About a month ago Roger McMillian mentioned that Dr. Kawasaki and associates
had done research indicating the need for taurine in ferrets' diets.  I was
(and am) pretty curious about the need for taurine, yet I couldn't locate any
published research done on this topic as it pertained to ferrets (other than
what I already posted).
 
So... first I spoke to Dr. Kawasaki.  He research was published in a small
journal, and he was very helpful in explaining what he's found.  He said that
lack of taurine affects the retina and can make ferrets blind.  He was quite
pleasant to talk to by the way.
 
I then spoke to the Animal Medical Center.  The opinion there seems to differ,
saying that they see lots of malnourished ferrets (e.g. raised on dog food
which does not contain taurine) but they don't see lots of ferrets with retinal
damage.  They're quite pleasant to talk to also.
 
So, I guess draw your own conclusions.  I'd rather err on the side of caution,
myself.
 
Bill
 
[Posted in FML issue 0347]