Sugar Substitutes and Safety

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We all know xylitol is bad for animals (specifically dogs and probably others).

Off hand, does anyone know whether erythritol is dangerous for animals, too?

It is another no-calorie sweetner that has no effect on glycemic index.
"In the body, erythritol is absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine, and then for the most part excreted unchanged in the urine. Because erythritol is normally absorbed before it enters the large intestine, it does not normally cause laxative effects as are often experienced after over-consumption of other sugar alcohols and most people will consume erythritol with no side effects. This is unique, as other sugar alcohols are not absorbed directly by the body in this manner. " (thefreelibrary.com)

It is often used as the main ingredient in a popular sweetener Rakanto where the second ingredient is the extract if the Asian fruit Rakan (Scientific name: Siraitia grosvenori, Chinese name: Luo Han Guo). It is interesting to note that Siraitia grosvenori has also shown anticarcinogenic activity. And although it is not a common problem with ferrets, a recent paper also points to an "antidiabetic effect of long-term supplementation".

However, why compare xylitol to erythritol?

Although the chemical makeup is different from xylitol - xylitol is C5 H12 O5 and erythritol is C4 H10 O4 - BOTH xylitol and erythritol fall into the category of "sugar alcohols". Because of that, even though liver toxicity in dogs is occurs because they don't have the liver enzymes necessary to deal with xylitol, I wonder whether xylitol and erythritol might share some of the same properties in terms of safety?

UPDATE @ FerretKnots

Disclaimer: I am not a DVM. Advice is offered after my own extensive research and/or experience and should be undertaken at your own risk. Consult with your licensed DVM before undertaking any treatment!

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Chinese Medicine & Dosing: one example

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I am very excited to share this with you all. As I mentioned to the site owner, even in Japan where TCM and Kanpou (Chinese herbal medicine) have a long traditional history and strong scientific background, most applications of it in animals have focused on cats and dogs.

From Four Paws Five Directions, the most advice one gets about dosing herbal medicine is "for small-sized dogs and cats use 1/3 or less of a 10 gram human dose." (translated from Japanese by M. Diamantis) How did that number get decided upon? Cheryl Schwartz, DVM judges a large dog to be about the same weight as a human (60 kg) and thus able to handle a full human dosage of 10 grams. Thus a "large" dog would get the full 10 grams spread out over 3 times a day, or about 3 1/3 grams per serving. A "medium sized" would get half a human dosage (5 grams), again spread out over 3 times.

I dislike vagueness in dealing with medicine. I think we all do. What constitutes a "small" or a "medium sized animal? Where is the cutoff for "small". Ferrets would likely be classified as "extra-small" to "tiny" size, wouldn't they? What does that mean for them?

What I am finally happy to share with you is this bit of information from the all-about-ferrets blog:
"according to the specialist, Kaos is suffering from 'blood stagnation' in Traditional Chinese Medicine...
Initially I have to give her an eighth of a 1ml spoon every other day for a week, for her to get used to the herbs, and then give them to her on a daily basis."

So now we have a baseline to work from taking into consideration the following patient specific information.

Kaos (patient):
weight:
age:
diagnosis: cardiomyopathy

As more general information about her case becomes available I will certainly integrate it with the information here.



Disclaimer: I am not a DVM. Advice is offered after my own extensive research and/or experience and should be undertaken at your own risk. Consult with your licensed DVM before undertaking any treatment!

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Wily Weasel Words

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WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS PLANT?

If you said Forsythia, you are WRONG!

No, actually you are right, but in Old Japanese this plant was known as Weasel Weed (itachi kusa, 鼬草).


I like Weasel Weed better. ^.^


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Supportive Therapies: Buying Medicinal Herbs

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In treating myself, I have worked with and come across numerous suppliers over the years. Here's a list of good online sites along some company quirks, herbal traditions, and how the herbs are offered.
The most commonly practiced Herbal Traditions are as follows, in order of years of practice: Chinese or TCM (4000 years), Indian or Ayurveda (2000+ years), and Western/European (300 years). Looking at this list you can see why I prefer the Chinese tradition of herbal medicine. I am sure Ayurveda is just as good, but TCM is what I started with living in Japan back in 2000 and I have no background in even the basis of Ayurveda. Correction, I know enough to know it is very different from TCM.

Western/European herbal medicine has been ignored and often ridiculed until recently under the massive weight of "western medical science". I have also found that in western herbology medicinal formulas tend to be heavily watered down to the point they are almost ineffective. A good, robust formula as the type you will find in TCM, should take no more than one month to see some effect. Depending of the formula and/or individual, eg for those of us who are extremely sensitive, effects can be felt within a week.

You can find out more about TCM and Ayurveda through the NIH website of National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Both TCM and Ayurveda are recognized by the World Health Organization as an effective, traditional health science.

There are multiple Formats in which herbs are processed and sold:

Liquid Extracts

Oils

Dry Extracts

Capsules

Powdered

Concentrated Powders (most commonly 5:1)

Tablets

Tea Pills (style strictly found in TCM)

Whole, Unprocessed

Again, in working with animals, they are listed from "easiest to use" to "hardest/avoid". Liquid extracts and oils are obviously the easiest to use because you can always use a dropper coated on the tip with Ferrotone to sucker them into taking the medicine. As a last resort, this form is usually easiest to mix straight into their food. You want to avoid that if possible. Refer to Administering LIQUID herbal formulas for tips and the reasoning behind it. The only thing you have to watch out for with oils and liquid extracts is what is the medium for carrying the herb? Is it an alcohol base or some other oil or the pure extract with no carrying medium? Ask before you purchase.

Dry Extracts are in a category of their own as these should be (if labeled correctly) dry extracts which are water-soluable. This means you used have to dissolve the amount you want in as much water as necessary to dissolve it. Provided you give the prescribed dosage, adding the water does not weaken the concentration. From then on you can just treat it as a Liquid Extract.

Capsules, Powdered, and Concentrated Powders fall into the third category of ease of use. Capsules I think can be the nicest because the are pre-measured to some extent and you can divide them down further from there. Typically, capsules are just gelatin capsules like Tylenol caps so they are very easy to open since they are just 2 halves pressed together. Powered types are the raw herb that has merely been reduced to a fine powder. Concentrated Powders are most commonly a 5:1 concentration meaning 1gm of the concentrate herb is equivalent to 5gm of the raw herb. It's just 5 times as strong. This is a good choice for humans, but for ferrets with their considerably smaller bodies, it would be a hassle. Sticking with the powdered or capsule form is less taxing on the brain. Another reason these 3 types are in this category is because a "liquid" form can be readily made from them. Refer back to Administering LIQUID herbal formulas for ideas on how to do so. I do not AT ALL recommend sprinkling the powdered herbs straight onto their food. The smell is too obvious to their super-noses and one can not be sure they are ingesting all of the necessary dose.

Tablets and Tea Pills (a type of tablet) are usually found in the realm of TCM formulas. If you are using a traditional Chinese formula in America, you will likely be using it in one of these forms. Although some herbs can be found in tablet form, tea pills are style strictly found in TCM. Basically, the ingredients of the TCM formula has been made into a concentrated tisane, dried and then formed into little tablets. There is no actual 'tea' in the pills. The problem with tea pills is that you have to be careful that you are purchasing non-sugar coated teapills. The default is a sugarcoating, not that it improves the taste any, just makes it easier to swallow. If you and your vet happen to find a formula that you want to use, for instance from the Cheryl Schwartz, DVM book Four Paws Five Directions, you will need to crush the pills down. Treat the powdered result the same as you would when dealing with Capsules, Powdered, or Concentrated Powders.

Whole, Unprocessed is the category you want to stay away from unless you are backed into the corner by snarling, ravenous ferrets. Even then I can't imagine how you would get them to eat it. (You would have to brew it into a dense tisane and then administer as a liquid.) This category contains herbs that are whole roots, bark, petals, antler, etc... Completely unprocessed. Fortunately, 99.9% of the herbs you want can be found in any of the above other forms.

Now on to the best part-SHOPPING!!

HERBAL FORMAT KEY:
le = Liquid Extracts
o = Oils
de = Dry Extracts
cap = Capsules
p = Powdered
cp = Concentrated Powders
tab = Tablets
tp =Tea Pills
w = Whole, Unprocessed

Store Name	Herbal Tradition	Herbal Formats	Other
East Earth Trade Winds	TCM, Western	le, o, de, p, w	take note of the sanjiu extract packets and starwest liquid extracts
Sanjiu	TCM	de	Carries ENTIRE selection of Sanjiu single extracts. Also allows cross-reference between common English name and Chinese pinyin and character names. See addendum I below.
First Chinese Herbs	TCM, Ayurveda, Western	p, cp, tp, w	very helpful. will search for request. will not carry Sanjiu, offers explanations of TCM formulas
Banyan Botancials	Ayurveda	p, tab	USDA organic and traditional Ayurveda formulas
Herbs MD	Western	cap, le, p, tab	not so much selection, but offers Many Manufacturers
Gaia Herbs through Amazon.com	Western	le	The only thing I don't like is that in TCM they strictly identify and differentiate the separate parts of the herb used. Gaia does not.
China Medicine Mall	TCM	p, cp, tp	formulas also. smaller selection but good service
Chinese Herbs Direct	TCM	p, cp, w	formulas also. never used but huge selection. pinyin Chinese and botanical names only
Max Nature	TCM	p, cp	large selection of single and concentrated herbal powders. traditional formulas also but would AVOID the formulas as they are often diluted with a lot of licorice powder. pinyin Chinese and translated English nameds
Spanda Healing	TCM	tab	GOLDEN FLOWER BRAND PILLS! see addendum II

Now after all that hard work, don't you feel you deserve to buy something for yourself? (I do.) I recommend and absolutely LOVE the Cocoa & Spice Tea.


ADDENDUM I

About the SANJIU manufacturer's store:
If you notice, their order form is credit card only not even a Paypal option. Not only that they do not processing the order through "verisign" or similar online security systems. And for the finale, if you notice at the bottom of your browser (Firefox), there is no "this is a secure site" flag. I have been purchasing online for over 7 years so I did notice that and sent an inquiry regarding to which the reply was as follows:

Thank you for your email. Indeed, although our order page is not registered as a secure page, we can guaranteed that your credit card will only be used on your order billing and is 100% secure and will be erased after the transaction. We have been in business for over 7 years and we never have a problem with our online credit card payment. We shipping to US all the time through UPS and never had a problem.

Hope this helps ease your worry and looking forward to doing business with you. Thank you.

Regards,
Sanjiu Medical Center

So how do I feel about it now?
I will use them. IF I can't find what I need at East Earth Trade. At any rate, they are still an excellent reference site. Even if you can't read Chinese, if you click on the highlighted Chinese name a secondary window will pop up and the scientific name in English will be shown. You can then use that name to check out the herbal databases for more information and drug interactions.

Preparation:
Dissolve the contents of one (1) package in ... boiling water. Cover and let stand for 2-3 minutes, during which time the cover should not be removed.
--How much boiling water you use is dependent on how much you want to weaken the extract or make it easier to use.

Precautions:
1. Do not dissolve granules in cold water
2. Store in a cool, dry place such as a refrigerator.

ADDENDUM II
About Golden Flower Pills:
Out of all the "american producers" this is by far the most effective brand. Potent and high quality. Very similar to what I can find over here in Japan. They only sell pills so you will need to crush them then measure then administer. A hassle, but the quality is well worth it. However....
"DUE TO OUR DISTRIBUTOR AGREEMENT WITH GOLDEN FLOWER WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OFFER GF FORMULAS FOR SALE ON OUR WEBSITE. TO ORDER GF FORMULAS PLEASE CALL 1-800-772-6320 OR SEND AN EMAIL TO info@spanda.com"



Disclaimer: I am not a DVM. Advice is offered after my own extensive research and/or experience and should be undertaken at your own risk. Consult with your licensed DVM before undertaking any treatment!


No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means -- electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise -- without the written permission of the copyright owner. All copyrights of their respective owners.

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Tricks to Administering LIQUID herbal formulas

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In giving medicines I have been worried about causing stress from the bad taste. And we are not just talking about the fuzz suffering here. Who of us out there has not had the experience of being sprayed in the face with the "nasty pink chalky-tasting stuff" (thank goodness I wear glasses) or piddled upon in the upmost form of retaliation??? (Viva Le Resitance!!)

Fortunately I have come across several suggestions that are worth trying out. I would like to present them here with my own ideas for all to hopefully benefit from.

I. Without the help of Additives:

Liquid remedies such as herbs, homeopathics or flower essences may contain a small amount of alcohol as a preservative. Some animals are sensitive to the smell or taste of alcohol so you may wish to remove it; measure the dosage into a small vial or shot glass and let it sit out for 15-20 minutes to let the alcohol evaporate. Alternatively, drop the dosage into a small amount of heated water to speed the evaporation of the alcohol. The additional water will not affect the potency of the remedy. Don’t hesitate to put a couple drops of the remedy on your own tongue so you know what it tastes like – none of the liquid herbal or homeopathic remedies are in any way harmful for humans. It is best to use a dosing syringe or extra dropper to administer the diluted remedy to your pet so you do not contaminate the remedy bottle with bacteria from the animal's mouth.
( Clip taken from the Only Natural Pet store. )

II. With the help of Additives:

FOOD:
Most herbal tinctures can be added to the food... If you have a fussy (pet) we suggest mixing the remedy with a bit of really yummy canned food or a treat. Canned tripe works well as it has a strong smell, ... re-hydrated freeze-dried treats and tuna juice also do the trick.
( Clip taken from the Only Natural Pet store. )

SWEETENERS:

Agave Nectar

Agave nectar comes from the Agave cactus. Although it does have "sugar", it is supposed to have a LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX and is therefore recommended for use by people with blood sugar problems. I use it myself for that reason and do not have the same trouble I do if I use honey or sugar. Also, it is 1.4~1.6 times as sweet as the equivalent amount of sugar so you technically need less to help with disguising bad tasting medicine.

Unfortunately, Agave NECTAR is such a new product it does not even turn up in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.

On the other hand, a user on the FHL shared this experience with using it:
"I also use Agave Nectar almost exclusively as a sweetener and my ferrets are always 'sharing' my food with me, and have had no bad side effects. They have not eaten it straight, but clearly seem to like the taste."

More importantly, it does not appear to be toxic to ferrets.

Soymilk
Unfortunately it does have some sugar content, but being made from soy means no lactose to upset the stomach. You can see a picture of the troupe enjoying some salmon oil laced soy milk here. Also most soy milk is organic and is not packed with additives or other ingredients you can not pronounce. 2 good brands that I liked were 8th Continent (blue and white bottle) and SILK(red carton), both in regular ORIGINAL flavor only.

More importantly, soy isnot toxic to ferrets. It's the first ingredient in N Bones. Moderation is the key.

Stevia
As to Stevia, I thought about that using this too since it has a gylcemic index of 0, meaning perfectly safe for users with blood sugar issues. It is made from the dried and powered Stevia leaf so completely natural with no additives unless you buy the 'white' powder. That is a chemical whiteness. However, there are two problems right up front. One problem being that the taste is so incredibly obnoxious. I found it is very 'fake' and chemical tasting in the most minute amounts. You would swear it is a companion of the artificial sweeteners.

Secondly and more importantly, its toxicity in ferrets is unknown.

Xylitol
This was suggested to me on another board. Fortunately, I can not get it here. Why? Its toxicity in ferrets might be unknown, but it is toxic to dogs:

Xylitol has been the subject of a recent study that demonstrates the devastating power of a seemingly innocuous supermarket substance on the canine liver. Rimadyl, raw onions and Tylenol have nothing on this sweetener. It only takes a few cupcakes left unobserved on the kitchen counter to kill even a large dog. Your three-pound Yorkie? A fraction of one offered surreptitiously by a well-meaning guest might suffice.

We’ve known about this toxin for some time but it’s only recently that we’ve discovered a definitive connection between even small amounts of the product and deadly liver toxicity in dogs. Dogs just don’t have the liver enzymes necessary to deal with this particular molecule.
Quote from Dolittler.

Dr. Dunayer had this to say, "... there appears to be a strong link between xylitol ingestions and the development of liver failure in dogs." Please read the full article about xylitol toxicity from the JAVMA. It may not be ferrets, but it is good enough reason for me to not even consider it.

III. TIMING:

Most homeopathic remedies are best given at least 20 minutes before… a meal. Ideally there should be no food residue in the mouth. Drop the liquid directly into the animal's mouth or on the gums... If this proves impossible for your companion, then mix the remedy with a small amount of food or a treat.
( Clip taken from the Only Natural Pet store. )

It should be noted that giving herbal medicines 20+ minutes before any food is ingested has been standard operating procedure in over 3000 years of Chinese medicine, even for humans.

Although I will be posting the results and trials here on my blog, you can follow my several discussions on supportive therapies for lymphoma here at Natural Ferrets and the FHL: topic#1 and topic#2. Both require membership. Please also refer to the the Ferret Links - Medical section for websites dealing with herbal interactions and toxicity.


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How to Feed WYSONG & AFS FD Cat Patties

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I often find myself having to explain this, and since we are already on the topic of food, this seems as good a time as any to post it out in the open.

First, to give you a taste of the foods in question, please read the previous article.

The most important thing right off the bat is that you will need to add a little water and let it sit for a few minutes before serving. Freeze-dried (FD) food is very dry. Nothing like trying to choke down a bowl of wood chips first thing in the morning.

I used both Wysong Archetype (previously known as Ferret Archetype-I) and AFS Cat Patties.

This is an example of that feeding schedule:

For the AFS patties, I would feed about half a one a day. Just break
one in half and then again and again into more "mouthable" pieces.
1-3 TB (tablespoons) of water should make a good consistency.

SNACKY #1
any combination of the following:

- HALF a Chewy NBone.

- FD beef, salmon, chicken bits as is or floated in their "pond". Also a great mental enrichment activity since they either have to be fast and co-ordinated enough to catch the bits floating on top, or have to dunk their heads underwater to catch the water logged pieces. FD bits are light enough to float on the water for a little while before sinking. Here you can also see kibble floating in an additional flat cup.

FD snacks can be found at any of the stores listed HERE. I have used and personally like onlynaturalpet.com .
N-Bone snacks can be found here at the ferret depot or here at the old FerretStore.

With The Wysong Archtype food, that is already pretty well broken up.
I used about 1/2 cup with only 1-2 TB of water.

Pre-Bedtime, SNACKY #2
any one of the following:

- Some dashes of Salmon Oil (check your local health food store) in a special "plate", ie frisbee, specifically for that purpose. For texture variety I would sometimes sprinkle the crushed, powdery leftovers from the bag of the FD salmon.

- You can also use chicken or beef broth but be careful how much you put in. If some gets greedy and step on the side of the dish, you might find floor and ferret smelling like soup.

- Or for that very rare treat, soymilk.

---

I usually doled out the "goods" once in the morning and once in the evening with snacks in between. You can of course feed more or less depending on your fuzzy's appetite. Just look at the bowl and see what's left. Inevitably, they ate less overall in the summer. But if you just eyeball it everyday, there will be little waste. Meaning, if there were lots of leftovers on Monday (1/3-1/2 a serving leftover), then just feed less on Tuesday. If Tuesday's food is pretty well licked clean, then you can go back to the normal amount.


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