I have to agree with Millie:
1. The best breeders are some private breeders who carefully track
their lines for health and longevity
2. Next best are some other private breeders and some of the farms who
actually do try to not only comply with USDA regulations but also do
logical things given the lack of long-term follow-up that farms have
such as not breeding fancies.
3. Then there are some worse of any type
4. The worst are places of any size who are really putting the animals
last like those breeding fur fitch and selling them for pet stock and
the "backyard breeders" who are small or smallish breeders who honestly
could not possibly care less about health, longevity or behavior but
instead breed willynilly and just try for maximal profit for
themselves. Heck, I even recall a backyard breeder in this general area
decades ago whose ferrets lived one or two years -- that's it -- due to
such poor breeding and care practices. A person like that just doesn't
deserve to be called a "private breeder"...
I understand that some people may not like the term "backyard breeder"
and may confuse it with the totally different "private breeder" but
each is an established term and the two are worlds apart (as per
above). As a result it doesn't make sense to chastise someone for
comments about backyard breeders which were never applied to private
breeders.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 5894]
