Hi!  I've been thinking for a long time that I should write and put my 2
cents on a few subjects, and finally I will.
 
First of all I've been following the discussion here on the FML about
breeding.  I live in Sweden where we only have one (as far as I know) large
breeder.  I think he has about 1500 ferrets and he sells around 900 kits to
pet stores in Sweden every year.  The ferret clubs inform us not to buy from
a pet store because there are risk of those ferrets being inbred.  We always
try to get people to buy from smaller breeders that control their breeding
all the time.  We have had incidents (I think I've posted about this before -
sorry) where kits bought from pet stores have died suddenly at six months of
age due to a total collaps of all the inner organs simultaneously.
According to all the experts I've spoken to there can not be any other
reason for this other than inbreeding.  So I think it's safe to say that
inbreeding *does* cause illnesses and other problems in the ferrets.
 
Secondly there have been a lot of talk about descenting or not descenting.
As some of you have already stated here Sweden (and I think the whole of
Europe) did illegalize descenting in ferrets a couple of years ago.  It is
today considered to be totally inhumane to the ferrets since it takes away
their most effective protection against larger animals.  As an owner of five
ferrets I have to say that the odour is *not* a problem unless the ferret
uses its anal glands (which really isn't a big problem either since it
doesn't happen very often and the smell goes away rather quickly).  Of
course I have never met a descented ferret but I have been told by others
that the normal ferret smell is not changed at all due to descenting.
 
And thirdly: In Sweden we never spay or neuter our ferrets until they are in
heat (i.e. at about one year of age).  Early neutering does lead to
hormone-problems which can cause diseases in the ferret.  I am so sad to see
the american ferrets having such health problems that we rarely, if ever,
see in Sweden (like lymphosarcoma, adrenal problems and cancer) and I
believe that this might be a reason for those problems.
 
I'm sorry that this was so long but I hope BIG will let it through. =) If
you'd like to e-mail me private the adress is [log in to unmask]
 
Maria and her furry five
 
PS. Does anyone know what distemper-vaccine to use on a skunk?
[Posted in FML issue 1765]