From:
Christopher
Date: 2001-03-06 11:35:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Re Biotin in Ferretone, like almost not there??
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., Edward Lipinski elipinski@j...
wrote:
> Had opportunity to check ingredients on a bottle of Linnatone and
absent thereon was the substance of biotin.
>
> Since the Linnatone is shelved on food supplements for dogs and
cats and
> not necessarily for ferrets, it strikes me that biotin has no
redeeming value for the K9 and feline, but on every bottle of
Ferretone, yep, there it is at the bottom of the ingredients list -
biotin at 13 micrograms per 473 milliliters of Ferretone.
I dont' think it is safe to assume that because a vitamin is missing
from one formulation of a dietary supplement, that it isn't
essential. To quote the FDA Veterinarian newsletter July/August 1996,
Vol. XI No.IV
"Another vitamin often promoted for use in horse diets is
biotin, a B vitamin, which is a dietary essential for humans, pigs,
chickens, dogs, and cats, among others. "
So we can safely assume that Cats and Dogs need biotin, but linnatone
is not a biotin supplement. Interestingly enough the article goes on
to say that horses make enough biotin in their cecum through
bacterial synthesis so that biotin supplementation isn't necessary.
Ferretone is not marketed as a biotin supplement either. So I'm not
sure why there would be any concern that following 8 in 1
recommendation of 4ml/day would only provide .12mcg of biotin. My
bottle of centrum only provides me with 30mcg per day of biotin.
In my home we don't give ferretone as a dietary supplement. I rely on
a varied diet and a high quality kibble to provide for my ferrets
nutritional needs. I do use ferretone as a treat or as a distraction
during nail trimmings (no where near 4ml per day).
I really wouldn't be concerned about about biotin intake unless I
were feeding raw egg whites in excessive amounts, the glycoprotein
avidin in raw egg whites can bind biotin and make it useless. I don't
feed raw egg, but if I did I would look to liver, spleen,kidney or
egg yolk as possible biotin sources before I looked to ferretone.
Hope this helped allay some of the missing biotin fears. We really
can't expect a product to do something it isn't marketed to do.
Christopher