>And don't give me that business about your ferrets loves his raisins,
>bananas, etc.  Dogs love chocolate and it can kill them.  Maybe if we fed
>our ferrets more naturally we would see longer lives, less sickness, and
>maybe just maybe less cancer.
 
A nice supposition, however..if I may, (as if you have a chance!  HEH)
Chocolate is supposed to be harmful.  My animals have had chocolate for
over 30 years and I have never had a chocolate incident.  And there
**HAVE** been times when huge amounts had been consumed by a single dog!
So, I never curtail the use of chocolate as a treat, even with my fuzzies.
(Who traditionally live to be over 10 years!)
 
Now..your statement about raisins, bananas, etc.  Think about this for a
few.  In the wild, pure carnivores do NOT exists.  Even your big cats eat
fruit they find.  (That is ripe!) They do have a sweet tooth.  Same with the
weasel family.  If, in their wanderings, they should come across a berry
bush of some sort, and the fruit is falling off, full and ripe, do you
really think it will be passed up?  Most animals like sweets.  So it stands
to reason that raisins, bananas, grapes, melon, etc., would be found
'desirable' by our furkids.
 
As long as you don't give them these fruits exclusively or in humongous
amounts, no harm will come to them.  Besides, having grown up in a dog show
environment, I know I would much rather carry dried banana chips or raisins
in my pocket than boiled liver!  HEH!
 
MC (The Rude One)
(All three ferrets are now acclimated to each other!  It only took 3 months!)
 
[Moderator's note: I'd feel guilty if I didn't chime in here: a component
of chocolate IS indeed poisonous to dogs.  The amount of chocolate needed
to do harm is larger than some people realize, perhaps due partly to the
poor quality of chocolate but also because the effects are somewhat
cumulative (i.e. it takes dogs a very long time to metabolize it).  But
readers, please don't go around feeding your dogs large quantities of
chocolate -- this is definitely not a good idea!
 
I personally don't believe chocolate is toxic to ferrets, but people need
to make their own decisions about that one -- unlike dogs, where toxicity
has been proven, no such studies seem to exist for ferrets.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2387]