Yesterday I wrote:
>I was actually trying to find a very specific thing for someone:
>if anyone has done studies that specifically measure things like
>glucose and insulin levels in blood and urine in ferrets in response
>to dietary intake challenges, and that data appears to be lacking in
>what I can find, yet such data would be essential to the foundation
>of multiple hypotheses and arguments (sometimes intrinsically
>self-contradictory arguments on some popular websites as my find
>noticed) in relation to some pancreatic and intestinal health
>statements being widely made.

The answer -- having contacted some veterinary researchers who work
on improving diagnosis and care of ferrets with insulinoma -- is that
these measurements have NOT been done on ferrets to see how much blood
glucose and insulin levels or glucose in urine (preferably looking at
all three) change in response to challenges from eating animal protein,
plant protein, sugar, or complex carbohydrates. The data just does
not exist for ferrets. The work has not been done even though this is
essential foundation information. What exists are suppositions from
other mammals.

So, basically, the news is how LITTLE is actually known on this score
for ferrets!

Remember, that with dogs -- far better known companion animals -- a
recent surprise was found in that in multiple ways they have the
genetics to far better digest carbohydrates and fats than wolves have:

http://www.sciencemeetsfood.org/?p=869

QUOTES

The researchers identified 36 genomic regions that differentiated
dogs and wolves. Ten of these play roles in starch digestion and fat
metabolism, such as amylase and maltase, two key starch breakdown
enzymes.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11837.html

Erik Axelsson was also interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition
yesterday, you can listen to the full story here:
<http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3&prgDate=01-24-2013>

END QUOTES

<http://www.livescience.com/26513-starchy-human-diet-domesticated-dogs.html>

<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347706/description/Starchy_diet_may_have_transformed_wolves_to_dogs>

<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11837.html>

Oh, and on this topic: if bringing up the cecum/caecum (and therefore
the appendix) in such discussions it would be good for people to recall
that some suppositions about digestion -- while they can AT TIMES
affect degree -- are lodged in the state of knowledge that existed back
in the 19th and early 20th centuries and has altered, so really should
stop being repeated as if they were absolutes.

Since this link below was written:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-the-function-of-t

it also was found that organ acts to serve as a shelter for needed
bacteria in the intestinal microbiome to protect part of their
population during bad diarrhea, but just as people without one still
digest a varied diet well due to having the right genetics and the
right intestinal microbes so can other species. A lot has been learned
in 100 years plus.

Again: here is what to take home:
******the news is how LITTLE is actually known on this score for
ferrets!******

What hypothesizing means is that the hypothesis might be right or might
not. With so little known about ferrets on this score, even such basics
as not having those challenge studies done, it is essential the recall
that what things are discussed for ferrets and diet are just
hypotheses, and that even for dogs what HAD been thought to be known
because of wolves and other wild cousins turns out to actually not be
at all the complete picture. So, it is useful to know the ancestral
diet, but also useful to keep an open mind in case a surprise comes up
for you.

Sukie (not a vet)  Ferrets make the world a game.

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

A nation is as free as the least within it.

[Posted in FML 7688]