http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm? gid=1423922&messageid=15101&startid=15104 There are 2 big problems with adding raw meat to your ferret's diet: 1) bacterial infections such as E. coli and Salmonella and 2) calcium/phosphorus problems. When you feed just a raw meat diet it will have too low of a calcium level and too high of a phosphorus level, which will cause major problems for the bones, etc. If you want to add cooked meat or cooked eggs as a treat or as a supplement that is fine, but do not feed it as the main diet. Whole prey diets (i.e., whole mice, whole rats, whole turkey, or whole chickens) are different from a raw meat diet. You can feed a whole prey diet and are less likely to have bacterial problems or calcium problems (if they eat the bones). However you may have problems when the bones go through the GI tract (perforations, obstructions, or irritation to the colon). As you can now see both have some options can have some serious potential problems. Hope that helps, Jerry Murray, DVM brought to the FML with author's permission by Sukie (not a vet) Ferret Health List co-moderator http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives fan and regular user http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org International Ferret Congress advisor http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 4975]