticated have been thoroughly analysed through extensive scientific research and dried foods to meet those requirements have been developed, simple as. It is not that a ferrets diet has changed to need dried food, it is that dried food has been developed to meet the ferrets need.

Yes, alot of the pet food manufacturers look at the required nutritional components and 'cheat' by adding cheaper, less beneficial ingredients and put a picture of a happy healthy animal on the front of the bag with a fancy tagline, even though the food is crap. It doesn't mean the research behind it isn't correct or should be adhered to.

I'm a fan of the BARF diet, I fed it to my dog from the age of 5 months til he was a year and a half. When I got him he was feed far too much protein as a puppy and being a large breed dog developed skeletal growth disorders (DJD & hip dysplasia) as a consequence. But, getting the BARF diet just right for his age, growth rate, exercise levels and developmental problems was a nightmare, I would have preferred to try brain surgery! Point being, the BARF diet is great, but extremely difficult to get right.

I feed commericial and raw, best of both worlds, I know they are getting the vits/mins/fatty acids and trace elements they need from a variety of sources, but my experience of the complexity of BARF diet means I wouldn't go without dry food.

Although we all know the term, obligate carnivorve, this simply attests to a ferrets need for protein of high quality and quantity. However it doesn't mean they are strict carnivorves with evidence indicating that ferrets have been found to be omvivorous. This would therefore suggest that diet/nutritional needs may have altered through centuries of domestication, but as we can't go back in time to check, we will never know if that has always been the case.

[rascal_2005 79]

what about useing mince for them?

 

john boy

[Ideation 8,216]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

 

I like the points you've made and thanks for the reply.

 

Personally, I think alot of commerical feeds are poor quality and yes, I also agree they have been linked to various disorders. A question was asked, why would they need dried food, and my point was that dietary requirements of domesticated have been thoroughly analysed through extensive scientific research and dried foods to meet those requirements have been developed, simple as. It is not that a ferrets diet has changed to need dried food, it is that dried food has been developed to meet the ferrets need.

Yes, alot of the pet food manufacturers look at the required nutritional components and 'cheat' by adding cheaper, less beneficial ingredients and put a picture of a happy healthy animal on the front of the bag with a fancy tagline, even though the food is crap. It doesn't mean the research behind it isn't correct or should be adhered to.

I'm a fan of the BARF diet, I fed it to my dog from the age of 5 months til he was a year and a half. When I got him he was feed far too much protein as a puppy and being a large breed dog developed skeletal growth disorders (DJD & hip dysplasia) as a consequence. But, getting the BARF diet just right for his age, growth rate, exercise levels and developmental problems was a nightmare, I would have preferred to try brain surgery! Point being, the BARF diet is great, but extremely difficult to get right.

I feed commericial and raw, best of both worlds, I know they are getting the vits/mins/fatty acids and trace elements they need from a variety of sources, but my experience of the complexity of BARF diet means I wouldn't go without dry food.

Although we all know the term, obligate carnivorve, this simply attests to a ferrets need for protein of high quality and quantity. However it doesn't mean they are strict carnivorves with evidence indicating that ferrets have been found to be omvivorous. This would therefore suggest that diet/nutritional needs may have altered through centuries of domestication, but as we can't go back in time to check, we will never know if that has always been the case.

 

No problem. When you say that the dietary requirements of ferrets have been analyzed and food developed to match these requirements correctly, is that just a blindly accepted fact, or do you know what it is that these dried foods contain that is neccessary and is lacking from a whole carcass etc diet?

 

You speak a lot about 'research' but is this just an assumption or do you have any evidence or facts to offer that will back these ideas up? I for one would be interested.

 

So what your saying is that a BARF diet is fine if you get it right? Surely that would contradict your suggestion that ALL animals have a dried food that has been SPECIALLY FORUMLATED for them to be the best thing you can feed them.

 

Dogs being the animal with the longest history of domestication you would assume that their diet would also have changed so that BARF would not be suitable, if your logic is followed.

 

I think nearly every carnivore displays some omnivorous tendencies.

 

Your also making a massive assumption that all ferrets owned are the products of 1000's of years of domestication, this is not true, given the amount of wild blood that has been bred into working ferrets, many on here have half, quarter and different percentage hybrids.

 

 

I would suggest that most dried food are simply developed for convenience, for those that can not or will not feed an animals its natural diet, a dried food is formed. And then with development, superior dried foods emerge that actually give the animal all that it needs, all that it would get from a natural diet.

 

If my ferrets would be fitter. healthier or perform better on dry, i'd change to it.

[seany 54]

Ferret100,countryman12,there are too many contradictions in your debate on one hand you say flesh based is best yet on the other hand your saying scientific evidence out rules this.

I'll let you in to a little secret,science is and will always be biased when there is a proffit to be made, this is sad but very true.Im not going to reply to this one any more lads i'll leave

you to it

ATB Seany

Edited April 7, 2011 by seany

[Kay 3,709]

Ferret100,countryman12,there are too many contradictions in your debate on one hand you say flesh based is best yet on the other hand your saying scientific evidence out rules this.

I'll let you in to a little secret,science is and will always be biased when there is a proffit to be made, this is sad but very true.Im not going to reply to this one any more lads i'll leave

you to it

ATB Seany

 

especially when food companys are paying for the research to be done

[f mac 40]

what about useing mince for them?

 

john boy

why not theres enough mince getting talked :laugh:

[Tiercel 6,986]

I feed dry food to my ferrets but only as a standby, for that use, it is invaluable. That said the best diet for ferrets without a shadow of a doubt is whole carcass food, from which they obtain all thier dietry needs. I would go as far as to say dry food may even help when feeding meat if the meat is just joints of meat with no intestines/fur/feather present, for the ferret to get the little roughage it needs.

 

TC

[ferret100 47]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

 

I like the points you've made and thanks for the reply.

 

Personally, I think alot of commerical feeds are poor quality and yes, I also agree they have been linked to various disorders. A question was asked, why would they need dried food, and my point was that dietary requirements of domesticated have been thoroughly analysed through extensive scientific research and dried foods to meet those requirements have been developed, simple as. It is not that a ferrets diet has changed to need dried food, it is that dried food has been developed to meet the ferrets need.

Yes, alot of the pet food manufacturers look at the required nutritional components and 'cheat' by adding cheaper, less beneficial ingredients and put a picture of a happy healthy animal on the front of the bag with a fancy tagline, even though the food is crap. It doesn't mean the research behind it isn't correct or should be adhered to.

I'm a fan of the BARF diet, I fed it to my dog from the age of 5 months til he was a year and a half. When I got him he was feed far too much protein as a puppy and being a large breed dog developed skeletal growth disorders (DJD & hip dysplasia) as a consequence. But, getting the BARF diet just right for his age, growth rate, exercise levels and developmental problems was a nightmare, I would have preferred to try brain surgery! Point being, the BARF diet is great, but extremely difficult to get right.

I feed commericial and raw, best of both worlds, I know they are getting the vits/mins/fatty acids and trace elements they need from a variety of sources, but my experience of the complexity of BARF diet means I wouldn't go without dry food.

Although we all know the term, obligate carnivorve, this simply attests to a ferrets need for protein of high quality and quantity. However it doesn't mean they are strict carnivorves with evidence indicating that ferrets have been found to be omvivorous. This would therefore suggest that diet/nutritional needs may have altered through centuries of domestication, but as we can't go back in time to check, we will never know if that has always been the case.

 

No problem. When you say that the dietary requirements of ferrets have been analyzed and food developed to match these requirements correctly, is that just a blindly accepted fact, or do you know what it is that these dried foods contain that is neccessary and is lacking from a whole carcass etc diet?

 

You speak a lot about 'research' but is this just an assumption or do you have any evidence or facts to offer that will back these ideas up? I for one would be interested.

 

So what your saying is that a BARF diet is fine if you get it right? Surely that would contradict your suggestion that ALL animals have a dried food that has been SPECIALLY FORUMLATED for them to be the best thing you can feed them.

 

Dogs being the animal with the longest history of domestication you would assume that their diet would also have changed so that BARF would not be suitable, if your logic is followed.

 

I think nearly every carnivore displays some omnivorous tendencies.

 

Your also making a massive assumption that all ferrets owned are the products of 1000's of years of domestication, this is not true, given the amount of wild blood that has been bred into working ferrets, many on here have half, quarter and different percentage hybrids.

 

 

I would suggest that most dried food are simply developed for convenience, for those that can not or will not feed an animals its natural diet, a dried food is formed. And then with development, superior dried foods emerge that actually give the animal all that it needs, all that it would get from a natural diet.

 

If my ferrets would be fitter. healthier or perform better on dry, i'd change to it.

[ferret100 47]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

 

I like the points you've made and thanks for the reply.

 

Personally, I think alot of commerical feeds are poor quality and yes, I also agree they have been linked to various disorders. A question was asked, why would they need dried food, and my point was that dietary requirements of domesticated have been thoroughly analysed through extensive scientific research and dried foods to meet those requirements have been developed, simple as. It is not that a ferrets diet has changed to need dried food, it is that dried food has been developed to meet the ferrets need.

Yes, alot of the pet food manufacturers look at the required nutritional components and 'cheat' by adding cheaper, less beneficial ingredients and put a picture of a happy healthy animal on the front of the bag with a fancy tagline, even though the food is crap. It doesn't mean the research behind it isn't correct or should be adhered to.

I'm a fan of the BARF diet, I fed it to my dog from the age of 5 months til he was a year and a half. When I got him he was feed far too much protein as a puppy and being a large breed dog developed skeletal growth disorders (DJD & hip dysplasia) as a consequence. But, getting the BARF diet just right for his age, growth rate, exercise levels and developmental problems was a nightmare, I would have preferred to try brain surgery! Point being, the BARF diet is great, but extremely difficult to get right.

I feed commericial and raw, best of both worlds, I know they are getting the vits/mins/fatty acids and trace elements they need from a variety of sources, but my experience of the complexity of BARF diet means I wouldn't go without dry food.

Although we all know the term, obligate carnivorve, this simply attests to a ferrets need for protein of high quality and quantity. However it doesn't mean they are strict carnivorves with evidence indicating that ferrets have been found to be omvivorous. This would therefore suggest that diet/nutritional needs may have altered through centuries of domestication, but as we can't go back in time to check, we will never know if that has always been the case.

 

No problem. When you say that the dietary requirements of ferrets have been analyzed and food developed to match these requirements correctly, is that just a blindly accepted fact, or do you know what it is that these dried foods contain that is neccessary and is lacking from a whole carcass etc diet?

 

You speak a lot about 'research' but is this just an assumption or do you have any evidence or facts to offer that will back these ideas up? I for one would be interested.

 

So what your saying is that a BARF diet is fine if you get it right? Surely that would contradict your suggestion that ALL animals have a dried food that has been SPECIALLY FORUMLATED for them to be the best thing you can feed them.

 

Dogs being the animal with the longest history of domestication you would assume that their diet would also have changed so that BARF would not be suitable, if your logic is followed.

 

I think nearly every carnivore displays some omnivorous tendencies.

 

Your also making a massive assumption that all ferrets owned are the products of 1000's of years of domestication, this is not true, given the amount of wild blood that has been bred into working ferrets, many on here have half, quarter and different percentage hybrids.

 

 

I would suggest that most dried food are simply developed for convenience, for those that can not or will not feed an animals its natural diet, a dried food is formed. And then with development, superior dried foods emerge that actually give the animal all that it needs, all that it would get from a natural diet.

 

If my ferrets would be fitter. healthier or perform better on dry, i'd change to it.

 

First of all, lets get one thing ironed out (not aimed specifically at you). My response to a question over why would a ferret need dried food, points out that dried food is formulated to a ferrets specific nutritional needs/requirements. As I said before, it is not that a ferret needs dried food, but that the dried food meets the ferrets needs. (Again I also agreed that some commercial food are crap). My opinion has never been whether a dried food diet is better or worse than a natural diet, or even a combination of both. For those you appear to have taken this personally, don't.

 

Regarding the opinion that pet foods are manufactured soley to make money, as I said before, the research behind it is correct, what the management of the company does with the production of the food, is out of the scientists hands, they are simply on the payroll to do a job. Scientists are not rich, but those who use them, mostly (depending on how good their scientists are), are rich. Regardless, quality dried foods are available on the market and they meet nutritional requirements, and yes they are convenient.

 

With regards to your question...'do you know what it is that these dried foods contain that is neccessary and is lacking from a whole carcass etc diet?', I put the question back to you, do you know what it is these whole carcass etc diet contain that is neccessary and is lacking from a dried food diet? Can you tell me the research behind a natural/raw diet for ferrets and why it meets their nutritional needs?

 

Let's not forget those who do not hunt and therefore purchase meat for a BARF diet. Pets at Home offer another companys brand of natural meats, such as, lamb, white fish, turkey, chicken, beef, tripe etc. Now those BARF scientists are on a payroll too, does it make their research wrong, as you believe it makes the commerical food scientists? Do the BARF diet people inform activists that dogs cannot breakdown/absorb cellulose, which all plant matter/veg cells are derived? Do they advise of how to prepare that element of the diet to ensure maximum/necessary nutrition absorbtion to enforce the BARF diet is fufilled? Butchers have clicked on too, instead of them having to pay for disposal of meat 'waste', they charge those who want it for their animals. Commercial food producers aren't the only ones in it for the money, so make no mistake.

 

Yes, a BARF diet is great, if you get it right, but no, I never stated that dried food is 'the best thing you can feed them'. I simply pointed out the fact that domesticated species have scientifically formulated dried foods available, and, depending on the quality of the manufacturers/brand, it meets all the nutritional needs.

 

With, as you say, my logic being followed regarding the BARF diet and dogs, I'm confused with your comment, dogs have been so interbred due to the KC standards, that unfortunately their dietary requirements have altered significantly due to the KC breed specifications. E.g Dalmations need a diet low in purines, large dog breeds require different nutritional needs in comparison to small breed, working dogs, pregnant bitches and so on. So yes, while the BARF diet is great if you get it right (for your species, age, breed, exercise levels, growth rate and/or developmental/pre-disposed conditions, whether a breeding animal etc), it is too easy to get wrong.

 

That is why I use dried and BARF, so to speak, to ensure the best of both. Now, nutritionalists, depending on their views and training, would jump down my throat in response to that.

 

Regarding hybrids, that poses as many questions as it can answer!

 

When you comment that I talk about 'research', if I stated that I hear about 'well I've had ferrets for 'x-years' and I've never had any problems', we are just stating different sides of the coin!

Edited April 7, 2011 by ferret100

[countryman12 1]

These required proteins% that are being quoted How do stoats and weasels etc in the wild manage? Venison is 34% protein and 6.5% fat but cant see them being on the menu,rabbit 27% and 8% fat,Pigeon 13% protein and 13.5% fat which dont match up to what is being quoted as needed protein for ferrets?

 

Y.I.S Leeview

 

Stoats and weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, as are otters/badgers/martens/polecats/minks & black footed ferrets and of course our domesticated ferrets, even mongoose and meercats are related. (other species may also be included!)

 

Point is, the dietary requirements of each species (although related) may be different. Many professionals agree that 'raw meat' diets for ferrets need supplementation. Considering the ferrets you have in your ownership now are 'domesticated' ferrets, in the sense that ferrets have been domesticated for around 2000 years now, they do not have a 'natural diet'.

 

It is therefore inappropriate to compare the diet of non-domesticated mustelidae members to domestictated ferrets. You may see your ferrets as natural hunters, which they are, but their dietary requirements have been altered through centuries of keeping them as domesticated working animals.

 

Not picking a fight, I'd be happy to hear you opinion.

 

BTW, not a weirdo on the internet at night, just waiting on collection to help treat a RTA horse!

 

 

Aye they have been domesticated for around 200 years, and how long has dried ferret food been available? You can supplement your ferrets diet with NATURAL stuff, fish, veg, egg, soya milk, varied meat, game, poultry etc. They were fed on bread and milk for longer than they have been fed dried food. And anyhow i'd be interested in how keeping them in runs for 2000 years, feeding them rabbits and hunting rabbits with them has altered their dietry requirements so that they need dried magic food?

 

Ferrets were domesitcated due to the fact they are natural hunters, same as dogs. They made catching rabbits to put on the plate much easier. Seeing as there was plenty of rabbit, may as well feed the ferrets on it too. Convenient and easy. No proof whatsoever that ferrets lived soley on rabbits when they were originally wild.

 

As obligate carnivores, bread, soya milk and veg has no nutritional value to ferrets at all, (apart from veg/cereals acting a roughage and some essential vits and fatty acids from soya). When fed bread and milk , it was cheap and easy, meant humans kept all the meat for themselves and the ferrets hungry for a proper meal on their next hunting trip.

 

Over centuries of domestication, selective breeding, and being fed what humans saw fit at the time, dietary requirements will have of course altered, that is as simple as evolution. Same as humans have evolved over the last few centuries due to lifestyle and diet changes.

 

In the last 2000 years, human intelligence and scientific research has advanced beyond recognition. Therefore, people much more intelligent than you or I have studied, researched and recorded the dietary requirements of every domesticated species on the planet, including ferrets.

That's why species specific dried food is available. Of course there is nothing wrong with feeding meat and supplementing with 'natural stuff', you can feed them how you see fit. Doesn't mean you are meeting their dietary requirements though, then again maybe you have it just right!

 

 

First things first - do us all a favour and stop trying to 'educate' us. I'm sure you know a lot about the history, and care of ferrets, their use in hunting, their wild cousions etc. But so do most of us.

 

There is certainly no proof that 'ferrets' lived on solely rabbits, in fact i would say there is rather a large amount of proof that 'polecats' eat whatever flesh they can get, a long with eggs, and water.

 

Few people feed only rabbits who feed a carcass diet, but supplement this with a wide range of different game - rabbit, pheasant, squirrel, venison, pigeon, chicken, the list goes on. This is due both to availability and also (for me) because rabbit has very little to no fat on it, so will only maintain body weight, and whilst working hard over winter, if only fed rabbit i notice mine lose some condition, due to energy expended working and keeping warm,. the birds however provide a much needed fat boost.

 

The carcass are also fed whole, so they get the eyes, innards, the grass from the rabbits stomach, bone, bone marrow, fur, whatever they need!

 

You say there is no nutritional value in veg and soya, but then go on to add the dietry benefits. I don't actually feed mine veg, as i dont believe they need it, given that they eat the rabbits stomach contents, but the soya milk, with egg, is a nice treat (nicer than ferret formula!) and also gives them some added vits and an energy boost, without making their stomach heavy.

 

We know why people fed bread and milk, and we know why it's wrong.

 

Again i would like to ask, how has their previous diet along the evolutionary track, altered them to have a need for dried food that has only been on the market in the last 20 years? Same with selective breeding. You selective breed by working trait, not by dietary preference, so if i breed best worker to best worker over 200 years, how does that change their dietry requirement?

 

Sheep have lived on grass a long time, and been domesticated a long time, and can still live on grass completely fine. They only need the stuff we add, like sheep nuts, due to the commercial nature of our farming industry.

 

And yes there ARE species specific dried foods available for most animals, but not made by some animal welfare research unit, everyone was developed and formulated by companies that wished to sell it. As for presuming that these people are 'much more intelligent than you or i'. . . . speak for yourself! And some equally intelligent scientists, not employed by any major company would also argue for a natural diet, i.e BARF for dogs. Most would agree that dried food was developed to provide owners with a less hassle, easy way to feed their animals, while still giving them WHAT THEY WOULD GET FROM THEIR NATURAL DIET!

 

There is also the fact that many argue that dried foods have been linked to cancers etc etc etc, teeth problems and so on.

 

I'd like to do a test, two ferrets, one fed on dry only and one on natural only, and i'll work them till one drops. . . . . . . see who goes first.

We have all been told that most things can give us cancer you just have to watch the news. As for scientist how many do you know and how does sweeping floors at a school qualify to speak about ferrets. Now tell us about how to replace a brush head and i will maybe listen. Thinking things up in your head does not make them right and as for me i am a little bit bored with your crap. So and your band of merry ferret owners should give it a rest and let it go.

 

 

I take it you used to be on here under a different name then ya coward.

 

Sweeping floors? hahaha. Don't pretend you know sweet F.A about me sunshine.

 

"As for me, i'm a little bit bored with your crap", and what crap would that be?

 

You know f**k all about ferrets.

 

Suck my balls.

Please watch you language with me as i am only 14 years old and you seem to be mixing me up with someone else. I think its time for you to get banned as maybe you are one of those men on here for another agenda. Stick to what you know best and keep your balls away from me pedo. I think my parents should know what you said.

Edited April 8, 2011 by countryman12

[whin 463]

people of 14 shouldnt be aloud on unless parental guidance ,as for all the long paragraphs for feeding a working ferret total nonsense meat milk fish eggs ,dried food is for the pet industry so twats and non hunters can keep them , mods i would ban peole who have no inclanaition to work tell tales of hunting the pet industry and pure breeds ruined dogs why ferrets , next a pure sham, nothing against dried food but would be a poor day to rely on it an dnot your hunting skills mooching etc