I don't take lightly to folks baiting me with misinformation on a public
forum.  I also don't like getting into mud slinging matches over a load
of bs either -- I have far more important things to do in my copious
spare time than to have to present my side of a story that has definitely
changed from your point of view quite a bit in the last 6 years.
 
First off here is what I post on my webpage concerning my breeding -- no
where do I see any statements that I do not line-breed.  I can say I have
never done any inbreeding -- as defined in my explanations on different
breeding types below.  My website is www.jbferret.com and anyone can
check it out if they care to:
 
Just a Business of Ferrets  Since 1988
Established in 1988, Just a Business of Ferrets is a small scale ferretry
that is run from my home and produces a limited number of kits per year.
 
All kits out of JBF are high quality pets with the potential to be
champions.  JBF has had over 30 Best In Show winners (in house) and
many more from those kits who were purchased by others.
 
Years of selective breeding and hands-on daily care from birth ensure
JBF kits to have solid conformations and personable temperaments.  All
kits have extensive, well documented lineages, many of which go back over
10 generations.  My breeding lines are relatively free of insulinoma and
lymphoma.  I do not see adrenal disease and all ferrets are regularly
tested for aleutians disease virus (ADV).  My ferrets also seem to have
an immune resistance to most strains of ECE.
 
Next let me correct you on your misconceptions about what is and what
is not line-breeding and inbreeding.  I have talked to many, many, many
breeders of other species, studied some genetics and have come to my own
conclusions on what I feel is right for me.  If you or anyone else do not
feel this way, that's fine, it's your prerogative.  Just don't think that
your opinion is the only one that's right.  Oh, and let me remind you
that HFLR acquired many of my ferrets as their foundation stock, so I
would highly recommend you don't use any of their ferrets -- otherwise
you will have more nasty JBF ferrets in your lines -- oh my no!
 
Types of Breeding:  Inbreeding, Line-breeding, Outcrossing, Outbreeding
 
INBREEDING: Inbreeding is the mating of very close relatives, for
example, father to daughter, half-brother to half-sister, brother to
sister, mother to son, etc.
 
Inbreeding intensifies the faults as well as the strong points, so
considerable discretion must be used in the choice of the animal.  The
faults may be to such an extent, that, sometimes, entire litters have
to be culled in cases where obvious anomalies occur.  For this reason,
this type of breeding is not recommended to novice breeders.  Sometimes,
in-breeding is the only option available, for example, in the re-creation
of a nearly extinct breed or in breeding programs of newly created
breeds.
 
LINE-BREEDING: Line breeding is the mating of animals having many common
ancestors or mating to a slightly removed relative, e.g. granddaughter
to grandsire, uncle to niece, etc.  The benefit of line-breeding is the
production of more consistent litters.  In order to have a chance to
reinforce desired characteristics and eliminate health problems one has
to have a thorough knowledge of both pedigrees of both the sire and the
dam for at least five generations.
 
In general, most breeders adhere to a policy of line breeding, whereby
they can assure uniformity of quality without risking the inherent
dangers of inbreeding.  This technique appears to be the best compromise
between inbreeding and the doubts of outcrossing or outbreeding.
 
OUT-CROSSING: Outcrossing is the mating of two animals that are the
products of line breeding but of two distinctly separate lines.
 
Unless the two animals involved in an outcross are strongly linebred
with a possibility of a certain measure of prepotency, uniformity to the
first generation is generally doubtful.  It is generally employed as a
long-term proposition to bring certain traits into a line that are
otherwise deficient.  These traits then need to be intensified by proper
line breeding or inbreeding.
 
OUT-BREEDING: Outbreeding is the mating of two animals who not only are
the products of two distinctly separate lines, but on the top are not
the products of line breeding.  Outbreeding is seldom employed since in
most serious breeding programs animals that would qualify for outbreeding
simply do not exist.
 
In summary, most successful breeders use some formula involving general
line breeding with inbreeding employed when sufficiently outstanding
products of their line result and outcrossing only when another line
can supply a strong characteristic in which they are lacking.
 
I hope this helps.
 
As for JD and the facts as I remember them:
 
I thought I provided a short 3-4 gen pedigree when you purchased him from
me at the Baltimore show in 1999.  You then asked for a more detailed
pedigree and I sent it to you in the mail.  I did have pedigrees for both
the sire FMF's Wolfschmidt's of JBF and the dam TFG's Aszu of JBF with me
at the show and I do believed you looked at them -- I recommended it!
 
Since Wolfie and Aszu came from 2 different breeders, there was no way
JD was a product of inbreeding.  In fact, there were no common ancestors
for at least 3-4 generations.  As I owned both Wolfie and Aszu, I only
owned Aszu's father who was Talisker, one of the ferrets that I got from
England in 1995.  At best you can only say that JD was the product of
distant line-breeding.  As another note, this was the third time I bred
Wolfie and Aszu, since their offspring were so nice and robust.  Many of
their kits lived well into their 6th, 7th and 8th years with no signs of
adrenal, insulinoma or lymphoma.  I did see some liver cancer crop up in
their lines, and this has been tracked back to Talisker my English import
þ his grandfather also died of liver cancer.  I just lost Maccabee, JD's
brother.  He was 5 _ and died of kidney disease.  I had added Ferret Gold
to my ferret diet last year and I threw two of my guys, who I didn't know
had kidney issues, into kidney failure because of it.  Let this be a
warning to anyone switching foods, check to make sure your ferrets don't
have any underlying kidney issues before you introduce one of the new
high protein foods.
 
Once you contacted me with your disgust on my nasty breeding habits, I
told you I wanted JD back and would refund your purchase price.  You
refused.  I also suggested getting the ferret back to take to my vet for
a neuter that I would pay for and you refused.  It was then agreed upon
that you would take JD to your vet and he would be neutered and once I
received the bill I refunded the neuter cost in full.  I still have my
canceled check for the reimbursement.
 
Why you feel you must continue to drag poor JD thru the mud 2 years after
his death is beyond me.  I haven't heard from you or even talked to you
in 6 years.  Why all the bs now?  I am very sorry that you lost JD to
lymphoma and insulinoma.  I haven't seen insulinoma in many, many years
and I adamantly feel this is because I stopped feeding high carb treats
such as raisins and cheerios and some of those other nasty sweet treats
that are on the market for ferrets.  Maybe if you had done the same thing
and also fed him a high quality ferret kibble along with real meat as
treats that JD would have lived longer.  We will never know.
 
I would like to apologize to the readers of the fml, but I feel I had
no choice in the matter and figured that I needed to respond to the
allegations that were raised.  If anyone has any comments one way or the
other about anything I have said, please feel free to email me directly
at jbferret @ mindspring.com and don't bother Big and the other fml
readers.
[Posted in FML issue 4960]