From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2001-03-23 17:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Kidney disease and proper foods
Dr Willard mentions the recent research at the U of Georgia
on chronic kidney failure. I think he is referring to Dr Brown,
Dr Finco and others. They concluded that lowering the protein
amount does not benefit the kidney, but it is good to do to when
there is signs of uremia (lethargy, vomiting, anorexia, etc). In
dogs,
this is roughly when the BUN exceeds 75 mg/dL. Some of the other
things they suggested included lowering the phosphorus amount to
actually
slow the progression of the disease, increase the amount of omega 3
fatty acids (fish oil) to decrease intrarenal blood pressure, treat
acidosis
with potassium citrate, and to increase the amount of fermentable
fiber.
This lead to the Eukanuba Veterinary Diet kidney diet. Except for
the
higher fiber, these suggestions are probably good for ferrets with
chronic
kidney failure also. Dr Willard can these be incorporated into a
ferret
"kidney diet" or into your Totally Ferret for older ferrets?
Jerry Murray, DVM