Pet Mink Care Guide
Author: Nessie O'Neil
A mink might seem like a big, aquatic ferret with incredibly soft fur, but just because you can care for a ferret does not mean you can care for a mink. Pet mink require dedication, patience, and a thorough understanding of their unique needs. If you’re considering sharing your life with a mink and want to learn the ins and outs of their care, then dive in because you’re in the right place.
Are pet mink legal in your state? Before you even consider keeping a mink as a pet, you need to look into legality. Not every state allows pet mink. Even if your state does, there may be restrictions within your city, county, or even your HOA. Keep in mind, all of the information given regarding pet mink is for captive born mink, not wild born. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE WILD MINK IN AND TRY TO MAKE THEM PETS. If you find a wild mink in need of assistance, please find a rehabber immediately. You can find rehabbers by contacting your local wildlife department. You can also download ANIMAL HELP NOW on your phone and search that way.
Table of Contents
Pet Mink Enclosures
Just because mink look like ferrets doesn’t mean they are ferrets. While it may be tempting to put a pet mink in a cage made for ferrets, this is not something you should do for any reason other than quarantine purposes. Mink are wide roaming, active, aquatic animals and their enclosure requirements reflect these traits.
A photo of a mink enclosure at Tallinn Zoo in Estonia. Photography & copyright MoosMood
Mink Enclosure Basics
- The enclosure must have a full top and bottom. The top can be either a full roof or welded wire, and the bottom needs to be either buried welded wire, concrete, or wood.
- The bigger, the better. At an ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, American Mink need a 10x10 enclosure with an additional 25% size increase per animal. This is assuming you are letting your mink out to play regularly. If this is not the case, then your mink will need an enclosure with at least 300 square feet of space.
- Make sure all wire used has a maximum hole opening of 1 inch and has a minimum gauge of 16. 14 gauge wire is preferred for mink enclosures, however.
- A double opening, or catch door, is necessary to help keep your pet mink safe.
- Some form of shelter/nest box
- A water feature
Your Pet Mink Needs To Swim!
Minks, by nature, are aquatic animals, which means having water features in their enclosures is a must. Your pet mink’s water features should be diligently maintained, kept clear of fecal matter and leftover food by cleaning daily.
Mink Water Feature Size
According to the AZA Mustelid care manual, the recommended land-to-water ratio for minks should be at least 4:1 for smaller enclosures on an 8:1 ratio for larger exhibits.
Mink Water Feature Depth
Water features for mink should not be any shallower than 1.2 feet. Once again, mink are aquatic animals who love to swim. While most mustelids only need water features about as deep are, Mink are the exception!
Water Feature Design
It’s important to design the water-land boundaries with a slope to facilitate the mink’s easy movement in and out of the water. Making a varied shoreline in your mink’s enclosure, as opposed to just a straight line, is also ideal. Make sure to add rocks, boulders, logs, and/or ramps for both enrichment purposes and to make it easier for your mink to enter and exit its water feature!
Important Note about Water PH and Mink
“Pool water for this species [American Mink] should be maintained at a neutral or basic level. This is because they are highly susceptible to methylmercury toxicity, and acidic water methylates mercury, whereas, methylation is reduced as pH increases” (AZA Mustelid Care Manual).
Pet Mink Diet
Unlike ferrets, mink aren’t pets that you can just give some kibble and call it a day. Mink are obligate carnivores, and thus should not be fed any kind of plant matter. A diet rich in proteins is crucial, which means providing a wide varity of meats.
it’s crucial to understand that not all meats offer the same benefits. Muscle meat, for instance, is a source of essential amino acids and certain minerals. In contrast, organ meats like liver, kidneys, and heart are densely packed with vitamins and other crucial nutrients that muscle meat might lack. Therefore, a balance between muscle and organ meat is essential to ensure the mink receives a rounded diet, providing all the vital nutrients necessary for their wellbeing.
To be nutritionally balanced, your pet mink’s raw diet should have about:
80% muscle meat.
10% raw bone that is small enough to chew through–non weight bearing bones are best to keep them from breaking a tooth.
5% organ meat such as kidney, spleen, brain, etc.
5% liver
What We Feed Our Mink
Here at Exotic Pet Wonderland, we feed our mink an all raw diet.
Right now we mainly feed our mink raw eggs, raw chicken, raw turkey, raw beef, whole prey baby chicks, mice, hamsters, etc. As for treats, we feed our mink freeze dried raw treats or duck jerky.
Feeding Mink Fish
As mink are aquatic animals, one might assume that a large portion of a mink’s diet should be made up of fish. However, this would be incorrect. While fish make a good treat or occasional appetizer, feeding your pet mink a significant amount of fish is a bad idea for a few reasons.
- Fish are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). PUFAs begin to oxidize incredibly quickly in the mink’s body, and when this happens, Vitamin E deficiency can occur. Mink need vitamin E to thrive, so if you chose to feed fish, it is recommended to add 400mg/kg of Vitamin E to their meal.
- Many fish contain Thiaminase, an enzyme that breaks down Thiamine, another essential nutrient for mink.
- Fish, especially wild caught fish, may contain mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which mink are highly sensitive to.
If you are still wanting to feed your mink fish, trout, salmon, and carp are all ok options.
Pet Mink Diet Notes
- Overall, an adult mink’s daily diet needs to contain between 22 and 26% protein, while a young mink’s diet needs about 38% protein.
- Mink have incredibly high metabolisms and, as a result, need to be fed at least twice a day.
- Adult mink have a daily calorie requirement of 3,600 calories, so don’t be surprised if your pet mink eats it’s own body weight in food a day!
- Mink from fur farms are prone to obesity, so be sure to monitor their weight
- In colder places, mink will need more dietary fat in the winter. Red meats like beef and lamb have a higher fat content than white meats.
What Can Pet Minks Not Eat?
- Processed food like deli meat, hot dogs, or anything from a can
- Dairy products
- Animals caught in the wild (this is your pet mink, not a wild mink, so it does not need to be exposed to any potential diseases or poisons found in wild animals)
- Plant Matter
Pet Mink Vet Care
Before obtaining a pet mink, you must already have a veterinarian on board who has experience caring for mink. Although they might look similar, mink are not ferrets, and most vets who see ferrets will not see mink. Be ready to dedicate time to researching and identifying a vet who specializes in zoological medicine and has experience working with these animals.
Minks, similar to other wild animals, have a talent concealing their ailments until they are too severe to do so any longer. As a result, you might not know something is wrong with your pet mink until it becomes an emergency. With this in mind, it is beneficial to establish care with more than one veterinarian if possible so that you should your primary vet not be available in an emergency, you will have a backup.
Introducing your mink to the vet at a young age and ensuring that vet visits are positive experiences will make vet visits easier and safer for all parties involved.
Pet Mink Vaccinations
Rabies Vaccination For Mink
The first dose of the rabies vaccine should be given to your pet mink at 16 weeks, and then either annually or every three years depending on if your pet received ImRAB-1 or ImRAB-3.
Mink should only receive killed rabies virus vaccines
Feline Panleukopenia Vaccination For Mink
Your mink should be vaccinated for Feline Panleukopenia with a killed vaccine at 12 weeks of age. The FPV-1Ò Feline Panleukopenia Vaccine is recommended and your pet mink must be vaccinated annually.
Distemper Vaccination For Mink
Mink have been known to get vaccine induced distemper from receiving modified live distemper vaccines. For this reason, their distemper vaccines must be killed. We recommend the canarypox vectored Purevax Ferret Distemper vaccine by Merial, which we recommend for gray foxes as well.
Aleutian Mink Disease
Aleutian Disease (ADV) is a type of parvovirus that is a major concern for mink owners. ADV affects both captive bred and wild mink worldwide and is incredibly contagious. When a mink contracts this disease, symptoms can vary based on the age of the animal. In adult minks, ADV leads to weight loss, reduced reproductive success, noticeable changes in their fur quality, oral and digestive bleeding, and kidney issues, among other symptoms. Meanwhile, baby mink can experience severe respiratory problems.
It’s worth noting that minks with lighter-colored coats, like pastel shades, are genetically more prone to this disease. ADV virus spreads in various ways, from direct contact between mink to exposure to infected blood, saliva, or even through contaminated objects and pests like flies or mosquitoes. ADV can be easily transmitted between mink and ferrets, and caution should be taken when bringing mink into homes with ferrets. As a slow-developing illness, it might be a while before symptoms become apparent. Unfortunately, there is no cure or vaccine for ADV at the moment.
Prevention primarily involves testing minks and euthanizing those that test positive to control the spread. It’s essential to maintain clean and sanitized conditions for minks and to be cautious with equipment and handling. Finally, while rare, Aleutian disease from mink can affect humans as well.
Spaying and Neutering Mink
If you are keeping a male and female mink together, getting your female mink spayed is a must. Neutering a male mink, however, is not recommended as the female mink will still go through hormonal changes and false pregnancies whether the male is fixed or not.
Spaying and neutering pet mink for any other reason is unnecessary. Sterilizing your mink will not make them less smelly or less aggressive.
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