Can I Give My Ferret Bacon?

All good ferret owners know that owning one means a lot of responsibilities. The ferret, as fun, active and charming it is, cannot be the easiest to care for. For one, it has very specific dietary requirements because it has one of the most sensitive digestive tract. It follows that it can easily get ill due to improper nutrition. And worst case scenario, it can even lead to fatality.

Ferret loves to chew on things and it will basically eat anything in sight. Yes, it loves to run, roam and play around but it also loves eating as much. Sadly, it cannot eat anything it fancies. This makes owner’s responsibility to give it the best possible nutrition very challenging. The ferret owner needs to make sure that what it feeds its pet is safe and nutritious.

A ferret is a carnivore and should be strictly fed with high protein content mostly from raw meat. Fruits, vegetables, grains and fiber are not good for a ferret. Also, not all table food as well as cat and dog food are safe for a ferret.

Even with its startling similarities with a cat, it cannot take anything a cat eats. Ingredients of a cat food need to very meticulously scrutinized to determine if it is made up of high quality meat-based ingredient and very few other meat by-products.

Once in a while though, you may feed a ferret some tiny bits of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and even bacon as a treat.

Can I Give My Ferret Bacon?
Yes, but it is not recommended

Bacon is processed meat that is cured with salt and sugar. A staple food for breakfast and actually, any time of the day. Everybody loves bacon. This is true for humans as well as for ferret.

Unfortunately, bacon is not the healthiest food around as it is heavily loaded with preservatives. Again, this applies to both human and ferret. Yes, sometimes the best tasting food is also the unhealthiest out there.

Bacon is not strictly prohibited in a ferret’s diet but it is not recommended because it is processed with salt and sugar. Ferret cannot take a lot of sugar and salt. High sugar content may lead to a ferret’s blood sugar level to spike up and ultimately may cause an illness called insulinoma. Regularly feeding a ferret food that contains high level of salt may cause salt poisoning. Aside from bacon, high salt content food includes cured meat like ham, junk food and fish in brine. Salt poisoning is a serious condition and there have been reports that within 24 to 96 hours of having taken a high salt food, a ferret has developed spasms and eventually died.

Still some ferret owner who wants to treat its pet once in a while, give it bacon bits. One ferret owner shared a wise tip of buying bacon straight from a trusted butcher and not from the frozen section in the grocery. This kind of bacon is not salted and freshness can be guaranteed. Some ferret owner incorporates this in its pet’s diet for variety which a ferret appreciates all the time. Even humans can certainly relate that having a certain food all the time can be tiring and unappetizing.

With the prevalence of a lot of unhealthy ferret snacks out there so how does a ferret owner you choose and make sure that its pet only gets the best food? How about preparing its meals yourself.

Making your own ferret food, snacks and treats can be exciting task for ferret owners. They show their love and affection not just by playing around with their pets but by being meticulous in preparing their food. Most ferret owners want to know where the food and its ingredients came from and if they are fresh. Making your own ferret food is the answer. It can be simple, fun and exciting thing to do. It can even be done as bonding activity for the whole family. If you don’t know where to start, a good place to start is online. Search for quick and easy to do ferret food recipes or for dog or cat food and just modify some ingredients so that it will be mainly meat based.

Some treats are very simple to make and do not need recipes like egg treats and organ pop where you mash some meat like chicken and turkey and froze them in ice cube trays. These make good treats that a ferret will surely enjoy.