The funny thing is that I was NOT addressing raw diets in this situation because this version of E. coli makes Shiga Toxin which is NOT destroyed by cooking, so I was addressing ALL home-made diets using the recalled beef! Also, I just said that kibbles, especially the really good ones like those by Totally Ferret don't deserve to be slammed, and neither do the people who feed them. Don't have time to check fully which vet comments I've gotten about food poisoning in ferrets were pers coms and which were in the archives so here is an assortment on salmonella and on E. coli from the FHL Archives that folks can go through but I don't have time to check which ones are applicable though I trust FML members to do so: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG9058 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG15102 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG11178 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG8628 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG6619 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG6258 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG5668 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG5199 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG2281 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG9887 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG1947 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG202 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL2641 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YPG507 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG3423 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG3347 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG2206 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG838 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG354 Salmonella is usually resisted by ferrets but can be very hard to treat when they do get it, as per vet comments and vet texts, so a mixed picture... The bad E. coli types, though -- now there are some really bad players. It's worse with raw but cooking is simply not sufficient so don't give that stuff at all to avoid any degree of illness or of long-term kidney damage! I don't care if you cook or feed raw, just don't feed that beef on recall! Those who want to follow meat recalls (and I know a LOT of people, both raw feeders and cooked feeders who greatly appreciate knowing what to avoid due to recalls) can find info here: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/2008_news_releases/index.asp and this is good to have for when pet food recalls happen as well as some others: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html Yes, I have carried info on BOTH to the FML when I learn of them. Yes, get your alerts from BOTH places! Apparently, one FML member was confused by my reply to Kim, but others who realize that the latest thing that she wrote was merely a continuation of what has appeared elsewhere and other times (and which get forwarded to me now and then) understood and wrote to me privately. Also, using "Kimmie" is just something I do on very rare occasions when she misspells my name -- misspellings which she has never done any of the times she asked for my help (and I have given help including at least one all-nighter and and at least one almost all-nighter finding her info when ferrets were in real trouble: one with what was diagnosed as insulinoma but got out of control unusually fast, and one with food poisoning who also later was found to have also had lymphoma). Do I get a bit peeved when someone I have helped turns around and takes digs at me? Well, does anyone? Hey, as far as food goes, to each his or her own as long as it is done well, and people learn the downsides as well as the upsides of any choice so that if something goes wrong the person can respond fast and correctly. Personally, I am just plain tired of people trying to make others feel guilty about their food choices and trying to pretend that anything is perfect. 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 6062]