Someone asked about this.  As I said I have NOT heard ANY RECENT
complaints.  The multiple ones I had heard before from several sources I
trust involved how the animals were treated at some shows -- very
unpleasant stuff -- and reports of a number of their ferrets which were
very bad biters to the point where a shelter was asked to take an entire
large shipment the store claimed was from them (postulation was that they
might have been selling fitch stock as pet stock in the early part of their
incursion into the pet trade).  Since there have been NO recent reports
it's just possible that no one has reported anything, but it's just as
likely (maybe more so) that they sorted out their problems and changed
things accordingly.  A friend certainly has one she adores and has bragged
about him to me.  I have NOT heard any reports which indicate any health
problems, but then -- since I doubt the breeder-specific reports of
ill-health in relation to ferrets kept in homes, not having seen any good
evidence but merely anecdotal stuff -- I don't think that any of the large
breeders have definite known health problems.  My point was that when
people react to one breeder by asking for another without first checking
into that breeder that things might not alter in the direction desired.
Sorry that it strayed.
 
I was so glad to see Bob pointing out that long claws don't directly
translate to abuse.  Steve and I both have reduced vision -- reasonable
enough with glasses, legally blind without.  We also have squirmy furballs
so doing them can at times be a two person job.  Even with the clippers
that have attached magnifiers (available from Lighthouse for those who
need them or want them) we need the light to be right to see what the heck
we are doing.  That said, so far we have NEVER clipped a claw so short as
to cause bleeding, and in all these years have had only one ferret break
a claw badly, none pull one out, and one break a toe (a few days AFTER
clipping) when the claw and toe just caught wrong in a hammock.  We try
to clip every two weeks, but if the conditions don't allow there may be
three or four between and some of our guys grow their claws VERY fast.
(Obviously we do not let them get the point where damage happens or the
guys have their toes twisted or such.) I suspect that when people really
rage about claws which are in the long-but-not-causing-any-problems range
what is really happening is that the individual just is hypersensitive
about the issue, like the folks who flare at mispellings, or who dislike
it when people use all lower case.
[Posted in FML issue 2688]