From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2007-01-21 07:02:37 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: IBD and Natural Gold food
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Betty,
You bring up a good question.
What causes IBD?
Unfortunately we do not know the answer to
that question yet. Food allergies may be a part of what
causes IBD. Food allergies are usually from the protein
source or from a gluten source (ie plant protein such as
corn gluten, wheat gluten, soy gluten, etc.).
So we want to avoid any food with a gluten ingredient or
a high carbohydrate level which may contain plant protein.
Rice and potato are 2 carbs with a very low protein level.
Then we want to use a protein source that the ferret has
not had before. Most ferret and kitten foods use chicken
as the main protein source because chicken is inexpensive.
Thus a food that does not contain chicken would be good
to try. Other good protein sources include pork, fish, turkey,
deer, rabbit, lamb, beef, etc. The other option is to hydrolyze the
protein, so the GI tract does not react to it.
Hill's Z/D food is made for IBD and food allergies in cats. It
contains hydrolyzed chicken that does not cause a problem
in the GI tract.
I like the Natural Gold high-pro low-carb ferret food.
Natural Gold uses chicken and pork for its protein,
and it is very low in carbohydrates (potato and oat).
However Z/D may work better for cases of IBD.
BTW Natural Gold high-pro low-carb is now available
at most Petsmart stores.
The other thing that is believed to be part of IBD is an infection that
causes damage to the GI tract such as ECE and Helicobacter.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/