Renee and all, Dr. Bruce Williams began advising years ago that the egg shell pieces be able to go through a strainer before giving due to a report from an FHL member whose ferret died of ulcers with a lot of egg shell debris in the stomach that was thought to possibly have settled into where the raw tissue was and caused further damage, possibly being the result of the bleed-out. Not everyone thinks of the straining step -- and honestly it may be that ferrets who do not have ulcers don't need it since they don't have wounded areas and because stomach acid is as strong as it is. Sometimes ulcers can be hidden so if the ferret is compromised discuss with your vet which of those diseases or disorders are associated with an increase in the prevalence of ulcers in ferrets. Here is Dr. William's post: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG5289 Note that this MIGHT be a solitary report so it could be a rare need, but then again few people have necropsies and pathology done when there is as obvious a cause of death as a bleed-out. So each person should just use his or her own judgement. Two nutritional considerations for raw eggs: the well known biotin deficiency from too much raw white (due to avidin problems), and lesser published is in Fox's _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret, second edition_ with too much implicated in causing thiamine deficiency. See page 168. One irony of the amount of salmonella in U.S. poultry is that the process which strips off the most likely contaminated locations also strips a barrier present on fresh eggs so while eggs used to be safe on the counter if they were used rapidly, now eggs need refrigeration. Salmonella is very hard to treat when ferrets do get it but luckily they are usually able to fight it off if not compromised. There are other food poisonings which are more serious for ferrets, while salmonella is potentially more serious for humans than ferrets. Cooked egg is a GREAT source of high accessible protein. I do not know if it is low in phosphorous but I have heard of some ferret vets who are suggesting that in ferrets with chronic kidney disease that some of the other protein sources be displaced partly by cooked egg, especially yolk. (In ferrets with chronic -- but not acute -- kidney disease there is a need to have the protein more accessible but decrease the phosphorous in the diet. See: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG15335 As an unrelated aside: also notice that the body uses calcium to process phosphorous which is why too much phosphorous in the diet -- as with many soda pops for humans -- and too little calcium will cause skeletal problems: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL1731 Cooked egg white is usually not frozen because it can separate into a watery fluid and a rubbery solid. The yolks don't have that problem. It may be possible to make a rubbery textured and highly nutritious treat for ferrets with cooked eggs, but folks need to experiment to get it right and then share their techniques. Sukie (not a vet) 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 5850]