>Wouldn't a chicken leg be too much for him to eat? Also, I have to
>think about salmonella for my mom's case. She could still get it if
>she gives it to him raw in the house right? I don't know.
Hi Gina,
A whole chicken wing from a Cornish hen would not be too large a meal
for a young ferret. They have prodigious appetites and need tons of
food in comparison to an adult ferret.
I'll try to briefly explain a bit about salmonella poisoning.
Salmonella poisoning is not a disease that you catch.
The salmonella bacteria multiplies on a suitable food and the large
numbers of them can cause sickness if eaten.
You can get salmonella poisoning from food such as orange juice,
mayonnaise, rockmelon (an outbreak was traced to that 2 days ago!)
alfalfa sprouts (happened about 2 months ago) raw meats, processed
meats etc. So you see that eating anything is a risk, but should
be kept in perspective.
Today, with improvements in animal hygiene, slaughter practices,
vegetable and fruit harvesting and better education of food industry
workers, your government is hoping to decrease the risk of outbreaks.
In the home, washing hands after going to the toilet, handling animals
or digging in the garden and before handling food lessen the risks too.
Buying from a reputable dealer, defrosting raw meat in the fridge (so
any germs on the surface don't multiply) instead of on the bench,
keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold also lessens the risk.
Ferrets are designed by nature to eat other animals. They often store
them, or parts of them to eat later. If they were susceptible to
salmonella poisoning, I doubt that they would have survived very long
in the wild.
I have been feeding my ferrets raw food for the last 14 years, as have
hundreds (thatÂ’s probably a vastly understated number) of other folk,
and have never had a problem.
Cheers,
Shirley
[Posted in FML 5413]
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