Despite my better judgement, I'm going to brave the flames and post my
$.02 on why someone would want to maintain their ferrets on a veggie diet.
 
I know that I can maintain my good health on a vegetarian diet.  With this
in mind, I feel it would be unethical for me to love and adore one animal,
while sticking a fork in another.  This is my personal choice.  It's not
always convenient, and I certainly miss eating meat, but I don't require it
so I choose to avoid it.
 
Dogs (omnivores) can be easily maintained on a vegetarian diet, thus doing
so agrees with my "don't kill it if you don't need to" attitude.  Cats,
however, can suffer from serious, permanent disease as a result.  Although
there are supposedly safe vegetarian diets available to cats, I personally
don't trust them.  Since there is very little data on ferrets and vegetarian
diet, I woudn't attempt it myself.  I'm not willing to risk the health of
my ferrets.
 
One can extrapolate on this attitude and assert that it's unethical of me
to keep carnivores as companions, so before someone flames me, let me say
that I feel I'm doing my part and am comfortable with my decision.
 
Concerning the need to force a ferret into a particular lifestyle...
Do our ferrets have the personal freedom to waltz down to the corner ice
cream parlor and get a treat whenever their little hearts desire?  Do they
have the right to choose which corner they prefer to relieve themselves in?
When we decide to take on a pet, we have already choosen to infringe on
their personal liberties.  As long as we do everything we can to assure
their health, safety and happiness, we've done our part as responsible
caretakers.
 
I am in no way trying to be offensive.  I'm merely attempting to shed light
on an issue that many people disdain because they don't understand it the
reasoning or they associate it with the ever popular radical animal rights
groups.
 
Flames to:
========================================================================
 Lynn Burroughs                        American Type Culture Collection
 [log in to unmask]                                Bioinformatics Department
 tel:  301-231-5578                                12301 Parklawn Drive
 fax:  301-816-4363                      Rockville, MD  20852-1776  USA
========================================================================
[Posted in FML issue 1048]