From:
christopher@bennett.org
Date: 2001-09-06 21:41:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Odor associated with adrenal disease
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Debra Thomason" <debra@c...> wrote:
<talking about the tortilla / corn chip (not burnt) smell>
> when the last time I noticed this smell on my two remaining girls
was, and I
> have only rarely heard it mentioned on the FML anymore. I suppose I
> suspected it was a bit of "you are what you eat." When better
foods became
> available and the ratio of corn in the diet dropped, the corn chip
odor must
> have gone with it in my household. Just some thoughts!
>
> Debra in Fort Worth
That's a good hypothesis. You are right though about it being really
common to hear someone mention that.. and then poof, people stopped
saying it. We can prove a direct relationship between food and odor.
Foods that rely heavily on fish for protein, like MF, create some
really stinky ferrets who need frequent bedding changes. Better
balanced foods like Zupreeem or TF reduce ferret stink to a pleasant
odor and cut the bedding changes in half. When I was young and stupid
and didn't know any better I had Angel on the Kaytee forti-diet with
all the fruit chunks in it. It was the most expensive food in the
petshop and therefore had to be the best... you could smell him when
you walked in the back door. Now he has 5 cagemates and you can't
even smell them sitting in the ferret room with them. Food is a biggy
for ferret odors.
We seem to have a consensus that adrenal smells like burnt popcorn or
burnt cornchips... We should publish a "Scratch- N - Sniff guide to
ferret health" LOL
Christopher