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Ferrets

Obviously, first things first, don't buy a ferret from a pet store. Almost every pet store in the US sources their ferrets from Marshall Farms. If you want to get your first ferret, please adopt from a shelter instead. Shelters have babies too!

If you already have a ferret and are looking for a partner, please read this article first:

You especially should never put babies and senior ferrets together as it almost always stresses out both ferrets. So it's better to adopt a ferret that's closer to the same age.

Find a ferret shelter near you

Kibble

Marshall kibbles range in score from C-F. The pet stores tell you you have to feed it, and in order to keep your ferrets under Marshall's "warranty", you have to feed it.

To be fair, I think a large part of why they push you towards Marshall food is how ferrets imprint on their diet. If some idiot walks into the pet store and buys a ferret having done no research, and buys Kaytee kibble instead, it's likely that their new ferrets will refuse to eat the diet and will starve. So this at least guarantees that their ferret will continue eating once it's home. The real solution to this would be education and requiring people to show some basic understanding of ferret care before allowing them to buy a ferret, but of course Marshall will never go with that.

But if you're here on my website, you're obviously doing your research and trying to give your ferrets a better life. So there are tons of better food options out there, and as long as you're careful in transitioning them, there is absolutely no reason to keep feeding Marshall food.

Here are my recommended kibble options, but also be sure to look at raw foods as well.

Marshall Playpen

Replace with the Midwest Small Pet Exercise Pen. Midwest is the same company that makes the Ferret Nation cages, so you know that their products are high quality and are supporting a company that actually cares about ferrets.

Buy on Chewy.com

Litter

If you dislike the wood pellets and want to use paper pellets, but don't want to support Marshall Farms, use So Phresh paper pellets instead. The ferret pellets are the exact same as the cat pellets but more expensive, so buy the cat pellets instead. Just make sure you use the Fragrance-Free litter.

So Phresh is a Petco brand, so this litter is only available at Petco. There may be other similar products available such as "Yesterday's News". Basically any paper cat litter that has no fragrance added will be a better option (and most likely cheaper) than Marshall paper pellets.

Buy at Petco

Play Tunnel

Just buy an HVAC duct instead. It's much cheaper and higher quality. The plastic can't be chewed through as easily as the Marshall tunnels, which also helps you to avoid blockages.

• Treats
• Toys
• Cages and Pens