Veggies in commercial diet???

[mustelidmusk]

Heather,
I'm not surprised by your findings. The food mixes we used for wildlife rehabbing for carrnivores contained about 5% plant fiber. We'd get a lot of stressed out animals, and they did better with a small amount of fiber added to the iet. Even the weasels benefitted from it.

Granted, fiber will help to firm an excessively runny stool. But on the day my kids get no-fiber meals, their poops definitely pass through a bit quicker and are less digested than on the days they eat the Nature's Variety. It may just be a "food change" thing. The small amount of fiber may help, but it certainly doesn't seem to be hurting my kids, so this is why I'm not too worried about it.

-jennifer

[Heather]

Jul 15, 2008 4:14:18 GMT -5 josiesmom said:

Hi Heather,

I'd be interested to learn more details about your experiment. Such as How old are your ferrets?

Were they raised on raw/natural or switched?

All my ferrets are rescues, so obviously switched. Hence cleaning up other peoples messes.

What ages?
I presently have in house, ferrets ranging from ages 2 or 3 years to 9 yrs of age.


Did they show symptoms of IBD before RAW/Natural?

Little Mischief came to me with an ulcer. The rest...they're converted to raw as they come through the door. Were they ill, it's a good question. With IBD it's a possibility as this flares upon stress and can appear totally inactive when the animal is relaxed and not stressed. Any ferret turned into rescue becomes severely stressed.

Have you been logging the animal protein sources that seem to bother them?

I've not found them to find any protein source that they cannot tolerate.

Are these protein sources devoid of artificial enhancements?

I make my own food from farm raised animals and have been for over 10 yrs.

Have you had your ferrets tested for Coccidia, Giardia or Helicobactor infections?

My understanding is that heliobactor is in all ferrets, wether it's active or not depends on what state the ferret's immune system is in.
All ferrets are tested for coccidea and giardia if they show up ill.

Reading I've done suggests a significant percentage of ferrets (some think practically all) are infected with helicobactor that will flare at various times.

Have you noticed a correlation to any weather, seasonal or daylight patterns?
No

I really think we need to view our ferrets as separate from what dogs and cats do, because their systems ARE completely different.

If what was o.k for a cat or dog to ingest worked for ferrets, then we wouldn't see so many ferrets in dietary distress - because a significant amount of new ferret owners DO feed their ferrets dog or cat food! Which as more experience ferrants realize will only cause all sorts of problems for the ferret.

When you feed dog and cat food to a ferret, if you're feeding a raw diet shouldn't make any difference, except maybe if you feed large amounts of vegetable matter to your dog (poor thing). I don't feed cooked anything, nor is anything I feed vaguely similar to canned or kibble. I think that I'm aware of how to feed my ferrets and keep them healthy. I know they're neither cats nor dogs but that being said they're a carnivore, a true carnivore just like my cat. The foods that they're supposed to eat are the same. My ferrets eat a combination of raw ground, whole and prey. There is no kibble, no canned...I don't even feed that crap to my feline or canine furfriends.
ciao

[crazylady]

Hi as a raw meat/whole prey feeder I can only speak from experince ( I hunt my ferrets and feed whole rabbits along with game and other meats as part of there diet ) I also am lucky enough to have experience with wild polecats they eat around the gut when offered a whole carcarcase and never puncture the gut or eat the intestines ( even with pidgeon the crop is left intact containing corn or wheat ) berries I cannot comment on but I supose it is a possibility when in season ( not all year round ) kind of like offering a kid the treat of candy eggs too are not in season all year round and too many raw eggs can cause allopecia as can too many day old chicks the fur and feather acts like little brushes and cleans out the intestines and digestive tract as it is pushed through so this acts as the ferrets fiber eliminating the need for vegtable matter why it is added to some ferret foods has always puzzled me just my two pennys worth take care bye for now
crazy lady

[pear2apple]

I was searching online for chicken-free diets and I came upon this webpage by Susan A Brown, DVM. Ferret's Care and Diet, about a 1/4 of the way down the page. What does everyone think of her views? Keep reading to where she talks about minerals and vitamin definciency.

Sorry, here's the link! www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/ferret.htm

[nwheather]

Mine get NV raw medallions as a supplement to their normal diet. I don't feed them everyday. On a good note, Zora, who was kibble only, has recently started eating the raw medallions...we're gettting there..... =)

[josiesmom]

I wish that more vets thought like Dr. Susan Brown! The only place I deiffer from her though process is in offering live prey. I have found it to be an excellent outlet for some of the ferret's I've adopted that due to previous mishandling had become habitual biters. Being allowed to sink their teeth into something appropriate has helped them quit biting me!

I do have reservations about Dr. Brown's page being used on Shirley's page, because Shirley promotes ferret kibble and foods with plant stuffs in it, as well as a host of herbs in those foods.

At this point I am not convinced that herbs can be utilized by ferrets. Herbal extracts or teas from herbs may be assimilated more easily but many extracts have alcohol so should be avoided.

I can't help but think that a ferret fed a proper diet shouldn't have need of herbal supplements, so why assault their digestive tract with daily influx of vegetable matter?

Ferrets with systemic issues may be another issue altogether.

Cheers,
Kim