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One chubby ferret - should we be worried?

5585 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Toirtis, 
I
We've got two ferrets who live roaming free in our living room, one is a healthy weight but the other is really chubby. When we first got him he was the runt of a family of rabbiting ferrets so he was severely underweight and malnourished. We've always free-fed our other ferret and he's never had weight issues, but Rolo just keeps piling on weight. We got him towards the start of the year but it's only been in the last couple of months that he's started to get really fat. We moved house about 2 months ago so not sure if this would have something to do with it, but he seems to have settled in okay and still likes playing with his brother. Is this sort of weight gain normal or should we be worried?
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T
No, it is not normal....what are you feeding them?
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I
I feed them dried ferret food, Rex our other ferret has eaten this food since he was young though and never had a problem with his weight so I can't work out why Rolo seems to be so much bigger than him when they both eat the same. I'm a bit worried he might have some sort of health problem but my boyfriend seems to think he's just getting fatter for winter, and is a bit greedy because of how he was treated as a kit.
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T
I am inclined to agree with your boyfriend, but I would run Rolo to a vet for a check-up, just to be sure. What dry food are you feeding him (I am a big non-fan of dry ferret foods, particularly anything outside of the very top-end ones).
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B
I'm not a fan of free feeding any pet. It's always nice to know how much measured food a pet eats in a day and most vets would ask this very important question in any check up.
Good Luck !
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E
I agree with free feeding ferrets they should always have food in their bowl but you can do what I do with my kitten put a certain amount of food in their bowl and fill it when almost empty that way you know how long it takes them to eat the predetermined amount.

However most ferret foods are not ferret suitable. I am friends with a woman who works with a ferret rescue and the 3 highest recommended foods are wellness core Evo for cats and Wellness core. they are pricey but its worth it to have a very healthy hamster. She herself has 9 very healthy ferrets so I personally trust her advice.

He should not be packing on weight he should just be eating when he needs so i would take him to the vet. We free fed our ferrets and they never got overweight being a big ferret is ok being fat is not normal.
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Elliriyanna said:
...the 3 highest recommended foods are wellness core Evo for cats and Wellness core. ...
Click to expand...
That is two only, but both are good, for dry kibbles, anyway.

If you can, a raw diet, preferable whole prey or prey model, is really by far the best way to go.
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LOLSorry Welness Core Zupreem for ferrets and Evo for cats.

And everyone has opinions on the best diet I am just giving you one route :)
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Elliriyanna said:
Zupreem for ferrets
Click to expand...
You may wish to look at the ingredients in that before suggesting it.
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