Nutrition of the Ferret

Fox, James G.; Schultz, Carrie S.; Boler, Brittany M. Vester

doi:10.1002/9781118782699.ch5

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This pattern of seasonal weight change demonstrated by our ferrets follows previously observed changes [22]. The range of mean weights that we observed across our population were in keeping with previously reported data [20,29,33]. There are many possible physiological contributing factors to this seasonal weight loss including coat changes [22,26], fat storage, hormone levels such as melatonin [26] and activity levels which in wild animals are critical for survival [34].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…On average, between Monday morning (when water bottles had been removed the previous evening) and Friday morning animals lost around 3% of their body weight in winter, and 4% in summer. Depending on diet, water consumption for a ferret can be up to 100ml/day [29] and we ensured ferrets received 60ml/kg of water each day of water restriction (which is the amount that animals maintained on laboratory ferret diet, with free access to water, typically consume in a 24 hour period). Since the key contributor to weight loss in water regulated animals is thought to be reluctance to eat dry food (rather than dehydration per se) providing animals with water combined with ground pellet diet to form a mash [8] appears to be successful at ensuring weight loss does not exceed more than a few percent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The animals used in this study were all classed as young to middle aged [29] with the oldest animal being 4 years old. Ferret weights also vary across the lifespan, which is on average between 6-8 years [29]. At birth, female ferrets weigh 6-12g and grow rapidly to 550-700g at 10-12 weeks and 600-950g at approximately 16 weeks (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At birth, female ferrets weigh 6-12g and grow rapidly to 550-700g at 10-12 weeks and 600-950g at approximately 16 weeks (i.e. adulthood) [8,20,23,29]. Ferrets are defined as old after the age of 3-4 years and are at greater risk of geriatric diseases but also natural weight loss [29,36].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also available for each animal was the oestrus time, which was estimated from the record of each animal’s yearly hormone injection (0.5ml s.c. Proligestone, Delvosteron, Intervet). Hormone injections were given within 24-72 hours of animals exhibiting visible signs of oestrus, in order to suppress oestrus until the following spring and thus prevent life-threatening anaemia experienced by females in sustained oestrus [29].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Seasonal weight changes in laboratory ferrets

Jones

Poole

Sollini

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

21 Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are a valuable animal model used in biomedical research.22 Ferrets undergo significant variation in body weight seasonally, affected by photoperiod, 23 and these variations make it difficult to use weight as an indicator of health status. To 24 overcome this requires a better understanding of these seasonal weight changes. We 25 provide a normative weight data set for the female ferret accounting for seasonal 26 changes, and also investigate the effect of fluid regulation on weight change. Female 27 ferrets (n=39) underwent behavioural testing from May 2017 to August 2019 and were 28 weighed daily while housed in an animal care facility with controlled light exposure. In the 29 winter (October to March), animals experienced 10 hours of light and 14 hours of dark, 30 while in summer (March to October), this contingency was reversed. Individual animals 31 varied in their body weight from approximately 700 to 1200 g. However, weights fluctuated 32 with light cycle, with animals losing weight in summer, and gaining weight in winter such 33 that they fluctuated between approximately 80% and 120% of their long term average 34 weight. Ferrets were weighed as part of their health assessment while experiencing water 35 regulation for behavioural training. Water regulation superimposed additional weight 36 changes on these seasonal fluctuations, with weight loss during the 5 day water 37 regulation period being greater in summer than winter. These data establish a normative 38 benchmark for seasonal weight variation in female ferrets that can be incorporated into 39 the health assessment of an animal's condition. 3 40 Introduction 41 Domesticated ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are valuable animal models for a wide range 42 of biomedical research areas, including: neuroscience [1-6], drug development [7] and 43 respiratory diseases such as Influenza and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 44 [ 8,9] including the new coronavirus strain, SARS-CoV-2 [10]. In laboratory animals 45 exposed to scientific procedures, a standard approach to monitoring health status is to 46 measure body weight. Weight loss is a key indicator of health problems, and therefore 47 understanding the factors that contribute to natural variation in body weight is critical for 48 correctly monitoring an animal's condition. Ferrets undergo significant variation in their 49 body weight seasonally; however, there is currently no normative data available to provide 50 a benchmark for the expected seasonal weight changes. Seasonal variations may mask 51 or exaggerate changes in body weight due to an experimental procedure or change in 52 health status and thus must be integrated into assessments of a ferret's health status. 53Seasonal weight changes have been demonstrated in multiple species 54 independent of diurnality, including monkeys [11,12], raccoons [13], hamsters [14] and 55 rodents [15]. There are a range of potential factors that elicit seasonal weight changes, 56 but temperature and day length are key trigge...

show abstract