Apparently one must circumnavigate the world personally to talk about the Earth's spherical shape! Not only must one undertake such an adventure but one needs to notate every wave swell and crest, every landfall made and every cloud viewed then present these observances and experiences for "peer review" to satisfy several self proclaimed experts on the FML! hankfully I am intelligent enough to be able to read and research information offered by others who have already undertaken such explorations - I can rest assured that on the off chance I do win a cruise around the world - that I will not just fall off the edge because the world is indeed round and NOT flat like previous generations absolutely KNEW was true! No, Miss Kathleen from Florida (and others)- I do NOT have ferrets yet that have lived to a ten year mark - or beyond - as I have already explained I AM new to the ferret world, all my ferrets are still very young. But that does NOT make me new to feeding animals appropriately! I've met similar closed minds in the horse world. Decades ago I was offering my horses more natural housing, more natural fodder (as in mostly free choice, wet roughage and very little concentrate and 24/7 free roam) and would share my experiences with others. Those folks too were entrenched in stabling their horses, feeding buckets of concentrates, and limited dry roughage on strict schedules. They invariably complained when their poor horses suffered repeated instances of life threatening, sometimes life ending digestive related systemic assaults, but my horses have NOT suffered like theirs. I DO have almost half a century of experience with herbivores. Finally, in just the past ten years, horse feed companies are coming in line with proven low carb/high roughage diets and people are recognizing that the way mother nature designed the horse is what is healthiest for the horse; irregardless of the high dollar stables, fancy beddings and high powered feeds that humans utilize. Grain was originally offered to hard working horses that spent long hours toiling for humans because they could not spend the majority of the day feeding their bellies on normal, natural roughage. Stables came into use to contain these working animals and make it easy for the humans to maintain them. After machines replaced the horse for working, horses became hobbies - but humans liked the convenience of concentrates and stabling and kept these practices, to the detriment of countless animals. These stabled animals suffered from heaves, founder, colic and psychological problems because their natural needs were NOT being met! Humans will always try to do what is easiest and suits them best, often totally ignoring what the animal really needs. It wouldn't matter to many of you any way, even if I DID have a couple decades worth of feeding ferrets naturally under my belt; you'll believe what you choose to believe. There have been several other posts on this list from people who have fed their ferrets naturally much longer than I and you still refuse to believe that offering natural raw meaty bones, whole prey or even live prey IS in FACT what ferrets were designed to eat and what does offer them optimal health. I have repeatedly stated that feeding kibble can keep a ferret healthy - just not optimally healthy. I have repeatedly said I've fed Totally Ferret foods and even recommended them to other people as a step up from former kibble choices. Yet many of you want to twist my words. I've never admonished shame on any one for feeding kibble, maybe those that are claiming guilt are feeling that way because deep down they see the truth of a natural diet? Do I eat a natural diet myself? As much as I possibly can, YES! I prefer raw fruits and veggies to processed or cooked. Do I eat raw beef, lamb, venison, moose, buffalo? Not quite raw, but bloody rare definitely; just lop off the horns, scare the crap out of it, and slap it on my plate -YUMM! I don't eat much pork, but that gets cooked - usually in a pot of beans. I love sashimi (raw fish). I do cook and eat chicken, turkey and Cornish game hen. The only "grain" I eat is oats, as in oatmeal and NOT quick oats - traditional whole rolled oats. I do not eat processed foods regularly, no fast foods, and avoid all gluten, wheat, corn and soy products, also avoid coconut or "vegetable" oils, sticking only to olive or canola oil. I am NOT a fanatic, nor stupid - my digestive system has evolved around COOKED and whole foods. But not PROCESSED foods. My ferrets on the other hand have digestive systems evolved around raw meats, fats and whole animals - so that's what they get! As usual, you will feed what you choose to feed to your ferrets. I choose to offer my ferrets optimal health that doesn't entail non-descript recipes, fancy wording, big advertising campaigns or mysterious studies. The proof for me of the optimal diet is the thousands of years ferrets spent devouring natural prey items. Nobody on the FML has bothered to offer a response to my question about why kibble mfrs offer "new, improved, better tasting, better ingredients" to their formula and are not met with outraged consumers for such changes; instead kibble feeders are happy to put their faith and their ferret's health into the hands of the manufacturer. Kibble is a convenience food for humans. Manufacturers make this stuff to create profits for themselves. They put the least cost items in to get the most profits out - it's a simple business plan. Some people feed better quality kibbles, some don't - they all profess to "love" their ferrets - I NEVER said anything different! When I am asked a direct question, I give a direct response. I guess its o.k. for a kibble feeder to offer something to their ferrets that someone else supposedly "studied" and "tested" and has made claims about. It's o.k. for a kibble feeder to proclaim how one kibble offers improved health for their ferret over a previous kibble, or how one kibble is much better than another. None of these kibble feeders has undergone specific decades of feeding studies on their own ferrets, yet this is acceptable as "proof" that kibble is just fine for ferrets. But someone who offers a diet based upon evolutionary PROOF and who observes night and day differences in ferrets that were previously on the "improved and high quality kibble diets" shares these observations and experiences - kibble feeders DEMAND proof that this "New World" has been circumnavigated by the individual proponent! Explore for yourself! You too will be amazed! Cheers, Kim [Posted in FML 6244]