I've picked on kibble quite a bit (and have heard about it), and in the next
post will start discussing diets rich in nutrients that are interesting to
the ferrets as well, some of which I actually feed to my own.  But first, I
thought I would trot out in my flame-proof undergarments and comment on a
few diet-related threads in recent FMLs.  I suggest you use an
industrial-strength flame-thrower; my butt's already hot!  ;-)
 
RAW MEAT: When in the world did ferrets start cooking and how do they reach
the burners?  Is it a trait taught during domestication, like when a
domestic housewife learns to cook?  If the meat industry in the USA is so
bad, why is it among the finest in the world?  I mean, have you *ever*
watched people in some of the less technological societies butcher meat?
Sell it?  Eat it?  If the rest of the world is so bad, why are people not
dropping dead right and left from nasty germs on their meat?  (You would
think it might have a slight impact on the world overpopulation)  Why can
New Zealand feral ferrets and European polecats eat animals that have been
dead for several days and not die of nasty germs on *their* meat?  There is
nothing wrong with an animal, especially one that evolved eating other
animals, eating raw meat; in fact, it is best for them and I would be
willing to become a vegan if anyone can *prove* me wrong.
 
Perhaps I should become a primary carnivore; after all, I've heard some
"natural food" farmers actually use animal feces as a fertilizer instead of
the safe and sterile chemical fertilizers simply so they can sell thier
products (at higher prices) to vegans.  Did you know bacteria, including E.
coli and Salmonella, as well as several types of intestinal and muscular
parasites are found in the bovine excretment commonly used to feed corn and
other plants meant for human ingestion?  If you are overly worried about
bacteria, then take the raw meat and peroxide it, flame it, boil it, or just
cut off the outside parts.  Since the interior of the raw meat is
essentially sterile, and you can do those things without cooking the inside,
then you can have your dead bacteria and eat your raw meat too.  Now, give
me a napkin and pass the sushi....
 
FISH DIETS: I eat fish, but I don't only eat fish.  Ferrets can eat fish as
well, with the same restrictions.  The problem with some of the old mink
diets was not the use of fish, but the exclusive use of certain fish that
lacked specific nutrients.  Those problems have been solved (or realized);
at the least, the current fish-based foods are as nutritious as the poultry
by-product foods.  To me, the real problem is the odor of the scat of
ferrets feeding on fish; its kinda like the Long Beach pier, know what I
mean?  But hey!  Some people like that sort of thing (or so I heard).  There
is absolutely nothing wrong with serving a meal or two of fish to the ferts,
and you should *force* ANYONE who says different to scientifically prove it.
Since ferret circulatory systems are remarkably like our own, the documented
benefits of fish eating for humans may just pass on to the ferrets as well.
I make a halibut of eating fish once a week.  Reel-ly; I'm hooked, I eat it
on porpoise.
 
STARCHED DIETS: It is well documented that the starches in grains are very
difficult for primary carnivores to digest.  It is also well established
that cooking them makes them far more digestible.  What's the point?  You
cook to denature the starch, but then you also denature the proteins,
vitamins and fatty acids.  So now you have to add them back in.  Why not
just leave the cereals out of the mixture and stay ahead of the game?
Because they are a) cheaper than meat, b) make the manufacturing of kibble
possible, and c) they beef up the protein percentages.  Have you *ever*
noticed the people arguing the loudest that cooked grains are good for
carnivores are also people heavily affiliated with the pet food industry?
The argument that grain is in the stomachs of prey animals so its ok for a
carnivore to eat kibble which might be 50% or more grain-based is as logical
as the argument that if you can eat one Tylanol, then you can eat the whole
bottle.  Exactly how much volume does a mouse bowel hold?  I doubt if you
packed the entire contents of a mouse bowel with cooked grain that you could
get the weight up to 1% of the mouse carcass.  It may (or may not) be
important for a few trace nutrients perhaps, but completely unimportant in
terms of protein or carbohydrate nutrition.  Further, it is insignificant
compared to the weight and volume of a mouse carcass.
 
It is difficult for carnivores to produce the quantities of the amylase
enzyme necessary to metabolize carbohydrates, grain proteins are much harder
to digest, evidence exists that suggests nondigested plant carbohydrates and
proteins can weaken or irritate the carnivore immune system resulting in
allergies and hyper-immune system activity, and finally, believe it or not,
the unnatural demand for amylase has been linked to pancreatic problems,
diabetes, low blood sugars, and various gastric disorders.  That's not to
mention the dental calculus and decay positively linked to grain
consumption.
 
Think of it this way; for scores of millions of years, carnivores have
rarely consumed more than 20% of their diet in plant carbohydrates, and
suddenly about 60 years ago, when the pet food industry discovered grains
to be cheap, bulky and fast, they were introduced in pet foods.  Here's a
guaranteed "A" for a vet student needing a subject for a paper: chart the
increase and decrease of various pet aliments over the years, and correlate
them to the increase use of kibble as a primary food.  What do you think
you will find?
 
Bob C and 20 MO Evolutionary Dead-Ends
[Posted in FML issue 2326]