>The only way to tackle it is to force improvements on all at once through
>improved stricter standards in keeping, treating, and shipping.
 
Amen to this notion!
 
>Make sure first that they really are improvements.
 
How do you make sure there are changes?  MF wont even let someone from the
public come in and inspect everything.
 
Don't need to have anyone from the public come in (and perhaps best not
to since they could bring in things like ECE and more).  What is needed --
and not easy to get as anyone can learn fro asking Julianna -- are
improvemtns in the federal regulations.  They already are inspected
regulary and do better thansoime of their ferret-farm competition on
inspections.  Want change?  Try to raise the bar federally.
 
BTW, thoe inspection results are available to anyone.  If you go into back
FML issues I believe that it waqs Liegh who posted how to get them.  MF
has aced the inspections for a few years now.  Have a birt of a virus with
on and off fevers, and amnot up to finding things.
 
>Amelia is a pretty classic example of what the Killians call a
>panda-blaze-wannabe, although as she's aged she is becoming closer to a
>blaze, especially in the winter (in the winter you could really call her
>a blaze, but the blaze gets muddled in her summer coat).  She has the
>white kneecaps and is mostly deaf, so I expect she's got Waardenburg
>Syndrome.  Not sure if this is exactly the type of coat pattern you are
>asking about, but fwiw she turned a verifiable 7 in mid-October this year
>(I've had her since she was 7 weeks old) and despite insulinoma is doing
>pretty well.  I think her health problems have been pretty "normal"--
>adrenal at age 5, insulinoma diagnosed shortly after turning 6, and an
>ulcer after close to a year of pediapred.  Maybe normal is not the right
>word, but at any rate I don't think it's anything you'd be surprized to
>see in a sable ferret.  Hopefully I can continue to report an increased
>life span for some time to come :)
 
Godd to read.  Katherine wrote that she has a panda (I just assuemd
that emans always a panda nd not someone who changed with age, knowing
Katherine) who is now a known 6 and 3/4 and still heqalthy, so it happens.
Good to know!  Hope tohear of more; hoping these two aren't truly rare.
Am still a bit leery tillknow more.
 
Oh, there's a great FHL post by geneticist, Brett MIddleton which also
came here as a cross-post that goes into why it may be a different anceint
color-depletion problem than WS.  Also, do remembr that teh wanna-be
category is iffy.
 
Hoping both have several more years before them.
 
>does any one or any vet know where my vet could get a supply of lupron 4
>month for less than $200.00?  i have 2 ferrets that will need this so the
>cheaper i can get it the better, after all i do need it for 2 ferrets :.(
>any help and info that i can pass on to my vet would be greatly
>appreciated!
 
Go to the Ferret Health List at Yahoo and read MIke Janke's recent
post with a source.
[Posted in FML issue 3619]