I am not going to debate all this ;). I think there is merit to all 3!
I have fed all 3, though my ferrets are mostly on a kibble & raw diet
right now. I do have some information that I don't think has been
posted here, or at least, I don't recall seeing it. I hope this would
be helpful.

our local vet hospital have decided to do additional decontamination
after handling pets that eat a raw diet, because they found these
animals shed more bacteria in their feces, and is a risk to the
hospitals immune compromised patients. you may want to reconsider
feeding a raw diet if you have sick ferrets. however, while freezing
does not kill salmonella, it appears that high pressure pasteurization
does, and there are some raw diets out there that do use HPP. because
of this, I've stopped grinding up chickens and turkeys and now buy
nature's variety raw diets.

this is an informative website that cover some of the raw issues

<http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2010/05/articles/animals/dogs/raw-q-and-a/>

when I first found out about animals on raw diets shedding bacteria,
I started looking into cooked diets, and my vet told me that the meat
has to reach be completely cooked (internal temperature of 165) for
the food to be safe. my understanding is that one problem with cooked
diets are their taurine levels
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_M._Pottenger,_Jr.) I'm wondering
if there are more recent studies comparing cooked diets that have added
taurine with raw and/or kibble diets. because if the only issue with
cooked diets are missing taurine, then it might be a better way to go
than kibble or raw. I'd be very interested if anybody has information
on cooked diets, as most back and forth on the list goes between raw &
kibble.

my kids are currently eating a variety of kibble, except for Skipper,
who only eats 8in1 ultimate soft, and they all pig out on nature's
variety raw. they get their teeth cleaned when the vet thinks they
should. I mostly eat cooked food, but I do indulge in raw fish and
raw beef when I can.

Selina, Mochi, Jolt, Cola + Skipper

p.s. my apologies to BIG for adding to the fray

[Moderator's note: Adding information is a good thing and I thank
people for doing that rather than expecting them to apologize!

And to others wondering, yes, the debate will be ended when it begins
to get more nasty and/or when people have nothing to contribute. Either
will likely happen soon. BIG]

[Posted in FML 6891]