Dear John, Or should that be John Dear? Thank you for pitching me into the category of "young girl", its been quite some time since I was called that, thanks, I needed that! For the record, I do NOT drink Mountain Dew! It horrible stuff with way too many chemicals and caffeine which I do NOT need! Blech! As for "actually trying to start a literal 'fight' with someone " or trying to "turn this forum into just another Yahoo IM fight ring." I feel very confident that if the list Moderator (BIG) thought for an instant I was actually picking a fight, he'd reject my post or ask me to revise it. Of course I did and will defend my positions. Quoting excerpts is necessary when writing a rebuttal because not everyone wants to scroll back to see what the comment is referencing. Its all well and good for the "veterans" of the FML to trounce a "newbie", but gawd forbid the "newbie" should actually defend their position or produce bolstering material that doesn't agree with the veteran! Come on- are we supposed to be mindless cloned drones? Is there just one person to guide our thoughts and disseminate information? We are supposed to accept this sometimes extremely biased information blindly and without question? As for "hands on experience" in this particular circumstance, to my knowledge, I already DO have more experience feeding a natural diet than the other key player in this ongoing discussion(Sukie). As far as I know she has not, and likely will not venture into the natural feeding arena. I have been doing it successfully now for a solid two years; that's 4,380 meals worth of experience! I've been successful at transitioning 5 yr old ferrets, one, two and three year old ferrets as well as a couple youngsters to the natural diet and not just a canned processed version of healthier kibble - but an actual whole prey/live prey/ natural/raw meaty bone diet with outstanding success. If my diet was shortchanging the ferrets in any way nutritionally there would be problems apparent by now. If the diet was extremely hazardous as some would have others believe I'd have seen more problems buy now. The ONLY problem was a suspected contaminated PRE-packaged frozen mouse . So, yes that is at thousands of MORE hands on experience than Sukie has or will have, and one that I will continue to build upon. Am I wrong for defending my success when someone repeatedly attempts to portray such a diet as highly dangerous and detrimental or non nutritious? Am I wrong for wanting to share my experiences with other people? Must I wait until all of my ferrets' lifespans have expired before I share such experience? In my other venue of life, through the decades I have attended many conferences, seminars and conventions and participated in what are termed "Round Table Discussions". There are 6 to 10 people gathered around the table to discuss certain topics. The people gathered have a wide range of backgrounds. From aged veterans holding doctorates to newbies fresh out of school and veterans of the field with no formal education except that of hands on. Sometimes these discussions get rather lively because we are all passionate about our approaches or convictions and we are always sharing our views based upon our personal experiences or things we've learned. But at the end of the discussion we are all still on good terms with each other, we often leave pondering what was said and this often leads to more research, or a trial of the other approach. We often stay in touch with one another to see what results each other obtained! THAT is how I approach any discussion on any online forum. I am willing to listen to what another person has to say, and I consider the source of the information, but just I have listened to them, they need to offer me the same courtesy and we all should be able to discuss our differences without having to resort to name calling. Everyone is a "newbie" in any arena they've not ventured into before. But often these newbies DO see things differently than the veterans and the newbies often pose questions or devise new approaches that surprisingly, can sometimes teach the veterans a new thing or two! Eventually even the newbie becomes a veteran that then has to learn something from a newbie! Why is this such a difficult concept to accept? This is NOT a fight- it is a discussion; its an exchange of ideas, and viewpoints. If it weren't for new ideas challenging the old- no progress would be made in ANY arena! We'd all still be sitting on a rock in a cave! But for you to suggest a Forfeit? Are you out of your mind? Surrender? Never! Because I for one refuse to do the goose step or become a clone! Care to take another whack? Cheers, Kim please visit : for ferret help and info: http://holisticferret.proboards80.com/index.cgi http://ferretopia.proboards51.com/index.cgi yahoo groups Natural Ferrets for fun: www.vanityferret.com [Posted in FML 6066]