First of all, let me say that I do not currently feed my ferrets live
mice or whole prey.  I'm not against it, just saying I've never done
it; but I still had some thoughts for everyone to consider.  Maybe I'm
playing devil's advocate or just trying to get people to see things in
perspective.  I was once totally appalled at the idea of feeding live
mice to anything.  Poor little mice!  I love all animals, and I would
indeed feel very sorry for the mouse; but if we are to face reality, it
is a very natural thing.  In reality, a mouse fed to a ferret probably
has a much more humane life and death than most of the animals that go
into the kibble we feed them.  You see, modern animal husbandry methods
are atrocious to say the least!  I'm not talking small farms, but the
mass production mentally.  If you research it or read up on it at all,
it's enough to put you off meat completely.  The horrible conditions
these animals are forced to live in, and then comes the slaughterhouse.
I won't go into gory details, but anyone who is interested in finding out
more, can find plenty of info. on the web.  Trust me, you may not want
to know!
 
Let me also add that I am not a vegetarian, although there have been many
times I've been very tempted to become one.  So I'm not a tree-hugging
vegan either.  While it can be a healthy diet for some people, our
ferrets are obligate carnivores and don't have that choice.  I actually
did try to go vegetarian at one time, for many different reasons, but due
to my Crohn's Diease, it didn't work out very well for me.  Where most
people need to increase fiber in their diet, I have to be careful not to
eat too much fiber.  That's hard to do when you cut out meat completely.
Anyway, I just wanted to bring a little more perspective to the
situation.  Not trying to upset anyone.
 
Holly
Icarus & Cato
[Posted in FML issue 5197]