Hey Ferret Folks,
Just a check-in; what a sweet surprise to return from most of a week in
France to my host's home in the Netherlands to find a computer waiting
on the desk in my room for my use! If you have never experienced the
extreme hospitality of the Dutch, you have missed a wonderful thing --
it is even better than all the wonderful chocolate! That is not to say
the hospitality of the Hungarians have been second rate; I couldn't
have asked for better! My stay in Europe has been extremely nice and I
appreciate all involved. I now have many new "family members"
throughout Europe, and some have even taught me new swear words! Not
all are naughty..."ja ja ja ja ja" is now part of my vocabulary.
I will be coming home this coming Saturday. My email box is overflowing
with messages, so give me a few days to recover from the trip and do a
few necessary tasks and I'll start answering stuff. I haven't been
reading email except from family members (or research related), but a
quick glance at subject lines indicates that people are extremely
interested in my dental findings, European ferret husbandry, and raw
diets. In fact, there are so many emails with "raw diet" and "ferret
teeth" in the subject line that there seems to have been a conference
or something while I have been gone. When I finally return home, I'll
read each one, but until then, since my internet is given by the
kindness of others, I'm keeping my on-line stuff to a minimum.
My experiences this trip have been extremely profitable. I've managed
to get bites from both a European polecat as well as a Steppe polecat,
handled ferret hybrids of both kinds (and maybe European mink x ferret
hybrids), and scored the dental health of many more ferrets (that I
was able to correlate to specific diets). The data I've collected is
fantastic! I've stood by vets as they did their job, visited major
museum collections of polecats (one even had a black-footed ferret!),
and was actually able to predict skulls of animals that had been held
in captivity -- based entirely on dental wear (better than 95%). I
could stay here for months, but I am physically exhausted and going to
be a grandpaw for the first time in a few weeks, so sadly have to end
this round of research. AND, I just found out my other daughter,
Elizabeth (who used to occasionally send posts to the FML) has also
just become pregnant, so I will be a double-granddaddy this time next
year. Just when you think life is wonderful, it just gets better!
I've shot more than 100 rolls of photos of polecats (European as well
as Steppe), European mink, ferrets, and the odd black footed ferret
skull, to graphically illustrate the effects of diet on dental tissues.
I've confirmed some of my earlier observations about the behavior and
appearances of American and European ferrets. I've also accumulated
more than a few travel horror stories about late trains, closed
terminals, European cell phones, and the misunderstandings that can
occur when certain French phrases are mispronounced in the wrong
company. Also, never forget your bag in a French train station...that
is all I am going to say.
Sadly, because the research was so time consuming in some areas, I
never had the time to go to all the places I had on my list and will
have to return for more work. Additionally, because the work and travel
was so demanding and I am still a bit tired from treatments from my
throat problem, I had to limit visits with others. I've already heard
that some people have complained that I was being "hogged" by a few,
but honestly, I asked my hosts to limit my visits and appearances. I
will have to return and I am sure that I will be a bit more energetic
and will make the time to visit more people. There are more than a few
ferret people that will confirm I will drive hundreds of miles out of
my way just to talk with a few people I hardly know, so my requests
for solitude were based solely on the difficult nature of my tasks and
my own lack of energy.
Since my North American polecat and ferret research was done before I
recognized the dental problems in pet ferrets, I will have to revisit
some of the American and Canadian collections for more dental survey
scores and specific photos. However, the bottom line is that the dental
work is almost completed (and the skeletal work is nearing an end). It
might seem like a long time to you, but considering there had been very
little preceeding work to use as a starting base, my work has not been
full time but pieced (sorry, but it is not a full- or even part-time
job), and funding has been spotty or from the Bank of Bob, I think it
has been done fairly quickly. The bottom line is that original research
is very time consuming, expensive, and difficult, and this is not the
kind of stuff you can look up on Medline and post an abstract.
A short note to my Hungarian friends -- because of your diligent care,
I was never lost in Budapest. So where were you when I was in southern
France? I was only lost for a little while, but I couldn't help but
think of "Bell" using up her free time to make sure I got on the
correct subway. You made me "very welcome."
Bob C talktobobc at yahoo.com
[Posted in FML 5429]
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