Message Number: SG8421 | New FHL Archives Search
From: sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2004-03-31 17:37:18 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] blood glucose origins if no starch in diet
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <4413816.1080754638862.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>

> I can't imagine where a ferret would get carbs from in the natural course of
> things...

Interesting info. Thank you.

As to carbs in a natural diet mice work out to be about 8% carbs when whole mouse carcasses are studied for ingredients. It is normal to get a certain amount of carbs from prey species, especially those eatten whole or almost whole.

I don't know the backgrounds of the individuals you quoted, nor which side of the argument has the more recent or more complete information, though the individual with whom I spoke works in the field and said these things just last night. It would be interesting to ask several professionals who study the nutrition of Carnivora and find out how much and where they currently agree or disgree. In human nutrition surprises are being found repeated times each year and the nutrition of Carnivores is less studied. It is an area in flux where everyone needs to be ready for changes in info at any time; I know it has surprised me more than a few times and I'd guess that is true for us all.

I do know that personally, given that the wild precursors would deal with very low levels of carbs in their wild prey, I tend to feel that such low levels should be safe. As so often is the case when we wind up discussing topics for which there just isn't enough ferret-specific information, yet, I think we'll each wind up going with best guess and then just seeing how things turn out until there is enough information for more fully understanding.