Arlena asked: >Are any of the various Ferret Food Brands on the National Pet Food >List or any other recall list? Follow this and other reputable resources given in recent past posts: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html There are no ferret foods so far on the wheat gluten recall the last time I looked. In fact, like other pet foods most ferret foods don't contain any added wheat gluten, let alone wheat gluten from that one source. (The large number of foods recalled comprise one percent of all pet foods, and the number of animals eating those foods who were affected to any degree so far spotted appears to be roughly 3 in every 10,000 who ate those foods, according to a recent resource I quoted here. I can't offhand recall what the problem was with a specific type of Pounce Treats now on recall, so see recent past posts. In relation to salmonella there are several treat items currently recalled (See recent past posts.) such as some 8 in 1 treats, certain dried pigs ears, etc. (BTW, to avoid blockage if pigs ears are given they should be soaked first.) Salmonella is a bit of a tricky subject. It is only one of multiple bacteria which can be found in foods, but tends to be emphasized in references largely because infected companion animals can infect humans even if the animals themselves don't really get sick, and humans can be infected by handling the bad products and not washing. In some animal products salmonella is not the most common infection found, and it is not the most the serious, but is the most easily transmissible to humans of the common bacteria. For ferrets salmonella is usually not a real problem BUT in those ferrets in whom it holds on and takes off it becomes a potentially fatal and very hard to treat disease which is often antibiotic resistant. In relation to getting the word out, that problem also exists for human health emergencies, for example, the raw milk rabies concern from one farm in a recent post. Remember that it appears that the marketing companies were suddenly taken as much by surprise as the consumers were when the original announcements happened by the company hired to produce their foods. In relation to inspections notice that the problem with lacks of inspections is said by a couple who are a pharmacologist and a medical anthropologist to also exist for a number of generic medications (veterinary and human health): http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/joes_blog/index.asp in >Dog Food Disaster Casts Doubt on Generic Drugs >Posted by Joe on April 2, 2007 including >When the FDA approves a new generic medicine, the pill must go through >rigorous testing to demonstrate that its active ingredient is identical >to that in the brand-name product it mimics. The tests must also show >that people absorb the ingredient properly, so that an appropriate >amount gets into a patient's bloodstream. But once this careful >approval process is finished, the FDA stops paying close attention. >The agency does not routinely monitor the quality of generic drugs >--or even brand-name medications. Drug manufacturers are essentially >on the honor system. > >According to our calculations (based on extensive interviews with FDA >honchos), only about one out of 10,000,000 pill bottles is ever >actually tested by the agency in the course of a year. This leaves a >significant temptation for the unscrupulous. Related: <http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/joes_blog/dog_food_disaster_casts_doubt_on_generic_drugs.asp#comments> Sukie (not a vet) Current FHL address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5575]