Gerbils secrete very concentrated urine & feces, too... I wonder if their
milk is especially concentrated so the nursing moms don't lose too much
fluid? I would think a desert animal would be specially adapted for those
conditions. Another little factoid is that rabbits nurse their kits twice a
day, for very brief periods of time. They would need to have very
concentrated milk, as well, I would think. Maybe a good guide would be the
rodent values with less water, so they could get more nutrition in a given
volume of liquid, since they have such small tummies?
Those who have hand raised gerbils, did KMR seem to work fairly well? Did
you notice any differences between growth rates of hand raised & gerbil
raised pups?
Any thoughts, Whitney, others?
Rebecca...
At 04:29 PM 2/4/00 +0000, you wrote:
>If 'made up' baby milk formula gives the same percentages as human
>milk, how about making it stronger. Unfortunately, to get a
>similar Protein or Fat level, you'd end up with a high
>Carbohydrate level. Might be hard to mix up too!
>Just a thought.....
>
>Jo, Josh & Kyrie
>(& Monica & Chandler & their 6 pups)
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Eva Maisel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>: Hi!
>: here's a list of what several animals' milk consists of:
>: Water (W), Protein(P), Fat (F), Carbohydrates (C)
>:
>:
>: A few rodents (unfortunately nothing on hamsters/gerbils):
>:
>: Mouse: W: 60% P: 12-13% F: 21-33% C: 2.0%
>: Rat: W: 68,0% P: 12,0% F: 15% C: 3,0%
>: Guinea Pig: W: 81,9% P: 7.4% F: 7,2% C: 2,7%
>:
>:
>: Human milk in comparison:
>:
>: Human: W: 87,7% P: 1,03% F: 4,4% C: 6,9%
>:
>:
>: And this is what we may be able to get hold of:
>:
>: Cow: W: 88,5% P: 3,2% F: 3,7% C: 4,6%
>: Sheep: W: 81,6% P: 5.6% F: 7,5% C: 4,4%
>: Goat: W: 86% P: 3,6% F: 4,2% C: 4,8%
>:
>:
>: Kitten milk replacer is probably made to similar to cats' milk:
>:
>: Cat: W: 82,3% P: 9,1% F: 3.3% C: 4,9%
><snip>
>
