The point here is that realizing that there are pros and cons to each
decent option and being willing to argue either side to better learn
about them -- although it is aggravating as-all-get-out for some other
people (who are just stuck dealing with the fact that we all have our own
personalities and viewpoints here) -- is a great way to be able to adjust
one's views as more is learned, and is also a great way to be less hurt
when a hypothesis which had been hoped for just plain doesn't pan out.
It is only logical to acknowledge that not all hypotheses pan out and
that saying that isn't a slap to anyone's face or an assault to anyone's
favored ideas. It is just a fact of life, by sheer definition of what
hypotheses are.
I don't particularly have a problem with being disagreed with. I've
learned a LOT that way. I have a problem with resources, numbers, etc.
that are not supportable or are highly questionable. I have a problem
with discarding evidence before enough is known about it. I have a
problem with holding so tightly to a hypothesis that for all functional
realities it seems to have been forgotten that it is still only
hypothetical.
Like I said, there are a number of diet options which are viable and each
has its own good or bad points.
For our area and lack of knowledge of the supply stream, plus the
severity of some possible illnesses I personally wouldn't feed raw, but I
DO know that for here and for ferrets those diseases are currently rare,
so I am not saying that it is vastly unsafe, just that in our weighing of
the possibilities we didn't personally decide to go that way, also I DO
think that it is important that people have the info on those illnesses
because they are not all rare for all settings and they are so very
severe. In other situations it can be very safe, and in still some other
situations it can be very unsafe.
Also for our setting we HAD fed high protein to some (and others swiped
those foods). In our particular situation we found that was unsafe due
to cystine stones developing in two, and then we also found that the
rate of such stones was increasing over the last year (approximately) in
at least one lab when Steve and I carefully searched out experts on the
stones in ferrets. Now, at first I came on a bit strong about it. Let's
face it, that is a normal response to personal pain.
Similarly, in Shona's last post on the ferret who choked on kibble her
words sounded for the first time like it may have been her own family
member and recent. In such a situation when the emotional pains are raw
we all come on more strongly than we would with time to dull the edge a
bit. If that is the case, Shona, I offer my sympathies because a death
hurts extra much when a person has placed great faith on what did not
prevent it or on what caused it.
All that any of us can do is to keep our minds open enough to take into
consideration the good and bad points of any topic on which there is
disagreement, try to reduce personal pain by not treating hypotheses as
if they were proven, and respecting that every decent diet option out
there has its own strengths and weaknesses. Without more data we simply
can't assess some of them to know which are more important for our
individual consideration, and there is no escaping that reality. So, I
don't think that anyone is terrible for feeding raw, or feeding cooked
and homemade, or feeding high protein kibble, or feeding 35% protein
kibble, because I know that individual ferret needs vary, what a person
can manage varies, and we simply have too many gaps in our knowledge to
assess too many of the upsides and downsides of each. That is why i say
to not take the guilt train if you feed a decent diet of any of these
types; no matter what you decide you may be wrong but you may be right --
only a lot more knowledge than exists right now will tell.
[Posted in FML issue 4789]
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