Inge asked:
>Could someone please tell me why discussions about to feed kibble or
>not to make everyone crazy???

and I think that Becky largely answered that:
>Why must everyone be RIGHT ? Why can't we agree to disagree ? Why
>can't we respect other people's opinions even if they differ from
>our own ? Why aren't we all allowed to have our own opinions without
>fear of being ridiculed ?

I think that people get so caught up in belief (rather than knowledge)
and debate (rather than discussion) that they forget to look at both
sides.

That is not only sad from a communications stand-point; it also can
cause difficulty is spotting what is wrong with a ferret when a
downside occurs and that is truly tragic. An open mind involves not
only knowing what is right or potentially right about the choice of
another, but also knowing and acknowledging what is wrong or
potentially wrong with one's own choices. People who feed raw NEED to
learn about infections. People who feed kibble NEED to know that there
is hypothesis that carbohydrates might increase rates of insulinoma
and do appear to have some dental considerations. People who feed soft
foods need to know that those have been linked to more periodontal
disease in some studies, but people who feed hard items need to
consider items which may catch in the esophagus or crack teeth. People
who feed pre-prepared foods need to recognize that they do not have
control over the freshness of contents or the contents themselves, but
people who make food at home have to know that veterinary nutritionists
are the best people to help design diets (and a few years back, BTW, I
put in a link for a service of such experts to help on that score) but
that few people use such experts. This list could go on and on.

If each side presents both sides all are helped, especially the ferrets.

Thanks for agreeing, Phyllis!

Fox wrote:
>Oh, for crying out loud. NO! This is not America. This is the
>internet. Contrary to what many an American seems to believe, they
>are /not/ actually one and the same >_<...

That could actually become increasingly important to remember. If we
lose Net Neutrality here in the U.S. (and there is a very serious worry
that the Lame Duck Congress might rush it through) one thing under
consideration by some of the service providers is to require anyone who
provides any type of advice to have bought insurance *from the service
provider itself* to cover any possible legal suit, so it may wind up
that people here are gagged and many resources may go away. We have
already lost the presence of wide sets of opinions on tv, radio, and
printed publications due to large monopolies controlling most with rare
exceptions like the rare public service ones. With so much commerce
occurring in malls we have lost the public square for soap boxes
because they are private property which ban it. To lose te internet
modes of communication and volunteer help as well could hurt all, and
not just here in the U.S. Anyone remember the First Amendment of the
U.S. Bill of Rights?

Some resources:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/index.html

http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/06/pbs-now-on-net-neutrality.html

https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=http://tingilinde.typepad.com/starstuff/&location=http%3A//www.ft.com/cms/s/ a27bdb16-5ecd-11db-afac-0000779e2340.html

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cdirectory/index.html

Both houses are important, but right now the Senate is most important,
so if you don't know who represents you your local town hall or library
can tell you.

-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who 
love them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org

[Posted in FML 5402]