I found why I had thought that there was a secondary source of D3
due to bioconversion in the Blue Buffalo foods, though it looks like
perhaps -- if what the company told the FDA is right -- that the
problem was a manufacturing one where lots went through right after the
manufacture of a totally different type of animal food (for a different
company) that needs high D3 levels.

Anyway, on page 12 of the Summer 2011 issue of MSU "Perspectives" there
is the sentence: "With a lack of evidence for excessive D3 content, new
questions are raised regarding other bioactive forms of vitamin D in
the food that would not be measured in routine analytic procedures."
So, if the testing did NOT find high D3 levels (if the right specimens
were given to them, i.e. the right lots) then the manufacturing
explanation given to the FDA by the company might be in question for
validity. That makes me yet more concerned about the reports in the
site that Deb shared:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html

which are 2013 posts, starting with recent months and again are kidney
ones.

Ferrets are as sensitive to hypervitaminosis D3 as dogs are and also
wind up with calcemia which causes calcium deposits in organs such as
the kidneys and heart because of that. Usually it begins with symptoms
of kidney malfunctions.

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/
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 7782]