I was just checking the mfran site photos again. They are currently
changing the site to have multiple pages of photos. Page 2 works.
There are two up there that don't yet work: page 1 and the page of the
biters. (With ferrets as with other domestic companion animals like
dogs and cats biting is usually due to abuse, neglect, or pain from
untreated medical conditions, whereas kit nipping is like puppy or
kitten nipping with the animal just needing to be gently taught.)

<http://www.mfran.org/Doug%20McKay/Doug%20McKay%20Foundation/Doug%20McKay%20Foundation.htm>

Deb wrote:

>I know these are not pets at DM's, but even farm animal get better
>than this. I have lived my life in a rural area and there are farms
>all around me. My grandmother and uncle had farms when i was younger,
>but I have never seen a farm in the middle of a junk yard. Yes I have
>seen feces around on farms but not piled like that!
 ...
>He had pigs, cows and chickens, and though it was messy it was never
>like that! Beer cans under the cages? Even back then the health
>department wouldn't allow it. A junk yard is designated a junk yard
>and they probably have permits. A farm is a farm! A farm is one thats
>well taken care of and with healthy animals.

Agreed. I spent a large portion of my childhood on a nearby aunt and
uncle's farm while my parents were establishing their store, another
uncle helped his dad with his also nearby farm, and next to the street
I grew up on was a third farm. Plus, many of my cousins' neighbors and
friends had farms so when I was hanging around with them I was at those
farms, too. NONE were filthy. Manure was collected, isolated from
structures since it can heat up quite a lot when in piles and even pose
a fire risk just as compost piles can when the conditions get bad with
some types of manures a greater risk on that regard. Junk was never
around the animals. The barns had intact floors, and roofs, there were
proper ventilation fans (Know those pretty metal domes on barn roofs
that look like cut, round butter patties? Those are part of ventilation
systems.) and there were special doors to the yards that the animals
could use themselves for fresh air and exercise when unlocked. That was
the 1950s and 1960s. NO ONE had a farm that looked like these photos
look. If they had such a place they would have found the other farmers
shunning them.

Sukie (not a vet)
Current FHL address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5542]