Ferret Prefers Cat Food

Ferrets imprint on their food. If they haven't had it by about six months, they will be harder to move to it. If the cat food isn't as high-quality as it should be, try blending in a better quality cat food or the ferret food you want her to eat. Start with 3 parts her food and 1 part the new food. After a week or so, go to 2 parts of each. Wait another week and change to 1 part the old food and 3 parts the new food. Finally, move completely to the new food. Watch for selective eating: choosing the old food out of the bowl and leaving the new food behind. That's a sign she's not ready to move to the next stage of the change-over.

All that said, all my ferrets are three or older. They used to *run* to the kitty bowls as soon as I opened their well-stocked cage. I've kept a very high-quality cat food (no corn, no fish meal, 30% protein) in the bowls for this reason. Recently, we stopped serving the ferret food at all. We continue to give them all the FerreTone they want and we watch for weight changes.

All cat food is not created equally. A broad statement that cat food is bad for ferrets is not accurate. My cats and ferrets both eat Innova Evo for Cats and Kittens, mixed with another high quality cat food. Why feed your ferrets high quality food and not your cats? The thing to keep in mind is that you want quality food with a high protein, high fat content, low carbs (grains and vegs). By feeding both my ferrets and my cats "high quality" food, they both benefit, I only need one storage tub and it doesn't matter if they eat each others food - because it's all the same.