Daily milk intake and body water turnover in suckling mink (Mustela vison) kits.

Daily (24 h) milk intake and body water turnover were measured in eight litters of suckling mink (Mustela vison) kits (6-9 kits litter-1) during weeks 1-4 post partum using the tritiated water (3HHO) dilution technique. The biological half-life of body water turnover in the mink kits increased linearly from 0.9 days in week 1 (3-5 days post partum) to 1.9 days in week 4 (22-24 days post partum). The daily milk intake varied markedly among the mink kits within a litter and increased significantly with increasing body mass from (mean +/- SEM) 10.9 +/- 0.4 g per kit during week 1 to 27.7 +/- 1.0 g per kit during week 4. Throughout the study, male kits were approximately 10% heavier and had a significantly higher milk intake than female kits. The results were corrected for water recycling between the dam and her kits, ranging from approximately 4 to 15% of the daily milk water intake, and the calculated daily milk yield of the 2 year old lactating mink dams increased from 87 +/- 7 g day-1 in week 1 to 190 +/- 15 g day-1 in week 4 post partum. The average body growth rate of the mink kits ranged from 2.9 g kit-1 per day in week 1 to 5.4 g kit-1 per day in week 4, and the calculated mean intake of mink milk per unit of body weight gain was remarkably stable at 1.0 (g g-1) during weeks 1-3 post partum, but increased to 5.6 (g g-1) in week 4 post partum. The amount of metabolizable energy supplied to the kits by the daily milk yield of the dam increased from approximately 450 to approximately 990 kJ day-1, which corresponded well with the calculated daily energy requirements of the kits. The tritiated water dilution technique was found feasible and reliable for repeated measurements of milk intake in suckling mink kits up to 4 weeks of age.