Hi All, Well, some of you were right, I got a few private messages about "Mikey" eating my homemade dog food. Wait now, I want to explain what I feed my dogs. I have here beside me 3 different bags of ferret food. I believe in mixing so the ferrets don't get "stuck" on one brand and refuse to eat anything else. The first ingredient in all 3 bags is chicken meal. My dogs get cooked chicken or turkey hamburger meat. The next ingredient is either ground yellow corn or 2 have rice of some sort. My dogs get rice or pasta with some oatmeal for their carbos. Next is gluten meal on two bags with the third having egg product (is it an egg or not?). My dogs get a scrambled egg about 4 times a week (that's an egg for each dog). Then comes the fat of some variety. My dogs get omega 3& 6 and flax seed oil. All better absorbed and utilized than animal fat. Oh yes, the animal fat is preserved with Vit E. Research has shown that it only lasts 9 weeks before going rancid once exposed to the air. My dogs eat carrots, green beans, squashs, a little beet, and broccalli sometimes put through the food processor for every meal. Also, they get raw stew beef (which Mikey scarfs up in nothing flat) and fish of some variety about 4 times a week - tuna, mackeral, salmon, sardines. I am also on a list for people who make their own dog food, mainly because we are tired of having our dogs die early from cancer and other major health problems. It has become a major concern for almost every person who has been in dogs for a while and there are alot of breeders changing over also. I do feed my ferrets the dry food but I see nothing wrong with an occassional meal from the dogs. I think we have become a society of fast food, processed foods and wanting fast results. I know most of you on the list are not that way, sorry, just my two cents worth about society in general. I vaccinate my dogs only about every 3 years. Because they are out and getting exposed to viruses, their immune system is getting "perked" back up. I also do titers on them. If one dog is low, then that dog gets vaccinated. I know I can't do that with my ferrets but I do worry about the effects of the vaccines on these guys. One of my ferrets (Baboo) had a reaction. For 24 hours he slept, would only move when I would check on him, and would not eat. Baboo was vaccinated with the ferret vaccine. I have considered doing titers on my fuzzies. Has anyone else checked into this? Cats are having sarcomas (tumors) from the injection site of some vaccines. Even though it is a cat vaccine that is causing this, maybe we should keep note of the where the vaccine is injected in our ferrets? Sorry for the preaching but it has taken me over 30 years in dogs and loosing a VERY special 2 year old male to cancer to push me into making my own dog food. I have seen a noticable improvement in my dogs since then so can only think it will help my other 4 legged babies also. Love them while you have them! Mary [Posted in FML issue 2218]