Cooked Meat Ferret Diet

Cooked Meat For A Base Diet Is Not Appropriate

Base Diet is an animal's main source of nutrition. This blog post was written after I was asked about if someone could simply feed cooked meats, rather than go completely raw (according to the Holistic Ferret Forum, Frankenprey plan).  The main issue with feeding cooked meat is that it is not appropriate for long term base diet and I will explain about why it is inappropriate throughout this article. Take your time, and if anything doesn't make sense, feel free to comment.

So What Is Meat?

Meat is flesh of an animal and is mainly composed of water, protein, and fat.

Some meats contain carbohydrates however that is mainly processed meats; pre-packaged and deli meats are often processed with a sugar and salt solution or seasoning blends, conferring carbohydrates to the meats.  Eggs also have a trace amount of carbs (about .6g per egg).  All naturally-occurring meats should contain no carbohydrates.

Bone In Meat and Cooking?

Ferrets need bone in meat in their diet. The bone in meat must be strictly raw for health concerns. Never feed cooked bones to your ferrets as they can pose a serious risk. Once the bone in meat has gone through the cooking process, it can remove the nutritional value of the meat and the bones become more brittle, increasing the risk of splintering. Not only can the cooked bones cause splintering, but they could also result in broke teeth, mouth or tongue damage, or internal damage (Even Blockages!) due to the brittleness of the cooked bone.

Chemical Changes Happen?

Cooking brings about chemical changes in the meat. The textures and tastes change when food is cooked. Meat and eggs are good sources of protein and the protein molecules change shape as a result of the heat energy they absorb. This is called denaturing and it is unfortunately permanent. Denaturing causes changes in the appearance (colour) and texture (feel) of the meat and even eggs when they are cooked. 

For example:

• Meat becomes firmer and turns from red to brown, 
• Egg white solidifies and becomes white instead of transparent.

 Nutrients Loss

Cooking is known to degrade the nutrients in meat and causes the losses of vitamins, minerals and even amino acids. Meat that is used in highly processed pet food is cooked at very high temperatures, so they have to use added supplements into their foods in order to make up for lost nutrients. Since supplementation isn't always exact, you cannot expect it to be completely balanced.

Cooking reduces amount of vitamins B and C, which are known to help to build new cells and the genetic material DNA, aid with conversion of carbohydrates to energy, amino-acid metabolism, immune and nervous system functions:

- Thiamin (Vitamin B1) – up to 96% (if cooked for prolonged time) 

- Biotin – 72%
- Folic Acid – up to 97%
- Vitamin C – 70-80% loss.

Taurine, an organic acid which is found in all animal tissues, is not degraded by the freeze-thaw process when it comes to raw meats, however it is degraded when it is cooked or exposed to heat of some kind. Feeding cooked meat, especially if you have made it homemade is a huge risk to your obligate carnivore since this nutrient is essential for your ferrets overall health and may cause a taurine deficiency that can lead to blindness 
Obligate carnivores are not able to synthesise all the taurine they need from other amino acids (such as methionine and cysteine) unlike some other carnivores and unlike herbivores or omnivores. Taurine is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine. Taurine has many fundamental biological roles, such as conjugation of bile acids, anti-oxidation, osmoregulation, membrane stabilisation, and modulation of calcium singling. It is essential for cardiovascular function, and development and function of skeletal muscle, the retina, and the central nervous system. Taurine is unusual among biological molecules in being a sulfonic acid, while the vast majority of biologically occurring acids contain the more weakly acidic carboxyl group. While taurine is sometimes called an amino acid, and indeed is an acid containing an amino group, it is not an amino acid in the usual biochemical meaning of the term, which refers to compounds containing both an amino and a carboxyl group.  A diet that does not have enough taurine can cause the heart to stretch and enlarge (dilated cardiomyopathy). This can lead to congestive heart failure and death. In the eye, a low taurine diet can cause blindness from central retinal degeneration. 

Oils  are also known to become damaged due to heat, light, and oxygen. When exposed to these elements for too long, fatty acids in the oil become rancid (oxidized). Cooking not only destroys their health benefits, they may become carcinogenic. 

Enzymes are destroyed by cooking.

Any sustained heat of approximately 118 - 129 degrees Fahrenheit or 48-54 degrees Celsius destroys virtually all Enzymes in food. This basically means that cooked food entering the stomach would be devoid of enzymes.  Enzymes are important. They don’t just help to digest the food – they are living proteins that help repair DNA, make hormones, prevent clotting and so on. Eating a diet of cooked and processed foods would put incredible stress on our ferret's bodies. The pancreas in particular, since it has to produce massive quantities of digestive enzymes after consuming a food that is devoid of enzymes.

Digestive enzymes are produced primarily in the pancreas and released into the duodenum to help digest food coming from the stomach. The intestines themselves also secrete amylase and other digestive enzymes.  Most mammals produce amylase in the saliva, but dogs, cats and ferrets do not. 

Their function in digestion. Three main types of enzyme help break down macronutrients in food: 1 - Protease, to break down protein. 2 - Lipase, to digest fat. 3 - Amylase, to process carbohydrates.

Although, to some degree, enzymes can be replenished by manufacturing metabolic enzymes in the liver and digestive enzymes in the pancreas(primarily for protein digestion), the number of enzymes each cell can produce is limited. Most of the enzymes needed for digestion should come from food. Eating a raw food diet takes stress off the pancreas (and the entire body) by providing the enzymes required for digestion. It is one of the primary advantages of a raw food diet. 

Then what about treats?

Feeding cooked meats as treats is alright providing it is done in moderations. Too many treats in general can throw off the balance for the ferrets overall diet. As long as the ferret has a balanced diet, preferably of raw or whole prey, then adding along some cooked meats as treats in should be acceptable. They would get all their nutrients from their base diet, so the lack of nutrients in the treats are fine in this case and the ferrets can have the yummy taste instead. The treats should be cooked without anything added. No salts, no added flavours or enhancers. Completely natural is always the healthiest option. I prefer to do steamed, because steaming foods does enhance some nutrients and brings out more natural flavours.

Prepping raw is time consuming enough, so why would you want to cook it all the time when it comes to the base diet? In my opinion, It's not only healthy to simply keep it raw, but its also easier and less time consuming. We already spend so much time on chopping up raw as it is. Freezing already changes the textures slightly as well, so why would you want to change it even more by cooking? If you were to also cook the meat for a base diet, where would the bones go? Since I mentioned earlier, you would have to scrap bones from the diet  since it would be unsafe to keep them if you want to cook the meat. That means more teeth cleaning on a daily basis and you may even have to add in supplements to the diet. Its just not worth it.

In Conclusion

Yes, To some degree you could feed your ferret some cooked meat. It is not recommended for a long term diet since it would be lacking in essential nutrients to keep your ferret healthy.  Supplmentation should only ever be done under supervision of a Veterinarian, or an Animal Health Care Professional. Cooked meat can easily be fed as a treat along side a balanced diet, but cooked Bone in meat should be avoided as it poses a serious health threat.

I hope this was of some use to you.

Thanks for reading,