Re: 7 week old kits
 
Ok, I apologize for my outburst last night, I do have some strong
feelings about the early adoption of Kits
 
as there was a lot I wanted to say I have broken it down to two main
points.
 
1. Early adoption encourages early desexing.
2. Socialization of Kits can be start much earlier then the "8 week"
   adoption date, ( and should take longer)
 
the author of the post said
>Having bred ferrets in the past I would like to say that 7 weeks old is
>a good age for a healthy kit who is going to an enlightened pet store.
>OK now, for those of you who are 8 week advocates...please let me
>explain.
 
Sorry , but this is exactly the same sort of thinking that allows
"Marshall farms" and other commercial ferret breeders to justify
desexing at 8 weeks..
 
If ferrets owners agree that ferrets can be weaned and shipped early,
then large breeders like Marshall farms will continue to desex ferrets
at younger and younger ages.
 
Unfortunately the law is more about ensuring ferrets are desexed before
shipping, then it is about shipping ferrets too young.
 
And .because there is no way to make a profit from ferrets unless you
sell them very quickly, then commercial operations are only too happy to
desex them as early as they are allowed, so they can ship them out.
 
SO regardless of how "early" a ferret can be or should be adopted by a
new family and other socialization issues, I still believe that desexing
a ferret at 8 weeks is WRONG.
 
In fact I believe most strongly that desexing a ferret before they have
reached adulthood ( and I mean about 6 months) is also wrong, and is
probably one of the main reasons so many ferrets seem to suffer from
hormonal type diseases, as they are desexing them before they have fully
grown.  ( I have no proof there and would love to see a study on this)
but I can tell you that the ferrets we own that were desexed later in
life are bigger and more robust then those desexed early.
 
I would really like to see the early desexing of ferrets strongly
discouraged....if ferrets owners them selves encourage early adoptions
they only add to the argument that ferrets can be desexed early ( even
though they are two separate things)
 
Darrin
[Posted in FML issue 4662]