I know this is an old thread, but I figured I'd put my two-cents in anyway in hopes that someone will read it. I have 1 dachshund, 4 cats, and 3 ferrets. My adventure into the world of feeding raw started with my ferrets. At the time, I only had one. We were feeding her the normal ferret kibble and we thought everything was fine. Then one day I happened upon a wonderful ferret forum and was introduced to raw feeding. I did as much research as I could, and soon I began switching my little baby over to a raw diet. She took to it like crazy. A few months later, we got two more ferrets. These ferrets were also switched over to eating raw. I can tell you, feeding ferrets a raw diet is incredibly easy and makes a big difference in the smell. They smell less, poop less, and their fur is so much softer. With the great experience we were having with feeding the ferrets raw, we decided to do an experiement and feed the 4 cats and dog raw as well for a month. While expensive, we did so and the results were amazing. I have never seen cats so excited about meal time. Our youngest cat would actually crawl into my lap and want to be hand fed. At 9 months old, our oldest male cat had gingivitis and we were supposed to brush his teeth with special paste from the vet. (I did a bad and went against my vet's recommendation and did not treat his teeth with the paste) Instead I fed them all raw and within days I began to see improvement in his gums and the smell of his breath. By the end of the month, his teeth were squeaky clean and the gingivitis gone. He also slimmed down as he had been getting a bit pudgy. At 9 months old, he was over 10lbs.
Raw food is by far one of the best diets you could put your dogs, cats, or ferrets on. While I do not feed mine raw right now (money is tight) I will be switching them back to it hopefully by next year.(Please do not use this as the only information for switching your animals over to a raw diet. Please do more research and consult with your vet before making the switch. Some vets will be receptive to the idea, some won't. I was fortunate to have a vet that was all for it.)