[2-part post combined]
 
I find it interesting that I had a phone call yesterday which relates
to so many recent topics of discussion here on the Ferret Mailing List:
Pretty Bird, a manufacturer and distributor of pet food and supplements,
has been investigating having a ferret food for several years and is
hoping to soon introduce their new products to the ferret community.
 
The research team of Pretty Bird started out by analyzing mice with the
aim of mimicking mice as a food-source as reasonably as possible.  This
led to features such as different proportions of the Omega 3 and Omega 6
fatty acids and the realization of other fatty acids not commonly found
in traditional foods, and to a very low carbohydrate content content.
 
Fatty acids serve multiple functions in the body.  Of course, there are
easily noticed ones like skin and fur health and appearance, but fats
also do much more including being involved in hormonal transport.  It
will be interesting to see what health changes may or may not occur when
changing the balance of dietary fatty acid types more toward what is seen
in rodents' carcasses.  Certainly, some of those on the FML who feed mice
post their observations often enough, including possible benefits, so
perhaps this new food may have health benefits without the emotional
burdens involved with giving mice.  The total fat percentage is 19%,
similar to that of other foods.
 
About the carbohydrates: They have a twin screw extruder and patented
technology which permits them to produce foods with a carbohydrate
content of less than 10% in weight, with their aim being 8%.  There are
no sugars added -- none.  In the ferret community there has been a lot
of discussion about whether grain carbohydrates (Starch is generally a
component of grain.) and sugars (such as grape juice, sucrose, fructose,
etc.) may play a part in specific medical problems, and if so then how
much of a part is played.  Furthermore, sensitivities to some foods can
at times be caused by grain proteins so keeping the gluten levels down
could reduce such sensitivities.  Additionally, there is a problem with
some carbohydrates, such as corn, raising the pH of foods too high and
then bladder stones may be formed.  In foods in the United States this
final aspect has largely been addressed in the better foods but that is
not true everywhere, as those who recall the difficulties in Britain will
remember.
 
Very fine oat fiber is present in low amounts to aid in having good stool
formation and ease of passage.
 
Continuing the theme of mimicking the mice they analyzed, their food is
50% protein, much higher than the commercial dry foods out there.
 
The foods are cooked at low temperatures.  You may recall that one
subject of discussion maybe a half year ago was the one of potential
risks of by-products formed during high temperature cooking.  These
risks are hypothetical for ferrets, so they may exist or may not, but it
doesn't hurt to avoid them.
 
Probiotics and enzymes are added in case they can further aid digestion.
 
Finally, nucleotides have been added.  You'll perhaps remember that when
Chiclet already had sepsis and cellulitis that an experimental compound
was added to her routine in hopes that it may help save her.  Although
that didn't happen it certainly may be that it helped, because she
obviously lived incredibly longer than any of the ferrets mentioned with
such levels of infection, and she did seem to pick up with it -- having
more play and interest in life despite being so ill.  Nucleotide
compounds have a long history of use the agricultural communities of
Europe and Asia instead of using antibiotics with similar rates of
improvements as those seen with antibiotics.  In our discussion Mr.
Massie mentioned that studies exist in a range of animals: fish, birds,
pigs, rodents, humans, etc.  showing benefits including lower mortality,
increased resistance to disease, better ability to fight disease,
improved digestion reflected in positive changes of the intestinal
villi, etc., and these and more are mentioned in some references sent.
 
So far I have been forwarded 7 documents on nucleotides, a name which
may also be familiar to those who have encountered them added to baby
formulas.  Two are poultry charts, one is a paper which I think may be
by a vet university professor, J.A.  Whitehead, in Glasgow, "Effect of
ASCOGEN on intestinal morphology and the performance of the broiler
chicken".  (Ascogen is a trade name of the nucleotid compound.) There is
a Powerpoint document, and there are two papers written or co-authored
by a researcher of the company which produces the nucleotide compound
which go into the bodily functions of nucleotides.  One of these,
"Physiological and nutritional functions of nucleotides" by Dr. P.
Koppel has an bibliography of 21 academic journal articles, lectures, and
texts -- and I know those always interest a number of FML readers who
like to investigate bibliographies.  The paper "Effect of Nucleotides in
daily life" by Koppel and Hoffmann is written more for the casual reader.
According to these papers recent studies indicate that the body is not
able to get all of the nucleotides used by synthesizing them.  90%, they
say, come from salvage derived from those cells which die in our bodies
each day.  The premises for supplementing nucleotide intake include that
the body will not have to either do with a reduced immune response in
hard times, nor rob the body of cells which would not have normally died
as early to get enough nucleotides to mount a defence, hence improved
ability to fight off disease and improved ability to recover when ill.
It would be interesting, too, to see if possible increases of the villi
might be useful for ones with digestive problems.
 
One of their research veterinarians, Dr. Marge Wissman, who is testing
nucleotid use, is putting together a future paper for veterinary use.
 
Oh, the preservative chosen is a natural vitamin E based one; I know
there are always those who are curious about that, so I asked for you.
 
The small animals section of their website at
http://www.prettybird.com/pbhom.html is still under construction, but my
hopes are that when it is done it will include a bibliography and links
or copies of some of the relevant articles that led to their formulation.
One complaint I've heard about pet food sites is that too many such pages
address other issues but don't explain the why and wherefore of food
ingredients and manufacture themselves, yet, often the other non-food
information can be obtained elsewhere while the food information can be
harder to come by.
 
All in all, I am curious about this food and interested in trying it,
especially for our older ferrets even though I have not had time to
look into this in depth.  Still, each of us would have to make up his or
her own mind, anyway, so perhaps this post has given you some things to
consider and I suspect that those who have expressed wanting just such
things in a food will be extremely interested in trying the food, reading
more deeply into the references, or both.
[Posted in FML issue 4216]