Glandular Therapy?

[novemberkris]

So, of course in my quest boost Paulie's quality of life and look into things that may stall any lymphomas, I checked into Mustelid Musk's recommendation of Timmy's Tonic. One of the things that caught my eye was the Pet Tinic vitamins, something my vet might be willing to try (if nothing else, again, to give him more nutrition and keep him happy longer).

So, I checked the for Ferrets Only site and found this: www.craftycreatures.com/forferretsonly/health/health.html

This is like a mega organ supplement. So, I'm like, hrmm ... PetTinic is good because it has the liver fraction that's supposed to support the liver, should I be thinking about supporting other organs? (After all, I'm on commercial raw and there's a range of how much organ meat he is getting and some organs are not in the mix).

So it lead me to the concept of glandular therapy:
www.pet-grub.com/appendixA/glandular_supplements_and_glandular_therapy

www.holisticonline.com/glandular-therapy.htm

www.pettogethers.com/PowerReports/GlandularTherapy.aspx

The concept sounds interesting. I'm skeptical while at the same time could see how that makes sense. Besides, my boy is a little carnivore, making sure he gets well rounded meat treats is a good plan in a sense and why we all switch to a raw diet. Another thing that one pet owner points out (that I find interesting) is some of these glands and organs contain natural chemicals that many of us turn to in the herbal remedies (which may be total fluff, but again, carnivores must have access to this stuff from something). It is something to toy with anyway.

I was just wondering if anyone had heard of this approach or used a glandular supplement (if you are feeding whole prey, I would doubt it, haha--its all in there). I'm more curious than anything.

[Heather]

I've heard of glandular therapies, but I've never used it. I have to admit that I would be very skeptical about the use of the product on the ferret's only site. The glandular therapies that I"ve read about and heard about are usually gland specific. I don't think that offering a bunch of baked glands and pounding them into a fine powder is quite what the holistically minded intended . My understanding (and it's rather vague) is that you choose a gland that you furchild is having problems with. So, in theory if your little one is having adrenal problems then you offer a tonic made from the adrenal gland. If as in Loki's case he's having kidney issues then you offer a tonic made from the kidneys. I've heard of different methods of creating these tonics, everything from pureed organs to the essence of the organs (as a homeopathic remedy). I know that some of these remedies were banned as these were ground up organs and there were issues about transmitting various diseases with the use of these remedies (spinal tissue and brains). Keep researching you will also find the use of glandulars in Chinese medicines too. Different concept but intriguing just the same.
ciao

[novemberkris]

Yeah, I think this one is for people who make homemade diets and don't have access to organs, or want to beef up kibble. The other site equates it with the therapy, but I think its an "organ supplement". The brain part really made me nervous though. Mad Cow Disease, no thank you.

I'm more interested in what I found on the cat section: ImmuGO. It contains spleen, marrow and thymus. (They also make one with just kidneys and liver). This is a wafer, I guess, but it actually has dose instructions for ferrets. Obviously, I'd rather feed whole prey, but that goes back to that whole issue if living with parents, Paulie not eating bigger chunks of food (stubborn boy), etc. I think if I could get him eating mice a couple meals a week he'd have some lovely positive changes related, perhaps, to exactly what glandular therapy attempts to accomplish. After all, he'd get lots of organs and glands, naturally.

[Heather]

I would sooner use the real thing myself. Yes, the mad cow thing was one of the things that put glandular therapy into the realm of "maybe this is dangerous thing". I'm more intimidated by the so called additives that seem to find their way into these type of products.... You know preservatives, fillers things that they don't have to declare on the pkg as the amounts are trace minerals or materials, those things make me nervous. Ferrets are really a very fragile furchild and living in peoples homes, and living with all the toxins that we deal with on a daily basis. Household products, laundry products, cleaners, anti bacterial products these all alter their bodies' chemical balance because what is minute or trace for us is 1000 times more toxic for them.
ciao