Q: "I gave your egg white references to the [person]...and was told they
didn't specifically mention ferrets so they had little value....Any more
suggestions"
 
A: Tell the person to forget about trading internet porn passwords and set
their ass in a comparative physiology class.
 
<sigh> Ok, more references: 1) T. Brody 1994 "Nutritional Biochemistry."
Academic Press; San Diego. 2) J. C. Arinze and S.P. Mistry 1971 Comparative
Biochemistry and Physiology 38B:285-294.  3) D. Balnave 1977 "Clinical
Symptoms of biotin deficiency in animals." American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition 30:1408-1413.  4) C.J. Casey and J. G. Morris 1977 "Biotin
deficiency in the cat and the effect on hepatic propionyl CoA carboxylase."
Journal of Nutrition 107:330-334.  5) K. Dakshinamurti and J. Chauhan
1989 "Biotin."  Vitamins and Hormones 45:337-397.
 
If you are looking for a reference which SPECIFICALLY says consumption of
avidin in raw eggs will bind with the FERRET's biotin, there are not many
that the average person would be able to easily obtain.  BUT IT DOESN'T
MATTER because avidin, regardless of the source, tightly binds with
biotin, regardless of the species.  It is a biochemical reaction which is
independent of the animal.  Now, there might be an animal that has evolved
some type of adaptation allowing it to eat raw eggs without producing a
biotin deficiency, but the ferret is not one of them.  In this instance,
regardless if the raw egg white consumer is a cat, rat, human, mink, dog,
or ferret, the consumption of raw egg whites cause a biotin deficiency
resulting in the symptoms I described in the egg white post.
 
Q: "My boyfriend killed a huge elk last season...is it ok to feed chunks of
elk to ferrets?"
 
A: Better than chunks of distal phalange.  Never give a ferret the finger.
 
Did you know carnivores fed a 100% meat diet develop serious bone problems,
like osteomalacia and rickets?  The reason is the meat contains such
low levels of calcium compared to phosphates that it throws of the
calcium/phosphate ratio in the blood.  A high protein diet can result in
calcium and phosphate levels WORSE than what would expected from meat
alone.  For some reason not yet completely understood, the sulfates in the
proteins may be binding to the calcium, resulting in both being eliminated
in the urine.  Since this causes a leaching of calcium from the bone to
maintain the proper blood Ca/PO4 ratio, an all-meat (high protein) diet can
actually cause the animal to piss away their bones or form the improperly.
 
This is not a problem with whole carcasses, because the ferret gets extra
calcium from eating bits of ingested bone, and ingests substances which
counteract the loss of calcium, such as fatty acids and trace elements.
Supplementing the diet with calcium helps.  I add egg shells to Bob's
Chicken Gravy because the calcium carbonate in eggshell is easier to absorb
compared to the calcium phosphate in bone.  The chickens you buy in stores
are generally very young and have bones which are not as well calcified as
in adults.  Some people worry that high calcium levels can cause stones,
but that is a myth; studies have shown that in healthy animals, LOW calcium
levels are more of a risk, especially in the presence of other compounds.
 
The bottom line is, it is ok to feed a ferret chunks of elk (if they will
eat them; start young to avoid imprinting problems), provided one of two
criteria are met.  1) The diet is occasional and the ferret normally eats
lots of well balanced foods, or 2) you salt the diet with a good vitamin
supplement or calcium.
 
Bob C and 16 Mo' Cervus Mo' Elk
[Posted in FML issue 3026]