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Ferrets can be feeded with cat food, but it's better to use a special brand of ferret food. Some well-known brands of ferret-food are James Wellbeloved, Totally Ferret and the ferret food of Hope Farms. I by myself gave my ferrets cat food, which can be done when you add a special ferret supplement with additional vitamins to the catfood. But it's better to give ferret food : It's a bit more expensive than catfood, but it's healthier for your ferret. And in the end, ferret food will not be more expensive than cat food : Because of the fact that ferret food contains exactly the right proportions, your ferrets do not need as much ferret food as cat food.
Most ferrets are bought when they are about 8 weeks old. Whether such
a ferret will develop to a well-raised ferret depends quite a lot on the
treatment of the puppy during the first couple of weeks. A well-raised
young ferret should not bite, except the so-called "try-bites" : Almost
all young ferrets bite SOFTLY to try whether something can be eaten or
not. But this bites may not be hard : When you have a young ferret who
bites you in a rough way, this means it will be a troublesome to convert
this ferret to a well-raised one. This can be done by experienced ferret
owners, but I recommend every starting ferret-owner to start with a trustfull
one, only giving "try-bites" when you get the ferret.
These "try-bites" can be unlearned very quickly (within one week) in
most cases. Ways to do so can be found at my page about ferrets
and biting.
Ferrets can sometimes get quite old. I do not know very exactly how
old, but it is quite normal that ferrets get an age of about 10 years.
So if you treat your ferret well and it does not get sick, you'll probably
have a good friend for the next 10 years. I even heard of a ferret having
an age of 15 years, but this is more unusual.
When buying or getting a ferret, it is very important that this ferret is at least 8 weeks old. Younger ferrets have to stay with their mother. Especially the last weeks of the first 8 weeks of a ferret's live are very important for socialising, and seperating a young ferret from it's mother before will have negative impact on the young ferret. Every respectfull breeder will now this and will not sell ferrets younger than 8 weeks. But unfortunatelly there are still some breeders who only care about the money and sell ferrets younger than 8 weeks old. My experience is that quite some pet shops in the Netherlands sell ferrets of only 6 to 7 weeks old, which is a very bad practice. So be very carefull when buying your ferret (especially at pet shops) , and always make sure that your new ferret is a least 8 weeks old.
Since ferrets can get quite old (about 10 years or even older), it is
also possible to get an older ferret. The advantage of buying an older
ferret is the fact that the character of the ferret is mostly known, so
that you know what you will get. Further more, older ferrets are mostly
tamed and litter trained already. This sometimes also counts for the younger
ferrets, but ferrets of 8 or 9 weeks mostly still need some training. Whether
ferrets get along with each other or not is mostly not connected with the
age of the ferret, and mostly young and old ferrets can get along with
each other very well.