Why do people feed this smelly food? What are the benefits of green tripe? Keep reading to learn about the wonders of green tripe, and why you should be feeding it weekly to your ferrets. Green tripe is another one of those foods I didn't know anything about when starting my raw feeding journey. Due to limited credible nutrition information online for ferrets, my preconceived notion of tripe was; "don't feed it, ferrets don't like the smell." Green tripe was then pushed to the back of my head, and only revisited very recently when completing the Dogs Naturally Raw Dog Nutrition course.
There, I learned why many consider it a "super food." I've since implemented green tripe in my ferret's weekly meal plans, and they've been really enjoying it! What is green tripe? Green tripe is found in the stomach of grazing animals such as cattle, lamb, goats and pigs. I find that beef and lamb tripe are the most popular choices. The bleached tripe you may find in your local grocery, is the rendered and clean version, and should not be fed. You want the natural, nutritionally intact green tripe. The name "green" is given to describe the untouched nature of the product. (ref) Tripe may actually be a more pale to murky brown color rather than green. I've purchased tripe that looked more green-brown as well. Frozen or fresh is the best choice over canned. Canning does denature some of the nutrients in tripe. What does green tripe provide? Tripe contains various enzymes, nutrients, vitamins, proteins and probiotics, making it a "super food." Tripe also has a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 1:1, an acidic pH, 15:1 protein, and 11:7 fat ratio. It's also a source of healthy Linoleic and Linolenic acid. (ref) Ferrets are fairly sensitive animals, and benefit greatly from the addition of enzymes in the diet. Even better, partially digested enzymes (like tripe!) Green tripe is a source of these enzymes and gastric juices to help promote functional digestion. A healthy digestive tract will help your ferrets efficiently utilize their food. They can also benefit from the amino acids found in tripe, making it great for sick and or elderly ferrets. As well as providing a strong immune system via the promotion of healthy gut flora. Tripe is also a great addition in diets lacking whole prey items with fur or feathers. It helps to fill in potential nutritional gaps that may be lacking in frankenprey or raw grind diets. Pet owners have noticed better skin, coat, digestion and dental health after feeding green tripe weekly to their dogs and cats as well. (ref) The Hype on Tripe When reading more about this food online I did find some mixed reviews. Some say that the benefits of tripe are greatly exaggerated, that the acidity of the carnivore's stomach will kill off most of the good bacteria and denature most enzymes found in tripe. (ref) In dogs, they can have access to multiple sources of enzymes like kefir and fermented foods. In ferrets, our options are limited to tripe and foods high in enzymes like raw pancreas due to their biological makeup and requirement for only animal product. In my opinion, tripe is a beneficial food great for obligate carnivores that can't consume dairy or fermented vegetables. The website does say that if your pet is in need of probiotics (ex: pancreatitis) a better source would be from a probiotic supplement, which makes sense. This disease does not seem to be prominent in ferrets. My Thoughts Regardless, this doesn't change the fact that tripe is a good source of manganese, a nutrient commonly deficient in diets lacking whole prey. It's also been used before specifically in dogs with weight issues, pickiness, pregnant or nursing mothers, sensitive stomachs, coprophagia, and dental problems. Generally, those sorts of benefits translate to felines and ferrets from what we've seen from other animal products, so we can assume they would provide similar positives. How to Feed Tripe is considered boneless or muscle meat in terms of raw feeding and when structuring your meal plan. I generally feed green tripe once a week in my organ soups for the ferrets. I feed around 2oz for my 5 ferrets. Just a note- My Pet Carnivore has a discount on bulk tripe sales: https://www.mypetcarnivore.com/bulk-purchase/ Resources http://greentripe.com/no-guts%2c-no-glory.html https://therawfeedingcommunity.com/2017/05/26/green-tripe-whats-all-the-stink-about/ https://barfindia.com/blog/green-tripe/ https://www.mypetcarnivore.com/how-and-why-to-feed-tripe/
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