Hello,
 
As I think I mentioned earlier, I feed my three ferrets a 100% natural
diet -- mostly mice, but also chicken, rabbit, quail, fish, and so on.
I bought a kit from a breeder a while back and he's been getting this
same diet; he was on a partially natural diet (raw and kibble) at the
breeder's.  This breeder recommends at least a partially natural diet
to all her customers, and it's a part of the kit contract she has her
customers sign.
 
My kit's pushing 11 months old now, and I paid the breeder a visit last
week with the guy.  There I got to see two of my ferret's siblings, who
were being boarded there over the weekend.  I had my ferret with me, so
I was able to make a direct comparison -- surprisingly, compared to my
ferret, these two were longer (more strung-out), thinner, less muscular,
and more out of shape.  Even the shapes of their heads were different --
my ferret's head was wider and broader, while their ferrets' heads were
noticeably smaller.
 
So how did this happen?  It turns out that the owners of the two ferrets
had ignored the contract and were feeding them 100% kibble starting about
two weeks after they picked them up -- i.e. when they were around 14-15
weeks old.  They stopped feeding raw without consulting the breeder
because they were FML members, had read a certain person's repeated posts
on diet, and feared their ferrets would contract salmonella poisoning
from raw food.  Now all the ferrets are fully grown, and the difference
in results is plainly obvious.  I fed a natural diet during my ferret's
developing months, they fed kibble to their ferrets in the same time
period, and it produced a difference in physical health so profound that
even someone who's never seen a ferret in his life could spot it.
 
Now, I don't blame the owners of these two ferrets.  They aren't at fault
here; they were just trying to find what works best for their ferrets,
like any good pet owner should.  No, I place the blame entirely on the
Ferret Mailing List's members -- first, this one certain poster for a
long set of meandering, scaremongering, drama-laden posts with no basis
in practical experience whatsoever, and then the rest of the FML, for
coddling this person and being openly hostile to any differing opinion.
It was one thing when people I've never even heard of started harassing
me via private email after my earlier FML raw-diet posts, but it's quite
another when another person's series of FML posts are directly and
negatively affecting the lives of ferrets I know in the real world.  I
find that difficult to accept.
 
So you know what?  Forget about the ferret "community".  I'm sick of it.
This is the latest in a series of events that've happened to me over the
past few months.  These events indicate to me that some of you ferret
"community" people are downright dangerous and wouldn't last half a
second in the real world.  You're a bunch of crazy neurotic nuts using
animals as a shield for your retarded ego-waving and drama-mongering,
and I can't believe I was actually considering going to Ferret Aid and
meeting some of you in person.  I don't know what the dog and cat
"communities" are like, but by God, they can't be this bad.
 
I'm resigning my post as editor of the AFA's newsletter, but I'll still
be active in the local (Houston) ferret groups since that's still
enjoyable to me.  As far as I'm concerned, my ferrets were born under a
lucky star; the species will not go extinct if I'm not around; and all
the bickering idiots in the "community" deserve each other.  Naturally,
that's no attitude to have if you're a member of the ferret "community"
trying to help out charitably on a national level, so there's another
reason why I want out.
 
k
 
PS. No, I don't mean that -all- of you are idiots.  So please don't
feel offended, especially if we've talked in person before.  This
message wasn't directed at you, and I hope you'll understand where I'm
coming from here.
[Posted in FML issue 5192]