From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-06-22 18:58:24 UTC
Subject: RE: Ferret food fat percentage question
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <4400859.1119466704183.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> I was looking for a new ferret food and came across one with 45% protein and 16% fat. Is 16% fat in a ferret food too low? I have heard that too low of fat can result in digestion problems and an unhealthy coat. Is this true?
Some older ferrets or ferrets with GI problems have trouble digesting fats and will tend to have bird seed stool. For them a lower fat level can be useful.
One thing to remember, though, is that the protein source is important. To not be associated with obesity while still having more food eaten one trick seen among some of the makers of cheaper pet foods is to reduce the fat level while having a higher percentage of plant-source protein. The plant source protein does not digest well so the ferret eats more (using more product). I learned about this from a highly reputable source, Dr. Tom Willard, whose doctorate is in veterinary nutrition.
Ferrets need their protein to come from animal sources.
As to protein percentage, most should be able to deal with quite high levels. A mouse, for instance, is 52% protein. There are medical conditions which can benefit from lower protein levels . Compromised kidneys are one. A tendency to form cystine stones is another. (These ferrets tend to have urine which is too acidic and that is easy and cheap to test to see if a ferret might have a vulnerability -- not perfect, but useful.) We have two here who get cystine stones so we keep the protein levels down around 35% in the foods fed.
For vet files, here is a ferret cystine stone study since the numbers of such stones coming into the UC Davis urolith lab has greatly increased in the last year+:
Dr. Michelle Hawkins VMD DABVP (Avian) is coordinating this effort and
can be reached at:
2108 Tupper Hall, University of CA, Davis, CA 95616
1-530-752-1363 (phone)
mghawkins@ucdavis.edu
The thing about cystine stones is that even though a majority do not get them they have a high chance of being fatal when they do occur, especially among males, so a person needs to be aware of them, watch the urine pH, know to jump if the ferret has difficulty urinating or becomes constipated (the first sign here for both of ours), etc.
There is more cystine urolith information in
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
which is also an excellent source of information on diet. Sadly, diet discussions too often wander away from presenting factual information and into opinion pieces, causing those discussions to often have to be stopped. You will find there was recently a discussion on this topic again.
It might be that higher animal protein levels and reduced carbohydrate levels might reduce the rate of insulinoma. It's an intriguing hypothesis and it would be good if the funding existed to get base-line insulinoma rates and to do comparisons and possible mechanism studies.