This email is an alert for what I believe are dangerous contents in this food. "ARCHETYPAL" is the name for the Wysong food formerly called, "ARCHETYPAL - 1". Don't confuse it with Archetypal 2, which looks like kibble. The food I am writing comes in chunks and falls apart to a powder. How did I get alarmed? One of my little monsters ate something he shouldn't have. I gave Laxatone and squished poop for a couple of days to see if it passed. It did! Aren't ferrets fun? In the process, I found what appeared to be small stones. After washing (ah, yes, another fun task) it appeared that they were little pieces of cartilage. That set me off examining all of the food. At that point, I was feeding 5 kinds. I put the food in a strainer with very small plastic netting and soaked it until it went through the mesh. I only had to do two foods to discover that Archetypal was the culprit. I took a picture which I can send you, and which is noted in the correspondence below. There was one small piece, not quite a half inch long, which was very narrow and sharply pointed. There were numerous little 'hard things' and a couple of bigger pieces that seem very leather-like, i.e. hard. When you see it, you will literally 'get the picture'. The correspondence that I have had with Wysong has been disappointing. I called the company first, then sent the correspondence at the bottom along with a picture of what I had found. Following is my correspondence to date. Read from the bottom up to get the progression. I am definitely not satisfied with the responses and am doing another 'food analysis', finding some stuff like leather and more small bone or tendon pieces. I will be happy to send you a picture of what I am finding. Sincerely, Shirley Larsen RE: Found in Archetypalþ From: Kristine R. ([log in to unmask]) Sent: Thu 11/29/07 5:14 AM To: Shirley Larsen ([log in to unmask]) Dear Ms. Larsen, Your sample was received on Monday, November 26, 2007. After thoroughly inspecting it, we did not find any sharp pieces. There were bits of tendon throughout the sample, but we did not find the types of pieces that you discussed. Please understand that your integrity is not being questioned; We are simply explaining that after testing your samples and others of the same type of food, we were unable to find any materials that would be harmful to a carnivore. Wishing you and yours the best of health, Kristine R. Customer Service/Quality Control -----Original Message----- From: Shirley Larsen Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 3:06 PM To: Kristine R. Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal Kristilne, I sent you an email last Friday asking if you had received my sample of the food with the tendons in it. I have not had a reply and I am certain that it has arrived. Please advise me. Shirley Larsen From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:57:58 -0500 Dear Ms. Larsen, For clarification, the meat is deboned, but there is ground bone added as a separate ingredient. The tendon you saw was from the meat and is a nutritious part of a carnivores diet. Please let me know if there is still confusion. Wishing you and yours the best of health, Kristine R. Customer Service/Quality Control -----Original Message----- From: Shirley Larsen Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 12:30 PM To: Kristine L Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal Good morning to you, Which is correct? Your production department says that the meat is deboned and the package lists 'ground bone' in the contents. I am sorry it does not alleviate my concerns. Whatever those pieces are, they are very, very hard and certainly not digestible. In addition, the one piece has a small diamater but a very sharp point. Again, ferrets cannot handle this kind of non-digestible material. I am going to post on the Ferret Mailing List and send the photo to those interested. In addition, I am seeing my vet today and will seek her opinion. I am not ready to accept this explanation. Shirley Larsen From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Subject: RE: Found in Archetypal Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:37:41 -0500 Good Morning- I checked with our production department and found out that what you found was bits of tendon. Because the beef mix that is used is deboned, what you found is what happens when tendons, etc are freeze dried. I hope that this alleviates any concerns, Kristine -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 5:26 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Found in Archetypal Kristine, I am particularly concerned about the sharp, narrow piece of bone that is next to the ruler. The two lower left pieces appear to be some kind of tough cartiledge. I wasn't able to pull them apart with reasonable effort. I don't think they are digestible. The remainder of the pieces are hard and I am unable to determine whether they are bone or cartiledge. All of this was taken from less than 1/4 cup of Archetypal. I feel that this is potentially dangerous to ferrets since they are prone to intestinal blockages if there is too much fiber and non-digestible material in their diet. I will be consulting with my vet and several other ferret knowledgeable people and hope to hear from you very soon Shirley Larsen [...] [Posted in FML 5809]