exotic meats and allergies

[jadewolf]

Hi everyone. Question here. A friend who is a vet but not a ferret specialist told me that it's better not to feed my ferrets (or cats and dogs for that matter) a ton of exotic meats. Certainly give them several protein sources, but don't throw in bison or alligator for the fun of it.

Her reasoning was that when pets develop food allergies, they need to be fed something that they've never been exposed to. With dogs, she's now having to go to kangaroo for allergy sufferers, because us chi-chi pet owners have already exposed them to bison, quail, and so on.

What do you think? Every time I've read about a ferret with a food sensitivity, it seems to be a common meat like chicken or beef. On the other hand, I don't really *need* to feed the ferrets bison...

[Sherry]

My vet was complaining about the same thing with Boris' IBD. But the odds of developing an allergy later on down the road, while certainly possible, really aren't all that likely. That said- Mr. Frodo IS allergic to beef. We found that out the first time he had it. That means, however, that he likely shouldn't have bison either, or anything else along that line.

[Heather]

I think their problem is that when an allergy or supposed allergy surfaces then they've got nothing that has never been tried before ;D Your supposed to dump the pet on a "novel" protein. It used to be that venison or bison...emu is another was an exotic meat....so when an allergy struck then this was a protein that had never been tried so that is the protein you put the animal on...supposedly that protein can't be the one they're allergic too. Once they're on that protein (they're supposed to do this solid for a month without issue) then you start adding other proteins...say chicken. You then go a month with just the exotic protein and the chicken...then you know it's not those two...you add beef and so on. The whole idea of the novel protein is that it's a protein never tried. I have no idea what happens when it's discovered that the pet is allergic to that protein (Samurai was like that , but he was allergic to all hoofed animals)
ciao

[katt]

I agree with Heather 1000%. That's the idea is to use an elimination diet starting with something they have never had because if they have never had it you KNOW it can't be causing the current issue. (this does NOT mean that it can't cause it's own issues, esp if for example the problem meat happens to be beef and you start your elimination diet on bison...they are very similar as Sherry noted). That being said you can pick a meat they get less often and start with that. Feed it for a while (and nothing else, and see if the issue stabilizes. If not try another meat, and another, etc etc until you find one that they can handle and become stable on. THEN you start adding in new meats (Even ones you tried before) gradually to see what is the issue causer. For example with Koda it took months to get him to stabilize and for ages I had to avoid beef and chicken, and only limited turkey and game hen. Pain in the rear to feed him - he got lamb, goat, duck, and rabbit. $$$$$ He had finally been stable long enough that I decided to try some old meats again, and discovered that he CAN have chicken. So it wasn't necessarily the chicken causing the issue so much as it probably just exacerbated his already inflamed gut.
Anyways, getting off track here...IMO it's good to keep feeding the exotics even if just occasionally so that if they do get sick and you need to do an elimination diet, you know they will EAT the food and not snub it and have to go through the whole stress of a diet "switch" process to introduce the new food...the stress of which can compound the issue. (Just ask Sherry there!)

In the end it's up to you. You could always track down ONE exotic meat that you KNOW you can get, but don't feed it *just in case.* That being said, feeding it to them won't necessarily cause them to develop an allergy to it that they would not have had already anyways. If that makes sense....

[Sherry]

Katt's right in that if they've not had a particular meat they may NOT recognize it, and therefore you'll be trying to do a switch with an already stressed ferret. Not a good thing.

[miamiferret2]

all dis talk about kangarooz and emuz and such iz making me bery hungry.

[Heather]

now there's a belly ;D ;D Emus might indeed be a good idea wee one....very lean
ciao

[Sherry]

I think you likely get enough as it is, Sonny! After all- that belly is going to be hard to carry around once it hits the ground ;D

[Deleted]

I agree with everyone above, but I think the vet is talking about mostly kibble and/or any commercial diet where people will ONLY feed that one protein. All of those novel protein foods that use the most exotic of exotic meats because even the previous novel proteins became allergies, that's because they were only fed that ONE protein for long periods of time. Sometimes, the other ingredients contribute or are the cause. Either way, this is why we all feed variety.

If it's kibble (which most of these diets are), just the composition of kibble and the other ingredients will cause the body to not always recognize it as food, the body attacks it as if it's a forein body, thus creating an allergic response. Then, when that animal is exposed to that protein again (maybe in a different form), their body might still associate that protein with that allergic reaction, and react the same way. The same thing happened to me with mascara. I used to use normal mascara until one day I dropped it on the floor in my dad's bathroom. It was kind of dusty in there, but I just wiped what I could off and used it My eyes started itching after applying it, then slowly started swelling until my eyes were balloons, and swollen shut At first, I thought it was just the dust, but anytime I tried that brand or any other brand of normal mascara after that, my eyes had the same response. I now can only use hypoallergenic mascara. Everything else is fine, even normal eye liners and shadow, just mascara is the problem.

This is all assuming she's a typical vet. If she's talking about raw fed properly with variety, I think it's silly to say "don't feed exotic meats." If she means as a sole protein, then there are far more problems with that than just developing allergies to it ;D

[Deleted]

One more thing I forgot to add

These allergies that are popping up with exotic meats... I already mentioned a lot of people with food allergy pets tend to only feed one novel protein. Another thing, like everyone said above, sometimes when they are allergic to a specific meat (like beef) they will be allergic to similar meats (like bison). Food allergies don't always stay within that one protein, but sometimes many (again, usually similar, like all poultry or all hooved animal meats). Not to mention, feeding exotic meats are not what creates allergies to those meats. You won't even know if the pet will have a problem with it until you try it with them ;D Lots of people here have had to feed exotic meats because common pet food meats like beef and chicken have several reasons that cause those allergies to them:
1.) Vaccines (commonly hosted in chicken embryos)
2.) Husbandry of the animals (what they are fed, if they are given hormones/antibiotics/steriods, how they are kept, etc). Chickens are commonly fed corn.
3.) Enhanced meats (a lot of meats are injected with flavoring, salt water, etc)
4.) Single protein diets/only feeding one protein (especially if it's kibble)

I think I went a little overboard, but it just bugs me when vets don't look at the whole picture. She just assumed feeding exotic meats were the problem when there are a lot of things to consider when looking at food allergies and what causes them.

[Sherry]

Actually, what MY vet was complaining about was raw feeders giving TOO much variety. And not having a non tried source if IBD or allergies crop up. I think her vet was saying basically the same thing- try to keep at least ONE protein source they've not had in case of problems.

[katt]

I agree with Sherry in that I think that's what the vet was getting at. But I still think it's better to have them at least recognize it as food - certainly makes it less stressful on them. Just keep one protein that you KNOW you can get and just feed it rarely - perhaps as a treat or something. So then they recognize it but it's not part of their regular diet and can be used as the "backup meat." Perhaps ask your vet what she thinks of that idea?

[Sherry]

That's a much better way to do it katt. Although, we can do elimination diets even with feeding everything we can find. As YOU well know ;D !