I think by now pretty much everyone knows that some people whose
ferrets have digestive woes are helped by fiber such as pumpkin or
yams and that improvement can increase over time.

(Exception: those ferrets who are genetically prone to cystine stones
may instead need fiber sources that are lower in sulphur as per some
past posts in the various archives with info that a British biochemist
in this field sent to me -- info one expert found questionable
afterward in a private note but to which other experts did not object
in replies.)

This work is in a different type of animal, and there are hundreds of
intestinal microbes which help with digestion (some of which are so
delicate that they can only be found by the DNA they leave behind
because in the air that we breathe they disintegrate). It still is
not just known how much those many microbes or the genetics involved
in some aspects of digestion differ in domestic ferrets from other
animals (but it is known that dogs differ in over a dozen ways from
wolves in the latter regard and some in the former).

Still, some of this may be basic to digestion, so here is a a press
release which might explain why those foods high in fiber help some
ferrets:
<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351462/description/Bacterial_molecules_may_prevent_inflammatory_bowel_disease>

A few quoted small segments:

Molecules secreted by intestinal bacteria work to prevent misplaced
immune attacks in inflammatory bowel diseases...

The animals developed elevated levels of inflammation-dousing
regulatory T cells in their colons, the team reports July 4 in Science.
The cells work like wet blankets, dampening autoimmune flare-ups before
they burn out of control.

The team also found that those short-chain fatty acids protected the
mice from an experimental form of colitis, an immune disease that
destroys the colon...

might not even have to take the fatty acids as drugs. Eating higher
amounts of dietary fiber might also do the trick because the microbes
consume fiber to make the acids

End quoted segments

Since it is in Science there might be a Science News link in a while,
too, with more info.

See also:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23828891

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 7844]