The funny thing is that I was NOT addressing raw diets in this
situation because this version of E. coli makes Shiga Toxin which
is NOT destroyed by cooking, so I was addressing ALL home-made diets
using the recalled beef!

Also, I just said that kibbles, especially the really good ones like
those by Totally Ferret don't deserve to be slammed, and neither do the
people who feed them.

Don't have time to check fully which vet comments I've gotten about
food poisoning in ferrets were pers coms and which were in the archives
so here is an assortment on salmonella and on E. coli from the FHL
Archives that folks can go through but I don't have time to check
which ones are applicable though I trust FML members to do so:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG9058
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG15102
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG11178
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG8628
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG6619
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG6258
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG5668
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG5199
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG2281
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG9887
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG1947
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG202
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL2641
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YPG507
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG3423
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG3347
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG2206
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG838
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG354

Salmonella is usually resisted by ferrets but can be very hard to treat
when they do get it, as per vet comments and vet texts, so a mixed
picture... The bad E. coli types, though -- now there are some really
bad players. It's worse with raw but cooking is simply not sufficient
so don't give that stuff at all to avoid any degree of illness or of
long-term kidney damage! I don't care if you cook or feed raw, just
don't feed that beef on recall!

Those who want to follow meat recalls (and I know a LOT of people,
both raw feeders and cooked feeders who greatly appreciate knowing
what to avoid due to recalls) can find info here:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/2008_news_releases/index.asp
and this is good to have for when pet food recalls happen as well as
some others:
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html
Yes, I have carried info on BOTH to the FML when I learn of them.
Yes, get your alerts from BOTH places!

Apparently, one FML member was confused by my reply to Kim, but
others who realize that the latest thing that she wrote was merely a
continuation of what has appeared elsewhere and other times (and which
get forwarded to me now and then) understood and wrote to me privately.
Also, using "Kimmie" is just something I do on very rare occasions when
she misspells my name -- misspellings which she has never done any of
the times she asked for my help (and I have given help including at
least one all-nighter and and at least one almost all-nighter finding
her info when ferrets were in real trouble: one with what was diagnosed
as insulinoma but got out of control unusually fast, and one with food
poisoning who also later was found to have also had lymphoma). Do I get
a bit peeved when someone I have helped turns around and takes digs at
me? Well, does anyone?

Hey, as far as food goes, to each his or her own as long as it is done
well, and people learn the downsides as well as the upsides of any
choice so that if something goes wrong the person can respond fast and
correctly.

Personally, I am just plain tired of people trying to make others feel
guilty about their food choices and trying to pretend that anything is
perfect.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 6062]