Fat

[lnsybean44]

Hi All, I am just wondering what everyone uses to get fat in their ferrets diet? I add lamb and chicken with the skin on but I am concerned that they arent getting enough fat. Any ideas?

[katt]

Salmon oil! That is all I know lol sorry. Someone else will have a better answer I am sure.

[lnsybean44]

Yup I use that too they love their salmon oil.

[sherrylynne]

Mine get fat from the chicken skin, also from fat still on the meat, like in pork chops, duck, etc. I try to buy fatty cuts of meat for them whenever possible.

[joclyn]

poultry skins, whatever fats are on the red meats and you can use organ meats like brain and kidney to round out the fat percentage in the diet.

chicken legs/thighs have higher fat content than the breast meat and the same for turkey white meat vs dark meat. turkey, in general, has higher fat content than chicken. duck has even higher fat content than turkey. and they do really like duck!

i haven't added in oils - other than the usual ferretone. don't know if i'll need to since i do make a point of using the dark meats from the poultry and mine really love duck. still getting them used to the organs - with mixed results. whoever won't take to them will have to have some kind of supplemental like salmon oil i guess. not really sure, tho, if the mix of meats i'm using will be sufficient or not.

[suzieszoo]

Is it ok to use a bit of cold pressed olive oil or flaxseed oil? I use the ferretone also but they seem to like the other oils also, and I thought variety might be healthful?

[odin]

I would stay away from anything plant based. Flax seed i know is not healthy at all for them, i think it is a problem for their digestion. They just don't have the hardware for plants.

[sherrylynne]

actually the problem with flax(besides being veg, and not that well absorbed) is the potential allergic reaction to it. It seems to cause skin problems more than other plant based oils. Extreme itchiness is one of the possible symptoms of this particular allergy.

[halblingefrau]

I've been adding lard to my soupies lately and they really like it. I took 1 lb. chicken to 1/4 lb. lard with hearts and liver and eggshell powder mixed in.

[horse656]

i read somewhere that someone leaves out lard for them to free graze, though i can't remember who it was or when it was posted.
sorry about that.

[mustelidmusk]

I was alternating between flax seed oil and salmon oil. I had no isues with the flax oil, but I was getting better results (fur shine) with salmon oil. My holistic vet explained the the flax oil has ALA, which needs to be broken down to get the benefits of the omega 3's. and this only happens when ome other nutrients (can't recall which ones) are available with the flax oil. This is true with flax for people as well, so it's not a "plant" thing with ferrets. The problem ferrets have with getting nutrients from plants involves the inability to break down fiber. This issue does not apply to plant oils.

Extra virgin olive oil has antibacterial affects againt Helicobacter pylori in laboratory studies. SInce H. mustelae is VERY closely related H. Pylori, our ferrets may benefit from addition of extra virgin olive oil in their diet.
I feed extra virgin olive oil and salmon oil daily, and I've done so for years. I alo rely on the olive oil to prevent hairballs.

-jennifer

[sherrylynne]

The "lard lick" was posted by josiesmom, a member here. She found it made a real difference with some rescues she took in.