Pam wrote:-
 
>1. Require that no domesticated companion animal... be sold to the
>   public until it is 8 weeks of age.
 
Well that's a step in right direction, but I'd still go for a minimum age
of 10 weeks for ferret kits, those extra few weeks can make a world of
difference to the growth and socialisation of the kits.
 
>2. Require that any USDA licensed facility which sells domesticated
>companion animals (puppy, kitten, ferret, rabbit) to the public, only
>sell neutered animals.  This is in an effort to reduce random or
>accidental breeding and to prevent pet overpopulation
 
Why can't prospective pet owners be taught responsible pet ownership instead
to the poor animals having to suffer again, how many kits die when they are
neutered at 3 weeks old?  Don't these fatalities count?  I have heard that
10% of these kits don't make it, so out of every 1000 kits neutered 100 die!
Are these figures acceptable?  I find them appalling:-(
 
The folk concerned with ferret welfare in the UK are gradually getting
through to ferrets keepers over here about not breeding.  However, the
situation isn't improved by a certain breeder going on about designer
ferrets as though they are a fashion accessory:-( We will have to see if
other keepers think they can also get 100 pounds for a 'designer ferret'!
 
Out of the 16 jills I have here only two have been neutered, one of them
for medical reasons as she had an benign ovarian tumour, as she was about
5 y.o. when she arrived here I wasn't going to get her spayed but when I
found a lump in her abdomen my first thought was lymphosarcoma, then I
calmed down and reached the conclusion that it was an ovarian tumour the
vet confirmed my diagnosis when he did an exploratory and then spayed her.
The other jills are brought out of oestrus by my vasectomised hob, until I
got Carnath I had to take the jills to a vet for 'jill jabs'.
 
Quite a large number of British ferret keepers rely on a vasectomised hob
which lives, permanently, with up to 6 jills - if the hobbit is left in
with the jills they do not appear to have phantom pregnancies.  Other
keepers take all their jills on an annual visit to the vet for jill jabs,
some clubs even arrange, at a club night, for a vet to visit them when all
the jills received shots just before the start of the breeding season.
Generally one injection is all that is needed until the following year.
Other clubs have vasectomised hobs which members can borrow, for a small
fee, to bring their jills out of season.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & National Ferret Welfare Society Newsletter Editor
http://www.btinternet.com/~sheila/ferrets.htm (Last Update 10 May 1998)
Waiting at Rainbow Bridge: Jill, Deanna Troi & Cameron
[Posted in FML issue 2304]