From:
zenja
Date: 2005-05-23 17:44:29 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Kibble causing insulinoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <6.0.0.22.0.20050523194321.022a0848@mail.chello.nl>
Hi Lisa,
I had to translate kibble first before I was sure what you meant. That's
because I'm Dutch and quite new to English ferret-lingo. But I think you
mean what we call "brokjes" in Dutch; dried catfood that is.
There sure is loads to tell about ferret diets. And yes, all food
containing sugars is bad for them, being the mayor cause of insulinoma.
There is a large quality difference between one kibble or another. My
renowned ferret-specialised vet advises to give ferrets Eukanuba
kitten(!), Hill's kitten(!) and/or totally ferret. It's because these
kibbles contain large volumes of animal proteins wich ferrets need. I
previously made the mistake only to look at protein volume only but
proteins can also be of vegetable origine and those foods contain more
sugars also. Those proteins ferrets have trouble digesting. And I still am
paying back big-time for this (cheaper) food; expenisive operations and
medication for my two 7-year olds who were diagnosed insulinoma. And they
are too by all those stressing fuzz.
Also a big issue is (vegetable) fibers in kibble. My vet told me you can
compare these to eating razor-blades in ferrets intestines since the walls
of ferrets guts are thin in comparison to omnivores and herbivores.
Ferrets descend from polecats who are carnivores. They have vegetable
sources in their natural diets; mainly the containts of prey guts. But
those are small amounts wich mainly are pre-digested.
Vegetable sources, however are needed to make kibble out of meat. So every
kibble contains it and with that, also sugars ferrets don't need. Don't
give kibble then, you think. But what else?
Well that needs loads of reasearch by your side. Simply giving chickenmeat
is much worse. That a.o. lacks fats and calcium that ferrets also nead
badly. Giving only meat will make your ferrets ill. Giving raw food, a.k.a.
BARFing is well documented on the www. Giving your ferrets just prey
without knowledge isn't smart. For example; baby mice or chicken also lack
fats and calcium since babies haven't developed those yet.
To stay on the safe side it's more advisable to offer you ferrets adult
mice or small adult poultry as added food on good quality kibble. Don't go
cleaning in advance; hairs and feathers are mostly also eaten. Some ferrets
won't get used to their new food source though. Others go and eat it right
away.
But to be even safer; do some research yourself on this subject. Find out
the do's and dont's. It's you paying with emotion and money if the diet of
your ferrets is wrong for their health.
kind regards,
Zenja and Mozes, Samson and Toetanchamon