Ok, maybe I'm not getting something here, but why would a
*spayed/neutered* ferret be considered "defective" because it happens
to be deaf?  It's not like you're going to be perpetuating a genetic
condition by breeding them.
 
3 of my 4 ferrets - Oberon, Max, & Puck - are deaf panda/blazes.
Oberon & Puck are MF ferrets.  Max's origins are unknown.  I adopted him
from Jean at Ferrets Unlimited, & he came to her as a very neglected,
unneutered little boy.  I saw his picture when she got him in, I fell in
love w/ him immediately, we got him neutered & UTD w/ his shots, etc, &
I brought him home.  (As Jean said to me at the time, "Raise your right
hand, put your left hand on the ferret, & repeat after me - 'I swear to
give Max a Forever Home, & spoil him rotten forever & ever, so help me
God.'")
 
I don't consider my 3 boys to be "defective".  You'd never know they were
deaf by watching them play.  We refer to them as Moe, Larry, & Curly when
they get wound up - all little bundles of energy in perpetual motion.
You can almost hear them going "nyuk nyuk nyuk, woob-woob-woob-woob-woob
when they play.
 
Maybe I'm being oversensitive to this issue.  We don't "send back" or
"get a refund" on children who are born deaf, or w/ CP, or spina bifida,
or, or, or.... Why should a household pet be any different?  I understand
the issue from a breeding standpoint - it's not good to perpetuate a
genetic defect.  But it's also not the *ferret's* fault when s/he pops
out deaf.  All the ferret knows is that it's alive & having a great time.
 
Like I said, I'm probably being oversensitive to this, or am interpreting
it wrong.  If you're talking about a ferret who has a *life threatening
problem", that's one thing.  But deafness isn't life-threatening, or
even a problem, really.  If it is, I'm half-defective myself.  Maybe my
husband should get a refund on me.  ;-)
 
Lin, Ariel, Oberon, Max, & Puck
To email me back, take out everything from "K" to "2"
[Posted in FML issue 5135]