Ferrets Gone Natural

[Ophiophilia]

Thought some of you might find this interesting.

I recently took a video of my ferrets being fed their "BARF" diet. Today's special was mousies and later it will be more mousies. lol

YouTube - Ferrets Eating Mice

Unless a health issue came up, I'd never consider switching them back to "ferret food". There are too many questionable ingredients and with so many ferrets dying young or getting insulinoma and other illnesses... I'd just rather feed them something more natural and biologically appropriate.

Enjoy!

[BlackLava]

man they are chowin down on those mice! ill admit its a bit disturbing to see a rodent eat another rodent LMAO but if its better for them, then thats awesome

are they strictly carnivores?

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[Ophiophilia]

Yep, ferrets are obligate carnivores. They can't tolerate any sort of plant matter in their diet.

Their teefs are as big as my cats, I swear. lol

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[mongoose5971]

They also aren't rodents, they're in the weasel family

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[Ophiophilia]

Sure are.

It's weird. People always say they look like long rats but that resemblance never even occurred to me. lol

They remind me of exactly what they are.

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[BlackLava]

oh wow, yea, not something i wanna get bit by those are some big teefs! LOL

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[BlackLava]

they look like "snake-rats" to me hahaha. idk anything about ferrets though, obviously

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[mongoose5971]

They look more like creepy stretched out kittens to me lol

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[BlackLava]

hahaha idk if kittens can look creepy, those dang things are too cute for their own good LMAO

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[Ophiophilia]

I think they're all adorable.

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[Ophiophilia]

This is all that's left from the mice:


And here are some randoms:



The cat who thinks she's a ferret

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[nitram]

ferrets are cool, i wanted one but was veto'd by the devilwoman.

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[morti]

Put me down or I will Kung Fu all over you!

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[nitram]

epic feeding video, was followed by a whole lot of live feedings.
im going to reopen the ferret case to the devil, will see what she says, as i show her your feeding video with morbid angel music on the sidelines.
wish me luck!

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[Rachel SS]

I would love to have a ferret, I'm just afraid my rotties would play too rough and squish it.. they play rough with my cat as it is

How often do you clean out their house? If you have them out running around do they run back to the litter box to go potty if they have to? I know they can be trained while they're in their house...

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[Ophiophilia]

Good luck and Morti, she would. lol

There are a lot of ferret owners who feed live and think it's okay. It's a little sickening.

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[Ophiophilia]

Originally Posted by Rachel SS

I would love to have a ferret, I'm just afraid my rotties would play too rough and squish it.. they play rough with my cat as it is

How often do you clean out their house? If you have them out running around do they run back to the litter box to go potty if they have to? I know they can be trained while they're in their house...

I full clean out their cage once a week and then clean their litter when it gets too stinky.

I don't let them roam around the house because there are too many places for them to get into and I can't ferret-proof everything. I have a large play pen made for ferrets that they play in for the day. They're pretty good with using their litter although they seem to like digging in it more than pooping... They almost always use their litter while in their cage.

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[Rachel SS]

Makes me want to go adopt one.

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[razeraze]

Great video, a bit messy for my taste. I am all for a natural diet just be careful. Carefully monitor your ferret's stools, my cat VET said he had someone bring in a Husky raised on a raw diet, that eventually died from salmonella poisoning. Now this was a young dog and everyone knows salmonella is far more dangerous in young creatures than mature adult creatures, but again something to always consider where raw meat is fed.

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[Ophiophilia]

The ferret's digestive system is incredibly short and takes about three hours to digest everthing they've eaten meaning salmonella wouldn't have time to infect them.

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