From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2005-08-20 00:21:04 UTC
Subject: Re:Raw feeding
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <85.2e11ad63.3037d170@cs.com>
Hi Andrea,
There are 2 big problems with adding raw meat
to your ferret's diet: 1) bacterial infections such
as E. coli and Salmonella and 2) calcium/phosphorus
problems. When you feed just a raw meat diet it will
have too low of a calcium level and too high of a
phosphorus level, which will cause major problems
for the bones, etc.
If you want to add cooked meat or cooked eggs as a treat
or as a supplement that is fine, but do not feed it as the
main diet.
Whole prey diets (i.e., whole mice, whole rats, whole turkey, or
whole chickens) are different from a raw meat diet. You can
feed a whole prey diet and are less likely to have bacterial problems
or calcium problems (if they eat the bones). However you may
have problems when the bones go through the GI tract (perforations,
obstructions, or irritation to the colon).
As you can now see both have some options can have some serious
potential problems.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM