From:
"Kim"
Date: 2007-06-21 15:36:43 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Periodontal Disease and other food comments
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
The raw feeding debate will probably continue for eons to come. But I
disagree that feeding processed foods, to animals whose heritage is
eating raw, is more beneficial.
It only makes sense that periodontal diseases cause problems in the
rest of the animal's system. Talk to a human dentist about the
problems caused elsewhere in the human body from periodontal disease.
http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.top2.htm
and vet dentists:
http://www.dentalvet.com/vets/periodontics/periodontal_disease.htm
This link has extensive nutritional data and charts and research that
has been done regarding the differences of nutrient valuse in raw and
cooked foods:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/topics/processing
as you can see the vitamin loss in cooked meats is significant. While
cooking meat may begin the breakdown of fibers with in the meats, why
would this be necessary for a healthy ferret? And what benefit would
be obtained by the breakdown of fibers within meats that now are
seriously devoid of nutrients?
I understand that ferrets with health issues already may need
specific dietary preparations, but healthy normal ferrets will
benefit from chewing and gnawing on raw meaty bones.
I don't need a scientific peer review to prove that my ferret's teeth
and gums are healthy from eating normal whole prey and RMB.
The scientific community has almost come full circle ragarding MANY
health concerns and "natural" approaches.
I am a confirmed "natural feeder" for my ferret and encourage other
folks to do the same for their ferrets.
If I listened to my vet, I'd be feeding her a kibble diet, then
taking her to the vet for regular teeth cleanings.
Kibbles are full of glucose sweeteners, anybody that has eaten candy
can easily feel the film and crud that forms on their teeth shortly
after eating these sweets.
Saying that crunching on kibbles will actually clean teeth is like
saying crunching on a sugar cube will keep your teeth clean! Or that
eating hard cookies or hard pretzels eill keep your teeth clean.
The entire physical action of eating a kibble varies from eating an
RMB or a mouse. The kibbles break and crumble under the points of the
teeth, hardly scraping more than a few millimeters past the teeth
tips.
While in order for the ferret to obtain a piece of meat of a size
suitable to swallow, the ferret has to rip, tear and gnaw. They'll
get their entire jaw next to the RMB, or the mouse body and then
using the natural scissor action of their carnassial teeth, they'll
shear off a suitable hunk. This gets ALL their teeth involved in the
eating process and ensures that the entire tooth surface is used.
If kibbles were so good at cleaning teeth and keeping them clean,
then why do kibble fed animals have to get their teeth cleaned
regularly?
Besides the actual physical oral benefits of eating RMB and whole
prey that the ferret gets, and the obvious increase in nutrient
benefits, there is also the mental benefits ferrets receive from
being able to do what is "Natural" for them.
Entire companies have been formed and devoted to creating "chewables"
for ferrets (as well as other pets). But these too are often made
from high glucose content materials - so they just contribute to
pertpetuating the periodontal disease. When the ferrets are fed RMB
or whole prey, this need to chew is satiated.
I don't see the necessity in putting so much weight on "scientific
proof". I think science is a wonderful thing where viruses, bacteria
and genetic diseases are considered. But other than knowing the
nutrients in a food item - I can easily make the decision of what
will benefit my pet the most.
We've all seen the recent problems associated with
letting "officials" make the decision for us as to what is most
beneficial to feed our pets.
The saying, "you are what you eat" is as true for us, as it is our
pets. I think that the folks feeding RMB and whole prey diets to
their ferrets are taking a proactive approach to their fuzzy friend's
health, instead of the wait and see approach.
It takes a tad more effort to feed RMB, whole prey, but its worth it!
Regards, Kim
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Deborah (Danee) DeVore"
<Ferrets4all@...> wrote:
>
> --- 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.
> 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
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