Sukie wrote: >Most digestion happens in the small intestine. Crediting the cecum >with that is incorrect. The break down happens mostly in the first two >portions of the small intestine and the nutrient absorption happens >mostly in the final segment of the small intestine. The Cecum comes >later. If people are thinking that the cecum is the small intestine, then they aren't paying attention. The cecum is responsible for harboring the necessary bacteria needed to breakdown plant fiber. The ferret lacks this digestive portion. Hence its inability to properly break down plant matter. Herbivores that have evolved eating vegetation have further evolved into those with simple stomachs and those with multiple or chambered stomachs (ruminants) . The horse has a very large cecum and this digestive system is very well explained here: http://www.seminolefeed.com/HorseDigestion.htm The link Sukie provided references digestion as it applies to humans, which does NOT apply to ferrets. http://www.mamashealth.com/organs/intestine.asp Ferret's digestion, being specialized like it is to extract nutrients quickly from whole prey items, and fatty meaty sources, works a lot differently; especially since it works so quickly (3 to 4 hours, compared to the humans 24-48 hours). Breaking down plant matter takes much longer and since the ferret lacks the apparatus to do so means that more volume of plant sourced food is required more often to glean a similar nutrient base than the would be needed to for it's evolutionary diet. The simple fact that meat is high moisture also aids in the quick breakdown and absorption of nutrients as compared to a dry plant food source. http://www.aemv.org/Documents/2006_AEMV_proceedings_4.pdf This study notes that about 80% of the ferret's meal is stored in its simple stomach and has considerable storage capacity ("100 ml of milk in1 0 minutes in an adult") - which is typical of a carnivore that would need to eat large meals quickly, as well as the fact that ferrets don't masticate (chew and grind) their food, they shred and gulp it. There is considerable vasculature (veining) as well as a prominent lymph node tucked into the stomachs smaller curve. The stomach produces acids and enzymes to begin breaking down proteins, but the activity of protein breakdown (proteolytic) takes place distally (further down) in the jejunum - not the duodenum. The ferret stomach also secretes acid in response to histamine, pentagastrin and calcium. Gastrin (a hormone that regulates gastric acid) is secreted in the Gastric Antrum (a specialized portion) and the Duodenum. The ferret's intestine is made of three sections with villi and goblet cells in all sections. Villi are finger like projections that sweep through the contents and extract nutrients. Goblet cells secrete mucous to keep things moving along. With villi present in all sections nutrient absorption happens in ALL areas of the ferret digestive tract. The first section is the duodenum, the next two areas (jejunal and ileal) are practically indistinguishable and are usually referred to as the jejunoileum, this ends at the ascending colon. This site here has images of actual ferret digestive tracts from dissection: <http://www.baa.duke.edu/companat/Digestive%20system/ferret/ferret%20digestive system.htm> I suggest it be bookmarked for reference by every ferret owner! The small and large intestine of the ferret are of the same diameter! Proportionately the ferret has a longer intestinal tract than the cat or a fox! The entire tract is about four times as long as the body length! With the small intestine making up about 75% of that length! The large intestine walls are covered with longitudinal ridges without villi and leads directly to the rectum. The ferret's teeth, alimentary canal, and digestive tract are highly specialized through evolution to devour whole prey and to glean nutrients quickly from raw fatty meaty sources which is why feeding pounds and pounds of dry plant based foods causes so many issues for the ferret. You can't present information based on human digestion and extrapolate that the same holds true for ferrets. Ferrets are used as models for some digestive issues in humans - like ulcers and vomiting, because these issues have been studied and the triggering factors are known. But even the scientists doing the studies continue to note that the ferret's digestive system is highly specialized and designed to digest animals, not plants. If you put plants into your ferret, you get plants out! They simply cannot digest the plant fibers! It matters not whether the plant fiber is ground, crushed, cooked or liquefied. Final absorption of the digested products take place at the cellular level and the ferret's digestive tract has NO place for bacteria to ferment and break down plant's cellular walls. THAT would take place in a cecum! Cheers, Kim [Posted in FML 6248]