Renee and all,

Dr. Bruce Williams began advising years ago that the egg shell pieces
be able to go through a strainer before giving due to a report from an
FHL member whose ferret died of ulcers with a lot of egg shell debris
in the stomach that was thought to possibly have settled into where the
raw tissue was and caused further damage, possibly being the result
of the bleed-out. Not everyone thinks of the straining step -- and
honestly it may be that ferrets who do not have ulcers don't need it
since they don't have wounded areas and because stomach acid is as
strong as it is. Sometimes ulcers can be hidden so if the ferret is
compromised discuss with your vet which of those diseases or disorders
are associated with an increase in the prevalence of ulcers in ferrets.

Here is Dr. William's post:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG5289

Note that this MIGHT be a solitary report so it could be a rare need,
but then again few people have necropsies and pathology done when there
is as obvious a cause of death as a bleed-out. So each person should
just use his or her own judgement.

Two nutritional considerations for raw eggs:
the well known biotin deficiency from too much raw white (due to avidin
problems), and lesser published is in Fox's _Biology and Diseases of
the Ferret, second edition_ with too much implicated in causing
thiamine deficiency. See page 168.

One irony of the amount of salmonella in U.S. poultry is that the
process which strips off the most likely contaminated locations also
strips a barrier present on fresh eggs so while eggs used to be safe
on the counter if they were used rapidly, now eggs need refrigeration.
Salmonella is very hard to treat when ferrets do get it but luckily
they are usually able to fight it off if not compromised. There are
other food poisonings which are more serious for ferrets, while
salmonella is potentially more serious for humans than ferrets.

Cooked egg is a GREAT source of high accessible protein. I do not know
if it is low in phosphorous but I have heard of some ferret vets who
are suggesting that in ferrets with chronic kidney disease that some of
the other protein sources be displaced partly by cooked egg, especially
yolk. (In ferrets with chronic -- but not acute -- kidney disease there
is a need to have the protein more accessible but decrease the
phosphorous in the diet.
See:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG15335
As an unrelated aside: also notice that the body uses calcium to
process phosphorous which is why too much phosphorous in the diet --
as with many soda pops for humans -- and too little calcium will cause
skeletal problems:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL1731

Cooked egg white is usually not frozen because it can separate into a
watery fluid and a rubbery solid. The yolks don't have that problem. It
may be possible to make a rubbery textured and highly nutritious treat
for ferrets with cooked eggs, but folks need to experiment to get it
right and then share their techniques.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5850]