Bob wrote
>Sick ferrets NEED as many nutrients as they can get just to get
>better, especially caloric energy, right?  And yet, there are all
>those repeatable, exhaustive data that say the exact opposite.
 
I have not seen the original research that Bob quotes in his Post A, but
none of his quotes directly addresses the issue of "sick" animals.  Is
the research done in healthy animals transferable to sick ones?  Does it
depend on what they are sick with?  A restricted diet for a ferret with
one kind of tumor may "starve" the tumor and slow growth, but what would
it do for a ferret with insulinoma?  Or a ferret that has stopped eating
because it has a bad flu or a physical injury or some other disease?
 
I and many on the list know from personal experience that a ferret that
stops eating for ANY reason (illness, depression, or even lack of the
food they are used to) can quickly result in a serious situation.  In
some ways, ferrets are NOT like other animals.
 
Bob, can you please explain this further?
 
(Sidenote: I am aware of the research that shows that the old adage
"starve a fever, feed a cold" actually shows some scientific merit.)
 
Linda Iroff
[Posted in FML issue 3952]