The original post:
>My ferret, 3 months old, has developed a really bad ulcer. The vet
>suggested that the raw diet could be the cause of it and recommends
>switching the ferret to a kibble diet and giving soup daily.

Any suggestions on making the switch to kibble?"

Nothing in the post indicates the vet has KNOWN this ferret for any
length of time - just a mention of "the vet".

Nothing in the post indicates the vet is concerned about INFECTION" -
just that the vet SUGGESTS a raw diet may have CAUSED the ulcer.

This is highly unlikely! A raw diet is an evolutionary diet which
ferrets are completely designed to eat. The truth remains that the
majority of veterinarians are not at all informed about natural raw
diets - so they often accuse the raw diet as the cause of the ferret's
trouble when in fact there is another cause! Vets do not know about
raw feeding so of course they will encourage an owner to switch to
something they are more familiar with

Feeding a raw diet offers the ferret nutrients in a bioavailable form
that is easily and quickly assimilated, contrary to kibble diets that
are comprised mainly of products a ferret is NOT designed to digest,
yet their system still pushes the kibble through in practically the
same amount of time. This time from input to output doesn't change much
but what happens while the food is in the middle does! Nutrients are
gleaned quickly from a raw, natural meaty source - but NOT from the
high vegetable matter source of kibble!

Meat goes in to the ferret already in a high moisture content. Kibble
does not. The grains in kiblble come out barely changed from the way
they went in!Amino acids in meat proteins are completely different from
plant proteins and the meat proteins are significantly more digestible.

So from the get go kibble is harder on the digestive system than a
raw natural diet! To move from something easily digested to something
difficult and practically impossible to digest when the digestive
system is compromised is NOT a good practice.

Nothing in the original post indicates any other factors in this kit's
life - where it came from, where it moved to, how long has it been on
the raw diet, what are its current facilities, does it have cage mates.
how do those cage mates interact - just to name a few. Ulcers are
caused from a variety of things - the most common one is stress
related; and a close second is an upset in the gut bacteria -
specifically helicobactor pylori.

Because ferrets seem to be susceptible to stress induced ulcers - they
are used extensively for investigating ulcer medications for human use.
Yes, they get used as lab animals. I think it would be safe to say that
lab animals are, across the board, fed a kibble diet - yet these same
lab animals manage to be inundated with stresses enough to cause ulcers
that are then investigated and medicated!

Dr. Bruce Williams DVM/ pathologist outlines some straight forward info
on ulcers in ferrets:

http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/ulcers.html

Suki tries to make the leap that to feed a raw diet opens the ferret up
to infection, this just has no validity! There are plenty of instances
where kibbled foods rife with bacteria have sickened not only pets, but
people as well, so to say a raw diet will cause greater infection is
just not valid!

Something to keep in mind when considering kibble is no matter what the
label says - "This food made with REAL MEAT" - exactly how much "real
meat" is IN the kibble and WHAT has been done to it to preserve it
for the one to two year shelf life of the typical bag of kibble? What
chemicals and cooking processes were used to achieve such lengthy shelf
life? what kind of nutrients are available from such preserved product
and what do those chemicals do to the sensitive innards of the ferret
with an ulcer?

If this kit has been raised as a raw fed ferret - switching to kibble
will only create MORE stress for it by trying to force feed it a
substance it does not (and should not) recognize as food! If the kit
has been recently transitioned to raw then, switching it back to a
kibble source will only stress it further.

Suki does mention that sometimes something rough ingested can
contribute to ulcers; well food stuffs don't get much more coarse and
rough than ground corn or other kibbled grains! These grains come out
in practically the same form as they originally were to create the
kibble! Ferrets have to consume mass quantities of coarse, dry kibble
to glean the same amount of nutrients as they would from a small piece
of moist nutritious raw meat. So gram for gram - kibble is more
detrimental and rough than any type of raw diet - even if that kit has
been chewing bones - raw bones are NOT rough and splintery and its
highly unlikely that the kit is even eating bones of any great size at
three months old.

Something has happened that has upset the acid levels in this kit's
digestive system. Ingesting meats often would help utilize that excess
acid. Ingesting kibble will only add more carbohydrates and sugars to
the system which will create a superb arena for bacteria to flourish.
So if the ulcer is from an imbalance of gut bacteria - feeding kibble
is not going to help the situation.

The post does NOT indicate what type of "raw" diet is being fed. There
are many variations of "raw diets" - I utilize whole raw meaty items
and of course whole prey. I'll utilize ground raw meats during
transition times, but don't use them for any length of time because
the whole raw meaty item is healthier to feed. I only use raw meaty
items fit for human consumption. So that is the basis for my approach
to this dilemma.

The bottom line in this situation is that the vet is grasping at straws
and has NOT done due diligence in discovering the root of the ferret's
ulcer. We as outsiders do NOT have enough information to offer help -
other than suppositions.

The vet DID suggest feeding soup, I'd agree with that, but would make a
soup from food sources the ferret is familiar with eating, and I'd add
carnivore care, and ferretone too. Feed small meals as frequently as
possible. It could be that the ulcers got their start from the kit's
stomach being empty for long periods of time. Or from NOT emptying out
often enough. Babies need to eat small amounts and at frequent
intervals.

While the poster did query about how to switch to kibble from raw -
I think the underlying intent was wondering SHOULD this ferret get
switched? Only the ferret caretaker can make that determination - but
from a raw feeder's perspective - switching this ferret to kibble will
NOT remedy the ulcer problem and may in fact cause more harm and
prolong the ulcer!

Veterinarians do not have ALL the answers and are only PRACTICING
medicine. They can only offer their educated opinions or guesses based
upon their own experiences or exposure - until veterinarians learn
about raw diet in depth -it is very impractical to simply "suggest"
that a raw diet caused the ulcers in a 3 month old kit when there are
so many more common factors that cause ulcers and are well known to
cause them in KIBBLE fed ferrets!

Regards,
Kim

[Posted in FML 6615]