From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2007-03-07 01:45:56 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: D3
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I heard from an EXPERT!
Dr. Tom Willard, of Totally Ferret fame has the right doctorate and
experience, and he sent me some info. There is nothing as helpful as
hearing from a real expert!
> Vitamin D3 is an essential, fat soluble vitamin involved in Ca
> uptake as
> well as metabolic regulation and hundreds of other metabolic
> processes.
> It can be toxic if fed in excess of requirements. In some species
> that
> may be as little as 5 times over the minimum requirement in others it
> may be 10. Since the ferret evolved from ground burrowing ancestors,
> they could easily be more sensitive to D3 overages than other species.
> This is just one more reason why it is important to know exactly what
> the ingredients contain and what is added as supplements. When I do a
> formula, I take not only what nutrients are included in each
> ingredient
> but the micro nutrients as well in all of our ingredients but also
> their
> availability to the animal. This varies with species.
> Sukie, it is not out of arrogance that I have always recommend against
> home formulations, it is that I know very few individuals including
> some
> that claim to know what a ferret needs based on some other field of
> endeavor but they do not have access to the ingredient data base,
> which
> I use and has been developed over my 30 years as a small animal and
> carnivore nutritionist.
> Hope this does not sound like lecturing, it is not meant to be.
> Sincerely,
>
> Tom R. Willard
>
> Thomas R. Willard, PhD
> CEO/President
> Performance Foods, Inc.
BTW, he also sent a later reminder that those feeding raw really need
to understand the meats used:
> Balancing a raw diet will be difficult
> depending on the type of meat, whether whole or cleaned of fur and or
> feathers, deboned, beef, chicken, etc.? Not all meats are created
> equal.
which reminded me how startled I was by how widely even just
phosphorous levels varied when i need to help look those up for
someone whose ferret had kidney disease.
It seemed a little ironic to me that people with no nutritional
education background have lectured me in the past, but Dr. Willard,
who has just the right background, was the one who worried who
worried that his note might be taken that way. (It wasn't; he knows
his subject matter.)
BTW, I don't know how good they are but there is a vet recommended
website of some consulting veterinary nutritionists to help people
avoid problems listed in the FHL links section. It's got to be
better than guess work for those who don't feed an already known
balanced diet.
Sukie (not a vet)
Current FHL address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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