Disclaimer: This is purely my opinion and don't want to start a
raw/live vs anti raw/live debate

Hooligan's post:
>When I asked my vet about using a Raw diet for ferrets. Her response
>was interesting. She basically told me that pretty much all the
>specialist from US Davis that she frequently consults were anti-raw.

Hi. I know you were talking about raw meat in regards to grocery store
meat, but I think whole prey counts as raw as well.

I attend UC Davis, intern at the VMTH, and my ferrets also see the
exotic vets there. I have yet to find an anti-raw vet. They have all
encouraged me to continue feeding raw when I told them I fed live prey
to my ferrets. In fact, they told another ferret owner who was also
present when I took my ferrets in that prey/raw meat was better for a
ferret's health. Since feeding raw/prey, my ferrets have experienced
exactly what you described with the 11-13 year old ferrets. Granted
they're much younger than an 11 year old, but the physical changes of
my ferrets was almost instant when I switched onto raw. (went from
coarse dull fur to thick shiny coats, good teeth, more active)

The only warning the vets said about feeding raw/prey is to know where
my feeders are coming from. You want to make sure they're from a clean
and diseased free breeding facility that actually takes care of their
animals. I'm going to start breeding my own feeder colony so that way
I know the exact thing I'm feeding my ferrets.

Hope this helps a bit.

Nikki
UC Davis Animal Biology
Pre-vet

[Posted in FML 7197]