>Personaly I think it's a bunch of bunk.  Not one person out there that
>posted in defense of the raw diet about the ages of their ferrets.  My
>oldest ferret that was fed High Quality ferret food died at "13 years",
>Heck, Chuckles who we lost last week was "10 years" old.  I've read a
>lot of posts about members from my groups ferrets dieing at 8-12 years
>and all were fed High Quality ferret food (kibble).
>
>So how old/long does a ferret live on the Raw diet?...
> Debi
 
I think quality of life is just as important as quantity.  The chances
of a ferret of those ages who was fed kibble his/her whole life NOT
developing periodontal disease are very slim.  Periodontal disease can be
an invisible problem, but a healthy mouth is critical to a healthy body.
 
Unfortunately most owners I know that feed natural were slow to learn
about it, and usually only changed because they were sick of their
ferrets getting preventable illnesses.
 
I'm sure there are lots of ferret owners out there who have been feeding
natural long enough to know lifespans of always natural fed ferrets.
 
A few cases of ferrets surviving to 13 are not reason enough to think
that kibble is more appropriate for ferrets than the diet they were
designed for.
 
Just as a few cases of humans making it to 100 in spite of smoking 20
cigarettes a day is not reason enough to think cigarettes are healthy.
 
shona
[Posted in FML issue 5190]