>From:    Rick Roller <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Mice vs. Ferrets
 
This debate is kind of silly.  Written many posts for the thread that
we've deleted rather than enter the debate that has only some factual
content.  But a couple comments here...
 
>I have seen several people talk about Ferrets are NATURAL carnaivores
>and need a natural diet of living mice to eat.  This may be true, but
>lets look into our backyards and into the eyes of the other pets you
>may have in your home.  Do you feed your DOG, decendent of wild WOLVES
>raw meat or give them a small animal to kill for their feeding?  Do
>you still allow your cat, decendant of Wild Cats, to kill small game
>for its meals?  How about other animals in your homes?  Do you really
>feed them their natural diet?
 
Here we have ferrets, dogs, cats, goats and a llama.  We've returned our
box turtles to the wild.  The carnavore/omnivores all eat raw meat.  NONE
are more aggresive for it - well except while trying to get *their* share,
but they do that for non-raw meat treats as well.  The herbivores all eat
their natural diet or the approximation using local flora.
 
We do not toss live critters in the dog pens nor on the floors but and it
is important that we do allow them to hunt those mice that manage to get in
where they shouldn't.  Dogs and cats both are major mice eradicators.  The
ferrets aren't so good at it.  The turtles are omnivores by the way and
ate crickets.  Too slow to catch mice.  Since vermin extermination was a
primary reason for dog, cat and ferret domestication it doesn't seem wrong
to us to let them continue to try to fulfill their purpose in life.
 
But most distressing was this comment:
>It has been documented with domestic dogs, that if you feed them raw meat,
>they will be more aggressive.
 
Although this seems about dogs, since it was also stated that this could
then pertain to ferrets I think this "doggy discussion" is also about
ferrets.  I went to the web to find out more about this since it would be
most important to knowing how and why this might be true.  But I found
absolutely nothing that would make me believe that to be true.  Several
sites told how dogs were trained to be aggressive but it was by agitation
and denial not by feeding raw meat.  Keeping dogs away from what they
wanted such as a kitten was the key to aggression not letting the dog have
a kitten.
 
But for those dealing with claims about aggression being the norm in
ferrets and that why they shouldn't be allowed - try searching the web or
dog aggression.  There are a LOT of references.
 
A partial log of what I did without finding a single reference to
aggression in dogs coming from eating raw meat...
Used Altavista and searched for [dog raw meat aggression aggressive]
 
Pro on feeding raw meat - no mention of aggression:
http://www.naturalpetfood.com/naturalpetfood/meat.html
http://www.naturalpetfood.com/naturalpetfood/comments.html
http://phdproducts.com/Canine%20natural%20raw%20meat%20diet.htm
http://www.animalfood.com/afs-dunn/
http://www.phdproducts.com/main.htm
 
Con on feeding raw meat - no mention of aggression:
http://www.mybluedog.com/raw%20meat.html
http://www.petservice.com/ask_the_vet/article_archive/rawmeat.html
 
A thread on a discussion board - pro and con on raw meat but not on
aggression:
http://medicinegarden.com/archive/00004216.htm
 
Aggression in dogs but no mention of raw meat:
http://narcy.com/doggiedoor/aggressi.htm
http://www.pinn.net/~dhahne/May99/aggression.html
http://flockguard.org/trainonldagg.htm
http://www.iaadp.org/aggression.html
http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/manchester/518/aggression.html
http://www.gatewayva.com/pages/science/backstry/1113col.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/mb/dogtraining/agrodog.html
http://www.drizzle.com/~danc/FAQ/behavior.html
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~juann/agg.html
 
Could not visit due to arithmetic exception in my browser:
        American Dog Trainers Network -- AGGRESSIVE DOGS
        AGGRESSIVE DOGS. TYPES OF AGGRESSION. Displacement.
        Dominance. Fear-Elicited. Intra-Male. Intra-Species.
        Maternal. Object Possessive. Pain-Elicited....
        URL: inch.com/~dogs/aggression.html
 
It is possible that last link might have mentioned aggression and raw meat
though diet isn't listed in the quoted.
 
I'd venture that you can debate whether you feel you want to see a ferret
killing a mouse.  Whether you are convinced of the nutritional benefits of
live or dead mice.  The dangers of 'raw' meat for infections but I don't
really think that I'm convinced at this point that it is well documented
that feeding raw meat to dogs makes them aggressive and that that is also
a danger to the disposition of ferrets.  But *please* let me know if I am
wrong and have just missed something.
 
-bill
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2755]