A. Orlando wrote: >Personally, I find the debate on raw feeding vs. kibble to be >disingenious on this forum and most others. Personally, I find this >issue more compelling on FHL, as there it it seems to play out more based >on research data (or the need therefor) and less on personal-anecdotal >evidence or perceived authority. Natural vs processed diets are not allowed to be discussed on the FHL, which is primarily a forum for owners of sick ferrets to get health advice from vets and other experts. (I could add that treatment, rather than prevention, is the focus, but that would be rude.:-)) The FML is the best place for such a discussion because it is a neutral forum where everybody is entitled to their own point of view. Before making a decision on whether or not to change a ferret's diet, I don t think there needs to be a dependence on any professional research (costing many dollars) into whether or not a natural diet is better than a processed diet when there are thousands and thousands of healthy ferrets bearing testimony to the fact that a natural diet is better and is safe. I dislike the term "raw" when discussing such a diet because this seems to intimate to some that chunks of raw beef or chicken are the only thing we are discussing. A "natural diet" can (and should) include whole small prey and/or raw meaty parts of prey with occasional offal. For some pics of what I mainly feed, go to http://ferretfair.com.au/showcontent.toy?contentnid=34664 . I also feed quail, chicken pieces beef and liver and whatever other bits & pieces I can pick up from the supermarket. I actually bought a tray of lamb tongues the other day and they were very well received. :-) Whole small prey is a perfect meal for our little fuzzies and is perfectly safe to use when obtained from a reputable source. Although repulsed initially by the little dead bodies, I got over it for my ferrets' sake. Now, seeing how well they are makes me very glad I did. Shirley [Posted in FML issue 5161]