From:
sukieferret
Date: 2002-05-09 15:06:00 UTC
Subject: Re: bladder stone query
> Yes there is some problems with some animals fed on UK dry
> foods, it does seem to be hobs being affected apparently it is
> causing a PH. imbalance. There are a lot of new ferret foods
> about here now and some do not seem to have the mix right
> yet.
That makes sense.
The pH of ferret urine needs to be below 6. At 6 or above it is too
alkaline to keep some minerals dissolved and they then form
stones.
Yellow corn in too large amounts is a known way to have urinary
pH pop up too high, but many plant foods can have the same
effect. esp. if they are present in too high amounts.
It's not unsual for pet food manufacturers to save money by
bucking up the plant content, and even though ferrets don't have
the digestive system to utilize plant proteins effectively the
manufacturers often will include the plant protein within the overall
protein content numbers.
The problem likely would not be with the kibbled nature of the
foods (except as much as starch is needed for getting the texture
-- but that's not enough to throw off urinary pH) as much as with
the plant content beyond that needed level.
There are some excellent past posts on diet by some real pros
in the archives at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
and you can access these by using the search engine. If you look
within the Files section you'll find that our co-moderator and
librarian, Pam Sessoms, has supplied an excellent guide for
using the search engine.