Let’s be honest. Ferret food should be your first choice for your ferret. But available ferret foods are rare, because people love dogs, cats, and birds more than ferrets according to U.S. pet ownership statistics.
However, don’t fret!
You can feed cat food to your little ferret buddy, as ferrets’ food habits and nature are almost the same as cats.
To reduce your toil, we have narrowed down the 5 best cat food for ferrets. While selecting those cat foods, we consider the quality, percentage of ingredients with natural sourcing, and production practices to ensure the most nutritious.
Furthermore, we also discuss the percentage of ferret food requirements. So that you can easily align your thoughts. Overall, reading this article will be worth picking the right cat food for your ferret
Ferret Nutritional Requirements
Since you are looking for cat food for ferrets, it’s wise to get a basic idea about pet ferret nutritional requirements.
Spayed or neutered ferrets require 90% palatable dry food and available drinking water in their meal. The food should be rich in
- 30% high-quality protein sourced from meat
- Below 30% carbohydrates and
- Minimum 15% fat
Ferret Digestive System
Knowing ferrets’ digestive systems helps you understand their food size requirements. Ferrets have a simple digestive tract with a small stomach, jejuno-ileum, duodenum, colon, and rectum. The intestine size is about five times its body length, shorter than a cat’s.
So they need small sizes (around ⅜” to ½”), flat discs, and star-shaped kibbles. As they find these sized and shaped kibbles easy to chew and digest. Furthermore, these sized foods also reduce tooth plaque buildup, which keeps their teeth white, sharp, and strong
Can Ferrets Eat Cat Food?
Before selecting cat foods for ferrets, it’s must to know whether ferrets can eat cat foods or not.
Since cats and ferrets are obligate carnivores and predator animals, you can feed cat food to your little house furball. Even they can comfortably eat cat food, and there are so many concrete reasons. Such as
- Ferrets’ food nature and habits are almost similar to cats.
- Most cat food can meet the larger nutrition requirements of ferrets. Especially protein, fat, and carbs.
- Cat kibbles are small in size and flat in shape. So ferrets won’t face any challenges in chewing and digesting them.
- On top, in most cases, cat foods won’t cause any digestive digester of ferrets.
Best Cat Food For Ferrets Comparison Table
| Brand | Best For | Age Recommendation | Percentage Of Nutritional Value | Available Flavor |
Benefits |
Available Package size |
| ORIJEN® Dry Cat Food | Best For Immune System | All stages of ferrets | Crude Protein (min) 40% Crude Fat (max) 20% Crude Fiber (max) 5% 0% Grain | Original, Regional red, Six fish, and Tundra | 85% animal ingredients and responsibly sourced No added filler and supplements Thrive the ferret meeting their regular biological needs | 4,10, and 12 Pound |
| Solid Gold Indigo Moon Dry Cat Food | Best For Budget | All stages of ferrets | Crude Protein 42% Crude Fat 20% Crude Fiber 3% 0% Grain and Gluten | Chicken and Alaskan Pollock | Promote muscle growth and healthy metabolism No teeth ferrets can easily chew the smaller size kibbles Easier and faster digestion system won’t upset pet’s stomach | 3,6, and 12 Pound |
| Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food | Best For Easy Digestion | All stages of ferrets | Crude Protein 45% Crude Fat 25% Crude Fiber 5% 0% grain and gluten | Turkey, Salmon & Chicken, and Salmon & Cod | Higher protein supports avoiding or and curing digestive problems Improve ferrets’ immune system, heart, and vision Make their skin and hair coat shine, and soft, | 8 Ounce, 3.5 Ounce and 1.12 Pound |
| Dr. Elsey’s Cat Food | Best For Diabetic | All stages of ferrets | Crude Protein (min) 59% Crude Fat (min) 18% Crude Fiber (max) 4% 0% Grain and Gluten | Chicken | Gradually helps to higher glucose levels and lower insulin intake Suit for kidney disease ferrets due to lower phosphorus Won’t cause poop’s bad smell | 2 and 6.6 Pound |
| Instinct Raw Cat Food | Best For Weight Loss | All stages of ferrets | Crude Protein (min) 38% Crude Fat (min)30% Fiber (max) 2% 0% grain and gluten | Chicken, Duck, and Salmon | Rich in prey protein to support weight loss Intact nutritional value due to no cook and low process No stomach trouble even for food sensitive stomach | 2, 4.5, 5, and 10 Pound |
Best Cat Food For Ferrets Reviews
So, it’s time to get into a detailed discussion about the ferret’s suitable cat foods. Let’s get started.
Note: As these are cat foods, each discussed word is based on company information and the cat’s reaction. Very few authentic reviewers said they fed these cat foods to their ferrets and wouldn’t face any trouble. But we recommend taking vet suggestions before triggering the order button, especially for ferrets with kidney disease, diabetes, asthma, thyroid, diarrhea, malnutrition, allergy-prone sensitive skin, etc.
(If you want, attach it as a footnote before the buying guide. But, according to my perspective, this is the right place. Because we are reviewing cat food for ferrets. So there is a high chance of facing any trouble with the food for sick ferrets. This note will give a positive vibe to the readers as our honesty, integrity, and sincerity.)
1. ORIJEN® Dry Cat Food - Best For Immune System
If your ferret has a poor immunity system, is picky best dry cat food for picky eaters and turns his nose up, then it is hard to choose his food. One step ahead, it sweats you when choosing cat food for him. But ORIJEN is the brand that is always in your favor to offer the healthiest food for your cats as well as ferrets. This food ensures his healthy immunity and body condition with the best digestive results.
Ferrets will love this food because it is responsibly sourced with cat and ferret health and humane practices in mind. More specifically, it is made of 85% animal ingredients, including free-run turkey, chicken, wild-caught sardines/herring/flounder/ and cage-free eggs.
Moreover, ⅔ of the food animal ingredients are “fresh or raw .”The first 16 ingredients listed on the bag are all whole animal sources that will encourage you to choose it for the ferrets. On a positive note, these foods won’t contain fillers, supplements, veggies, fruits, or mysterious compounds. The kibble size of this cat food is great for the ferret to chew, swallow, and digest easily.
Regarding price, most people find cat food rather expensive due to its bulk size. But, having more than 2 ferrets or ferrets and cats, you find the bulk package more reasonable than many other cat food brands.
Key Features
- The first 5 ingredients are fresh and raw
- 90% whole prey animal ingredients
- A balanced diet with protein, vitamins, and minerals
What We Like
- Organically sourced that ensures quality for a healthy life
- No issues with sensitive stomach or bathroom habits
- A smaller amount of pellets can manage ferret craving
- The right choice for the ferret who has a thyroid issue
What We Don't Like
- You find them stinky, but ferrets won’t
Why Should You Buy This Cat Food For Ferrets?
The ORIJEN comes in bulk size, suits all stages of pets, provides optimal nutrition, and boosts the healthy immune system of your ferret. So it will be your ultimate hit to attract your ferret’s attention with their fragrance.
2. Solid Gold Indigo Moon Dry Cat Food - Best For Budget
Do you have lots of pets? If so, choosing affordable yet quality cat foods can help you to foster them within your limited budget. Many cat whisperers suggest Solid Gold Indigo Moon Dry Cat Food. Because they are worthy of buying not only in terms of ingredients but in terms of how much the reviewer’s pet LOVED it. They’ll even fit into your budget.
The balanced ingredients of the foods offer your ferret 42% crude protein, 20% fat, and 3% fiber. The chicken protein of the foods will promote your pet’s muscle growth, and the egg’s essential amino acids promote a healthy metabolism. So your ferret will grow as the healthiest and strongest pup.
Due to higher protein levels, you can keep this food on the plate of your diabetic ferrets. Even if he has a vomiting tendency, these will help to reduce it by faster digesting.
Besides essential ingredients, they are free from grain, gluten, wheat, corn, say, and any other artificial preservatives. Moreover, your pet will love the food’s Chicken or Alaskan Pollock flavor.
Comparing all other cat foods, these are the smallest sizes of kibble and are perfect for your ferret’s tiny food pipe. Moreover, if the pet has removed several teeth, it seems to have no problem with this smaller kibble. So the pet can comfortably chew, shallow, or digest, which is excellent for their little tummy.
Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids of the pellet make the ferret’s hair extremely soft. Many users also claim that their black and white Kitty’s dandruff completely cleared up, which makes them adorable.
Key Features
- Sourced from natural, fresh and organic ingredients
- Balanced diet by 90 million living probiotics
- Every pound of kibble provides 455 calories
What We Like
- Produced with higher protein and lower carbohydrates ingredients
- Ensure the overall nutritional requirements
- Build ferrets’ muscles and bones to make them strong
- Reasonable price for the same good ingredients
What We Don't Like
- The sensitive skin ferret may develop an allergic reaction.
Why Should You Buy This Cat Food For Ferrets?
Solid Gold will be your ticket for quality dry cat food without paying more bucks. We should encourage you to give it a go considering fresh, organic, balanced ingredients and good food to feed all life stages of ferrets.
3. Stella & Chewy's Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food - Best For Easy Digestion
It’s very disappointing to see your pet ferret develop digestive problems like loose stools, occasional throwing up, or asthma. Stelly and Chewy’s freeze-dried raw cat food may help with that. In most cases, after eating these foods the ferret starts to recover within 4-5 days. But, still need to visit the vet for further treatment.
You may have a question about how it can improve digestive problems, right? Here are the reasons
Let’s first discuss the kibbles’ ingredients and sourcing. Cage-free chicken, duck, turkey, wild-caught salmon, and cod are the main ingredients of the protein source, which is excellent for the kittens’ or adults’ sensitive stomach (Here you can make an internal link on the best cat food for senior cats with sensitive stomachs) to support his belly to avoid and cure digestive problems.
This food contains vitamins B3 and B12 supplements, minerals, folic acid, Omega fatty acids, probiotics, and taurine. These improve the immune system, heart, vision, healthy teeth, gum, beautiful skin, and hair coat.
After sourcing, the raw ingredients are responsibly processed and produced in small batches. So your cats and ferrets will love these irresistible tastes, delicious flavors, small-sized and healthy treats.
They are grain and gluten-free, so absolutely perfect for all stages of cats and ferrets. No extra filler, preservatives, or colors are added that ensure purity and freshness.
But one drawback of the food is the higher price. However, considering one simple statement, cheap cat food drives your beloved ferret’ poor immunity system and vet bills. At the same time, a little higher price is worthwhile than the health risk to your pet and peace of mind.
Key Features
- 98% protein with poultry, organs, and bones
- Sourced from the trusted partners
- 123 calories per kilo for metabolized energy
What We Like
- No antibiotics ensures organic and natural resources
- Remarkably improves energy even for food-sensitive ferrets
- Won’t upset your pet’s stomach and cause any issues
- Offer healthy and strong teeth, gum, with fresh breath
What We Don't Like
- Stinks fill your room with its horrific odor.
Why Should You Buy This Cat Food For Ferrets?
Though Stella & Chewy’s is a bit pricey. But no food waste and ferret box cleaning hassle. These foods will entice your babies and add to their meals. Even for a Vet Assistant Mommy finds them as the best limited clean ingredient food for their kitty.
4. Dr. Elsey's Cat Food - Best For Diabetic
Like humans, ferrets also develop diabetes with lower blood sugar levels than regular ones. It’s heartbreaking to diagnose diabetes in your pet. But still, you have to feed the right diet to your furry friend to keep it under control. According to the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) recommendation, diabetic pets need low carb (under 10% or ideally under 5%).
So, you’ll need diabetic cat food for your diabetic ferret that is higher in protein, lower in carbs, and can provide proper nutrition. But, unfortunately, most prescribed diabetic cat foods run 18%-44% carbs. They’ll definitely spike your pet’s blood sugar compared to low-carb foods.
Here comes Dr. Elsey’s Cat Food, one of the best options that your pet likes most. Even Dr. Elsey’s food comes with low carbs, under 5% chicken and 8% others. That helps to gradually higher his glucose levels and lower his insulin intake.
Non-diabetic ferrets also love to eat these small-sized kibbles full of their needed supplements. On top, this cat food is appropriate for kidney disease ferrets because of its lower phosphorus.
However, your malnourished ferrets will thrive with this food, getting the energy to jump and run hither and thither. Even overweight ferrets will get back up to their normal weight.
Besides internal health benefits, you’ll see shiny, soft, and beautiful fur on your pet. And if the poop of the ferret always smells bad, especially if he uses the litter box. You won’t notice it within a couple of weeks because they don’t contain ingredients that cause poop to smell bad.
Key Features
- 90+% protein sourced from fresh animal
- Contains omega 3 fatty acids
- No fillers and artificial preservatives
What We Like
- Ensure no tummy trouble and spike glucose numbers
- Diabetic ferret stops late night trips to the water bowl and litter box
- Incredibly increase playful energy and improve shiny coat
- Ferret won’t lay around ornery and unapproachable all the time
What We Don't Like
- A bunch of the pellets is crushed or broken bits or in dust due to poor packaging
Why Should You Buy This Cat Food For Ferrets?
Dr. Elsey’s dry Cat Food should be a part of the diabetic ferrets to ensure a healthy diet rotation. The higher protein and lower carb assurance make them a pet lifesaver. An affordable price is great for your pet fostering and veterinary cost.
5. Instinct Raw Cat Food - Best For Weight Loss
Having lots of corn ingredients in the food is the main source of carbs and drives your ferret weight gain. Oppositely, no corn cat food is the ultimate option to boost the weight loss program.
Most pet owners love this Instinct Raw Cat Food because they won’t have any corn ingredients. So after adding this food to the pet’s diet, he starts losing weight. In most cases, he will lose about 3-4 lbs weight within 2 to 3 months. Yay!
Is there any special mechanism for these thriving results? Of course, yes.
Instinct always ensures the food quality from sourcing to packaging. It uses cage-free chicken, raw meat, veggies, fruits, and other wholesome ingredients to ensure rich prey protein. No cooking and less processing keep the nutritional value intact. That’s why the animal gets exactly the fresh chicken, salmon, or duck flavor from the food that entices them.
The bite-size kibbles are easy to chew and digest and increase the ferret’s mealtime excitement. They won’t have any stomach trouble due to better digestion systems or food sensitivities.
Amino acids, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals in the foods will nourish the pet’s organs and furs. So the ferret looks energetic, shiny, and adorable. You can freeze these kibbles to remove moisture and offer shelf stability.
Key Features
- Never cooked, yet, minimum process
- Freeze-dried and 100% raw food
- No added artificial preservatives
What We Like
- Suit most ferrets with Inflammatory bowel disease IBD
- Help to reduce ferrets’ puke tendency and improve metabolism
- Gradually lose weight to maintain a healthy lifestyle
- Easy to digest that won’t upset the pet’s tummy
What We Don't Like
- Some pet owners find it pricey
Why Should You Buy This Cat Food For Ferrets?
If your ferret is overweight and the vet suggests weight loss to get back healthy and active. Instinct little boosters are worthy for you to provide optimal nutrition and cut the extra pounds from his weight.
What To Consider Choosing Cat Food For Ferrets?
Ferrets are like eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping machines. But, you’ll find choosing cat food for them overwhelming due to their meticulous, fastidious, and finicky nature. Since foods are correlated with their growth, health, and overall well-being. So you have to carefully pick food that meets their nutritional requirements. Let’s check the most important factors you must consider when selecting cat food for ferrets.
1. Know Your Ferrets
Knowing your ferret is the first and most important thing before buying cat food for them. Here is a list of questions and probable answers that will help to understand your ferret.
- What breed is your ferret? (Sable, Black-footed, etc.)
- What is his growing stage? (Child, Young Adult, Senior, etc.)
- What is his nature? (Active, Lazy, Chewy, etc.)
- What is his food intake nature? (Dry, Wet, Freezing, Picky, etc.)
- What is his weight based on age? (Alright, Underweight, Overweight, etc.)
- What is his physical condition? (Healthy, Sick, etc.)
- Does he have any allergic reactions to any specific food ingredients?
- Does he have any flavor preferences? (Chicken, Duck, Rabbit, etc.)
Once you have this information about your furry best friend, you have half done your job.
2. Types & Percentage of Ingredients
Many ingredients are used to produce cat food, all of which contain different food values. But, ferrets are bound to take a specific volume of food ingredients to ensure better health.
Where meat protein should be at least 30% and carbohydrates and fat must be limited to 30% and 15%. Protein takes part in muscle building, and carbohydrates and fat cuts extra weight to improve metabolism.
Apart from these ingredients, the food should have fatty acids, omega 3 acids, vitamins, and minerals because these ingredients will develop healthy teeth, gum, better digestion, shiny skin, and soft fur.
3. Resource Sourcing
No matter how perfectly the percentage of ingredients is maintained. If these resources won’t be collected from organic, authentic, and genuine sources. The ultimate produced food will be lower in quality. That may do your ferret harm instead of benefit.
So to avoid this risk, you must check the sources of the raw ingredients. Cage-free chicken, farm-raised rabbit, and wild-caught Slsalmon are some of the best sources of raw ingredients to ensure freshness and quality.
4. Purity Is A Must
Ferrets are sensitive to grain and gluten. They may cause food sensitivity/ intolerance, like diarrhea, vomiting, skin irritation, and weight loss. So their food must be grain and gluten-free.
On the other hand, added filler and preservatives are used to increase food taste and fresh appearance to avoid food rotten. But, if cat foods have these, they are not good for ferrets. So pick the food that has no added filler and preservatives.
5.Kibble Size, Shape, & Texture
The typical size of a ferret is around 8 to 18 inches. That means this is a tiny creature, so they struggle to eat large, rough texture kibbles. That’s why it’s important to check the cat food size and texture for comfortable chewing, swallowing, and digesting.
The ⅜” is a great size for them, but they can chew a maximum of ½” kibbles. The flat shape and smooth texture are the ferret’s preferred kibbles. You shouldn’t choose cat foods larger than this size, shape, and rough to touch.
6. Price Per Pound
Most cat foods come in different volume packages. So it’s not a better idea to check the overall price of the food. Instead, checking the per pound price is worth determining your cost against benefits.
If you find the same ingredients, quality, and volume of cat foods at an affordable price. There is no need to choose expensive cat food. Even reasonably priced cat foods will also be helpful for you if you have many ferrets.
How To Introduce Cat Food To Your Ferret?
First, these are cat food not designed for ferrets. And second, the vet won’t recommend introducing new food to your ferret instantly. Rather, following a systematic pattern is the best practice to provide cat food to your ferret plate gradually. Here is a simple guideline
- Day 1-4: 25% new cat food, 75% old food that you offered him
- Day 5-9: 50% new cat food, 50% old food that you offered him
- Day 10-14: 75% new cat food, 25% old food that you offered him
- Day 14+: 100% new cat food
The day and amount can vary based on your ferret’s stage, size, and weight.
FAQs
How much should I feed my ferret?
A ferret’s ideal daily food ratio is 5-7% of his body weight. In simple calculation, the food should be around 100 to 140 grams for a 2 kg ferret. But that’s not fixed; the food quantity may vary depending on your pet’s breed, life stage, activity level, and digestion system. To get an appreciated idea, you can consult with a vet.
How long does it take for ferrets to digest?
Adult ferrets take around 3-4 hours to digest foods due to their fast gastrointestinal transit time. Since kitten ferrets have smaller stomachs than adults, they take around 1-1.30 hours to digest food. 42
How often do ferrets eat?
Due to their short digestive tract and high metabolic rate, ferrets need 6-8 times of food per day since they can process food fast and need food too often but in small amounts.
Can ferrets eat dog food?
The vet suggests not feeding ferrets dog foods. Because ferrets are carnivores and require a large amount of meat protein. But dog foods contain higher amounts of vegetable protein and fiber than meat. Even ferrets can’t digest dog food and may suffer from various diseases.
Thrive Your Ferret With Cat Food
Hope, you find this guide on the best cat food for ferrets resourceful and enjoyable to read.
The food that suits your pet is the best, as no food is a jack of all trades. But, as a pet owner, finding suitable cat food is a long journey with hours of concentration research.
Huh!
This is why we have researched and presented the results with this discussion. We recommend choosing Solid Gold Indigo Moon Dry Cat Food from our research knowledge. Because
- They are good in quality but lower in price
- Great for boosting immunity and stronger muscle
- Fast digestion that won’t upset the stomach
Be happy with your pet ferret!
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