On Oct 22, 2007, at 3:00 AM, Anonymous wrote:
>What would happen if you fed a ferret nothing but meat? .... "fajita
>beef" ... Let's say I fed a ferret two or three strips twice a day,
>plus as much water as he'd drink.

Dear Anonymous,

Without getting into the quasi-religious debates over the merit of raw
food, I think it's safe to say that feeding purely fajita beef is not
a good idea.

When a carnivore catches and eats a mouse, it eats pretty much the
whole thing. Organ meats contain vitamins and minerals absent in
muscle meat. The gut almost certainly holds a small amount of
partially-digested vegetable matter. Connective tissue and fur
provide a certain amount of fiber.

Pure muscle meat is low in calcium, potassium, vitamin A, thiamin, and
viatamin E, according to a University of Nebraska study (they were
comparing grass-fed versus grain-fed bison, but I think the pattern
of nutrients applies to cows as well).
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/carringt/bison/nutrients_in_meat.htm

Both vitamin A and vitamin E are what are called fat-soluble vitamins,
and muscle meat is too lean to contain much. Most muscle meats contain
only about 4% fat. The cheapest, fattiest hamburger can be as high as
25%. Fajita meat will not get anywhere near the 30% fat figure we look
for in ferret foods.

Of course, what is meant by "high" and "low" nutrient levels depends
on what the requirements are. For people, we have a good idea. But we
don't have a chart of "adult minimum daily requirements" for ferrets.
We know what is necessary to keep lab animals alive and apparently
healthy, but not necessarily what is needed to thrive in the long term.

Cow muscle meat is also low in vitamin K, according to the Coumadin
drug site. Vitamin K is a clotting factor that helps heal wounds, but
increases the danger of blood clots if hypertension is present.
Coumadin is a drug which decreases the effect of vitamin K.

>Purely as a theory I'd imagine that the ferret's waste would be less
>both in quantity and odor, and I'd suspect a longer and higher quality
>life.

Poop quantity may be less, but I think you will find that, in general,
carnivore poop smells much much worse than vegetarian poop. Processed
animal food also produces less smell. Some processed foods are better
in this regard than others -- for instance, Marshall's has a big fish
content, and the waste is smelly. Blood sugar, in all mammals, is
glucose, which has to come from the food we eat. Breaking apart protein
to provide glucose is complicated, and makes ketones and other smelly
substances as a byproduct. The exact nature of the amino acid/fat
mixture determines exactly what chemicals are in the waste which makes
the smell.

Feeding raw whole prey might well lead to longer life. There is
certainly anecdotal evidence to that effect, though there are probably
other factors operating (for instance, there is good evidence that
decreased caloric intake increases longevity, and raw food is not
generally continuously supplied as is kibble). And some will point
out the increased danger of microbial contamination of raw food. This
argument has shown religious fervor on both sides (and I think BIG
has promised to be proactive in preventing any further discussion from
getting out of hand). But I think both sides will agree that a diet of
just frozen fajita meat is not a terribly good idea.

-Claire

[Posted in FML 5769]