It is true, RWE is no longer breeding ferrets, and rabbits. Previously
the RWE ferrets were sold to two large chain petstores in certain areas
of several states - PetCo and PetsMart.

Most of RWE stock of 500 breeding ferrets were sent back to the
facility they obtained their breeders from. The others Linda posted
were going to a Texas rescue. My concern is that these ferrets may be
infected with Strep A, Pasturella and other bacterias.

A word of caution to the Texas group taking in the ferrets - We were
infected when 2 of the RWE ferrets joined our group almost 2 years ago
and we are still battling the bacterias. Very difficult to get rid of.
More than half of my ferrets caught it, some have recurring infections,
which can re-infect or newly infect others. I've used multiple
antibiotics and nebulizing which will clear it up for awhile but it
does re-occur in certain ferrets. I know of another person that took
in one and infected 12 of her ferrets. Two of hers and 2 of mine were
scoped to determine what was the cause of the continued URIs.

RWE is still breeding other animals that are sold to pet stores (i.e.
birds, hamsters, rats, mice, guinea pigs, etc.). Time will tell now
that the ferrets and rabbits are out of the picture if the conditions
and health for these other animals improves.

If you took the time to write to the petstore chains and the USDA/APHIS
contacts I'd like to say thank you. Your letters did make a difference.

tle
www.ferretfamilyservices.org

[Posted in FML 5898]