Dear Mr. Lipinski, I am posting this rebuttal to your feeding post so that
all who read it will not be as misinformed as you would like them to be.
My source of information has a PHD in animal nutrition vs.  your PHD in BS.
Firstly, a ferrets metabolism is so fast(3-3 1/2 hours from one end to the
other) it does not have the time it takes to break down and metabolize
plant matter( fruits and vegetables), which normally takes 4-6 hours in
most warm blooded species.  Furthermore, ferrets do not have a caecum,
which is designed in most animals for capturing and breaking down plant
matter into product that could be assimilated.  Secondly, feeding your
ferrets chunks of meats with the bone in is putting your ferrets at risk
to esposure to salmonella and listeria and laceration or punturesd to
the trachea and esophagus.  Cooking the meat will elimate the bacterial
exposure but harden the bone and increase the risk of wounds to the trahea
and esophagus.  If your reply to this is they eat bone in the wild, sure
they do, but unless you are feeding them SMALL animal bones, which they can
easily crush and digest, you are putting them at risk.  Thirdly, raw or
cooked meat, unless you are feeding them the whole animal is lacking in
calcium and phosphorous and a diet of meat will cause a deficiency in
calcium and phosphorous.  To supplement that loss brings us to another
subject, how much and when?  Fourth subject of my concern is dental health.
A good food for your ferret will have a consistency that is neither too
hard or too soft so the eating it wil keep the teeth and gums clean and
healthy.  Lastly, Mr. Lipinski, I personally handle more ferrets in one
year than you may have the opportunity to see in the next ten years.  When
you insinuate that us shelter operators are feeding our ferrets wrong and
yours is the best way, I can only say you are entitled to say whatever you
want, but spreading the kind of info that you are is detrimental to those
who just take your word for the truth.  I prefer to let the pros make my
food and the products I use for my ferrets, as I already have too many
things to do, as I'm sure that many other shelter operators are busy also.
[Posted in FML issue 3050]