Message Number: FHL1568 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "Deborah (Danee) DeVore"
Date: 2007-06-20 16:36:30 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Periodontal Disease and other food comments
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com

--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Shirley Hewett"
<shirleyhewett@...> wrote:
>
> The RESULTS of cracked and worn teeth are very apparent: They can
> include failure of all, or some, of the major organs eg kidneys,
> heart, spleen, liver etc. Rarely, if ever, do post mortems of such
> ferrets include a microscopic investigation of the teeth.
>

While I agree that ferrets do get dental or periodontal diseases, I
wonder how one can be sure that kidney, liver or other organ failure
is due to dental problems.

Over the last 20 years, I have had well over 100 ferrets. For the
most part when they have passed, we have had necropsies done, and had
tissue samples sent out for pathology. Never once has a report come
back suggesting that dental disease may have been involved in any
organ failure that was seen, even in ferrets that had dental problems
because of long term feeding of soft foods. And, in many cases,
samples have been looked at by several pathologists at several
different labs. This is especially true of my ferrets that had ADV.
In every report where organ failure was the cause of death (or severe
decline), a reason or reasons for the failure were reported, and
dental disease was never mentioned as a possibility.

I think it is well established that a diet of soft foods over a long
period can lead to dental problems. I have seen it in my own ferrets
who had ADV and required special supplements to keep up their weight.

And, I know that some experts speculate and theorize that crunching
kibble can damage tooth enamel. However, other experts say that
crunching bones can cause the same type of damage to teeth. It is a
subject that is still only addressed by theories.

I can't speak for what happens in Oz, but here in the US research
gets funded by a lot more then just big corporations, especially at
the colleges and universities. Also, many colleges and universities,
while they may accept money from the big businesses, do not allow
those donors to direct the scope of any research that gets done.
This is done to allow pure research, as opposed to research directed
at reaching a particular conclusion.


>
> The addy that I most refer to is http://www.rawmeatybones.com
because
> it, and its links, is very easily understood, is provided by a very
> well qualified and experienced vet and has the support of many
peers.
>


I actually have to wonder about the qualifications of the person who
owns this site, since he claims, among other things, that raw meat is
easier to digest then cooked meat. Despite his theories about meat
enzymes that are destroyed in cooking making raw easier to digest, I
have found no peer reviewed articles that support his claim. In
fact, I have found peer reviewed articles that say the exact
opposite - that cooked meat is easier to digest. Enzymes that are in
raw meats are destroyed by the stomach acids, so they provide little
help in the digestion process. Cooking meat, on the other hand, does
start the breakdown process, making it easier to digest.

When someone makes claims that go against accepted science, it makes
me wonder about their other claims.

One of my very close friends has a Ph.D. in nutritional research.
She is the head of a branch of the USDA that looks at the nutritional
values of various foods. And, while her work is all dealing with
human nutrition, I asked her about the raw vs cooked question. She
could not immediately cite an article for me, but did comment that it
is sort of a Nutrition 101 given that cooked meat is easier to
digest.

She added that cooking, especially improper cooking, can degrade some
of the nutrional value of the food, but even that is somewhat
negligable if the cooking it done correctly. She said that proper
cooking will destroy less then 10% of the nutrients in foods. and it
is primarily the B vitiamins and amino acids that are affected. This
is what she does for a living - studying the affects of cooking and
storage on the nutritional values of foods, as well as the
nutritional values of various foods.

----
Danee
International Ferret Congress Health Issues Coordinator
http://ferretcongress.org
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit: http://www.ferretadv.com





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