In case anyone wonders what rules Dona meant: there is a list which I help
get out, the Mysterious Illnesses Vets List which has only vets as active
members. As I've repeated many times I'm not a vet myself but I am the
behind-the-scenes person who just keeps track of it and does some related
odd-jobs, so am NOT an active member as I am using the term here -- for
someone who actually helps with expert medical advice. This list helps
with mystery illnesses when the vets who are treating want that help, and
is NOT for standard illnesses. The rules didn't come from me. They were
devised by the vets then I wrote them up till a version which all vets
liked was created.
N.J. actually has a law which governs how pet stores should be treating
animals. Years ago we got one to treat for a parasitic illness which was
going through their stock partly by contacting the state and partly by
contacting the breeder of the stock they carrier which was Marshall Farms.
BOTH applied pressure and took action. I know we contacted F,G&W since a
ferret was the animal tested with vet documents supporting the report, and
they handle N.J. ferret permits, but I don't know if that dept. directly
handles such complaints or if they pass them along to one which does, nor
do I know exactly what is covered by the law so you'd have to ask. Issues
like untreated diseases that are supported by vet reports are pretty
cut-and-dry, but some things might not be included in the wording. You
might want to check. One excellent suggestion which someone posted here
a while back to get pet stores to change: the person wrote up guidelines
then got a VET to say that the guidelines were ones which should be
followed. That had impact. Some people are very good at lateral
thinking. I wish I could recall who it was, but I'm afraid that I can't.
Home news: Ashling still isn't accepting Seven thought the others have.
It's just going to take time for her to get the point where she accepts
that Seven is in the family. She'll sigh over it, I'm sure. Meanwhile,
Warp will have her adrenal surgery when Joe Martins' arm finishes healing.
Meeteetse's old joints don't seem to be bothering her as much with
increases in exercise. We specifically have been making her walk on
linoleum as part of it because when she increases her lateral stability --
which is what that forces to improve -- she is especially more comfy;
there's also quads and ham work for her --chasing a toy on a string,
reaching for things on a shelf, standing, hopping, and standing hops,
pushing against our hands with her rear feet, etc. Everyone else is fine
except that they say that they need more spoiling, and more, and more,
and more, and...
Read:
>When people start paying for our answers they can decide which questions
>we will choose to answer. Til then we will answer what we want and where
>we want. Sorry. <smile>
This gave me a laugh and made me think "ditto for projects"!
You have to admit: this one IS a VERY FUNNY comment and kindly put, plus
I think that anyone who devotes a large amount of time to helping ferrets
knows the feeling -- really, really knows the feeling <G>.
Well, just a few comments. I have NOT seen the recent federal reports on
MF so don't know current specifics, but I do think that the kits often go
through distributors, as with other large farms. I have heard from some I
trust that some distributors have possibly been connected with some disease
types, but not which one or who is using them. In relation to disease
rates: we've had ABSOLUTELY NO differences in the MFs here in comparison to
the ones from other multiple sources. That's our personal experience over
the last approximately 18 years; others will have their own experiences,
some of which will match our's and some of which won't. I DO know that one
thing that lab ferrets are used for is flu vaccine testing and that there
are others on the FML who have adopted such individuals after such tests
were done. Does anyone have an actual LIST of who, where, for what, and
what happens to the ferrets for lab studies? I can't recall ever seeing
one, but it might be useful in the long run to know some specifics. Lab
studies vary in how ugly they are and it might be useful to know both worst
and best case scenarios for efforts. Information never hurts. We all know
about worst case scenarios for test-animals in GENERAL, but one thing never
clarified is WHICH of these might actually involve ferrets, where, why,
etc. Oh, and keep in mind that MF may not be the only large breeder
supplying labs, and that some others might still be supplying fur places.
(I do NOT know if they still are, but at least one had a fur-farm aspect
only a few years ago. Supposedly -- have NOT checked -- MF had that aspect
over 20 years ago but no more recently than that.) Hey, it would pay to
have regulations which ALL the large breeders have to follow! That would
force them ALL to improve and that would help the most ferrets.
[Posted in FML issue 2956]
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