Baby Formula - Which Powder to Use ?
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 13:41:16 -0600 Subject: Re: FEL-L: Esbalic vs KMR
Nearly 14 years ago, when I adopted my first 10 day old cougar kitten, I was told by the breeder to feed him esbilac. I did, and added meat when he was 4 weeks old. I never added anything else. He has never been sick a day in his life. His eyes are perfect.
When I produced my first litter of cougar kittens, they nursed on their mom till they were 4 weeks old. Then I weaned them onto esbilac formula with added cream, yogurt, vitamins and meat. They are 10 years old now, and I have never had an eye or health problem out of all three boys.
I've raised many cougar kitten on esbilac and sold them to others - I have never had any reports of any cataracts in any kitten that left our place.
The reason I fed esbilac to Mercury was because that's what I was told to feed. But as I became more involved in cougars, I studied the Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine charts and saw that cougar's milk was some of the highest fat content and lowest carbohydrate content milk of all felids mentioned. I choose to continue to use esbilac and fortify it with cream, a great source of additional protein and fat. In the powder form KMR has 21% carbohydrates compared to Esbilac's 15%. Cougar's mother's milk (not powdered) has 3.9%.
When I first bought Esbilac there was a warning on the label about feeding it to orphaned puppies under 2 weeks of age - it increased their chances of contracting cataracts. My kittens were always older than 2 weeks when pulled.
I have a study done by Pet Ag in 1990, the makers of both products called "Evaluation of growth rates and cataract formation in orphan puppies fed two milk replacer formulas". One group of Akita's were fed a regular formula (doesn't say - but I would imagine it was Esbilac, since they make it) the other was fed that formula with additional arginine and methionine added. And the results showed that the plain formula caused cataracts in all those puppies, that resolved or at least reduced in severity by 8 weeks of age. The supplemented formula puppies were completely cataract-free. Based on that study, the formula for Esbilac was modified.
Seems to me that the warning on Esbilac is gone - or at least that's what I remember. Who out there has a can that can verify this?
I have two other documents from PetAg - one is an analysis of Esbilac powder the other is KMR.
Of the 19 amino acids these two formulas share in common, Esbilac has a greater amount of Arginine and Methionine. KMR alone has taurine. In 100 grams, the average amino acid mentioned would be listed somewhere between 1 and 3 grams (except for glutamic acid at 9.32 grams) and taurine is listed at 0.04 - not much in there folks.
When I adopted an adult cougar that developed cardiomyopathy in 1990, and was literally saved from certain death by massive doses of taurine, I started adding it to my cougar kitten formula.
Anyway, that's my experience with Esbilac.
I don't raise many cougars anymore, Mercury and Tara are retired (just doing it for the fun of it), but I raise bobcats and servals, and for those two species, I have always used KMR, as the numbers more closely match their natural mother's milk. Lynn Culver
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 1998 18:50:46 -0600 Subject: Re: FEL-L: Mother's Milk composition
:>>cougar's milk was some of the highest fat content and lowest carbohydrate content
>Where can I obtain a copy of these charts?
According to Z & WAM this is what they show for only these cat species.
Species Solids% Protein% Fat% Carbohydrates%
Cougar 35.5 12.0 18.6 3.9
Lynx 21.7 10.2 6.2 4.5
Leopard 22.6 11.1 6.5 4.2
Lion 30.2 9.3 17.5 3.4
Cheetah 23.7 9.4 9.5 3.5
Sorry, no tiger milk. Keep in mind though, mother's milk changes as the kittens develop. There is no information telling if this is just born mother's milk, month old kitten milk or whatever.
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 22:28:39 -0600 Subject: FEL-L: Re: Feline Milk Composition
The following information was published in Exotica (by LIOC). It was originally given to me by Bob Jenness of the University of Minnesota Vet School (since retired) at the time that he analyzed my Geoffroy cat's milk:
Species Fat Protein Carbohydrate Ash Lactose Total Solids
Domest. 3.33% 9.08% 4.91% 0.58%
Domest. -- 4.49% -- 0.75% 4.80% 22.2%
Lynx 6.2% 10.2% 4.5% 0.58% --
Cougar 18.6% 12.0% 3.9% 1.0% --
Leopard 6.5% 11.1% 4.2% 0.75% --
Lion 18.9% 12.5% 2.7% 0.75% 2.7% 36.1%
Cheetah 9.5% 9.4% 3.5% 1.3% --
Lynx 6.2% 10.2% -- 0.75% 4.2% 18.5%
Cougar 18.6% 12.0% -- 1.0% 3.9% 35.0%
Leopard 6.5% 11.1% -- 0.75% 4.2% 19.4%
Cheetah 9.5% 9.4% -- 1.3% 3.5% 23.2%
Geoffroy 4.6% 11.3% -- 0.6% 2.7% 19.2%