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Post by myfirebandit on Feb 7, 2010 22:53:32 GMT -5
I've been trying to convert my ferrets over to partial raw while trying to convince my boyfriend that it's beneficial at the same time.
These past few days I've been feeding them a raw ground beef soupie and the boyfriend brought up the question of unsaturated vs saturated fats.
Is is better to feed chicken and leaner meats rather than beef, which is higher in saturated fat? Does this saturated fat harm our fuzzies?
The bf was suggesting feeding them leaner cuts of meat and supplementing with oils and other foods higher in unsaturated fats rather than saturated, but this seems wrong to me. Is their system somehow set up to deal with saturated fat? Or should I avoid beef? I want them to get the needed amount of fat (20 percentish), but I want it to be a good form for them.
So, saturated fats: yes or no? How much? In what forms? And should I try to avoid it while not eliminiating it?
Thanks in advance!!
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Post by ccretarolo on Feb 7, 2010 23:02:45 GMT -5
Since ferrets are carnivores, the issue of saturated vs unsaturated fat is pretty much null.
Saturated fat mostly exists in animals and some tropical plants. Since ferrets are designed to eat animal based protein, they're also designed to process saturated fats.
The issue that humans have with saturated fat is that we've evolved to get most of our fat from plants even though we are omnivorous. Also, with modern society, we've taken to eating things that our ancestors didn't even have access to in amounts that they never would have dreamed of.
Honestly, I wouldn't even worry about it. All it comes down to is that most people try to think of their pets' diet in human terms rather then in terms of what's right for their pets. Since ferrets are carnivores, think of feeding them from a carnivore's perspective. Ferrets have no knowledge of saturated fats and don't worry about it... so neither should you. After all, the domesticated ferret has survived as a carnivore for at least 1,000 years.
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Post by sherrylynne on Feb 8, 2010 10:42:26 GMT -5
Make that closer to 2500 years . And ccretarolo is right. Doesn't make any difference to their bodies at all. After all- food is only in their bodies for 3-4 hours(which is why they can handle raw with no problems!), instead of 8-10 hours like with us. And they really do need the fatty cuts of whatever meat you are feeding. That's what they use for energy, instead of carbs being converted to sugars. Here's another link for you and your bf to read: www.rawfed.com/myths/It generally deals with dogs, but is applicable to ALL carnivores!
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Post by spiritualtramp on Feb 8, 2010 11:12:46 GMT -5
Like the others said, a ferret gains their energy by converting fats, not carbs, into usable energy. So the fattier cuts of meats are quite good for the ferrets! In fact they NEED quite a higher percentage of fat than many animals, simply because their metabolisms are so fast. Don't focus on what you know of human nutrition, because it's all different for a carnivore. This is why kibbles make no sense for carnivores - they are based around what humans know about HUMAN nutrition - not about what we know about carnivore nutrition!
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