Hi Georgia and everybody
 
No, ferrets won't be affected by salmonella in meat.  The stomach acid is
more aggressive than ours and the digestive tract is too short for
salmonella bugs to multiply.
 
I'd fed raw meat before when I was still feeding kibble but my best
friend's vet said that she wouldn't give raw chicken to ferrets because
of possible salmonella poisoning so I was a bit scared to feed raw meat,
I'd get some chunks of meat or ground meat and feed it and be scared that
the ferrets would get sick.  They never did but I thought maybe I was just
lucky?  My guys didn't like cooked ground chicken so I thought kibble was
the only option for me.
 
Then my best friend goes and searches the Internet for feeding raw meat and
comes across BARF and finds out that it's not dangerous.  So 3 months later
(3 months too late, Karen! ;-) ) she tells me about her discovery so the
next day I went and got ground chicken and some supplements and took the
ferrets' kibble away and replaced it with ground raw chicken.  I haven't
had many problems, I had problems with soft poops/ diarrhoea until I
figured out that there was too much fat, all the fat on the chicken plus
I added oils for Omega 3 fatty acids.  So I started skinning the chicken.
I also started adding digestive enzymes and since then I've not had any
problems at all.  The ferrets have improved, especially the sick ones, and
they love the meat sooo much.  I did have to hand feed some of them for a
while until they figured out that the stuff I gave them was indeed edible
but now most of them eat it fine by themselves.  :-) No salmonella
poisoning here!  :-)
 
Best wishes from
Ulrike
and Jilly, Jack, Bella, Tom, Mason, Baby, Dana, Fox, Reno, Rose, Jasmine,
Barney and Spike
 
Missing Angel, Hope and Igor
 
West Wales Ferret Welfare
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ferretlove.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.ferretlove.freeserve.co.uk/barf
Last update 20/12/00
 
[Moderator's note: BARF is an acronym for "Bones And Raw Food", typically
used by some for feeding their animal friends.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 3319]