>Curious, do ferrets ever suffer from any congenital bleeding disorders
>like cats(hemophilia),or dogs(von Wiilebrand's)?  If so what and if not
>why?  Thanks for input.
 
I suppose that I have to say "Not that we know".  The two congenital
bleeding disorders that you have mentioned have to do with the congenital
absence of one of the required components of the clotting cascade - the
intricate activation of twelve different components prior to the formation
of a clot.  (As this is a very important phenomenon, the body has lots of
checks and balances to prevent unwanted clotting.)
 
Currently, a hereditary absence of one of these factors has not been
identified, but then again, no one is really looking at it very hard.  To
date, all of the cases of bleeding disorders that I have seen are the
result of insufficient platelet numbers.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3705]