Debbie wrote:
 
>There has been a lot of comments about the Raw diet with people making
>remarks that kibble is unhealthy and can cut a fuzzies life short.
 
I dislike the term "raw diet" because it means nothing.  Anyone can put
down raw mince or similar for their ferrets and call it "raw diet."
Very bad for teeth and nutritionally inadequate.  On the other hand, a
"natural diet" says it all.  Briefly, a natural diet can include small
whole prey (please note: NOT live) and/or raw meaty bones of prey with
occasional offal
 
>Personaly I think it's a bunch of bunk.  Not one person out there that
>posted in defense of the raw diet about the ages of their ferrets.
 
While, in some countries, raw feeding has been popular amongst ferret
owners for a lot of years, wide-spread natural feeding is relatively new
for many of the folk that post on this list.  I'm sure that as years go
by, there will be many posts about the health and longevity of ferrets
on a natural diet.
 
>My oldest ferret that was fed High Quality ferret food died at "13
>years", Heck, Chuckles who we lost last week was "10 years" old.  I've
>read a lot of posts about members from my groups ferrets dieing at 8-12
>years and all were fed High Quality ferret food (kibble).
 
Here in Western Australia, we used to have an asbestos mine at a place
called Whitenoom Gorge.  Years after the mine closed, many workers
from the mine began to die of a disease called mesothelioma caused by
asbestos fibres in their lungs.  Because of that, asbestos is now banned.
Curiously, not all workers contracted the disease, (which is incurable),
making it a bit like "Russian roulette."  I will not play Russian
roulette with my ferrets, but will provide the diet as nature has
designed the ferrets to eat.  One overwhelming factor about feeding a
natural diet is that they LOVE it so much.  Their wonderful dental and
general heath is an added bonus.
 
>So how old/long does a ferret live on the Raw diet?
>I'm sticking with my Inova thankyou.
 
And thereby closing your mind to any further learning on the subject.
 
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
~Henry Ford
 
Always for the Ferrets,
Shirley
[Posted in FML issue 5190]