Letting ferrets eat live (or frozen) mice might be a bit gruesome, but I'm
sure it's also quite good for them.  While I prefer not to own any animal I
would have to feed live food, I have no problem with the practice in
principle.  I simply know that I tend to get attached easily to animals of
every kind.  I have fed snakes in the past, and it's really not that big a
deal.  In any case, it's not cruelty to animals!  NOT feeding the snake a
mouse would be incredibly cruel to the snake.  If our wonderful fuzzies HAD
to eat live foods to live, or to be healthy, would it then be cruel to give
them mice for dinner?
 
It isn't any more cruel, wrong, or otherwise bad to breed mice for food
than it is to breed cows, goats, chickens, sheep, and pigs for food.  We,
as humans, are not true carnivores; we could easily stop eating dead
animals.  Our favorite pets are true carnivores; they CANNOT stop eating
meat.  Why on earth does it matter what type of animal was killed to
provide that meat?  Are mice sacrosanct because they're cute, while cows
are edible because the person buying the beef never has to look at anything
that even resembles an animal?
 
In any case, even the nastiest, messiest mouse kill doesn't compare to the
meat industry, or the poultry industry, on the cruelty scale.  So, if you
eat meat, and you don't kill that meat yourself, it's kind of hypocritical
to call killing a mouse cruel.  Check out the approved methods of slaughter
of food animals sometime.  The things we do to animals just because they're
not cute and fuzzy enough to keep as pets...
 
I'm not saying that none of us should ever eat meat again (though I don't);
that's a personal choice.  I'm not saying all of us should feed our ferrets
live mice (again, I don't); that's also a personal choice.  My point is
simply that a mouse raised in comfort and killed quickly when it's a few
months old has a significantly better life than the average egg-farm hen,
and I wish people would keep that in mind before throwing accusations in
every direction.
 
Jen and the Crazy Business (considering this mouse idea...  the cats could
have them if the ferrets didn't want them, right?)
[Posted in FML issue 2754]