>From:    Jerri Carel <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: What color is Chomper?
>Chomper has a cream to dark creak undercoat - almost a little orangy, and
>no, it's not from lack of bathing.  He has black guard hairs and black
>legs with white knee patches.  His face is mostly white going down into a
>white bib.  If I had to fay he has a mask, it would be light to white, but
>it's not nearly as pronounced as those ferrets where you see the little
>band across thier face/eye area.
 
This sounds like a Waardenburg pattern, if the black is a true black and
not just a really close to black brown, then his color is - get this -
black.  If its really a brown which with the non-white undercoat he'd be
a sable.  Really some sables are darned close to black.  How dark is his
body?  If it's not dark at all (since you mentioned how dark the legs
are) he might be a sable point.  Points often have very faint masks -
sometimes just a whisper of a line from the eye to the nose and back to
the other eye, or even just darkness around the eyes.
 
>From:    "Williams, Bruce" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: ADV test - false positives
>Several years ago, people were posting on the Internet about being able to
>cure distemper by injecting serum from vaccinated animals into affected
>animals - 1 cc intraperitoneally.  I am all for hope, but not when it puts
>others at risk.
 
In that case many more ferrets died because a few were "saved".  Killing
innocent others.  An experimental procedure that cost many lives through
infections than it "saved".
 
>From:    Melissa Drake <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Waardenberg Syndrome Questions
>Does anyone know when the WS traits began appearing in the ferret
>population?  Is there any historical reference to the colours or anything?
 
It existed as far back as any show organizations starting with the IFA.
But it was relatively rare then.  Due to breeders breeding for shows and
"profits" it has greatly increased.  It turned into a medical curiosity
and not a practical or even rational approach.  Led eventually to us
getting 50 ferrets "dumped" on us in a day.  Tremendously bad idea.
 
>I mentioned it to Kyle (said fiance) because his favorite patterns have
>always been the silver mits, pandas and blazes.
 
The true silver mitt (or black mitts as the AFA calls them) are not a
Waardenburg pattern in and of themselves.  But due to complete lack of
understanding of genetics by those that consider themselves "the best
breeders" most of the silvers ended up crossed with the Waardenburg
victims.  As soon as the "clean" European and South Pacific ferrets came
into this country far too often they were immediately crossed with these
Waardenburg victims.  Some say that since their pandas can hear its okay
if they breed them.  It's not.
 
>Their ferrets, especially Lorielei, a silver mitt, didn't show traits of
>WS, from what he describes, but I wonder if Lorielei might have had it.
>She had what he described as a 'hooded' look, with a dark cap of colour on
>the top of her head, and two dark markings under her eyes, LIKE A BLAZE,
>but without the blaze markings.
 
There is no way we can tell for sure, but with a narrow skull it is
unlikely that she was a victim.  Waardenburg causes wide set small
eyes not a narrow head.  But the litter failures do indeed sound bad.
 
From what we can tell there really isn't much difference between the
ferrets of the US and Canada, ferrets have been crossing the border all
along.  But that isn't an absolute truth by any means.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3223]