What You Should Know about Ferret Treats
Selecting appropriate ferret treats should not cause you stress. However, you do need to know what you should feed your ferret in order to help keep him or her healthy and happy. You want to be sure that you are giving your ferret plenty of protein and other vitamins and minerals that it needs. You should also remember that your pet will not digest vegetables and grains very well so you need to stay away from treats like that.
Something that you should consider when selecting ferret treats is your pet’s age. If you will be giving treats to a ferret that is under the age of four then you will want to make sure that the treats are not replacing your pet’s diet. The diet should be made up of 32 to 38 percent protein. You will also need to make sure that they have 18 to 22 percent fat and no more than three percent of fiber. Actually if you are feeding your pet less than that you would be doing a good thing for your ferret. The older your ferret gets the less protein he or she will need. Therefore, you will want to provide food that has less protein for your ferret that is over the age of four.
You should never try to supplement a ferret’s diet with the ferret treats that you are giving him or her. This can make your pet ill if you are not giving them enough of the protein and other nutrients that he or she needs. You will want to limit the treats to four or five raisins or pieces of cereal each day. This helps ensure that your ferret does not become reliant on the treats rather than his or her food. You want them to get all of the nutrients that they need in order to be healthy.
You do not need to make a special trip to the store in order to find your ferret treats. You most likely have plenty of treats in your home; you just do not realize it. You can give your pet things like dates, grapes, snapped peas or even bananas. However, you will want to watch the amount of sweets that you are giving to your ferret because you do not want to ruin his or her teeth. It is interesting to know that you can actually brush your ferret’s teeth. The more sweets you give him or her increases the amount of times that you will need to brush his or her teeth.
When you are searching for ferret treats you will want to stay away from chocolate and black licorice. These things can actually make your ferret sick. You should not give your pet onions or nuts either. The nuts can actually cause blockage in the animal’s intestine and make them very ill. Be sure that everyone in your home realizes this so that other people do not give your ferret these foods.
Ferret treats can be purchased in the store if you are not comfortable giving your pet foods that you have in your home. Someone at the pet store will be able to walk you through the selection process so that you are getting the best type of treats for your specific animal. Be sure to talk to them about how often you should give these treats as well. Remember, we do not want your ferret to prefer the treats over the food that he or she needs in order to remain healthy and happy. As long as you educated yourself about your pet, ferret treats should be easy to select.
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