There are a lot of other people in Holland who are also helping with this
experement.  We are not only concerned with the food aspect but also with
light, neutering, and the time that the ferrets have outside their cage.
My ferrets are only caged at night; they have inside and outside play.
Other ferrets are kept outside and have set hours outside the cage, We
are doing this to see what the future brings, that is also why one of my
ferrets is neutered and the other two are not.  Some have what we call
hunting ferrets, I have what we call house ferrets.  We have taken as
much as we can into consideration, we must also take into consideration
that the life of a ferret has been considerably changed in the last 30
odd years.
 
I grow up on a farm in Western Australia.  We always had working ferrets.
These ferrets were kept outside, were not neutered, never had time out of
their cage except for hunting and were fed bread and milk and meat from
the farm kill.  These ferrets never got much older than 2 to 3 years.
But at the time this was their life expectancy.  Looking back, I think
that the stress of keeping intact males and females together in one cage,
killed just as many as the bad food.  With this I mean that food is not
the only aspect of bad health in ferrets and we should be trying to work
on all aspects to improve all health issues.  I love my ferrets dearly,
that is why I have the two best vets in Holland, both experts on ferret
health, and this is why I am prepared to help with this research.  But
once again time is needed.
 
If I include the time in Australia, I have had ferrets now to close on
50 years; I have done shelter work and re homing The last 5 years I have
been president for the Dutch Ferret foundation "Stichting De Fret "and we
have gathered tons of information.  Our club helps pay for a lot of the
research done for ferrets here in the Netherlands, and we get too see all
the results, but I still could not truthfully say that food is the only
reason that ferrets get sick.  Although I do tend to agree that ferrets
should eat meat I still think that until it have been proved that it is
better, Its not right to try and make people do something they do not
want too do.  It's easy to say we all have a choice.  But when people
are saying you are mistreating your ferret because you don't do this
or you don't do that, ( and this works both ways, for meat and kibble.)
Then it is no longer a free choice.  This is what is irritating people on
the list.  We are accusing each other of not being good for our ferrets
while for the moment we have no proof either way.  I personally have
enjoyed the discussions here, but I do understand that some people are
being made to feel they are not doing their best for their ferrets, and
again, this works both ways.  By pushing a point way beyond the time
that it has lost its news, you are pushing your preference on others,
I personally don't care what other people think, and I know what I
won't.  But some people are not as secure in their views, and continued
prolonging of this topic is not giving them the chance to make up their
own mind.  This is what is driving people from the FML.  Not the topic
its self.  But the continued, I WANT THE LAST WORD BECAUSE I KNOW BEST.
 
Stephenie SDF
[Posted in FML issue 5213]