Ferrets, dogs & cats are carnivores, raw meat eaters.  They are designed
and have a different digestion system to deal with salmonella, etc.  It
really irks me to see posts that perpetuate the falsehoods that raw meat
is dangerous to them.  Kibble was marketed to be convenient and to be a
money maker for all the meat products that were unsuitable or not very
appealling to people.  And cheap grains are added as a filler (and boost
the profits to the mfg).  The actual health problems are not from feeding
a species appropriate raw diet, but by making our companions eat foods
that they are not designed to eat which can put stress on their bodies.
 
My problem is not so much with feeding kibble, but with the people, vets,
manufacturers, who try and put fear into people by spreading falsehoods
about a raw diet.  Is it such a hard concept to grasp, feeding an animal
the way it was designed to eat before man came along and decided to make
it more convenient to suit our needs over the animals?  While I can admit
that kibble is able to sustain and provide life for our companions, why
is it so hard for some people to accept that feeding them the natural way
is just as fine (if not better)?
 
Interesting to note that more dogs have died from salmonella tainted
kibble than from raw food.  Of course the kibble mfg's aren't so quick
to publish that.
 
Here is a link with some answers to the more popular questions and
misconceptions:
http://www.bluegrace.com/barf.html
 
Bottomline point I am trying to make is that if you want to feed kibble
go ahead, but don't spread lies and fear to discourage and scare the
people that want to pursue a species appropriate way of feeding.
 
  ~Amy~
[Posted in FML issue 4408]