Hello, As I think I mentioned earlier, I feed my three ferrets a 100% natural diet -- mostly mice, but also chicken, rabbit, quail, fish, and so on. I bought a kit from a breeder a while back and he's been getting this same diet; he was on a partially natural diet (raw and kibble) at the breeder's. This breeder recommends at least a partially natural diet to all her customers, and it's a part of the kit contract she has her customers sign. My kit's pushing 11 months old now, and I paid the breeder a visit last week with the guy. There I got to see two of my ferret's siblings, who were being boarded there over the weekend. I had my ferret with me, so I was able to make a direct comparison -- surprisingly, compared to my ferret, these two were longer (more strung-out), thinner, less muscular, and more out of shape. Even the shapes of their heads were different -- my ferret's head was wider and broader, while their ferrets' heads were noticeably smaller. So how did this happen? It turns out that the owners of the two ferrets had ignored the contract and were feeding them 100% kibble starting about two weeks after they picked them up -- i.e. when they were around 14-15 weeks old. They stopped feeding raw without consulting the breeder because they were FML members, had read a certain person's repeated posts on diet, and feared their ferrets would contract salmonella poisoning from raw food. Now all the ferrets are fully grown, and the difference in results is plainly obvious. I fed a natural diet during my ferret's developing months, they fed kibble to their ferrets in the same time period, and it produced a difference in physical health so profound that even someone who's never seen a ferret in his life could spot it. Now, I don't blame the owners of these two ferrets. They aren't at fault here; they were just trying to find what works best for their ferrets, like any good pet owner should. No, I place the blame entirely on the Ferret Mailing List's members -- first, this one certain poster for a long set of meandering, scaremongering, drama-laden posts with no basis in practical experience whatsoever, and then the rest of the FML, for coddling this person and being openly hostile to any differing opinion. It was one thing when people I've never even heard of started harassing me via private email after my earlier FML raw-diet posts, but it's quite another when another person's series of FML posts are directly and negatively affecting the lives of ferrets I know in the real world. I find that difficult to accept. So you know what? Forget about the ferret "community". I'm sick of it. This is the latest in a series of events that've happened to me over the past few months. These events indicate to me that some of you ferret "community" people are downright dangerous and wouldn't last half a second in the real world. You're a bunch of crazy neurotic nuts using animals as a shield for your retarded ego-waving and drama-mongering, and I can't believe I was actually considering going to Ferret Aid and meeting some of you in person. I don't know what the dog and cat "communities" are like, but by God, they can't be this bad. I'm resigning my post as editor of the AFA's newsletter, but I'll still be active in the local (Houston) ferret groups since that's still enjoyable to me. As far as I'm concerned, my ferrets were born under a lucky star; the species will not go extinct if I'm not around; and all the bickering idiots in the "community" deserve each other. Naturally, that's no attitude to have if you're a member of the ferret "community" trying to help out charitably on a national level, so there's another reason why I want out. k PS. No, I don't mean that -all- of you are idiots. So please don't feel offended, especially if we've talked in person before. This message wasn't directed at you, and I hope you'll understand where I'm coming from here. [Posted in FML issue 5192]