garlic

[tink80]

what is your opinion on garlic? i researched a little tonight and have seen there is some controversy.
i want to know because i am switching the babies from ferretone to olive oil...and i accidentally bought the olive oil with garlic extract.
they like it.
but can i use it?
only a few drops a day of course.
i'd be interested what you guys think as you all follow holistic feeding and read between the hype vs. facts.
thanks,
tink

[Heather]

You are going to find controversy regarding garlic .... garlic is of the same family as onion (considered toxic for all pets) and I think that when people discovered that garlic was good, for humans in particular and pets (in limited amounts) they went and thought lots would be better. You then had toxic results. Can ferrets make use of it...maybe...is it harmful...they're a small animal and a true carnivore. For cats it's toxic...for dogs...a possibility. Would I personally use it....no, but that's me. I don't like the fact that (a) it's toxic for cats and (b) has now been declared as toxic for dogs. I've used it for my dogs but in very limited (my dogs all have exceeded 100 lbs) and never for longer than 2 weeks. It's rather like using flax oil....everyone started using it for their furbabies but it has very little use and in fact for some causes increased itchies and some even allergic reactions.
I have a question....why olive oil? why not salmon oil or some omega 3 based oil. Ferrets are not real good at converting olive oil into a readily usable product. Just a thought
ciao

[tink80]

thanks for your reply!
i ended up tossing it *just in case*. i just really want the kids off ferretone because i'm hearing so much negative and it's making me a bit paranoid since they are used to getting a few drops a day and i'm starting to wonder if i'm poisoning them.
for the moment, i'm using soybean oil until i can get a bottle of plain olive oil. i like that olive oil is more natural, doesn't risk vitamin a toxicity or have BHT, and is also good to lube them up. this is heresay of course but it makes sense to me.
i know there are other oils but i'm not driving at the moment (long story) and i'm not sure where to find them or if i can afford them. it just seems more convenient and sounds pretty beneficial so i thought i wouldn't bother seeking the others out just yet (not that i'm opposed to in the future).
here's a thread on FV that got me into it and thinking this would be a better substitute for ferretone...it's by crazylady (bev)
www.ferretvillage.org/viewtopic.php?t=18856

[suds]

well omega3 and fish oil capsuls are found in the vitamin sections at most pharmecy's and markets they realy are not that expensive.

[mustelidmusk]

I doubt that garlic in tiny amounts is an issue since I know a lot of people use the Nupro's ferret supplement, which has some garlic. I suspect that "less is more" with garlic for ferrets. But, Nupro has been in use for quite some time - and many food contain some garlic. I wouldn't feed garlic to ferrets, bu if a teeny-tiny amount is in a good product, the small amount probably will not be a problem.

However, Olive oil wth garlic is likely to contain a fair amount of garlic - probably more than you want to feed your ferrets!
-jennifer

[tink80]

i bought some plain olive oil yesterday, the boys shook their heads like i was poisoning them, LOL. so i'm trying mixing with the soybean oil for the moment just so they'll take to it since they liked the soybean oil before when i had to use it...they still are pretty ticked off about the olive oil which is funny because they WANTED the olive oil that had garlic that one day. i think it's because it was expensive and this plain stuff is the generic type since i'm running out of money here to fix this ferretone "problem", LOL.
if they don't cave by next week which is when i'll need to cut their nails again, i'll just buy another bottle of ferretone and ONLY use it for nail clipping while i experiment with other oils as money provides for daily treat. but they won't be getting ferretone daily anymore, that's for sure. now hopefully i don't go broke before i find an oil mixture they like :-)
i just like the idea of something i don't have to worry about toxicity and also works at the same time as lax. i don't like feeling guilty for the nightly drops of something that can be bad for them.
we'll see...
but i'm NOT using the garlic anymore (no matter how much they beg, LOL)

[mustelidmusk]

Start out with a small amount of olive oil with a little bit of ferretone in it.....over time, they'll learn to like the olive oil. fish/Salmon oil is also very good for ferrets (don't use cod liver oil) , but you need to watch the amount you feed since it's loaded with fat-soluble vitamins. The cod liver oil is not as good as fish body oils since the balance of vitamins is not as good)

You can use the ferrtone and olive (once they start liking it) to introduce new flavors like fish oil!

-jennifer