Dr. Ruth wrote:
>I would rather see the three and four year olds with adrenal disease
>than the ten month old jills who are dying of anemia.  Is that the reason
>the farms do the procedures before they sell the kits?  I don't know - I
>don't have access to their policy statements.  But it's not all bad.
 
When we interviewed Fox Morton (founder of Path Valley), this is exactly
the reason she cited for doing the spay/neuter early.  In the early days,
ferrets were sold sexually intact.
 
"Back then, it [aplastic anemia] was the leading cause of death.  Because
you could not get the information out to everybody.  This was something
that had to be dealt with, that being an induced ovulator was a quirk of
the species."
 
"People would tell me that they had a female and she died at a year and a
half.  It would just break my heart because it was so avoidable.  That
was basically the momentum for why we went to neuter/descent on the
farm." (from Modern Ferret #11, p. 43, 1997)
 
Fox talked about how she and Wendy Winsted (who got Marshall's started in
breeding ferrets *for pets*) would agonize over these kinds of problems
(female ferrets dying at young ages from aplastic anemia because people
didn't believe an animal could die from simply going into heat; male
ferrets being "set free" because they would go into rut and have a strong
smell).  Before her death, Wendy Winsted worked hard to finish her book
_Ferrets in Your Home_, in an effort to help get the word out about the
importance of spaying ferrets, among other things (such as proper care
and keeping).  Fox and her former husband Chuck Morton also wrote a
book -- _Ferrets: A Complete Pet Owners Manual_ -- to help get out the
information.  But there was no way to ensure that everyone who brought
home a ferret would buy the book or even believe the information about
aplastic anemia.
 
I clearly remember talking to Fox about this issue.  When she said it
would "break her heart," she meant it.  You could hear it in her voice.
She is a very compassionate and sweet lady.
 
If the USDA guidelines change and ferrets cannot be shipped until 8 weeks
(instead of the current 6), we may be able to get farms to neuter a
couple of weeks later ... but we won't know for years if that's enough
(and I doubt it would be since the theory is that ferrets need to reach
sexual maturity before neutering -- and even then, late neutering does
not guarantee the ferret will not get adrenal disease).  I don't know
that the large farms will ever stop early neutering, because they're the
ones who will have to field the calls from people whose female ferrets
die from aplastic anemia.  People who demand refunds or "replacements"
because they didn't fulfill their own responsibility to have their ferret
neutered.
 
It will be interesting to see where all this ends up.  If we're trading
one disease for another.  And whether it's worth it.
 
--Mary & the Fuzz
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mary R. Shefferman and
Gabby, The Lone Modern Ferret
Ferret Information: http://www.ferretnews.com
Read my blog! http://www.modernferretblog.com/mary
Depression Information: http://www.depressionplace.com
Neat Stuff: http://www.amysdesigns.com
[Posted in FML issue 4624]