According to a European pathologist, 2 of the earliest signs of BSE are
head shyness, and a high stepped gait.  Both of these mentioned in the
original post.  This particular pathologist survived the expulsion of the
German Health Mininster and crew for not acting on the fact that they KNEW
that the machines used at the feed mills to produce "cow chow" were not
cleaned or sanitized between batches.  As much as 5% of contaminated
material went into batches for sale.  The ministry is now planning to put
400,000 "suspected" cows down ( and somehow use the heat to generate
electricity)  Crazy Germans, anyway.  BTW I am German, so its not a slam.
 
The process of grinding up animals just to feed back to them is far far
spread in this country.(When was the last time you got to buy a really
nice knuckle bone for your dog, or got nice marrow bones for soup stock?)
Where do they go???  Right back into the feed!
 
Personally, I think we owe it to our fuzzs to find out if our feed
companies use this process, and just what was in that hopper before they
hit the button for ferret chow.  I am calling Performance Foods first
thing tomorrow morning.  I sugest that we all call respective feed mills
and get an answer.
 
Good point to bring up!!!!  Horrible idea - but a good thing to know!
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 3312]