Barfing Ferrets

[carma]

I have read a few articles on a practice called barf. It's where people mince a whole chicken into tiny pieces- bones and all and feed it to their ferrets. It's supposably good for your ferrets- but I noticed that a lot of people who barf their ferrets have a high incidence of their ferrets getting fat and fatty clumps in their stomaches. Does anyone know how safe this is and if it's better for a ferrets over all health?? I feed my 2 ferrets Iams kitten chow and their treats are chicken baby food and occasionally banana baby food, ferretone and ferretvite. Should I stick to their normal diet or try barfing them??:agree: :agree: :angel:

[Daners9278]

I've never heard of barfing. I find this very interesting. I'm going to research more into this! Thanks for your info...and I'm sorry I wasn't much assistance. I do suggest maybe giving it to them as a treat instead of daily just because of the fat worry. Hope that helps!

Dana

[Dooker]

I haven't heard much about this, although I have heard some. Visit this site: http://www.pooflinger.com The lady who runs that site feeds her ferrets meat, and they love it. You can email her, she knows a lot about feeding ferrets meat. Outside the usa, people still use ferrets for hunting, and they get fed meat, no kibble at all. The ferret is a carnivore, so meat IS good for them. An occasional piece of meat would be good for a treat, but getting your ferret to eat it is the problem..lol..my ferrets won't go near it! :o

[MaryMary]

A more natural diet is much healthier for ferrets, as they are obligate carnivores and the kibble diet we have for them is too high in carbs to be the best diet for them. You do have to be careful that they don't "gravy gut", but once they get used to it and as long as they get enough excercise, your ferrets should be healthier than ever before.

Definitely check out www.pooflinger.com - Kim feeds Bob's Chicken Gravy and her ferrets look awesome.

Here is another site with his recipe: http://www..com/suppetfercag.html#

You may want to increse the quality of your ferrets diet right now with a better kibble - maybe just add a higher quality food since Iams Kitten is okay, but not really great as a primary diet for ferrets. TFS Superior Choice, Totally Ferret, Zupreem and 8in1 Pro Ultimate are good - check out www..com for more info on those foods.

Hope this helps!

Mary

[sfstarfish]

If you are interested in learning about barfing and feeding your ferret a meat diet, go to the yahoo group called "rawferret". It is dedicated to feeding your ferret meat as their main diet.
Hope this helps. I have 7 ferrets, but I do not have the time to feed them all meat diets. :D