That is an amazing percentage!  That means nearly three out of four
ferrets are suffering from a preventable, serious dental disease.  If
you recognize that some of the unaffected ferrets had the disease, but
it did not cause enough changes to the bone to cause it to be counted,
then the statistic is absolutely frightening because it means the number
of ferrets suffering is a larger number.  It would mean that the disease
at the top of the list of ferret aliments would not be ADV, or ECE, or
adrenal disease, or insulinoma, or anything else.  The number one
disease effecting ferrets is periodontal disease.  It also has another
implication: vets aren t looking for it and owners aren t treating it.
 
Why is this important?  Because studies in humans and many animal species
show periodontal disease has been linked to cardiomyopathy and other
cardiac diseases, lung diseases, liver disease, kidney disease and
failure, bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, various autoimmune
disorders including arthritis, food-related allergies, skin disorders,
splenomegaly, microscopic lesions in liver, kidney, and brain tissue,
bacteremia, bone marrow depression, weight loss and poor physical
condition, cardiovascular lipid deposition, pancreatic disease,
degenerative joint disease, and a variety of reproductive disorders.
These disease associations were a few gleaned from searches on Biological
Abstracts and Medline; there were many, many more (just run a search on
Google on Pets, Periodontal, Disease and you will get thousands of
results).  One point regarding my approach is in order: I make the
assumption that if an association between periodontal and some organ
disease is shown in humans and two other species, there is a good
likelihood that it would hold true in ferrets.  You may not appreciate
that association, but I prefer to err on the side of improved ferret
health.
 
The best treatment for periodontal disease is prevention, pure and
simple.  The cornerstone of oral prophylaxis is brushing the ferret s
teeth every single day.  Periodic tooth cleaning is required (at least
once a year), and DO NOT attempt to do this yourself.  Ferrets will
NOT cooperate and the only way the teeth can be cleaned and polished,
the gumline explored for pockets, restorative work done, and perhaps
antibiotics directly injected into problem areas is to have the ferret
anaesthetized.  If the periodontal disease is extensive, and for some
ferrets it probably is, then antibiotic therapy and other measures may
be necessary.  Providing safe objects for chewing, as discussed in the
section on dental calculus, is helpful, but I am convinced that, outside
of feeding the ferret whole animals, the only safe and reliable solution
is daily tooth brushing and yearly professional tooth cleaning.  If your
ferret has any of the listed symptoms of periodontal disease, EVEN IF IT
IS JUST BAD BREATH, see a vet for treatment.
 
It is very important to realize a soft diet will not necessarily make
periodontal disease worse any more than a kibble diet will help it.
How do I know that is true?  Because 94.1% of pet ferrets had dental
calculus, and 72.3% had reactive bone indicative of periodontal disease.
The vast majority of these animals were on a kibble diet.  What keeps the
ferret s mouth healthy is mechanical abrasion, not the food or how it is
prepared.  Can some foods laced with anti-tartar agents actually help
reduce the build-up of dental calculus?  So what if they do?  They don t
prevent it and many ferret owners read the claims and assume they do,
so do nothing to help their ferrets.  This can make these foods more
dangerous than feeding ferrets something you KNOW causes dental calculus.
If your ferret eats nothing but intact animal carcasses, they probably
have clean teeth or only minor gingivitis.  If they eat nothing but
anti-tartar kibble or Bob s Chicken Gravy and you do not brush their
teeth or have them periodically cleaned, they will probably have some
degree of periodontal disease.  THAT is the bottom line, and if anyone
tries to suggest something different, demand proof.
 
In the next installment, I will discuss dental abscesses in ferrets.
 
Bob C
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[Posted in FML issue 4518]