# ferret body scoring chart??



## mcdougle (Jan 20, 2009)

i'm doing a course in animal care and we need to do weekly health checks on an animal i chose ferrets but need to find a body scoring chart but cant find any, can any one link me to one please????


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## naz_pixie (Oct 6, 2008)

Like a show chart of what judges look for ? (Which are mainly health/condition related) or you looking for something more medical? Are you using your own ferrets?


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## naz_pixie (Oct 6, 2008)

showing ferrets ?

A few posts down on there, by a member called wicked weasels theres a good discription of health and pressentation levels that ferrets judges look for... As for an actualy health or body score chart for ferrets, i have never heard of such a thing, but you could join on there and put up a thread in the main forum asking for judges opinions or if anyone has more detailed info.. is alot of ferret people on there x


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## mcdougle (Jan 20, 2009)

i'm using the colleges ferrets but yh its for medicle perposes but i dont think it would vary much from medical to show standards they both would show the healthy body shape wouldn't they? thanks for the like


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## Jafna (Jun 7, 2012)

I don't think you'll find one, you need to go off size to weight ratio, use the old techniques of locating ribs and spine, sticking out is too thin, cant find them is too fat, (very basic but a good rule)

OR

ask your tutor?!


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## mcdougle (Jan 20, 2009)

Jafna said:


> I don't think you'll find one, you need to go off size to weight ratio, use the old techniques of locating ribs and spine, sticking out is too thin, cant find them is too fat, (very basic but a good rule)
> 
> OR
> 
> ask your tutor?!


yh my tutor didn't know i got as far as. . . males weight between 700-2000g and females 600-900g, dog food is shockingly bad for providing adaquate nutrition, cat food is good for its high protien content, chicks are ok for a treat for adults but no good for growing youngsters as its lacks protien, calcium and fat content needed for growing bones. whole carcases (eg rabbits, squirels) are good IF they eat the insides but they only eat between 5-7% of their body weight per day so whole carcases will go bad quick and cause hygene problems!! i just needed a body score chart for basicly healthy body shape but the show standard link there was also full of alot of good info that i can use : victory:


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## naz_pixie (Oct 6, 2008)

That site is really good, have a look on the faq section for info on nutrition and diets... Lots if awesone info on there and also explains the best way to feed raw and prey diet and how to cover the dull needs using a mix of foods, ie meals of muscle meat, meals of organs and meals of bones to add up to whole animals over the span of a week.. this is how a lot of people balance it.. its is often called a frankenstien raw diet or barf diet.. cat food is not a good option at all.. it a packaged food is used then a high grade good quality ferret kibble is buy far the best option.. however there are a few very specialist cat foods that basicly cobtain nothing but dry meat flakes that are a very good option, but most cat food are a very bad option... High sugar causes tooth decay, fat content is much lower than ferrwts need, and most importantly anythibg thats not an animal product can not be processed by ferrets.. they are obligatory carnivours... This means the veg and cereal or wheat ingrediants in cat foods offer no nutritional value to ferrets at all...

Diets for ferrets are developing well and are now past the days were there is any need or benifit at all to feeding cat foods.. but that infomation is still out there so is very important to read as much uptodate infomation on diets as possible! 

That forum is great though and should he able to offer advice on everything you need to know!


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## Ferret Guy (Aug 1, 2011)

just when you were talking about food, dog and cat food are meant for dogs and cats. Not ferrets. They also usually contain vegetables which are useless to ferrets. I find the best diet is a ferret kibble high in protein, at least 35%, such as Alpha Ferret Feast or James Wellbeloved Ferret Food, supplemented with raw whole prey, such as chicks, rabbits, wood pigeon, quail etc. However, I do not agree that feeding on chicks is not good for kits. I believe this is the best for them as they grow like roots on them and become strong and gain weight much faster than one kept on kibble. I also find that if ferrets always have food available, they never over eat and have yet to see a fat ferret.
any more questions or things i have missed, just message me
Josh


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