A. Orlando wrote:
>Personally, I find the debate on raw feeding vs.  kibble to be
>disingenious on this forum and most others.  Personally, I find this
>issue more compelling on FHL, as there it it seems to play out more based
>on research data (or the need therefor) and less on personal-anecdotal
>evidence or perceived authority.
 
Natural vs processed diets are not allowed to be discussed on the FHL,
which is primarily a forum for owners of sick ferrets to get health
advice from vets and other experts.  (I could add that treatment, rather
than prevention, is the focus, but that would be rude.:-))
 
The FML is the best place for such a discussion because it is a neutral
forum where everybody is entitled to their own point of view.
 
Before making a decision on whether or not to change a ferret's diet, I
don t think there needs to be a dependence on any professional research
(costing many dollars) into whether or not a natural diet is better
than a processed diet when there are thousands and thousands of healthy
ferrets bearing testimony to the fact that a natural diet is better and
is safe.
 
I dislike the term "raw" when discussing such a diet because this seems
to intimate to some that chunks of raw beef or chicken are the only thing
we are discussing.
 
A "natural diet" can (and should) include whole small prey and/or raw
meaty parts of prey with occasional offal.  For some pics of what I
mainly feed, go to
http://ferretfair.com.au/showcontent.toy?contentnid=34664 .
I also feed quail, chicken pieces beef and liver and whatever other bits
& pieces I can pick up from the supermarket.  I actually bought a tray
of lamb tongues the other day and they were very well received.  :-)
Whole small prey is a perfect meal for our little fuzzies and is
perfectly safe to use when obtained from a reputable source.  Although
repulsed initially by the little dead bodies, I got over it for my
ferrets' sake.  Now, seeing how well they are makes me very glad I did.
 
Shirley
[Posted in FML issue 5161]