From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-03-13 18:16:17 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: can ferrets have salt
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Wow. Thanks, Chris, for bringing up salt poisoning. The possibility hadn't even crossed
my mind since we had a heck of a time getting even the bit in needed for one who was
hard to balance with Addisons. Besides it accidently happening with salted meat, I
wonder if anyone has had a ferret who was attracted to salt too much. We've never
encountered one (so far) but with ferrets it really pays to "never say never".
I looked up salt licks and some wildlife salt licks MIGHT also possibly have levels of some
mineral in too high amounts for ferret (for example zinc though that is more often from
galvanized metal used for food or water as per page 168 of _Biology and Diseases of the
Ferret, 2nd edition_.
In that same text I looked up salt poisoning starting on the next page. By the time of
publication of that text it had been recorded from the feeding of salted fish (tuna in
brine). Of 30 fed the diet 9 developed clinical signs and 8 died. The symptoms are the
same as those seen in other species who ingest too much salt: significantly depressed
with "periodic choriform spasms" seen 2 to 96 hours after eating the excessive amounts
of salt with death following shortly afterward. The damage is to the brain.
Remember that salt does provide needed nutrients. What is import is the AMOUNT -- not
too much and not too little. The needed minerals are part of any balanced diet in one
way or another.
Finding that type of spasm has taken a bit of a wider search, but it's good to learn
Choreiform is showing up in neurological refs. _Saunder's Veterinary Dictionary_ says for
"Chorea"
"in humans the ceaseless occurrence of rapid, jerky involuntary movements, but the term
is usually applied to the myoclonus seen in dogs associated with infection by distemper
virus"
The text is partly written and fully edited by an expert in comparative medicine so the
term may be being used either way, so looking up "myoclonus" now. Myo means muscle,
of course...
>From the same excellent resource which I recommend:
"repetitive, rhythmic contraction of a group of skeletal muscles, persisting in sleep"
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Lloyd" <chris-lloyd@...> wrote:
>
> >can ferrets have any salt lick a salt block<
>
> NO, I've lost kits to just feeding too salty meat, salt licks are for herbivores. Chris.
>
>
> Mr Chris Lloyd.
> 07092 027588.
> Wessex Ferret Club.
> www.wessexferretclub.co.uk
>
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