Hello again,
 
I'd like to thank everyone for the response about my little mutant fuzz ball
Lulu.  It's good to know that other people have witnessed the same
behavioral problems (random biting), but I didn't hear from anyone about her
physcial deformities.  Just a quick review, her main problems are 1) a mouth
that is too small to carry a full load of teeth, necessitating the removal
of her lateral incisors (although the bite will never lock properly, and the
wear has worn down the tips of her canines to about 2/3 their original
length), and 2) deformities in the paws that result in frequent shattering
of the claws on her outside rear digits.  Her coat is spectacular, in winter
it is a pure, arctic white with platinum highlights on her back, while in
the summer it picks up more grey highlights.  It is soft as a cloud - and
after a bath she looks like a little, fluffy mustelid angel.  It is the
juxtaposition of the very desirable trait with the undesirable traits that
makes me suggest sub-standard breed management.  Has anyone else noticed
these sorts of physical deformities in their pets?
 
Oops, opened a real can of worms with the MF comment.  Thank you to all of
the people who wrote about tatoos, although Lulu does have the correct
number of ear dots, I am now convinced that she could not have come from
Marshall Farms.  Whoever the breeder was, they left a stitch in Lulu's belly
when they shipped her to the pet store where I eventually found her (to give
you an idea about what an awful place that was, when I pointed out the
obvious stitch to the pet store owner, he assured me that it would "fall
out" in a few days...yikes!), and I find it hard to believe that MF would do
something so incredibly careless (although I could be wrong).  My vet
removed the stitch the day after I bought Lulu, and no harm came of it.
 
Thanks again to all that wrote....
 
Gwen M. Daley
Department of Geological Sciences
VPI & SU
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0420
[Posted in FML issue 1473]