Ferrets also get Vitamin D poisoning, and as you read you will see that
they discovered a new way for things to add up on that score:
<http://cvm.msu.edu/about-the-college/news-and-events/publications/perspectives-magazine/perspectives-summer-2011/the-right-test-right-time>
in
<http://cvm.msu.edu/about-the-college/news-and-events/publications/perspectives-magazine/perspectives-summer-2011>
In Vitamin D toxicosis calcium deposits happen in organs, especially in
the kidneys and heart. It can be dealt with IF the cause is found in
time. This is not typically a problem for humans who need a decent bit
of Vitamin D but it is a risk for dogs and ferrets. (On the other hand
humans are much, much more inclined to getting too much Vitamin A than
ferrets are. Hey, we don't have a long ancestry of eating livers, and
they don't have a long ancestry of sun exposure, and those explain such
differences.)
This paragraph really got my attention because it indicates the
importance of people with doctorates in veterinary nutrition designing
foods since some nutrients change with digestion and the body
processing them:
The incident seems to have passed after withdrawal of the particular
diet batches in question. With a lack of evidence for excessive vitamin
D3 content, new questions are raised regarding other bioactive forms of
vitamin D in the food that would not be measured in routine analytic
procedures.
but the entire article is worth reading.
When we can afford it Steve and I give to the Ferret Health Advancement
group there, so we get the magazine sent to us, and I was happy to find
it online so that I could share this information to help ferret people.
Here is Ferret Health Advancement which includes a lot to useful
presentations and more to help with ferret health, and you will see
that they have done a huge amount of work that makes life safer for
domestic ferrets and hope to continue doing more:
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
Enjoy all the resources Ferret Health Advancement at MSU has put up
to freely help you and your vets learn; in that way, too, they help
protect ferrets and help ferret people.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
[Posted in FML 7165]
