::Stepping up with great trepidation and pondering::
I have observed something ... interesting.  When I was younger (lets say
during the early eighties), black eyed whites were very, very uncommon.
There were no "dews" back then.  But there were "bews".  These animals
were gorgeous, healthy, sweet, pure white, with coal black eyes and an
occasional gray guard hair.  Never did I see deafness in the few I
encountered.  Nor any obvious physical anomalies.
 
Today.  I still only see a true black eyed white on rare occasion.  But
now we see dews a bit more commonly then true bews.  These animals don't
have pure black eyes, and have various shades of brown, maroon, garnet,
or brick red eyes.  On rare occasion the lighter eyes of dews can have
garnet colored pupils but blue iris's.  Yeah, blue eyes.  I don't mean
the bluish hue that can be seen around some of the colored area of a
ferrets eye next to the white area.  I mean the actual eye itself is a
sort of very dark blue that you can see in certain types of light.
Anyway, I've noticed that I've not encountered a true bew with deafness.
But, I've encountered quite a few deaf dews.  They don't always seem to
have the facial characteristics of a neural crest affected ferret, but
often they do have shorter tails.
 
I'm fascinated by this.  And it's my thought that maybe bews are very
diff then dews genetically.  Very different.  And I'm thinking that maybe
some dews (particularly with the lighter eyes), have hidden genetic
things going on such as a neural crest defect (that you would not see due
to the all white fur).  I don't know a lick about genetics, how dilutes
work, etc.  I"m just a Wolfy.  But I know my gut feeling.  And as
wonderful and as pretty as they are .... I'm not really crazy about the
idea that so many dews are around now ... given my hunch that many might
be deaf, leading to the wild assumption that something genetic is "off".
 
I think our American genetic pool is filled with neural crest defects
sadly.  So I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
 
After getting Sean's lovey home, we saw that he was not a black eyed
white, but was a dark eyed white.  And, we discovered that he is deaf.
He has a short tail.  Sweetest ferret I've ever met.  And he'll be fun
to travel around with (being that I've found many well adjusted deaf
ferrets to travel to new environments much better than some hearing
ferrets due to less stimulation for them).
 
Wolfy
 
http://wolfysluv.jacksnet.com
Sean and Rocky Slide show
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=7222047&uid=3512225
[Posted in FML issue 5120]