Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2012 2:16:51 GMT -5
Tonight I decided to perform a taste test with 3 different mixtures of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
The motivation of this test is the supposition that extra virgin olive oil helps prevent ulcers. Extra virgin olive oil has a spicy taste that not all ferrets like or even tolerate. There are lighter olive oils that are more filtered which removes the flavor and makes them taste better to ferrets. However, in my reading, I found that the phenolic compounds in the extra virgin olive oil that are believed to be beneficial in preventing ulcers may not be present in these lighter olive oils, so it would seem the best course of action is to administer extra virgin olive oil.
One way to make the oil's taste acceptable to ferrets is by diluting it with other oils to make it taste milder. I have the 3 following types of oils to work with:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Kirkland Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil: Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Light Olive Oil: Kroger "Lighter Flavor" Olive Oil
Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr
I tested the following 3 mixtures of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for the health benefit) and a second oil whose flavor I already knew my ferrets enjoy:
100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
50% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 50% Light Olive Oil
50% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 50% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr
These are the bottles I used:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026K1YCK/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00
These are 30ml. You can also buy them individually, here is a 60ml bottle which is probably more practical for daily use:
www.amazon.com/Dropping-Dispensing-Bottle-PE-60mL/dp/B007CL6ONW/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1349291730&sr=8-21&keywords=dropping+bottle
After testing the 3 above mixes, I also tested the following control oil which I already knew they liked, to verify that they hadn't been conditioned to not accept any oils by the previous nasty flavors:
50% Extra Light Olive Oil / 50% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
I tested it with the following 5 ferrets who are in my care:
Fenton - Male, early alter Marshall ferret, age ~22 months
Fiona - Female, early alter Marshall ferret, age ~21 months
Finn - Male, intact, Ferretown USA ferret, age ~18 months
Rosco - Male, early alter Marshall ferret, age ~22 months
Stella - Female, early alter Marshall ferret, age unknown (believed to be at least 3 years old)
The test procedure was as follows: The ferret was offered 1 drop of a particular mixture. After waiting a few seconds for a reaction to the flavor, a second drop was offered. This process was repeated 5 times.
If after 5 tastes, the ferret still appeared to enjoy the taste and continued to eagerly want more of the oil, I marked their reaction as Strongly Positive.
If the ferret made funny faces like the flavor was strong, but still wanted more after 5 tastes, and wanted it enough to follow the bottle around, I marked the reaction as Positive.
If the ferret made faces, shook its head, etc. but still would reluctantly accept more oil if pressured, I marked the result as Negative.
If the ferret made faces, shook its head, etc. and refused to accept any more of the oil, gagged more than once, or ran away in disgust, I marked the result as Strongly Negative.
The following are my results:
ferret taste test 1 by walkerstop, on Flickr
The spreadsheet is available to view here (I will update it with future test results as I test more mixtures):
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgcblfyKht2MdEl6ckNBSGt2a0xLeEZwdk5LdWptRlE#gid=0
Background:
I got the idea that extra virgin olive oil prevents ulcers from this thread:
holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=medicine&action=display&thread=4968
And the following study:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17263460
Conclusion:
Most of my ferrets do not like the taste of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. There was no mixture containing Extra Virgin Olive Oil that was acceptable to all 5 ferrets. Some mixtures did better than others. It appears that my ferrets like the taste of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil enough that it swayed the preference of some ferrets when mixed with the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. However, the result was not good enough to make the mixture acceptable to all.
I believe the next step would be to test with a mixture using a lower percentage of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for example:
33% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 33% Light Olive Oil / 33% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Or
33% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 66% Light Olive Oil
I think the other important thing to determine via more testing is whether these ferrets can become accustomed to the taste of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Perhaps by administering a lower concentration of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and then gradually increasing it over time, they can be trained to tolerate the spicy flavor, or even enjoy it. Finn and Rosco both tolerated 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which gives me hope that it is possible to convince the others to tolerate it as well.
I would also like to test with some mixtures containing cod liver oil and salmon oil. I am curious whether the addition of either of these would help or hurt the overall flavor, because my ferrets have shown to dislike salmon oil by itself, and some tolerate or even like the cod liver oil by itself, while others dislike it.
I also considered using Ferretone as a mix-in, because it seems to be universally loved by all ferrets. However, I would prefer to use something more natural; I do not like some of the ingredients in Ferretone. I am sure it's OK, but if you are making your own mix, you might as well use the purest of ingredients.
Rosco and Finn were the best sports, tolerating every mixture. Finn actually eagerly enjoyed every mixture, making him the extreme outlier ;D
Finn says "Science is hard work!"
Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr
What do you think? Are these results consistent with what you've seen with your ferrets? Any ideas?
The motivation of this test is the supposition that extra virgin olive oil helps prevent ulcers. Extra virgin olive oil has a spicy taste that not all ferrets like or even tolerate. There are lighter olive oils that are more filtered which removes the flavor and makes them taste better to ferrets. However, in my reading, I found that the phenolic compounds in the extra virgin olive oil that are believed to be beneficial in preventing ulcers may not be present in these lighter olive oils, so it would seem the best course of action is to administer extra virgin olive oil.
One way to make the oil's taste acceptable to ferrets is by diluting it with other oils to make it taste milder. I have the 3 following types of oils to work with:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Kirkland Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil: Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Light Olive Oil: Kroger "Lighter Flavor" Olive Oil
Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr
I tested the following 3 mixtures of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for the health benefit) and a second oil whose flavor I already knew my ferrets enjoy:
100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
50% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 50% Light Olive Oil
50% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 50% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr
These are the bottles I used:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026K1YCK/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00
These are 30ml. You can also buy them individually, here is a 60ml bottle which is probably more practical for daily use:
www.amazon.com/Dropping-Dispensing-Bottle-PE-60mL/dp/B007CL6ONW/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1349291730&sr=8-21&keywords=dropping+bottle
After testing the 3 above mixes, I also tested the following control oil which I already knew they liked, to verify that they hadn't been conditioned to not accept any oils by the previous nasty flavors:
50% Extra Light Olive Oil / 50% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
I tested it with the following 5 ferrets who are in my care:
Fenton - Male, early alter Marshall ferret, age ~22 months
Fiona - Female, early alter Marshall ferret, age ~21 months
Finn - Male, intact, Ferretown USA ferret, age ~18 months
Rosco - Male, early alter Marshall ferret, age ~22 months
Stella - Female, early alter Marshall ferret, age unknown (believed to be at least 3 years old)
The test procedure was as follows: The ferret was offered 1 drop of a particular mixture. After waiting a few seconds for a reaction to the flavor, a second drop was offered. This process was repeated 5 times.
If after 5 tastes, the ferret still appeared to enjoy the taste and continued to eagerly want more of the oil, I marked their reaction as Strongly Positive.
If the ferret made funny faces like the flavor was strong, but still wanted more after 5 tastes, and wanted it enough to follow the bottle around, I marked the reaction as Positive.
If the ferret made faces, shook its head, etc. but still would reluctantly accept more oil if pressured, I marked the result as Negative.
If the ferret made faces, shook its head, etc. and refused to accept any more of the oil, gagged more than once, or ran away in disgust, I marked the result as Strongly Negative.
The following are my results:
ferret taste test 1 by walkerstop, on Flickr
The spreadsheet is available to view here (I will update it with future test results as I test more mixtures):
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgcblfyKht2MdEl6ckNBSGt2a0xLeEZwdk5LdWptRlE#gid=0
Background:
I got the idea that extra virgin olive oil prevents ulcers from this thread:
holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=medicine&action=display&thread=4968
And the following study:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17263460
Conclusion:
Most of my ferrets do not like the taste of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. There was no mixture containing Extra Virgin Olive Oil that was acceptable to all 5 ferrets. Some mixtures did better than others. It appears that my ferrets like the taste of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil enough that it swayed the preference of some ferrets when mixed with the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. However, the result was not good enough to make the mixture acceptable to all.
I believe the next step would be to test with a mixture using a lower percentage of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for example:
33% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 33% Light Olive Oil / 33% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Or
33% Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 66% Light Olive Oil
I think the other important thing to determine via more testing is whether these ferrets can become accustomed to the taste of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Perhaps by administering a lower concentration of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and then gradually increasing it over time, they can be trained to tolerate the spicy flavor, or even enjoy it. Finn and Rosco both tolerated 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which gives me hope that it is possible to convince the others to tolerate it as well.
I would also like to test with some mixtures containing cod liver oil and salmon oil. I am curious whether the addition of either of these would help or hurt the overall flavor, because my ferrets have shown to dislike salmon oil by itself, and some tolerate or even like the cod liver oil by itself, while others dislike it.
I also considered using Ferretone as a mix-in, because it seems to be universally loved by all ferrets. However, I would prefer to use something more natural; I do not like some of the ingredients in Ferretone. I am sure it's OK, but if you are making your own mix, you might as well use the purest of ingredients.
Rosco and Finn were the best sports, tolerating every mixture. Finn actually eagerly enjoyed every mixture, making him the extreme outlier ;D
Finn says "Science is hard work!"
Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr
What do you think? Are these results consistent with what you've seen with your ferrets? Any ideas?
I got a few of them eating straight salmon oil at least with as much relish as they do the ferretone. Hopefully I can switch them all by the time the bottle runs out so I don't have to buy more.
I can't believe you actually undertook this huge science experiement. It is so sciency that my BF and I were in awe 
But also, this was educational for me. I have always gotten extra light olive oil for my boys and I see that I made a mistake in doing so. I am going to try to get them onto EVOO and to do so I'll try your methods and see what they'll take to. THANKS!!!