I know Bob Church and I know he has researched his diet extensively, so I would tend to trust it. However, having said that, PLEASE everyone remember that "natural" does not necessarily equal "good." I've treated numerous ferrets over the years with bad nutritional problems from incomplete, so-called "natural" diets. They can be directly related to bone, liver and kidney problems. I'm currently trying to correct severe kidney damage in a pair of year-old ferrets whose owner has been feeding them a "natural" diet he copied off someone's web page. (It's on the web, so it must be ok, right?) Thanks to discussions with Tom Willard of Totally Ferret, we have been able to correct the severe imbalances in these ferrets' diet and the damage to their kidneys is reversing before it could become fatal. Consider the current fad to feed dogs "archtypal" or "ancestral" natural diets. We know that our dogs' ancestors as well as contemporary wild dogs have a life span of three to four years. They don't have a chance to reach old age, get cancer or die from natural causes. Why would one assume that a diet which evolved for this short-term hunter-forager lifestyle would necessarily be good for a pet who can expect to live to about twelve years? The reason we see so many more cancers in pets as well as in people is that none of us as a species has EVER lived as long as we do now--not even close. The longer you live, the greater the chance you'll eventually get cancer or a host of other problems. All I'm asking, for your ferret's sake, is that if you depart from the recommendations of professional nutritionists, do so with extreme caution. All may not be as it seems on the surface. Deborah Kemmerer DVM [Posted in FML issue 4162]