To Pam Grant-
 
All the things you're saying are true....but Rome wasn't built in a day
and neither are physical characteristics.
 
I like that look - Duss-T, my hob, has a nice-looking face.  My albino
jill, Halo, has a nice bulldoggy face.  I wanted to breed the two, hoping
for kits with nice bulldoggy faces.  With each subsequent generation, the
face becomes slightly wider, etc., so who's to say what kind of chronic
dental problems will be common in these ferrets 10 years from now?
 
I'm not looking for a 'boxer' ferret or a 'pug' ferret face, but this is
how something like that starts.  You see a physical characteristic you
like, and you try to breed for it.
 
I don't have alot of contact with many of the ferret breeders, so I don't
know what practices are acceptable and what aren't.  I'm not a fan of
line breeding although I understand this an accepted practice by some, to
increase the percentage of kits with whatever trait you may be trying to
breed for.
 
Maybe we shouldn't try so hard for that 'perfect' ferret...just something
to think about.
 
Debbie Riccio
WNYFLFA
Rochester, NY
[Posted in FML issue 1296]