From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2001-05-03 12:07:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Re: Re: Food for Sick Ferret
On Thu, 3 May 2001, katharine wrote:
> I didn't even think about the water content. But,
> my question is this...wouldn't the protein %age
> account for the water?
Well, I'm really getting out of my league here (help!), but it's probably
just that they're describing the content of exactly what is in the can.
It's not really 38.6% protein in the can - that's just the percent protein
of what's left if you dehydrated all the water out. Kibble doesn't have
much moisture to account for. BUT as confusing as this is, it really does
seem like it would be a nice feature to have a note on there giving the
protein and fat percents on a dry matter basis as a footnote or something.
There's a longer explanation on understanding food labels at:
http://www.peteducation.com/nutrition/food_labels.htm
> My question dealt more with what I could
> feed him if I needed to give him very bland, easy
> to eat food, such as what we would do with an
> upset tummy or after surgery.
That's the part I'm fairly stumped on. Ponderings... I wonder if the
Eukanuba prescription diet that Dr. Murray mentions is at all hard on an
inflamed GI tract? Or a better way to phrase that might be something
like, "What is it about kibble that makes it hard on an upset ferret
tummy?" Then you could perhaps compare the answer with what's in the Euk.
I wonder if there is some kind of bland, low-protein ingredient, that you
could "cut" chicken baby food with to lower its protein content? What
about that rice baby food cereal, I wonder how that stuff is on ferret
tummies? Problems would be not knowing exactly what you were putting into
Champ, as there would be no guaranteed analysis, and also I have no idea
what that would do do phosphorous levels.
Sorry this is kinda going in circles. You're trying so hard to get
everything figured out in advance - great work!! Maybe someone with some
nutritional expertise will have some ideas.
Best,
-Pam S.