Some final comments before the question-answer period.  Something that is
discussed as an issue but is really a "non-issue" is the latest
preoccupation with "tainted" raw meat.  Ferrets were domesticated more than
2500 years-ago, and was mostly fed raw meat that entire time, and they
certainly survived fine until now.  Thier ancestors, the European polecat
*still* eats raw meat, as it has for millions of years.  Did some animals
contract disease and die as a result?  I'm sure they did, but even if a
hundred ferrets died yesterday of food poisoning, that has nothing to do
with the nutritional quality afforded by more natural foods compared to
kibbles, or that raw foods are better for carnivore to eat.  Lets face it;
not only is life inherently risky, it always terminates in death.  Raw meat
is not an issue when you can easily eliminate contamination through light
cooking, peroxide baths, or buying your meat from a reputable butcher or
slaughterhouse.
 
Another non-issue is the concept that domesticated animals should eat kibble
because they are domesticated.  This ia a prime example of a circular
argument where the argument becomes the evidence.  Does that mean wild
animals that eat domestic animals need to be punished?  Should we feed zoo
animals nothing but other wild animals?  How about animals in the process of
domestication?  Should they be fed only semi-domesticated animals?  Kibble
might *look* like breakfast cereal, but it usually contains a minimum amount
of animal protein.  So what is the difference between feeding a ferret a raw
piece of meat compared to a piece of kibble made up of animal byproducts?
There is *NO* moral nor ethical difference.
 
Non-issue number three is the idea that feeding raw foods makes the ferret
more bloodthirsty or predatory.  Rubbish.  The so-called stalking instinct
is just that; a deeply-rooted instinct--like eye-blinking--that is nearly
impossible to bred out.  It is written in the genetic code.  Ferrets *learn*
what is good to eat, and good luck getting them to eat something new after
a year or so of kibble.  An example of how this is a reality of ferret life
lies in the occasional stories of how mice will occasionally eat ferret food
within striking distance of ferrets, yet the ferret ignores the mouse.  That
is usually because the mouse never moved in such a manner to trigger the
ferret's instinct to attack, and because it was never seen as food.  Since
most ferrets are never in a position to associate stalking with subsistence,
please explain exactly how eating raw meat increases the ferret's
instinctual or predatory behavior.
 
The fourth non-issue is that it is cruel to feed a carnivore natural prey.
This is usually because the death is terrifying or horrible, or because the
carnivore may play with their food after or *during* the kill.  I can't
tell you what goes on in the mind of a mouse or goldfish at the moment of
predation any more than I can tell you what a ferret is thinking as it
crunches on kibble.  I have never proposed that ferrets be fed live foods;
I do think mouse carcasses are extremely healthy for ferrets to eat--far
more so than kibble diets.  I cannot quantify the terror quotient, therefore
cannot tell you that a sudden bite to the base of the skull is more or less
terrifying than standing in line at a slaughter house.  What I can say is
this.  Carnivores are specialists at stalking, catching, killing and
consuming live animals, and have been doing so for tens of millions of
years.  It is *just* as cruel to force a carnivore into an unnatural
herbivourus lifestyle as it is to kill a goldfish.
 
What *IS* the issue is the quality of the various foods fed to our ferrets.
Where do they come from?  What are they made of?  How do you know they are
balanced or complete diets?  What does the food do to ferrets?  THESE are
the issues, these are the things we need to consider if we wish to feed our
ferrets a diet designed to make them optimally healthy and happy.  Each
ferret owner is in fact a caregiver who positions themselves between the
world and the ferret, protecting it as much as possible from the hazards we
have introduced, and filtering out those things that negatively impact the
ferret's life.  Part of that job is to realize exactly what the ferret is,
how it once lived and evolved, and what things preserve its mental and
physical health.  If those requirements of caretakership are too difficult
for a person to accept because of their personal beliefs or ethics, then
perhaps the companionship of a pet with a more compatable dietary history
should be selected.
 
I recently recieved an extremely rude and violent letter from a person upset
because I advocated ferrets eating raw meat.  I was compared to
vivisectionists, Nazi torturers, and promoting species-related genocide.  I
am worse than that....I advocate open discussion and thinking, the exchange
of ideas and of knowledge.  That makes me a dangerous person indeed; not
like those people who forbid the exchange of ideas because they are at odds
with their own personal beliefs and who do so to the point of illegal
harassment.  This series of diet posts was not designed to convince anyone
of anything; they were designed to explain what the foods were, as well as
what the ferrets need and why.  Each of you has to determine what you will
or will not accept and the truth is, I could effectively argue against
several of my own statements.
 
These posts were made with the idea that there would be an open, honest and
unemotional discussion of the issues at the end because the ultimate goal
was the improved caretakership of the ferrets.  To have such a discussion,
it is important not to punish those with different ideas, or those whose
ideas which make little sense.  To do so penalizes all of us because it
forces those who fear such reprisals into silence and potientially important
information or techniques are lost.  I submit the discussion of issues is
healthly and wise, but the punishment of those who have different ideas than
yours is just as immoral and just as disgusting as torturing a ferret (or
goldfish) to death.  Such people are "Thought Nazis" and show little or no
tolerance towards other belief systems.  To prevent such acts of moral and
intellectual violence, if you submit your questions or ideas to me on the
subject of diet, I will forward them to the FML in the Q-N-A part of the
series, protecting you from the shallow and intolerant.
 
Release the hounds! Bring on the questions!
 
Bob C and 20 MO Fur Hounds of Carnivore Land
[Posted in FML issue 2340]