Q: "Will anything happen to [my ferret] if I dump the kibble?"
A: It will still poopie in the corners but it will be happy poopie.
One recent study suggested cows fed a natural diet were smaller than farm
cows, but were much healthier. A study in rats showed the ones eating a
natural diet (including weekly feedings of bone and meat) had *NO* diseases
even after several years. One famous study (Pottenger Cat Studies) in which
one group of cats were fed cooked foods, and the other the same foods only
uncooked, demonstrated a marked improvement in the overall health, vitality
and condition of cats fed the uncooked foods. A very recent human study in
which people eating a "Primitive" diet were overall fitter than westerners
has suggested westerners suffer from overnutrition. Duh. Go to the beach.
These studies are not complete by a long shot, but it is clear that a
natural diet has benefits lacking in a highly processed diet. Once, in a
biological seminar, I heard a Purina man answer the question, "What is the
perfect food for a cat?" His answer? "Mice, but who would buy a box of
mice?" There is a "brand new" field tentatively called "Evolutionary
Nutrition." in which nutritional needs are examined with an eye on the
specific evolutionary history of the species. Its quite exciting!
Q: "If bone is so good for teeth, and kibble is nearly as hard as bone as
you say, then why is kibble so bad [for the teeth]?"
A: Its kind of like the X Files when Molar gets Scummy.
I have personally inspected the jaws of nearly 200 ferrets, feral ferrets
and polecats, and the difference is amazing; I have nearly a 100% success
rate in telling kibble-fed ferrets from all the others. This is based on
two criteria; degree of wear and dental tartar (or calculi).
Even though the first ingredient in kibbled chows is meat (usually poultry
by-products), in order for the food to be kibble it must be grain-based.
Part is because dried grains preserve very well (sea biscuit anyone?), and
also because they are very cheap compared to meats. But the biggest reason
is because the grain is what holds the kibble together. Want to make your
own kibble? In a mixing bowl, pour 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup
rice flour and 1 cup dried chicken soup stock. Crush a vitamin to power and
add to the mixture. Add enough water to make a paste, then load it into a
frosting bag with a novelty tip. As you push out the paste, cut pieces off
about 1/4 inch thick. Cover a cookie pan with the doughy bits, and cook/dry
until kibble hard. Now, try making it without the grains. What? You get
soup, not dough?
Because the kibble is dried hard and quite crunchy, it acts like bone in
keeping the teeth clean. However, ferrets are not hyaenas and they do not
have teeth adapted to bone scavenging. In the wild, most of the bones they
eat are small or the soft, spongy ends of the long bones. The teeth of bone
cracking animals are large and thick, with a thick layer of enamel. Ferret
teeth are designed to cut meat and tissue, and break small thin bones.
Eating kibble full time is essentially the same as feeding a ferret a diet
of ground up bones, which wear the teeth at a much faster rate than normal.
Chew some sand and you'll understand what I mean.
As the tooth wears towards the gumline, often the bone around the tooth
socket becomes infected and tiny holes start forming on the surface of the
bone at the point where the gum attaches to the dental bone. This causes
two things; the root plup to draw down towards the root tip, and the bone
itself to draw or erode away from the tooth root. As time goes on, more and
more of the tooth is worn away and the tooth becomes looser in its socket.
At about 4-6 years old, many ferrets start losing teeth as a result. And I
didn't even discuss decay and grain carbohydrates.
In all honesty, the same thing happens in wild animals but at a much slower
rate. This is why many scientists who look at animal bones no longer try
to age the animal by tooth wear; because it depends on the particular diet
being consumed. My generous estimate is that by the time a kibble-eating
ferret reaches three years of age, it has the teeth of a ferret of six.
And I have the data to prove it.
Q: "In one post you said ferrets could change starch into sugar with their
saliva, yet later you said they couldn't. What gives?"
A: I already gave at the office.
Sharp eyes! You get an "A" and can set in the front of the class. I simply
didn't explain it well. Primary carnivores do not have the amounts of the
starch-converting enzyme in their saliva as omnivores or herbivores, but
they can (and do) have some, enough to make a thin sugar solution but not
enough to be a major factor in digestion. I oversimplified. Sorry.
Q: "I read that grains are good for carnivores to eat because they eat
them in the wild when they swallow a mouse."
A: Depends on if it was Mickey or Minnie.
Rubbish. Say you have a rat that weighs 500g. According to six different
references (averaged), the intestinal tract comprises 10% of the body
volume. So, if you packed grain into each and every nook and cranny of the
intestinal tract, from the esophagus to the anus, it would be less than 10%
of the volume of the animal. So using the pet-maker's own argument, then
ferrets should eat foods that are primarily meat, with perhaps 10% grains.
Because kibble-makers will not tell you the percentage of meat in kibble and
they add three or four different grains so it looks like the kibble is
mostly meat (the first ingredient), I can't tell you for certain the exact
ratio of meat to grain, but you can be *SURE* it is closer to 70% than 10%.
This is exactly like saying a little salt is good, so the entire shaker must
be better.
Bob C and 20 MO Cartoon Carnivores (Did I hear McDisney?)
[Posted in FML issue 2347]
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