Okay, we have found out the hard way that there is such a thing as too
MUCH protein in a ferret's diet.  I've been asked to explain more so
here it is.
 
We had a ferret on a high protein diet for IBD-- which in his case
didn't help so combined with the stones those foods have been dropped.
The others have been known to steal to his food.  Treats here are also
usually high protein ones (though not always).
 
Upshot: we have two ferrets (NOT the IBD one) who have gotten the harder
to treat type of bladder stones: cystine, the type of stone with protein
as its cause.
 
Now, one of those ferrets had a serious congenital bladder malformation
which is rare in ferrets and which vets have told me is usually fatal.
We THINK we've pulled him through, but he is back in the hospital today
with weight loss and blood in his urine again and having tests including
cultures done to try to find the cause and meds that will hit it.  It is
going to be hard again maybe, but he still loves to play (still very
active) and he is still loving.  He's had corrective surgery and our vet
managed to stop his resultant hydronephrosis and his kidney numbers are
good.  We know that with cystine stones there sometimes can be a kidney
variant where cystine is not processed properly, but we do not at this
point suspect that.  In his case even if he hadn't been on high-protein
his malformation would have gotten every bit as bad but the timing might
have been a little different.  At least he has beaten the odds and is
alive and active.  Now, if we can only get the rest under control...
 
One reason why we doubt his cystine problem is due to a congential
inability to process it properly is because we have a second one with
cystine stones (though from the same farm breeder it is unlikely that
they are related).  Not having any deformity (and therefore responding
wonderfully rapidly to surgery) she is someone we consider fully our
responsibility despite her young age.  We are the ones who did not
prevent her from getting too much protein.  (The bladder deformity of
the male, though, is something we consider a breeder responsibility.)
 
We have to find out if the other two should be x-rayed.
 
Just so you know: this is NOT a small problem medically.  In fact, it's
been a real doozey, and as many know we have had ferrets in the family
for 23 years and have dealt with a number of serious medical problems.
When a ferret develops stones, whether the more common type for which the
urine is too alkaline and minerals precipitate out in the urinary organs
as a result, or these cystine stones (which cause protein break down
products to precipitate out) which usually call for the medication
Tiopronin to help break stones up and Polycitra-K to make the urine more
alkaline rather than more acidic, urinary tract stones are dangerous,
hard to deal with, prone to causing other problems (like urine back-up
and kidney damage, or a need to by-pass the urethra), very time consuming
and very expensive.
 
Just remember that there IS such a thing as too much protein for ferrets
and the resulting medical problems are really horrid whoppers.  Learn
from reading, because no matter who you are I can assure you that it
would be better that you not go through this!
 
Many thanks to those who have been there and provided so much info and
the vets and urologist who have responded so far, and who have treated
this before and sent info, have papers/sites out there with info or
leads, can consult for our vet on this topic, or who offered excellent
advise from the problem in other species: Amy, Karen, Dr. Tom Kawasaki,
Dr. Mike Dutton, Dr. Jerry Murray, Dr. Bruce Williams, Dr. Mark Burgess,
Dr. Jack Schwart, Danee, and gosh, I know that I am forgetting two people
but I apologize because i am exhausted and I know I'll kick myself later
for having your names on the tip of my tongue but not being able to
retrieve them.  I appreciate your help -- from all of you -- so very
much.  It's a hard learned lesson, but better that we should all learn
that there can be such a thing as too much protein before there wind up
being even more with this problem.  It's been a really miserable learning
experience.
 
To read more:
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
search on
cystine
 
Request: Could everyone who gets a chance and has the info handy post
what the cystine content of their ferret and cats food are?  We may have
to go to lower than normal cystine foods though we don't know for sure,
yet.  It may be that just reducing the amount of protein they are getting
back down to levels they used to get will do the trick, or it may be that
meds will be needed.  We're learning as we go along and we sure do
appreciate all the help!  Couldn't do this without it!
 
[Moderator's note: I'll collect them if we get many and post them all
at once, probably in one post.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 4568]