(Bob "high-speed" checking in on his way to study western polecats)...

Has domestication changed the basic digestive physiology of the ferret?

Nice supposition, Edward, but domestication in the ferret has not
(repeat, has NOT, as in "NEVER HAS") lengthened the gastrointestinal
tract, grown a caecum, shifted the micro-ecology of the bowel to
encourage "plant eater" bacteria, compartmented the stomach, changed
the basic digestive physiology to include micro changes to the
structure of the intestinal wall, slowed the speed of the food bolus,
somehow warped the liver and pancreas to change the mix of digestive
enzymes, provided the ferret with grinding molars, changed the ferret's
saliva, or perhaps a thousand other things required to morph the ferret
into a rabbit. It simply ain't so, and supposing it cannot make it that
way. Eh, what's up, doc?

The ferret is a primary, obligate hypercarnivore. "Primary" means the
ferret (or feral ferret or polecat) primarily consumes flesh-based
foods (Ecology). "Obligate" means that they have nutritional
requirements to eat meat and show a long evolutionary history to do
so (Digestive Physiology). "Hypercarnivore" means that there are
structural changes to the ferret's jaws and teeth that demonstrate an
adaptation to a meat and bone diet (Anatomy). The additional facts
that the ferret lacks a caecum, lacks salivary enzymes to initiate
carbohydrate digestion, has an extremely simple stomach, has a liver,
gall bladder and pancreas designed for a obligate carnivore, has zero
(that means "NO") carbohydrate requirements, AND has protein sensitive
taste buds on their tongue are all additional evidence of the
carnivorous nature of the ferret (all the other "ologies"). There are
many other bits of evidence, but the best test? Put a baby rabbit and
a baby ferret in a box of alfalfa and see which animal eats what. Baby
carnivores are more than happy to tell you what they want to eat.

That cooking breaks down plant cellular walls to release locked
nutrients and the heat energy causes nutrients to break into smaller
molecules, also making them somewhat more easily absorbed, in no way
can be taken to infer that domestication has caused ANY physiological
change to the digestive system. If you want to make such an inference,
you HAVE to back it up with concrete, peer-reviewed evidence. Last time
I looked, not a single, solitary study could be found to support such
an idea. In fact, I doubt if you could find more than a few reports of
any significant digestive change in any domesticated terrestrial
vertebrate (with the exception of possible recent advances in genetic
engineering). What you are doing is adapting a food -- the carrot -- to
an animal, NOT adapting the ferret to the carrot. One is easy -- you
just cook the carrot. The other is much, much harder, if even possible.
You can try that path, but I promise you will leave dead and suffering
ferrets along the way.

A large aspect of the "Ferret Project" that I have been working so
hard on, has been to document food husbandry and compare it to
observable disease rates. The results are still being compiled (and
generated), but in a preliminary sense, it is quite clear that the
farther you range from feeding the ferret whole, intact animal
carcasses, the the greater the risk of disease. These are statistical
probabilities, so don't try to impress me by saying your ferret ate
wheat germ and cranberries for 15 years and died under a falling 25
pound dictionary -- extremely rare events happen and mean little to
the overall population. People have been known to fall from airplanes
without a parachute and survive... want to try? Statistically, the
more plant material, processing, and cooking found in a food, the more
disease found in a ferret.

You are, of course, welcome to debate these findings, but supposition
simply will not substitute for real data -- you need scientific
evidence. Also, because I have a redundant sample collected from around
the world that can empirically be shown to include ALL ferret types
(diets, vet care, genetics, whatever), you will need more than "what
ifs" to disprove this data. However, if you can, I would welcome the
education -- I would hate to publish this research only to discover a
fatal flaw. You could save me from a red face.

Still, mon Edward, I greatly and sincerely welcome the offering of such
ideas because a discussion of why they will or will not fly is of great
benefit to all who read the debate. I am not sure when I will be able
to check my email again -- it may be a while as I frolic among the
polecats -- but when I do, I will be happy to explain any questions
which may arise from this brief reply.

Bob C
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[Posted in FML 6291]