>Ask older people about how they used to raise their animals and the >lower incidence of diseases back then, and the answer is there as to >why health problems are on the rise. > >Amy What gives you the impression that there was "less disease back then"??? I think frets have always had some problems due to their physical makeup that are just unfortunate part of who they are. As I see it I think ferrets are living longer as a direct result of folks like you and me going to the breeders and asking for a better "product' and to the food manufactures and asking for a better fret diet formula and getting both things. Yes I am not happy that a lot of our fuzzies are dying from Cancers like a plague BUT maybe that is just the breaks of having frets. But to say that "back then" there were no health problems or that there were less of them is not an accurate statement in itself. I know of a lady who has had ferrets for over 30 years and she tells me that frets always had certain dispositions toward certain health problems. True feeding live or frozen prey may in itself help with some of the dietary problems that we are seeing such as IBD which really isn't IBD (more Symposium info folks...LOL) and some of the urinary blockages and such and maybe we ought to do some blind end studies to see if it does improve overall fret health BUT you will be required to show proof it works.. ie. having to sacrifice some of your babies to the study and such nonsense as that. But in the end if our babies live a healthy life with love and caring, then isn't that why we are in the fret Bizz to begin with? best to all Fred Hurd Reno Ferret Rescue [Posted in FML 5704]