One who one of our local vets treated had a bone piece from raw chicken puncture the esophagus (Never even reached the stomach.) and the ferret bled out before they could save the individual. Every choice has its downsides; bone accidents like the one your ferret just survived, and increased risk of a range of infections and parasites are the ones for raw food. (Luckily, ferrets are very resistant to most of those infections though certainly not all.) For kibble (which is what we use mostly) the increased risks are unusual dental wear and possibly an increase in rate of insulinoma -- BUT for the second it is still a hypothesis because research that has been done well enough, carefully enough, and thoroughly enough to be published in a journal is still lacking though that could change in the future (for all that I know -- LOL -- since much is going on all the time). Just know that nothing is perfect, and that I am very glad that your ferret survived. There are many good feeding options of many kinds for ferrets so guilt for ones choices should not be on the menu but knowledge of risks so that a person can jump fast and in the right direction should be, as should always letting your treating vet know your food choices. 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/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html [Posted in FML 6559]