Let me start by saying that I am not asking this to start a raw vs
kibble food debate, and I hope that people who respond will not turn
it in to that.

With the most recent pet food recalls that now include one brand of dry
ferret kibble, I got to thinking about the whole problem in general.

Almost all of the recalls recently have dealt with problems associated
with contaminated grains being used in the foods. There have been
additional concerns about animals raised for use as meat being fed the
contaminated grains, and small amounts of melamine have been found in
some pork and chicken.

The FDA recently issued a statement about the concerns over meat
for human consumption, which did little to alleviate my concerns.
Basically, it acknowledged that there was some melamine found in the
muscle meats, but that they had determined that the amounts were small
enough that they would not be likely present a health risk to the
average healthy person.

But, to bring this back to ferret health issues - if there is some
melamine in the meats sold in grocery stores, will it pose a risk
to ferrets that are fed this meat? Additionally, the greatest
concentrations of the melamine are found in the kidneys of the animals
that eat the contaminated grains. Kidneys are not a common staple of
most Americans, but when feeding ferrets a raw diet, it is essential
that they get some organ meats in addition to muscle meat. And, since
they are much smaller animals, I would assume that lower levels of the
contaminate would be needed to cause a problem.

To take the question one step farther, many people who feed their
ferrets raw feed a natural diet of frozen whole prey. That is, mice,
rats, chicks, quail, and other small prey. All these animals are grain
eaters. Does anyone know if the farms that raise these prey animals
have checked their food suppliers?

I would suspect that the chicks and quail, which are largely day old,
would not pose much of a problem, unless the melamine can be passed
through in the egg. At one day old, they have likely either not eaten,
or eaten very little.

But, mice and rats are another story altogether. Most people do not
feed pinkies or fuzzies (the babies) on a regular basis. First, they
are so small that a large quantity is needed, and second, the adults
and juveniles are needed to get adequate amounts of calcium in the
diet. Therefore, if these mice and rats were getting grains containing
melamine, they could ultimately be carrying just as much of it as the
recalled commercial foods.

So, my real questions are:
1) Does anyone else think that this could pose a problem for people who
choose to feed a raw diet to their ferrets? and
2) Has anyone checked with any of the major rodent suppliers to see if
they might be using contaminated grains to feed their stock?

I do not think it is unrealistic to think it could be a problem.  After
all, some animals being raised for human consumption were affected, and
I doubt that companies raising mice and rats for animal food are any
more careful.

-- 
Danee DeVore
International Ferret Congress Health Issues Coordinator
http://www.ferretcongress.org
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit: http://www.ferretadv.com
You can help fight ADV!
Visit: http://help4adv.terrabox.com/

[Posted in FML 5613]