Hello, I'm sorry to say this, but your vet is mistaken. Raw is not dangerous to a ferret (cat/dog/carnivore). Do you know who sponsors vet nutrition courses? Kibble companies - so I honestly couldn't care less about what your vet thinks about raw. If she's been a vet for 15 years, her education may be severely outdated (not saying it is, but a lot has changed in the ferret-health world in that amount of time). A ferret is no less a carnivore than a lion/tiger/wolf/shark/raptor/etc. Domestication does not change an animals digestive tract. I've had extensive education and training in microbiology, immunology, virology, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology (humans and mammals), genetic analysis, chemistry (organic and inorganic). My post to the FML was not based on opinion - it is based on legitimate facts. Do you even know what salmonella is? I do. What about E. coli? Do you know how it works, infects, replicates? Does your vet?Maybe you can give me your vets number and her and I can have a heart to heart on the basics and intricacies of carnivore dietary needs. Let me ask you a simple question - what do zoos feed their resident lions? What about snakes? P.S. It's not kibble. It's raw meat. Flesh. The form of protein they are designed to eat. I wonder why this is .... Oh right, it's because they're carnivores. The lions don't get cooked meat. Do you really believe that humans and ferrets have the same/similar digestive tract? Here's one HUGE difference - ferrets lack a cecum - the equipment that digests plant matter (luckily we humans have one of those). That wasn't an accident. Want to know another difference? Food passes through a ferret after as little as 3-4 hours. Human digestion can take form 24-72 hours. That's up to 3 days. So if and when ferrets consume contaminated meat (which is quite possible to do in the wild), it doesn't have time to "take advantage" of the host - it's just passed. The stomach acidity also deters any colonization, further preventing infection. If a human ate contaminated food, that's 3 days for the bacteria to infect. This is why symptoms of salmonellosis in humans (infection of salmonella) typically appear in about 48 to 72 hours. The shortest time is about 12 hours, which is about 3 times longer than the ferret digestive tract (and pretty much any other carnivores). Just curious, how does your vet test for salmonella in ferrets? Stool samples? If so, no wonder she's getting so many cases of "food borne illnesses," because ferrets on kibble regularly shed salmonella in their stools. The chances of a ferret getting salmonella from raw meat/eggs/prey are likely less (though I'm no statistician) than getting it from contaminated kibble. Feeding HUMAN grade meat vs feeding some "meat" from who-knows-where. When my ferrets eat, I know exactly where it came from. It's organic, it's QUALITY meat. Like I sad, give me your vet's info (email, number, whatever) so her and I can chat. What does she advice her snake owners feed? Snake kibble? Roasted mice? What about the big cats - do they get kibble too? Level with me for a moment. Can we all agree that ferrets are obligate carnivores? Yes. Okay good, we're off to a start. Can we agree that polecats are also obligate carnivores? Yes! Okay! So we've made a connection. What do polecats eat in the wild? Meat? Yes! What's the different between the two? Ferrets are domesticated. The domestication of ferrets has not, cannot, and will not, change their digestive system. That would be evolution. Obviously polecats are doing pretty good on the raw meat (or they'd all be dead from salmonella). So here is the logic. 1) Ferrets are obligate carnivores. 2) Polecats are obligate carnivores 3) Domestication does not change the digestive system of an animal 4) Polecats eat raw meat and don't die 7) SO IT CAN BE ASSUMED THAT --> Ferrets can eat raw meat and will not die from it. Chances - if we're going to look at chances, how about this one. What are the chances that insulinoma is caused by grains, sugars, fruit, etc in ferret food? 100%. Do people still l;take the chance" by feeding cheap garbage foods? Yes. They do. Here's the difference between the chance of a ferret getting sick from salmonella and getting insulinoma - salmonella is 100% treatable (it's just a bacteria infection) and is not a life long disease. Insulinoma will kill your ferret eventually. That, in my opinion, is not a chance I would ever take. That is worse than standing in an open field during a lightening storm - that is the equivalent of standing in a lightening storm will a metal rod attached to your head. Inevitably, you will get struck by lightening. It might not happen today, tomorrow, even in a few years. But one day, it will, if you do it enough. If someone with a similar background to me (or maybe an actual vet!) has some solid, real evidence of the dangers of raw (not just regurgitated web jumble) let them step forward. Oh, and I'm more than happy to get into a debate about the *safety* of raw, because there are only facts to back it up. I'm not saying you should feed it, but that doing so will not harm you pet (when feeding a properly balanced diet). P.S. Suki "not a vet" - That book was last updated in 1998. That is so last century. Maybe some up-to-date material would help your argument. Nevertheless, that was a great way to misrepresent the text in the book (since most people don't have access to it, I guess they should just take your word?) The "official" text says "Feeding of raw eggs MAY ALSO PREDISPOSE ferrets to the disease." Do you know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like "we have no idea if eggs are related to thiamine deficiency, but JUST in case it is, let's add that caveat." No where does it say that it definitively does. By what mechanism? Where are the citations? What references? Thiamine deficiency is not a lack of thiamine, but a diet rich in the enzyme that breaks thiamine down (thiaminase). Find me something (it doesn't even need to be peer reviewed) that shows that raw eggs (whites or yolks) contain high levels of thiaminase. Oh, but look here! Good sources of thiamine! Listed is *Whole egg*. Raw eggs contain about 0.2 mg of thiamine So contrary to your statement - whole eggs are a good source of thiamine. Thiamine deficiency would not occur with a couple raw eggs in the diet. Use this site to see other thiamine rich foods. Almonds contain 0.3mg. Whole wheat contains 0.1mg. Corn has 0.4mg. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/111/2 http://www.thirdplanetfood.com/vitamins2.htm#thiamin [Moderator's note: A general note to readers of the FML: Please tread lightly here. Our regular destructive raw vs kibble debate needs to be averted. You CAN point out studies showing the pros and cons, but please don't preach about which feeding style is best and berate each other for not agreeing. Please present facts or opinions but let the readers make decisions for themselves. Posts which don't play nicely will be rejected. BIG] [Posted in FML 7193]