This email is an alert for what I believe are dangerous contents in
this food. "ARCHETYPAL" is the name for the Wysong food formerly
called, "ARCHETYPAL - 1". Don't confuse it with Archetypal 2, which
looks like kibble. The food I am writing comes in chunks and falls
apart to a powder. How did I get alarmed? One of my little monsters ate
something he shouldn't have. I gave Laxatone and squished poop for a
couple of days to see if it passed. It did! Aren't ferrets fun? In the
process, I found what appeared to be small stones. After washing (ah,
yes, another fun task) it appeared that they were little pieces of
cartilage. That set me off examining all of the food. At that point,
I was feeding 5 kinds. I put the food in a strainer with very small
plastic netting and soaked it until it went through the mesh. I only
had to do two foods to discover that Archetypal was the culprit. I
took a picture which I can send you, and which is noted in the
correspondence below. There was one small piece, not quite a half inch
long, which was very narrow and sharply pointed. There were numerous
little 'hard things' and a couple of bigger pieces that seem very
leather-like, i.e. hard. When you see it, you will literally 'get the
picture'. The correspondence that I have had with Wysong has been
disappointing. I called the company first, then sent the correspondence
at the bottom along with a picture of what I had found.

Following is my correspondence to date. Read from the bottom up to get
the progression. I am definitely not satisfied with the responses and
am doing another 'food analysis', finding some stuff like leather and
more small bone or tendon pieces.

I will be happy to send you a picture of what I am finding.

Sincerely, Shirley Larsen


 RE: Found in Archetypalþ
 From: Kristine R. ([log in to unmask])
 Sent: Thu 11/29/07 5:14 AM
 To:  Shirley Larsen ([log in to unmask])

Dear Ms. Larsen,

Your sample was received on Monday, November 26, 2007. After thoroughly
inspecting it, we did not find any sharp pieces. There were bits of
tendon throughout the sample, but we did not find the types of pieces
that you discussed. Please understand that your integrity is not being
questioned; We are simply explaining that after testing your samples
and others of the same type of food, we were unable to find any
materials that would be harmful to a carnivore.

Wishing you and yours the best of health,

Kristine R.
Customer Service/Quality Control

-----Original Message-----
 From: Shirley Larsen 
 Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 3:06 PM
 To: Kristine R.
 Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal

Kristilne, I sent you an email last Friday asking if you had received
my sample of the food with the tendons in it. I have not had a reply
and I am certain that it has arrived. Please advise me. 

Shirley Larsen


 From: [log in to unmask]
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal
 Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:57:58 -0500

Dear Ms. Larsen,

For clarification, the meat is deboned, but there is ground bone added
as a separate ingredient. The tendon you saw was from the meat and is
a nutritious part of a carnivores diet. Please let me know if there is
still confusion.

Wishing you and yours the best of health,
Kristine R. 
Customer Service/Quality Control

-----Original Message-----
 From: Shirley Larsen
 Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 12:30 PM
 To: Kristine L
 Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal

Good morning to you, Which is correct? Your production department says
that the meat is deboned and the package lists 'ground bone' in the
contents. I am sorry it does not alleviate my concerns. Whatever those
pieces are, they are very, very hard and certainly not digestible. In
addition, the one piece has a small diamater but a very sharp point.
Again, ferrets cannot handle this kind of non-digestible material. I am
going to post on the Ferret Mailing List and send the photo to those
interested. In addition, I am seeing my vet today and will seek her
opinion. I am not ready to accept this explanation.

Shirley Larsen


 From: [log in to unmask]
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal
 Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:37:41 -0500

Good Morning-

I checked with our production department and found out that what you
found was bits of tendon. Because the beef mix that is used is deboned,
what you found is what happens when tendons, etc are freeze dried.

I hope that this alleviates any concerns,

Kristine


-----Original Message-----
 From: [log in to unmask]
 Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 5:26 PM
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Subject: Found in Archetypal

Kristine, I am particularly concerned about the sharp, narrow piece of
bone that is next to the ruler. The two lower left pieces appear to be
some kind of tough cartiledge. I wasn't able to pull them apart with
reasonable effort. I don't think they are digestible. The remainder of
the pieces are hard and I am unable to determine whether they are bone
or cartiledge.

All of this was taken from less than 1/4 cup of Archetypal. 

I feel that this is potentially dangerous to ferrets since they are
prone to intestinal blockages if there is too much fiber and
non-digestible material in their diet.

I will be consulting with my vet and several other ferret knowledgeable
people and hope to hear from you very soon

Shirley Larsen [...]

[Posted in FML 5809]