>The vet showed me an X-ray taken of a ferret he had seen today who had a
>growth (maybe he said full of fluid?) which had reduced his lung capacity
>by 80%.  Anyways, the vet said that there was significant evidence
>linking the lack of taurine in the diet of cats and illness of this kind
>(he called it a cardiomyopathy if memory serves), and he suspected the
>same to be true for ferrets.  He gave me a bottle of "felobits" and said
>Mia should get a 1/4 of a pill twice a week.  This amounts to about 15mg
>of taurine (30mg a week).  If it's not dangerous for her, I don't mind
>giving it to her, but I was wondering if anyone else had heard of this.
 
    Jim - It's certainly not dangerous.  I talked with a vet from Germany
who said that he routinely treats cases of cardiomyopathy in ferrets with
taurine with excllent results.  Then again - I hear the term "excellent
results" quite a bit.  A lack of taurine in cats can contribute to
cardiomyopathy, but is certainly not the cause of the syndrome - genetics
and hyperthyroidism are much more conclusively incriminated in the cause
of this disease.
 
    Most of your ferret chows and all of your cat chows contin all of the
taurine that your ferret needs.  I would only suspect a taurine deficiency
in a ferret that is eating table scraps or dog food (yes, I've seen that,
too.) Now, if your ferret had CMP, I might suggest giving it the added
supplements.  But without signs of cardiomyopathy, I don't know if it is
of any use.
 
[Moderator's note: Dr. Kawasaki published that taurine deficiency caused
retinal problems in ferrets.  Any thoughts on that?  BIG]
 
Bruce H. Williams, DVM         Dept. of Veterinary Pathology
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath    Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]         Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
                               [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1238]