From:
"Meryl Faulkner"
Date: 2009-07-23 01:37:04 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Diarrhea & sweet potatoes, and also effects on blood glucose
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
My ferret Sandy has more normal stools now that he's getting 2-3mls (about =
1/2 tsp)canned pumpkin twice daily mixed with about 10-15 mls chicken baby =
food. He also gets his prednisolone and his diazoxide after getting about 2=
/3 the mix, so that helps get the pred and diazoxide down. From thin skinny=
runny poops he now has thicker more normal stools. I sometimes see the ora=
nge of the pumpkin in them. My understanding is that sweet potato, regular =
potato and pumpkin help with diarrhea because of the fiber in those foods. =
The fiber absorbs the water and firms up the stools. There is sugar (sucros=
e) present, but some of it is fructose which has a lower glycemic index - m=
eaning as far as I can tell that it affects blood glucose more slowly.
Don't know if this is appropriate to mention here, but I found a link to an=
article in something called Natural News which mentions a study by USC and=
U of Hawaii researchers of humans showing connections between fructose an=
d sucrose intake in certain groups were associated with pancreatic cancer.
http://www.naturalnews.com/023366_sucrose_fructose_cancer.html
I hadn't realized there was such a proven connection in humans. However, th=
e amount of pumpkin I give would seem to be so small it should not have any=
effects on the ferrets blood glucose. When Sandy (male 6+ yrs)showed signs=
of insulinoma (bg 68 on June 30)he was started on prednisolone and diazox=
ide. On July 12 went to 110. He was started on pumpkin twice daily on July =
11. On July 21 just after his morning pumpkin mix bg was 96. BTW I use the =
dog code on AlphaTrack. I filled out an email request on the Abbott website=
asking for information on the codes for ferrets, (my veterinarian wanted a=
dditional current confirmation rather than I read it on a past FHL veterina=
rian post)and got a phone call from Abbott! One of their ?veterinarians or =
physicians (forgot to write down his name - dang!- I was so shocked to get =
the call). I said that there had been information saying the dog code was c=
losest, and was that still the case? The gentleman said that they were stil=
l analyzing the statistics and information from veterinarians, and did not =
yet have all the data for a standard curve to actually put out a ferret cod=
e, but they were hoping to soon. But the dog code he said according to what=
they knew so far was closer to the ferret than the cat code. So got a verb=
al but not written confirmation that dog code is still closest. I am still =
amazed (impressed too)that they really called me!
Meryl=20=20=20=20
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, J Clark <weasleluv@...> wrote:
>
> =A0=A0=A0 Just a detail about sweet potatoes.....They are high in sugarso=
wouldn't it be detrimental to ferrets?
>
>>
> [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/