Somewhere along the line of biological development, the wild ferret has
been tagged with the nutritional description of an obligate carnivore.
This tag is currently widely accepted and has not yet been the target
of inquisitional discussions, at least, not until now.

Consider the meaning of this tag and the historical evolutionary
ecological niche wherein the wild ferret is seen to reside. As fitting
as that opinion may be, I have to ask, is this opinion a good fit for
an animal that has transitioned the modal life of a wild animal to the
modal life of an animal that is changing through the process of
domestication, a process still underway?

The meaning of the tag, obligate carnivore, can be defined as an animal
that eats meaty substances and is not obligated to eat other foods, due
mainly to its life style, its habitat, and the ease of procuring its
primary meaty food. One definition emphasizes the wild ferret's lock
into meaty substances by decrying the lack of a nutritional enzyme
capable of digesting and assimilating a raw carrot.

I need ask myself, under what conditions would a wild ferret seek out
and devour a raw carrot ... a raw radish ... a raw cabbage ... or any
raw vegetable? In the wild, no how, no way, Jose. ( A little bit of
Mexican lingo there, as Rush Limbaugh would say.)

However, the ferret that has been under control of man for some few
years, and who is entirely dependent upon man for its food, and
satisfies the basic requirement of a domesticant, can its digestive
system benefit from the nutritive value of a cooked carrot that has
been broken down to micro-miniaturized particles on the order of 1.68 X
10 to the minus 2nd power inch? Secondly, does the thermolysis of the
lignin/ cellulose cellular walls enable nutritive extraction of the
nutrients internal of such woody cells?

The answers to these questions are certainly open to debate. However,
one may conclude that the processed plant foods eaten with the meaty
foods offers the domestic ferret somewhat greater nutritive value
than does the raw carrot for the wild ferret.

One may note here that the passage of non-absorptive lignin through the
gut, particularly the colon, may be seen as a roughage scourge that
scrapes the colon walls habitually clean, and in so doing, prevents the
bedding and cellular invasion of coronavirus particles believed to be
causative of ECE. the dreaded green slime fecal discharges typical of
Epizootic Catarrhal Enteritis.

In summary, should you consider defining the ferret, both wild and
domestic, as an obligate carnivore? Or, should we expand the definition
as it applies to the domestic ferret as an omnivor?

Voila tout. (French: There, that's all of it.)

Edward Lipinski
Ferrets North West Foundation

[Posted in FML 6290]