There I was, listening to a Dr. Demento CD and reading the FML before I went
to bed, when I got THREE e-mails concerning my bone statements.  I hadn't
even finished reading the thang before two ferret-loving people blasted me.
(the other person fed bones as well, but would never admit it for fear of
being blasted).  This must be some sort of flaming speed record.  I'm proud
to be a part of it ;-)
 
I learned a good lesson from an old biology professor concerning bulk in
food.  He said to smash some between your fingers, and if it felt like
smooth peanut butter, it probably was low in fiber.  Both of the e-mails
said dry food HAD bulk.  Dry is different than wet.  I wet down some dry
Iams and Science diet, and it feels pretty smooth.  Try it.  If you don't
want your fuzzies to eat bone, don't give it to them.  If you are that
worried about bone spinters (mostly eliminated from cooking until soft, BTW)
then crush the bone and mix with other food or buy bone meal.  If you
disagree with the percentage of undigestible food to digestible, then disect
a mouse.  Put the meat on one plate and the bones, teeth, and hair on
another.  Compare the bulk and weight, and even though this is a simplistic
experiment, you will be impressed with the results.  I know this sounds
disgusting (I do not advocate killing mice for this purpose--its just an
example and fairly easy to picture) but you see the point.
 
As for bone nutrients, you have four main parts.  The bone salts
(hydroxyappite-lots of calcium and phosphates), collagen (Basically a pure
protein.  When boiled it turns into gelatin-you know, like jello),
white/yellow marrow (mostly fat; contains lots of fat-soluble vitamins) and
red marrow (makes red blood cells-rich in proteins and easy to metabolize
iron).  I have yet to learn of a predator specializing in vertebrate prey
not to eat at least some of the bone.  It is a very good food for
carnivores; many zoos no longer bone the meat prior to feeding, giving them
the meat on the bone instead.
 
Wild polecats have survived for hundreds of thousands of years on a diet
incorporating bone as a nutrient.  So have feral fitch and domestic ferrets.
The little fuzzies have been domesticated for thousands of years; what do
you think they have been eating all this time?  Modern diets are just that,
modern.  Most of them contain all the necessary nutrients, but lack
bulk/fiber.  Without proof, I am unwilling to cut that part out of my
beasties' diet.
 
One of the e-mails asked how I could tell the difference between coyote and
dog coprolites.  Easy, just hose them down.  The dog scat stinks bad,
disolves and washes through a 1/8 inch screen, but the coyote scat stinks
far less, and falls apart, leaving hair, bone fragments, and vegetal and
insect remains on the screen.  Bobcat and mink are similar to coyote.
 
It was also pointed out to me that the use of "feral fitch" and "domestic
ferret" is confusing, because didn't they describe the same thing?  Right,
both are Mustela putorius furo.  I have started to use feral fitch to
describe the feral ferret, reserving domestic ferret to describe companion
pets.  There are feral fitch in England and New Zealand, (Some controversy
if trueblooded ferrets, or polecat/ferret hybrids), but not many other
places because they are poor predators and reproducers.  Domestic Ferrets
have been conditioned and trained to such an extent that it is virtually
impossible for them to become feral.  Hince the different terminology....
 
Sorry about the scatological references two days in a row, but this is
something important to think about.  I have been taught there are two
components to most cancers; one is a genetic predisposition, and the other
is evironmental.  I can't control the first one, but I can control a large
portion of the second.  I want my beasties to have as natural a diet as
possible to minimize risks.  Nature knows lots more than I do; I might as
well listen.
 
BTW, I am not the "King of Poop," as some claim.  Just full of it....but
that was before the bowel resection. I'm much better now.
 
Bob (with one "o")
Moose, Stella, Daye, Tori, Apollo, Buddy, Foster, and Razz.
Stella says, "I'm much better now. Wanna wrestle?"
 
PS: Just in case you thought I forgot to pun.  What do you call coprolite
analysis?  Close encounters of the turd kind. (Ouch....sorry...)
[Posted in FML issue 1388]