From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-06-24 15:01:27 UTC
Subject: RE: Can ferrets be given goats milk?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <7391420.1119625287661.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
If all that you can get is raw goat's milk I found the instructions for pasteurizing it yourself. Note that raw cow's milks can also be infected as can a range of ungulate milks. When pasteurizing was first developed the general health improvements were so obvious that it became law in a great many places.
Here is how to pasteurize raw goat's milk at home:
http://www.bchealthguide.org/healthfiles/hfile03.pdf
It is too long for me to quote in full so I will include short enough snippets that it should be okay both for copyright protection and for giving a feeling of what is involved and you will need to go to the site and read it yourself in full. It sounds very easily do-able in a home setting. Do not try to do it in a microwave because that is too uneven.
>clean and empty milk bottles and tops...
>boiling... water for 10 minutes, or... in a preheated
>oven for 20 minutes at 100o C (212o F).
>raw milk in the top part of a double
>boiler. Gradually... to 63o C (145o F) or hotter... at least 30
>minutes. Stir often
>clean, reliable thermometer. Put the
>thermometer... 2/3 of the way into the
>milk (do not rest it on the side or the bottom
>If you find the temperature has fallen below 63 o C (145 o
>F)...start the 30 minute timing over again.
>Cool...top part of the double boiler in
>ice water. Stir often...cool...faster.
>Pour the cooled milk into the disinfected
>bottles and put them in the fridge at 4o C
>(40o F).
BTW, notice that this health article points out that places which sell unpasteurized goat's milk (at least in BC) are less likely to have been inspected and therefore may carry other health concerns as well. I don't know if that is also the case in the states, or in which other FHL member countries, provinces, states, etc.