http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm? gid=1423922&messageid=6619&startid=6629 Hi There are sevral problems with BARF diets. You brought up one of the main problems: ie infections from the raw food. A. Tuberculosis: The ferret appears to be highly susceptible to starins of Mycobacterium avain, bovine, and human. They can be infected through unpasteurized milk, raw poultry, and raw meat. Chicken offal could be a source of infection. Yes, this is a zoonotic disease. B. Salmonella: Salmonella is very common in chickens. In a Canadian Vet Journal there was a study testing BARF diets for Salmonella. 80% of the food samples were positive, and 30% of the dogs on the Barf diet had positive salmonella fecal samples. Yes, this a zoonotic disease. C. E. coli is also very common in chickens. This is also a zoonotic disease. The other main problem is wether the BARF diet is a complete and balanced diet for long term use. Thus I would recommend Hill's a/d, and/or Gerber's baby food instead of BARF diets. If you still want to feed the BARF diet please cook it first. Jerry Murray, DVM [PLease, note that baby food is advised for preferably no more than a set time frame for sick ferrets; more info is available in the section "Feeding the Sick Ferret" at http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html . I mention this solely because the context leading to this vet post is lost in bringing it to the FML and I feel certain that Dr. Murray would prefer that I mention that it needs to be taken in context or the limitations understood. -- Sukie] [Posted in FML issue 4331]