From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-10-11 13:42:00 UTC
Subject: Re: low-protein diets
> Dear Dr. Williams,
>
> In a cross-post on today's fml (Oct 6th), I read the following in one of
your
> responses:
>
> "Low-protein diets are of some benefit in prolonging life in
> animals with renal failure, but do not appear to have these
> benefits in older animals with normal renal function."
>
> This has me somewhat confused, because I remember reading
> in one of your posts a year or so ago (sorry, I didn't keep the
> post), that you you advised a low protein diet for ferrets over 3.5
> or 4 years of age, to help preserve kidney function into old age by
> putting less demand on the kidneys. (Or at least that's how I
> remember it, and it made sense to me at the time.)
>
> My six ferrets range in age from almost 4 to almost 7. They have
> been on a diet of Totally Ferret their entire lives. After I read your
> advice last year, I started feeding them a 50/50 mixture of regular
> TF with the senior formula TF, hoping it would be beneficial to
> them. Actually, I first tried switching them to 100% senior
> formula, but they all started losing weight, even the eldest - even
> though they were eating heartily - so I decided on mixing the
> foods. Since all my ferrets live together and eat out of the same
> dishes, it would be very hard to feed different diets to some of
> them. In fact, they also all get Prozyme mixed with their food,
> since one of them has Eosinophylic Gastroenteritis, and my vet
> recommended it for him.
>
> The bottom line is that I just want to do what is best for them, to
> help them live long, healthy lives, so I'm now wondering what
> that is.
Dear Nancy:
You are very perceptive, and correct about this change of opinion. However,
even I change my mind, often as a result of new information, or because of
some research that I have done when posed with a new question.
In the case of low-protein diets, this is still an area of some controversy
in veterinary and human medicine. It has only been a matter of a few years
that researchers in small animal medicine have stopped endorsing low protein
diets for all animals and only for animals already in renal failure. (I
usually take my guidance in the pathophysiology of chronic renal disease
from Dr. Delmar Finco of the University of Georgia - one of my professors in
school and one of the most highly regarded renal experts).
My ferrets have never had a weight loss roblem with feeding geriatric diets,
and switching them back to a higher protein diet probably would be more
stressful than they need. I certainly understand the problems associated
with trying to feed ferrets different diets, and few people have identified
a solution. However, if you are mixing regular and geriatric diets, you are
still feeding a regular diet. But if they are doing well on it, then let's
stick with it.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM