>Okay, I have read the pros and cons of raw feeding.
>
>My question is, is there anybody out there that had serious health
>problems, confirmed by a veterinarian, with their ferrets because
>of it?
 
If you'll forgive me for speaking from personal experience for a moment,
I've fed my ferrets a primarily prey-based diet for the past year and
haven't had any problems -- in fact, my vet has repeatedly complimented
me on their musculature, size, and teeth condition, without prompting.  I
have also spoken with a great deal of people in the US and overseas who
feed high-protein prey-based diets, many of whom have been doing it for
years, and they have never admitted to any serious health problems linked
to diet, none of the salmonella and other parasites Ms. Crandall has
discussed at length here.  Not saying it doesn't exist, just that I've
never heard anyone with the problem.
 
I always feel a little weird when I see Ms. Crandall post about the
potential danger of raw feeding on the FML because I feel like I have to
defend myself personally, even though my raw and prey-fed ferrets plainly
have better weight, size, endurance, coat, teeth, and musculature than
the kibble-fed ferrets I have worked with -- a subjective statement,
true, but one echoed by everyone else I know that raw-feeds.
 
I'm sorry if this sounds like a personal attack on Ms. Crandall, since
it's plain she knows a great deal about ferret health.  However, if you
look into the archives over the years, you'll find she has used nearly
every excuse and old wives' tale in the book to dissuade people from raw
feeding on the FML.  She exhorts people to read fully and keep an open
mind, yet it's obvious she's closed her mind a long time ago on this
subject, as proven by her statement that there somehow is no "reputable"
information behind the idea of feeding ferrets the diet they were evolved
to eat.
 
Her last approach back in August was that a high-protein diet would lead
to cystine stones, which was shot down by Mr. Church in a very long post
on 8/21 that was never publicly responded to:
 
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0508&L=ferret-search&P=47770
 
I would recommend that Inge read the whole post, since it refutes several
of Ms. Crandall's other arguments against raw feeding, including the
idea that ferrets are "used to" kibble diets after generations of pet
breeding.  If she hasn't already, she may also be interested in reading
some of Mr. Church's older FML posts on ferret diets, including this
series (grab a comfy chair, you'll be reading for a while).  I find them
to be primarily based on fact, while I find Ms. Crandall's posts on raw
feeding to be primarily based on supposition and scaremongering.
<http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?S2=ferret-search
&q=&s=%28diet+101%29&[log in to unmask]&a=&b>
 
Am I being open-minded here?  I think I am.  Before I got into ferrets,
I read as much as I could about them, and what I read suggested that a
raw diet (and, particularly, one based on a ferret's natural prey diet)
cannot be equaled by any other diet available.  Subsequent experience
has proven that to me.  If you disagree with the idea, that's cool, you
can still hang out at my place.
 
k
[Posted in FML issue 5159]