>I was reading an article in a ferret magazine about lymphoma and
>insulinoma and it being related to the amount of carbs in the food
>they eat. I tried looking for the info to the foods that I feed my
>ferret online because its not on the bags. Does any one know the
>answer to this question?

Well, first off, remember that is a hypothesis. It might pan out or it
might not. Note that Dr. Williams has been careful to point out that
it is hypothetical.

Steve and I have had ferrets in the family for something around
27 years now and despite kibble being what everyone we knew fed,
insulinoma was practically unheard of then -- really, really rare.
I've heard this from others, including vets who treated ferrets then.

Now, there have been other husbandry changes and there certainly has
been a dramatic increase in fancies, so among other possibilities is
that a genetic vulnerability to starch levels over a certain amount may
exist more now than before if the hypothesis holds up under rigorous
study.

Certainly, there have already been two possible genetic contributors
found and others will be looked at over time.

To decrease the starches and sugars look for foods with higher protein
content, and for ones whose carbohydrate levels are mostly in terms of
fiber. Most bags contain that info and the more reliable mail order
sources such as Ferret Depot include that info on the websites though
it has to be clicked open often instead of coming up immediately.

If there are certain medical problems such as some urinary problems
then avoid the higher protein foods. If the ferret is prone to cystine
stones that is a must. If the ferret has chronic kidney disease and
phosphorous levels can't be reduced in other ways then reducing protein
levels pays. (For acute kidney disease it does not seem to matter
usually.)

Here's something i need to look into further: a friend who is a food
manufacturer -- someone I have known since before he decided to
investigate making a ferret food -- was talking with me a few days ago
and we wound up discussing nutritional steatis (yellow fat disease).
He'll be looking into it further but he said that on first glance it
looks perhaps like the underlying reason for that may be that the
fats in the marine fish or the squid go bad and that oxidation in turn
causes the problem. He also said that the way that many preservatives
work is by oxidizing in a safer ways than the food but also being able
to oxidize more easily so the food remains okay because the oxygen is
instead reacting with the preservatives. Once enough of the
preservative is oxidized then the food starts to go, too.

Also, it turns out that many food makers use food that is well enough
preserved that it arrives at their locations with a 2 year safety
window.

One common preservative these days is Vitamin E.

As has been pointed out in the past by vet members of the list it is
common for preservatives to have been tested in rodents, but rodents
are more closely related to primates than they are to carnivora, and in
some cases the types of malignancies that increased in rodent studies
are types ferrets almost never get, anyway Meanwhile people who worry
almost never look at which types decreased in studies, though in the
case of at least one preservative one of the malignancies which
appeared in lower numbers in rodents getting large preservative doses
was one more often seen in ferrets. That said, the amounts are so high
in such studies that they don't well reflect real life.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5882]